GCSE Music - Key terms
This should be all the key words you need to know. They'll be fairly helpful for section B too!
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- Created by: Sophie Elizabeth Coffey
- Created on: 30-04-13 19:59
12 bar blues
Style of blues with a 12 bar repeating chord pattern
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Alap
1st phase of a raga
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Alto
Low female voice
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Ambiguous tonality
When you can't tell if it's major or minor
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Atonal
Where there is no tonality
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Balafon
African instrument similar to a xylophone
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Bandish
Final phase of a raga (lyrics)
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Bansuri
Bamboo flute used in Indian music
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Bass
Low male voice
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Binary form
Type of structure with 2 distinct sections
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Block chord
When all the notes in a chord are played at once
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Blue notes
Flattened 3rds, 7ths and sometimes 5ths
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Bouzouki
Celtic string instrument, similar to a mandolin
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Bridge section
A bit of music that bridges the bit between 2 sections
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Broken chord
A chord that's played as single notes
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Cadence
Pair of chords used to finish off a phrase
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Call and response
When one instrument 'calls' and a group of instruments 'respond'
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Canon/Counterpoint
The same short melody being played by different instruments one after the other
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Chromatic notes
Notes that don't belong to the scale
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Coda
Final section of a song that's used to finish it off
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Codetta
Mini coda, used to finish a section
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Comping
Piano or guitar chords played under and improvised melody
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Complement
The 6 notes not in a hexachord
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Cross-rhythms
Rhythms played at the same time that don't fit with each other
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Delay
An effect used to add echo to music
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Development
2nd section of sonata form
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Diatonic notes
Notes that are from the scale
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Dissonance
Chords with clashing notes
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Distortion
Effect used to make a guitar sound a bit fuzzy
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Djembe
African drum played with hands
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Donno
"Talking drum" where the pitch is changed by pulling in the strings on the side
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Drone
Notes repeated under main melody
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Drum machine
Electronic instrument used in place of live drums
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Dundun
Double headed African bass drum played with sticks
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EQ
Equalisation - Amplifies or removes frequencies
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Exposition
First section of sonata form
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Falsetto
Singing notes higher than normal range
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Flanger
effect added to guitar to create a swirly sound
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Gaelic
Traditional language on which modern Irish, Welsh and Soctts is based on
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Gat
Final phase of a raga (without lyrics)
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Harmonium
Keyboard instrument powered with air pump used in Indian music
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Harpsichord
Small grand piano shaped instrument used in baroque
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Head
Main theme of jazz music
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Hemiola
When music feels like its in 2/4 but it's in 3/4
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Hexachord
The 6 main notes used in a piece of expressionism
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High pass filter
Removes low and middle frequencies
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Imitation
Repetition of a phrase with a little bit of variation
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Improvisation
Music made up on the spot based on a scale
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Jhala
3rd phase of a raga
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Jhor
2nd phase of a raga
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Klangfarbenmelodie
"Tone colour melody" when a song is made up based on a deep emotion
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Libretto
Words of an oratorio
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Low pass filter
Gets rid of background noise
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Major
A happy key
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Master drummer
Leads African music
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Mbira
African thumb piano
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Melismatic
A single syllable being given multiple notes
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Middle 8
8 bars in the middle of a song with different chords or tune
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Minor
A sad key
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Motif
A short bit of music that's repeated often
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Multi track recording
When tracks are recorded one on top of the other
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Oral tradition
When music is learnt by ear and not written down
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Oratorio
A bible story set to music
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Ornamentation
Decorations added to music e.g trills
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Ostinato
Repeated musical pattern
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Overdub
Parts recorded on top of eachother
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Panning
Changing which speaker a part come out of
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Pedal note
A note held onto under the main part
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Pentatonic scale
A scale made up of 5 notes
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Perfect cadence
V to I chord (Finished sound)
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Plagal cadence
IV to I chord (Amen sound)
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Polyrhythm
Two different rhythmic cycles with accents at different points
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Raga
Set of notes used in Indian music
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Recapitulation
3rd section of sonata form
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Reverb
Echo effect
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Riff
Short repeated phrase
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Rondo form
Structure style - A,B,A,C,A,D,A...
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Sampler
Electronic equipment that loops and plays samples
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Samples
Short bits of recorded sounds
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Sarangi
Small, bowed string instrument used in Indian music
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Sarod
Like a small sitar with a fretless fingerboard
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Sequence
Repeating a phrase at a different pitch
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Shehnai
Instrument with a double reed used in Indian music
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Sitar
Long necked string instrument with between 4 and 7 strings
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Sonata form
Structure made up of exposition, development and recapitulation
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Soprano
High female voice
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Sub bass
Bass where the frequencies are below 30 hrtz
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Syllabic
Where each syllable is set to a note
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Syncopation
Off beat
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Tabla
Drums used in Indian music
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Tambura
Similar to a sitar but with 4 metal strings
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Tenor
High male voice
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Ternary form
Structure style - A,B,C
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Trill
Twiddly ornament
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Uilleann pipes
Irish bagpipes
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Unison
Playing the same note at the same time
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Vocable
Nonsense lyrics
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Waulking
The act of waterproofing cloth
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
1st phase of a raga
Back
Alap
Card 3
Front
Low female voice
Back
Card 4
Front
When you can't tell if it's major or minor
Back
Card 5
Front
Where there is no tonality
Back
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