Afro-Latin, Jazz, and Popular Music – Grade 10 Vocabulary

A comprehensive set of 102 vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from African, Latin-American, Jazz, and Popular music as presented in the Grade 10 lecture notes.

African Music

Traditional and contemporary music of the African continent, known for rich melodies, complex rhythms, and community participation.

Yodeling

Singing technique marked by a rapid switch from chest voice to falsetto, common in African vocal music.

Call and Response

Leader-chorus pattern in which a solo line (call) is answered by a group (response).

Participative Music-making

African practice in which listeners actively sing, clap, dance, or play along instead of passively observing.

Polyrhythm

Use of two or more independent, contrasting rhythms played simultaneously.

African Vocal Timbre

Shift from relaxed, open tone to tight-throated sound for expressive variety.

Texture (African Music)

May be homophonic (melody plus accompaniment) or polyphonic (many independent lines).

Homophonic Texture

Music with one main melody supported by chords or accompaniment.

Polyphonic Texture

Music in which two or more independent melodic lines sound together.

Blues

Genre born among African-Americans in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, featuring expressive lyrics and blue notes.

Spirituals

Religious folk songs created outside established churches; also called Negro Spirituals.

Fisk Jubilee Singers

Former slaves’ choir that first popularized Negro Spirituals internationally.

Soul (African-American Genre)

Style combining gospel passion with jazz and rhythm-and-blues elements; values strong emotion.

Motown

Blend of rhythm-and-blues with pop sensibility pioneered by Detroit’s Motown Records.

Maracatu

Brazilian genre with African slave roots, featuring intense, emotional crowd gatherings and drumming parades.

Performance Props (Africa)

Use of crafts, costumes, drama, sculpture, and dance to enhance musical expression.

Communal Performance

Music event where the whole community contributes vocally, instrumentally, and physically.

Educative Purpose (African Music)

Songs used to teach values, history, and skills to the young.

Religious Offering

Music performed to honor or petition deities and ancestral spirits.

Message Transmission

Use of song or drum patterns to communicate important news across distances.

Entertainment Function

Music created for enjoyment during leisure and social gatherings.

Life-Event Marker

Songs for occasions such as birth, marriage, initiation, and funerals.

Healing Purpose

Ritual music believed to cure illness or drive away spirits.

Protest Function

Songs criticizing oppressive rulers, relatives, or tax collectors.

Work Song

Rhythmic music performed to coordinate labor and lighten physical tasks.

Leader-Chorus Style

Alternative term for call and response performance structure.

Chest-to-Falsetto Switch

Quick vocal jump central to yodeling technique.

African Roots in Brazil

Influence of enslaved Africans on Brazilian genres like samba and maracatu.

Southern Blues Origins

Geographical cradle of blues in the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Latin-American Music

Highly syncretic musical traditions from Spanish-, Portuguese-, and French-speaking areas of the Americas.

Syncretic

Describes music formed by blending multiple cultural influences.

Cumbia

Dance-oriented style from Colombia and Panama, originally an African courtship dance adapted by natives.

Paso Doble

Spanish couple dance meaning “double step,” mimicking a bullfighter’s entrance.

Tango

Sensuous dance and music that began in Buenos Aires’ lower-class districts.

Cha-cha-cha

Cuban dance introduced by violinist-composer Enrique Jorrín; often shortened to cha-cha.

Bossa Nova

Brazilian “new trend” fusing samba rhythms with jazz harmony and improvisation.

Reggae

Jamaican style from the late 1960s emphasizing the 2nd and 4th beats; popularized by Bob Marley.

Samba

Lively 2⁄4-time Brazilian music and dance of West African origin.

Rumba

Afro-Cuban sensual ballroom dance performed socially and in competitions.

Travelling Volta

Progressive turning step used in samba dancing.

Botafogo

Basic samba dance figure involving a quick-quick-slow foot pattern.

Second-and-Fourth Beat Emphasis

Rhythmic hallmark of reggae music.

Bob Marley

Robert Nesta Marley, globally acclaimed Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter.

Enrique Jorrín

Cuban composer-violinist credited with creating the cha-cha-cha.

Double Step

Literal translation of “Paso Doble,” denoting its marching feel.

Bullfighter Representation

Role of the male dancer in Paso Doble, embodying the matador.

Buenos Aires Origins

Reference to tango’s birth in Argentina’s working-class port neighborhoods.

“New Trend” (Bossa Nova)

English meaning of the Portuguese phrase “bossa nova.”

Samba-Jazz Fusion

Characteristic blend that forms the harmonic base of bossa nova.

Courtship Dance Roots

Historical beginnings of Cumbia as a flirtatious dance among Africans.

Afro-Cuban Rumba

Original Cuban street style that inspired modern ballroom rumba.

Brazilian-West African Link

Cultural lineage connecting samba’s rhythm to African traditions.

Dance-Oriented Style

Music primarily created to accompany and inspire dancing, as in Cumbia.

Cha-cha

Common abbreviation for cha-cha-cha dance and music.

Jazz

African-American musical style featuring syncopation, swing feel, and improvisation.

Syncopation

Accent on normally weak beats, creating rhythmic surprise.

Improvisation

Spontaneous creation or alteration of melody and rhythm during performance.

Big Band

Large jazz ensemble (≈15 musicians) divided into woodwinds, brass, and rhythm sections.

Combo

Small jazz group, usually 3–7 players.

Woodwinds Section

Big-band group featuring saxophones and sometimes clarinets or flutes.

Brass Section

Trumpets and trombones that provide power in a jazz ensemble.

Rhythm Section

Piano, guitar, bass, and drums that supply harmony and beat in jazz.

Blues Scale

Six-note (or modified pentatonic) scale with flattened 3rd, 5th, and 7th degrees.

Bebop Scale

Eight-note jazz scale adding chromatic passing tones for fast melodic lines.

Cakewalk

19th-century African-American strutting dance with syncopated music, precursor to jazz.

Minstrel Songs

Blackface theatrical songs that contributed syncopated elements to early jazz.

Vaudeville

Popular variety entertainment with songs and dances featuring lively rhythms.

Ragtime

Syncopated piano style of composed pieces called “rags,” not improvised.

Scott Joplin

“King of Ragtime,” composer of piano rags like “Maple Leaf Rag.”

Bessie Smith

Iconic blues singer known as the “Empress of the Blues.”

Dixieland Jazz

Early “New Orleans” style with 5–8 instruments weaving collective improvisation.

Scat-Singing

Improvised vocal style using nonsense syllables; developed by Louis Armstrong.

Louis Armstrong

Trumpeter-vocalist who popularized scat singing and advanced jazz soloing.

Swing

1930s big-band style featuring strong swing feel and dance grooves.

Sweet Swing

Light, dance-friendly swing music for easy listening and entertainment.

Hot Swing

Complex, concert-oriented swing sometimes called “big jazz.”

Benny Goodman

Clarinetist dubbed the “King of Swing” for leading a famous big band.

Bebop

Fast, aggressive 1940s jazz emphasizing complex harmony and improvisation for listening, not dancing.

Cool Jazz

Relaxed variation of bebop with softer dynamics and smoother phrasing.

Free Jazz

Avant-garde style granting musicians complete freedom in harmony, rhythm, and tone.

Fusion (Jazz Rock)

1970s blend of rock rhythms and electronic sounds with jazz improvisation.

Popular Music

Commercial music created for mass appeal; “populus” (Latin) means “the people.”

Folk Songs

Narrative pieces passed orally from generation to generation.

Oral Tradition

Transmission of music by memory and performance rather than written notation.

Broadside Ballads

Topical narrative songs printed on single-sheet broadsides for easy distribution.

Pentatonic Melodies

Five-note scales typical of Scottish and Irish songs influencing pop origins.

Rhythm and Blues (R&B)

Style with strong quadruple beat and backbeat stresses on beats 2 and 4.

Backbeat

Regular emphasis on the second and fourth beats in 4⁄4 meter.

Country Music

Also called hillbilly or country-and-western; lyrics address family, loss, and daily life.

Rock and Roll

Youth-oriented pop genre using electric guitars and driving syncopated rhythms.

Soul (Pop Context)

Pop idiom channeling intense, gospel-influenced vocal expression.

Heavy Metal

Rock subgenre featuring loud amplification, distorted guitars, and rebellious themes.

Electronic Distortion

Signal processing that gives guitars the gritty, sustained tone of heavy metal.

Punk Rock

South-London working-class music marked by fast tempos and nihilistic lyrics.

Disco

Dance music with simple, repetitive lyrics and strong Latin-American rhythms.

Rap

Spoken or chanted rhymed verses over rhythmic, dance-based accompaniment.

Freestyle Dancing

Non-choreographed movement encouraged by disco’s steady beat.

Rhymed Verses

Poetic lines with end rhymes, central to rap delivery.

Virtuosic Guitar Acts

Extended, technically flashy solos common in heavy-metal performances.

Latin-American Rhythm (Disco)

Percussive groove borrowed from salsa and other Latin styles that underpins disco.