Afro-Latin and Popular Music – Grade 10 Summative Reviewer

Vocabulary flashcards covering essential terms, styles, and concepts from African, Latin-American, Jazz, and Popular Music units for Grade 10 Summative Test #2.

Yodeling

A rapid switch between chest voice and falsetto common in African vocal music.

Call and Response

A musical pattern where a leader sings a phrase and a group immediately answers.

Participative Performance

African tradition in which the audience actively joins the music-making.

Variety of Sounds

African singers incorporate humming, whispering, shouting, and more.

Music with Other Arts

African music is intertwined with dance, costumes, props, and sculpture.

Polyrhythm

Two or more contrasting rhythms played simultaneously, a hallmark of African music.

Timbre (African context)

Vocal quality ranging from relaxed to tight-throated tone colors.

Texture (African context)

Can be homophonic or polyphonic layers of sound.

Blues

African-American genre of emotional songs that later fed into jazz and pop.

Spirituals

Religious folk songs of enslaved African-Americans, popularized by the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Soul

Gospel-based style with intense emotional expression developed by African-Americans.

Motown

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

Maracatu

Afro-Brazilian genre featuring large percussion groups and emotional chants.

Syncretic

Describes Latin-American music’s mix of African, Spanish, Portuguese, and French elements.

Cumbia

Colombian/Panamanian dance music that began as a courtship ritual.

Paso Doble

Spanish dance dramatizing a bullfight; the man is the matador, the woman the red cloth.

Tango

Argentine dance with dramatic moves, born in lower-class districts.

Cha-cha-cha

Cuban dance style created by Enrique Jorrín, named for its shuffling rhythm.

Bossa Nova

Brazilian ‘new trend’ combining samba rhythms with jazz harmonies.

Reggae

Jamaican style stressing the 2nd and 4th beats; Bob Marley iconized it.

Samba

Lively Brazilian dance in fast 2⁄4 meter with strong percussion.

Rumba

Cuban sensual ballroom dance characterized by slow-quick-quick steps.

Jazz

American genre born in late 1800s combining syncopation and improvisation.

Syncopation

Accentuation of weak or off-beats, central to jazz rhythm.

Improvisation

Creating music spontaneously during performance, key to jazz.

Swing (rhythm)

Groove created by uneven division of beats that makes jazz feel ‘lilting.’

Blues Scale

Six-note scale (minor pentatonic + flat 5th) common in jazz melodies.

Bebop Scale

Eight-note scale used in fast, complex jazz lines of the 1940s.

Ragtime

Syncopated solo-piano style (Scott Joplin) that prefigured jazz.

Dixieland (Hot Jazz)

Early New-Orleans jazz for 5–8 instruments featuring collective improvisation.

Scat Singing

Vocal improvisation with nonsense syllables; popularized by Louis Armstrong.

Sweet Swing

Light, danceable big-band jazz of the 1930s.

Hot Swing

More complex ‘concert jazz’ exemplified by Benny Goodman, the ‘King of Swing.’

Bebop

Fast, intricate 1940s jazz for listening rather than dancing.

Cool Jazz

Subdued, smoother extension of bebop that emerged in the 1950s.

Free Jazz

Style featuring total improvisation without preset chord changes.

Fusion (Jazz Rock)

Mixture of jazz improvisation with rock rhythms and electric instruments.

Popular Music

Music produced for mass appeal and commercial profit, from Latin ‘populus.’

Folk Songs

Traditional melodies handed down orally through generations.

Broadside Ballads

Inexpensive printed songs with simple lyrics popular in earlier centuries.

Rhythm and Blues (R&B)

Pop genre with strong 4-beat pulse and love-oriented lyrics.

Country Music

‘Hillbilly’ style narrating family, loss, and rural life themes.

Rock and Roll

Youth-focused genre using electric guitar and heavy syncopation.

Soul (Pop context)

Passionate gospel-influenced pop style emphasizing heartfelt vocals.

Heavy Metal

Loud, distorted rock genre noted for aggressive themes.

Punk Rock

Fast, raw music from 1970s working-class England expressing rebellion.

Disco

Dance-floor genre with Latin-flavored rhythms and repetitive lyrics.

Rap

Spoken, rhymed verses chanted over beats, central to hip-hop culture.

Helping-with-Work Songs

African music used to coordinate and ease labor tasks.

Communication (music purpose)

African music’s role in sending messages and storytelling.

Healing (music purpose)

Use of music in African traditions for physical and spiritual health.