GCSE Music AQA

MELODY:

• Rising/Ascending, falling/Descending

• Conjunct (stepwise) or disjunct (leaps)

• Chromatic (by semitone)

• Repetition or Ostinato

• Motif (a short, musical idea)

• Scalic

• Arpeggio (broken chords)

• Diatonic (based around/centered around the tonic key)

HARMONY:

• Diatonic

• Cadences: Perfect (V-I) and Plagal (IV-I), cadences sound finished, usually found at the end of a phrase or piece of music, imperfect cadence (I-V) sounds unfinished, usually found in the middle of a phrase

• Consonance (pleasing sounding chords/harmonies)

• Dissonance (clashing shounding chords/harmonies)

• Power chords (made up of the tone and dominant notes in the electric guitar in rock music)

• Primary chords (I, IV, V progression)

• Pedal notes (sustained or repeating note usually on the bass note- tonic pedal, but can also be found in inner parts - a dominant pedal)

• Walking bass line (Blues and Jazz Music)

• Arpeggio

TEXTURE:

• Monophonic (one)

• Homophonic (chordal)

• Polyphonic (many)

• Melody and Accompaniment (tune and chordal accompaniment)

• Octaves

• Unsion

• A Cappella (unaccompanied singing)

• Layering (found in minimalism)

TONALITY:

• Major (positive, pleasing)

• Minor (darker mood, sombre

• Atonal (no gravitational pull towards one particular key/tonal centre)

TEMPO:

• Largo (slow)

• Moderato (moderate)

• Allegro (fast)

• Rubato (robbed time- push and pull feel the pulse, found often in Romantic music or dances to give a sense of movement)

• Rallentando (slows down)

• Accelerando (gets faster)

RHYTHM:

• Syncopated (off-beat)

• Triplet ( 3 notes played in the time of 2)

• Augmentation (doubling the note value)

• Diminution (halving the note value)

• Cross-rhythms (3 beats against a pulse of 2)

DYNAMICS:

• Forte (loud)

• Mezzo Forte (moderately loud)

• Mezzo Piano (moderately quiet)

• Piano (quiet)

• Crescendo (getting louder)

• Diminuendo (getting quieter)

• Accent (emphasis on a note)

ARTICULATION:

• Legato (smooth)

• Staccato (short, detached notes)

FORM/STRUCTURE:

• 12-Bar Blues

• Call & Response (a musical exchange between two parts, often used in Blues & Jazz)

• Verse/Chorus (popular music)

• Binary (AB/AABB – two contrasting ideas/subjects, sections may be repeated i.e. AA)

• Ternary (ABA/AABBAA – a return to the original subject after a contrasting B section)

• Rondo (ABACAD…where there are more subjects/ideas)

• Strophic (same music accompaniment for each sung verse)

• Through-Composed (different music accompaniment for each sung verse)

HARMONIC DEVICES:

• Pedal: A sustained or repeating note, typically in the bass

• Drone: Sustained or repeated sounds, usually played the tonic and dominant notes repeatedly

RHYTHMIC DEVICES:

• Augementation: Doubling the rhythmic value of the notes

• Diminution: Halving the rhythmic value of the notes

ORNAMENTS:

• Trill: quick alternating notes

• Acciaccatura: crushed note

• Appoggiatura: grace note which delays the next note of the melody, taking half or more of its written time value

• Mordent: rapid alternation of a note with the note immediately below (lower mordent) or above (upper mordent) it in the scale

• Vocal Ornament: melisma (a group of notes sung to one syllable of text, often used to emphasise important words, create word-painting, or to show off the singer’s vocal prowess)

AOS 2: Broadway Musicals : 

• Melody: Simple easy singable and memorable tunes which are repeated throughout the songs, syllabic, conjunct or disjunct or tradic.  

• Rhythm: Syncopation, repetition, ostinatos, dotted rhythms or triplets. 

• Dynamics: used towards the extremes, Crescendos and Diminuendos 

• Texture: melody and accompaniment, unison, lots of harmony in the big numbers like in Mamma Mia. 

• Sonority/Timbre and Instrumentation: use of belt, falsetto, vibrato, use of a standard orchestra and an ensemble containing Soprano’s, Alto’s, tenors and basses. 

• Harmony: primary chords, Pedals and drones, can be dissonant but mostly consonant, cadences. 

• Articulation: Legato, slurred, staccato, Accents, Tenuto

• Tempo: Rallentando 

Examples of songs from broadway musicals: 

• Requiem from DEH which showcases the extremes in dynamics but also a mix belt on the high E5. 

• On my own from Les Miserables which showcases an easy simple melody but also again the use of a mixture between a chest and mix belt on the C5 because it showcases how pes and angry she feels about her unrequited love for Marius. 

• Dancing Queen from Mamma Mia showcases unison but includes a lot of harmony on some of the lines

Rock Music of the 60s and 70s:

• Melody: repetition, catchy tunes but also can be much more extended melodies, syllabic, including riffs

• Rhythm: syncopation, repitition, ostinato, dotted rhythms, triplets, cross rhythms

• Dynamics: Accents, varied, Sforzando

• Texture: Melody and Accompaniment, Unsion, Monophonic, Antiphonal (call and response)

• Sonority/Timbre/Instrumentation: Standard rock band containing a drum kit, electric, bass and rhythm guitar, lead vocalist and backing vocals, distortion, delay, echo,reverb, melisma

• Harmony: Primary chords, Pedals/Drones, Cadences, Consonant

• Articulation: Legato/Slurred, Staccato, Accents, Tenuto

• Tonality: Major, Minor and Modal

  Film and Gaming Music 1990-Present

• Melody: Simple melodies, repetition, conjunct, tradic

• Harmony: Primary chords, Pedals/Drones, Cadences, Consonant, dissonance

• Rhythm: Syncopation, repetition, ostinato, dotted rhythms, triplets, cross-rhythms

• Dynamics: Extremes in dynamics, cresendos and diminuedoes, Accents, Sforzando

• Texture: Melody and Accompaniment, Unsion, Monophonic, Antiphonal, Polyhonic

• Sonority/TImbre/Instrumentation: 8-bit synthesiser, Standard orchestra

• Articulation: legato, slurred, staccato, accents, tenuto

• Tonality: major, minor, modal

  Pop Music 1990-Present

• Melody: repetition, hook, catchy, singable, conjunct, triadic, melisma, riff

• Rhythm: syncopation repetitionm ostinato, dotted rhythms triplets, cross-rhythms

• Dynamics: range reflects whats in the lyric

• Texture: melody and accompaniment, unsion, monophonic, antiphonal

• Sonority,Timbre, Instrumentation: electronic instruments, drum kits, pianos, guitars, belt, falestto, backing singers, distortion, autotune, delay, echo, reverb

• Harmony: primary chords, pedals/drones, cadences, consonant

• Tonality: major, minor, modal

• Articulation: Legato, Staccato, Accents, Tenuto

  AOS 3: Blues Music 1920-1950

• Melody: Repetition, conjunct, tradic, improvisation, blue notes, melisma, syllabic, melimsa, ormamentation, protamento, glissando, smear

• Rhythm: Syncopation, repetition, ostinato, swing rhythms, straight rhythms, dotted rhythms, triplets, cross rhythms

• Dynamics: nothing special

• Texture: Melody and Accompaniment, unsion, monophonic, call and response, acapella

• Sonority/Timbre/Instrumentation: Trumpetsm trombrones, clarinets, saxophones, Acoustic guitar, Banjo, Harmonica, bass, Drum kit, vocals (improvisation)

• Harmony: Primary chords,12 bar blue structure, Added notes, pedals and drones, cadences, consonant, dissonant

• Tonality: Major, minor or modal

• Articulation: Legato, slurred, staccato, Accents, tenuto

  Fusion Music- African and Caribbean

• Melody: Simple melodies, memorable tunes, repetition, melisma, syllabic, conjunct, tradic,catchy,singable

• Rhythm: syncopation, repetition, ostinato, dotted rhythms,triplets,cross rhythms

• Dynamics: Range reflects what’s in the lyrics,accents, sforzando

• Texture: melody and axxompaniment, union, monophonic, call and response, accapella

• Sonority/Timbre/Instrumentation: standard pop instrumentsm heavy use of bass guitar, djembe, cowbell, backing singers

• Harmony: primary chords, pedals and drones, cademces, consonant

• Tonality: major, minor, modal

• Articulation: legato/slurred, stacato, accents, tenuto

• Metre: 4/4,3/4,6/8

  Contemporary Latin Music

• Melody: simple melodies, repetition, melisma, syllabic, conjunct, tradicm catchy,singable

• Rhythm: syncopation, repetition, ostinato, dotted rhythms, triplets, cross-rhythms

• Dynamics: range reflects what’s in the lyrics, accents, szforzando

• Texture: melody and accompaniment, unsion, monophonic, antiphonal, polyphonic

• Sonority/Timbre/Instrumentation: bongos, congasm agogo, surdo, claves, maracas, guiro, timbales, drum kit, guitars, trumpets, trombones

• Harmony: primary chords, pedals and drones, cadences, consonant, dissonant

• Tonality: major, minor, modal

• Articulation: legato/slurred, accents, tenuto

• Metre: often compound time, 6/8

  Contemporary folk music of the british isles

• Melody: simple melodies, memorable tunes, repetitionm melismam syllabic, conjunct, tradic

• rhythm: syncopation repetition ostinato, dotted rhythms, triplets, cross rhythms, lilty rhythms

• Dynamics: Range reflects whats in the lyric, accents, sforzando

• Texture: melody and accompaniment, unsion, monophonic, call and response, acapella

• Sonority/Timbre/instrumentation: accoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, tin whistle, violin/fiddle, bodhran, bass, accordinm harmonica, backing singers

• Harmony: primary chords, pedals and drones, cadances, consonant

• Tonality: major, minor, modal

• Articulation: legato/slurred, staccato, accents, tenuto