'Area of Study 3: Popular Music in Context' - Key Terms

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  • Created by: KGR01
  • Created on: 25-03-17 20:31
12-bar Blues
A style of Blues with a repeated 12-bar pattern (I, I, I, I, IV, IV, I, I, V, IV, I, I)
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Ambient
Slow, chilled dance music
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Bebop
A style of jazz characterised by complex harmonies and fast, syncopated rhythms
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Big band
A band that plays jazz and swing music
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Blue notes
Flattened 3rds, 7ths and sometimes 5ths
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Blues
A style of 20th century music from America with a distinct scale and swung rhythms
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Blues scale
A major scale with flattened 3rds and 7ths (and sometimes 5ths)
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BPM
Beats per minute; the tempo of the music
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Breakbeats
Electronic music that has polyrhythms, often a section where everything else ‘drops out’
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Comping
Originally short for accompanying, chords played underneath an improvised solo
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Concept album
An album where all the tracks are linked by a theme
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Cross rhythms
Two or more rhythms that don’t fit together are played at the same time (creates a polyrhythm)
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Delay
This adds echoes to music
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Distortion
An effect used (usually) on an electric guitar to distort notes
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Dixieland jazz
Music that grew up in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century; a mix of brass band marches, ragtime and blues music
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Drum machine
An electronic instrument used instead of live drums; it can be programmed with very complex patterns
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Electronic music
Any music that uses electronic devices or instruments to produce or alter sounds
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Electronica
Any music that uses electronic instruments to create it
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EQ
Short for equalization; it amplifies or removes specific frequencies
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Feedback
The noise you get when you stand too close to a speaker with a guitar or microphone; sometimes used deliberately in rock music
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Flanger
A studio effect added to a guitar to create a swirling sound
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Free jazz
A type of jazz from the 1950s and 60s with lots of improvisation, that didn’t stick to set tempi or rhythms
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Head
The main theme of a jazz piece, the melody that is played at the beginning and end
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High-pass filter
This ‘cleans’ a sample by getting rid of low-pitched noise (only allows the higher frequencies through the filter)
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Hip-hop
Music similar to rap, although often more melodic, with clear Jamaican and/or Afro-American influences
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Hook
A short, memorable bit of melody
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Improvisation
Music that’s made up on the spot by a performer, often based on a given chord progression and scale (or mode)
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Jazz
Music with lots of syncopation, improvisation and extended harmony
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Low-pass filter
This gets rid of high-pitched background noise from a sample
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Middle eight
8 bars in the middle of a song with different chords or a different melody, to add interest to the song
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MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface; a way of giving every sound made by the instrument a computer code
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Multitrack recording
When different tracks are recorded over the top of each other
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Overdub
When parts are recorded on top of each other (often after the rest of the recording is complete)
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Panning
Moving the sound within the stereo field (changes which speaker the sound comes out of)
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Phaser
A studio effect that makes a ‘whooshing’ sound
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Pitch shifter
This plays a sample at different pitches
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Power chords
Chords made up of only the tonic and the fifth (used in rock music)
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Reverb(eration)
An echo effect often used on guitars
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Riff
A short, repeated phrase (same as an ostinato)
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Sampler
A piece of electronic equipment that loops and plays samples
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Sample
A short piece of recorded sound
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****
A type of improvised singing with nonsense syllables, used in jazz
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Scoop
When a singer starts on a different note to the one written and slides to the correct note (also called a portamento or glissando)
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Sequencer
A piece of computer software that lets you make loops of music
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Sub bass
A very low bass line (that makes the speakers shake)
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Swing
A type of jazz music from the 1930s and 40s that was popular for dancing
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Synthesizer
An electronic device for creating new sounds
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Techno
Club dance music with a very fast bpm
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Slow, chilled dance music

Back

Ambient

Card 3

Front

A style of jazz characterised by complex harmonies and fast, syncopated rhythms

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

A band that plays jazz and swing music

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Flattened 3rds, 7ths and sometimes 5ths

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

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