Music GCSE

Music GCSE glossary

441 key terms for Music GCSE, A to Z, each linked to the topic pages that use it.

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A

ABACA as the simplest rondo: The simplest rondo structure, in which A sounds, then episode B, then A again, then episode C, then A to close.Pearson Edexcel
Accent mark: An articulation and performance marking placed on or near an individual note to give it special prominence.Pearson Edexcel
Accidentals: A sharp or flat that signals the chromatic change in a note.Pearson Edexcel
Accompaniment: What supports the words but is not the words themselves.Pearson Edexcel
Accompaniment and harmony: The background supplies harmony, rhythm, pulse or atmosphere, and the piano provides chords, an accompaniment figure and harmonic support.Pearson Edexcel
Accurate attribution of features to the correct movement: Keeping the movements distinct, noting that the celebrated extended harpsichord cadenza belongs to the first movement, not this third movement.Pearson Edexcel
Accurate reading and writing of staff notation: Fluent reading and writing of staff notation, where accuracy in both, not just recognition, is required.Pearson Edexcel
Accurately using: Applying the term correctly when you describe what you hear or see.Pearson Edexcel
Album 'Sheer Heart Attack': The source album named in the statement, used as a precise identifier since the song also appeared as a single.Pearson Edexcel
Appraising: The examination context in which a skeleton score is used as a visual aid.Pearson Edexcel
Approach and resolution of dissonance: Strict rules usually govern how a dissonance is approached and its resolution back to a non-dissonant note.Pearson Edexcel
Arpeggio: The notes of a chord played in succession rather than together, strictly in continuously ascending or descending order.Pearson Edexcel
Art song: A vocal example in which the singer delivers each line of the poem over a piano accompaniment.Pearson Edexcel
Articulation: The way notes are played or sung, describing attack and connection, for example legato and staccato.Pearson Edexcel
Atonality: When a piece has no home note or key centre, we say it has an absence of tonality, or is atonal.Pearson Edexcel
Aural identification: Deciding by ear whether notes sound together or one at a time, then whether the succession moves steadily in one direction.Pearson Edexcel
Aural identification skills: Listening to a passage and naming the instruments you can pick out, then describing how they are combined.Pearson Edexcel

B

Bar counting: Counting bars from a clear starting point to a point of momentary completeness to test phrase length.Pearson Edexcel
Baroque: The period to which this set work and Purcell as its composer belong.Pearson Edexcel
Baroque concerto grosso: A Baroque work in which a concertino of soloists is set against the ripieno, as in this movement of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no.Pearson Edexcel
Baroque contrapuntal texture: The movement features contrapuntal texture, the interplay of parts, and the harpsichord is integrated into the ensemble.Pearson Edexcel
Baroque performing practice (continuo): A bass line, often figured, played by a bass instrument with a keyboard or lute filling in chords, central to Baroque music.Pearson Edexcel
Baroque period characteristics: Features such as a continuo part with figured bass, terraced dynamics, an ornament such as a trill, a fugal or imitative texture, a dance-derived binary…Pearson Edexcel
Baroque practice: Some pieces from this period use such repeating bass patterns, notably works by Purcell.Pearson Edexcel
Bars: Small numbers of beats are generally grouped into bars.Pearson Edexcel
Basic modulation and its signals: A temporary or permanent move to a related key, most commonly the dominant, often signalled by a new sharpened note and by chords that belong to the new key.Pearson Edexcel
Bass: The lowest part in the musical texture, which often determines or generates the harmony.Pearson Edexcel
Bass line: The lowest sounding part, where the pedal usually sits; it must be distinguished from a moving bass line or an ostinato pattern of changing notes.Pearson Edexcel
Basso continuo: The bass line in many Baroque orchestral, choral and chamber works, played by low strings and a chord-playing instrument.Pearson Edexcel
Bhangra as a named fusion genre: A named genre that grew from Punjabi folk traditions combined with Western popular music elements, and now has its own recognised style, artists and audiences.Pearson Edexcel
Binary form: Presents two related sections, often repeated, with contrast between them, extending an opening idea through a second related section.Pearson Edexcel
Binary, ternary and rondo plans: Common plans: binary has two sections, A and B; ternary is A–B–A with the opening returning after a contrasting middle; rondo has a recurring A alternating…Pearson Edexcel
Bowed tremolo: On a string instrument, repeats a single pitch very fast.Pearson Edexcel
Brass fanfare and heroic motif: The Main Title opens with a bold brass fanfare built on a leaping perfect fifth, establishing the heroic theme.Pearson Edexcel
Brazilian samba and bossa nova style: The piece is placed by its Brazilian samba and bossa nova roots and its Portuguese-language vocal line.Pearson Edexcel
Broken chord: Sometimes used as a synonym for arpeggio, but with a looser meaning: the notes of the chord are broken apart and may occur in any order.Pearson Edexcel

C

Cadence: The chords that conclude a musical phrase, of which there are four main types.Pearson Edexcel
Cadence types and their effect: A perfect cadence moves from chord V to chord I and sounds finished, while an imperfect cadence ends on chord V and sounds unfinished.Pearson Edexcel
Cadences and closure: A perfect cadence moves from chord V to chord I and sounds finished, an imperfect cadence ends on chord V and sounds unfinished, and a plagal cadence moves…Pearson Edexcel
Cadences and modulation: The tonic is established by features such as opening and closing notes and cadences, and a piece may modulate to related keys yet still be heard as major or…Pearson Edexcel
Ceremonial and celebratory effect: The defining purpose of a flourish for brass instruments, frequently with percussion.Pearson Edexcel
Changes of dynamics within a piece: Dynamics may change gradually or suddenly, and a single piece may move between loud and soft passages.Pearson Edexcel
Changes of sonority: Alterations within a passage, such as a muted trumpet, a change from arco to pizzicato, or a switch from strings to woodwind.Pearson Edexcel
Chord: The simultaneous sounding together of two or more notes, often used to refer to the triads in major and minor keys.Pearson Edexcel
Chord and triad membership: Whether a note belongs to a common chord or triad, which decides if it is a dissonance or a consonance.Pearson Edexcel
Chord qualities and patterns: Chords may be major, minor or diminished, and a chord pattern is the ordered succession of chords, such as a repeated four-chord loop.Pearson Edexcel
Chord scheme as a starting point: A sequence of chords to build on, acting as the stimulus for a piece composed during performance.Pearson Edexcel
Chord sequences: An ordered series of chords heard one after another, which in many styles is repeated as a loop that underpins a whole section or piece.Pearson Edexcel
Chord successions: One chord following another, as in a cadence or a repeated four-chord pattern.Pearson Edexcel
Chord symbols in contemporary notation: A capital letter alone means a major triad, a lower-case or 'm' suffix means minor, and a '7' adds a minor seventh above the root.Pearson Edexcel
Chordal (homophonic) texture: Parts are stacked and move together in chords, giving a clear melody with block accompaniment.Pearson Edexcel
Chords and double stops: A chord or double stop is produced when the player presses fingers on more than one string and draws the bow across them so the stopped strings sound…Pearson Edexcel
Chromatic alteration and weakened tonality: Use of notes outside the prevailing diatonic set, producing dense semitone movement or a weakened sense of key.Pearson Edexcel
Chromatic slide: A slide that fills the movement in semitone steps.Pearson Edexcel
Chromaticism: Notes progressing by semitones, especially to a tone having the same letter name, such as C to C sharp.Pearson Edexcel
Classical period style and expression: A solo piano work of the Classical period with dynamic extremes and sudden contrasts.Pearson Edexcel
Classical-period large-scale form: A large-scale form which evolved in the Classical period.Pearson Edexcel
Combination of binary and ternary elements: The form combines elements of binary form and ternary form.Pearson Edexcel
Comparison with language: A guide to grouping, not a rule that every phrase matches a sentence.Pearson Edexcel
Complete texture: What a skeleton score does not show, since it presents a single leading part instead.Pearson Edexcel
Composition during performance: A piece composed as it is performed, rather than fully written out in advance.Pearson Edexcel
Concertino and ripieno forces: The concertino is the grouping of flute, violin and harpsichord, set against the ripieno strings, which are the accompanying forces.Pearson Edexcel
Concertino and ripieno textures: The interplay between the solo trio of flute, violin and harpsichord and the tutti, with the harpsichord also taking a continuo role.Pearson Edexcel
Conjunct: A synonym for ‘stepwise’, describing motion that moves by adjacent notes of a scale, one degree at a time.Pearson Edexcel
Consistency of a shared line: The duplication runs through the passage rather than being a single shared note.Pearson Edexcel
Consonance and dissonance: A dissonance is a note that does not belong to a common chord or triad, while a consonance is a non-dissonant note.Pearson Edexcel
Continuo: In Baroque scores it labels the basso continuo line, a bass part with figures played by a chordal instrument such as harpsichord or organ, often with a bass…Pearson Edexcel
Contrast in the middle section: Section B must supply pronounced contrast, for example a change of key, texture, dynamics, register or melodic character, so the return of A feels like a…Pearson Edexcel
Contrast with straight rhythm: Distinguished from styles that keep straight, even quavers rather than the unequal long–short lilt across the beat.Pearson Edexcel
Contrasting episodes (B, C): The passages between statements of the main section, supplying contrast typically through a new melody, key area, texture or mood.Pearson Edexcel
Counterpoint: Two or more simultaneous melody lines that are largely independent, each with its own shape and movement.Pearson Edexcel
Crescendo: A gradual increase in loudness, shown by a hairpin sign widening or the word cresc.Pearson Edexcel
Cultural roots and combination of traditions: Each named genre combines at least two traditions, so match the specific genre to the musical cultures it combines.Pearson Edexcel

D

Da capo: An opening section, a contrasting middle, then a return to the opening, which can mirror a text that restates its opening thought.Pearson Edexcel
Dance-step origin: The rhythm imitates a dance step in which the foot lands long, then lifts short.Pearson Edexcel
Decoration versus structural change: Adding notes around a melody, whether written by the composer or added by a performer, as opposed to changing the harmony or replacing the melody.Pearson Edexcel
Degree of separation between notes: How far a note is separated from the note that follows it, ranging from minimal to much greater.Pearson Edexcel
Diatonic slide: A slide linking notes within the same scale or key.Pearson Edexcel
Diminuendo: A gradual decrease in loudness, also called a decrescendo, shown by a hairpin sign or the word dim.Pearson Edexcel
Disjunct: Describes movement by leaps over one or more scale degrees, for example C up to G, and contrasts with conjunct motion.Pearson Edexcel
Dissonance: A clash that often results when changing chords bring notes against a fixed note.Pearson Edexcel
Dissonance, ostinato and tension: 'Rebel Blockade Runner' uses ostinato, chromaticism and dissonance to create tension in the space battle.Pearson Edexcel
Distinction between accents and dynamics: A dynamic such as forte sets the overall level of a passage, whereas an accent singles out one note within that level.Pearson Edexcel
Distinction from ternary form: Ternary (ABA) has only one return of A and no second episode, whereas rondo has several A statements separated by different episodes.Pearson Edexcel
Distinguishing doubling from harmony: Harmony uses parts moving in different intervals, whereas doubling repeats the same line, and momentary unison on one note is not doubling.Pearson Edexcel
Distinguishing rhythm devices: Swing is not a change of speed, a literal dotted rhythm or syncopation, which shifts accents rather than lengthening the first of a pair.Pearson Edexcel
Distinguishing solo from duet and ensemble textures: A solo has one featured performer, a duet has two featured performers, and a tutti passage uses the full ensemble.Pearson Edexcel
Dots and ties: A dot or tie changes a note's length, so the written value alone is not the whole duration.Pearson Edexcel
Dotted rhythm: A pair of notes consisting of a dotted note and a shorter note, the two making up a complete beat or number of beats, or several successive such pairs.Pearson Edexcel
Dotted rhythms: A basic rhythmic device where a dot lengthens a note by half its value, creating a long-short feel.Pearson Edexcel
Doubling: One performer consistently plays or sings the same notes as another, strictly speaking at the same octave, though duplication at the octave may be involved.Pearson Edexcel
Dramatic dynamic and expressive writing: Beethoven's use of dynamic contrast, sforzando accents and dramatic chordal texture as expressive devices.Pearson Edexcel
Dramatic vocal climax: A powerful solo vocal line with orchestral accompaniment builds in intensity to a dramatic climax.Pearson Edexcel
Duration: In rhythmic terms, the length of a note — how long it sounds or is held.Pearson Edexcel
Duration versus pitch and tempo: Duration is distinct from pitch, how high or low, and from tempo, how fast the beat moves.Pearson Edexcel
Dynamic markings: Common markings from quietest to loudest are pp, p, mp, mf, f and ff, and a single marking sets a level rather than a change.Pearson Edexcel
Dynamic symbols and Italian terms: Symbols written in a score to indicate volume, such as f for forte (loud) and p for piano (soft).Pearson Edexcel
Dynamics: Words such as loud and soft describe this element of music, which is distinct from pitch.Pearson Edexcel
Dynamics, tempo and expressive devices: Correct terms for tempo, dynamics and texture describe how the music builds towards a climax, using precise words such as crescendo and accelerando.Pearson Edexcel

E

Effect of omitting semitone steps: Leaving out the semitone steps that create strong dissonance gives pentatonic melodies an open sound, common in folk music and improvisation.Pearson Edexcel
Effective scoring and balance: Instrumentation that suits the music's purpose, creates the intended mood, balances melody and accompaniment, and exploits each instrument's strengths.Pearson Edexcel
Elaboration of existing melodic material: Adding extra pitch detail to existing musical ideas, most often to a tune, while the underlying line stays recognisable.Pearson Edexcel
Electronic and instrumental effects: Devices that alter timbre or pitch, such as a wah wah pedal sweeping a filter or a flanger producing a swirling, jet-like sweep.Pearson Edexcel
Electronic production and programmed sounds: Traditional instruments are used alongside programmed or sampled sounds, and the balance between live-sounding and electronic timbres should be described.Pearson Edexcel
Electronic sequencing: A program records, arranges and plays back note events, often driving virtual instruments or synthesizers.Pearson Edexcel
Emphasis and attack: The performer produces prominence through a stronger attack or emphasis on the marked note, standing out from its neighbours.Pearson Edexcel
Ensemble and grouping types: The grouping may be a solo instrument, duet, small ensemble, orchestral section, full orchestra, choir, rock band or a mixed grouping.Pearson Edexcel
Ensembles combining instruments and voices: Performers may be combined, so the answer may name more than one performer.Pearson Edexcel
Evaluating musical effect: Judging whether the instrumentation is used effectively for the music's purpose, supporting the judgement with evidence from the extract.Pearson Edexcel
Exact versus varied repetition: The opening section is repeated exactly or varied; if the returning A is altered, it is still ternary provided the opening material is recognisably recalled.Pearson Edexcel
Exposition, development and recapitulation: The three working stages of the form, in which the main thematic material is presented, worked through change, and brought back.Pearson Edexcel
Expressive shaping: Slight lifts, changes of bow or breath, or subtle shaping of dynamics and timing at the joins.Pearson Edexcel
Extension of melodic material: Adding new material that grows from the melody, such as a longer phrase or a new section.Pearson Edexcel

F

Fanfare: Bold opening music built on perfect fifths and triadic writing, performed by the prominent brass of the large symphony orchestra.Pearson Edexcel
Figured bass: A Baroque bass line with numerals underneath to indicate the chords to be realised by the continuo keyboard player.Pearson Edexcel
Figured bass realisation: Completing the harmony by reading the figures to add chords, done by a chord-playing instrument such as harpsichord, organ or lute.Pearson Edexcel
Film music and leitmotif: Music written for a film; a leitmotif is used by Williams to signal heroism and danger.Pearson Edexcel
First main idea: The idea that the opening passage prepares for or introduces, and which begins after the introduction.Pearson Edexcel
Form and structure as synonymous terms: The specification treats the two words as largely synonymous, so either may appear in a question for the same concept.Pearson Edexcel
Foundational musical material: The material a piece grows from, rather than a decorative or accompanying figure.Pearson Edexcel
Function of an introduction: Preparing for or introducing the first main idea, rather than its length or instrumentation, is what matters.Pearson Edexcel
Fundamental and harmonics: Each sound combines a fundamental and a series of much less clearly heard higher pitches called harmonics.Pearson Edexcel
Fusion: A piece that blends Brazilian samba-related rhythmic feel with jazz harmony and a reflective, ballad-like character.Pearson Edexcel
Fusion becoming an established genre: Some fusions have become genres in their own right, with their own conventions and audience, rather than remaining one-off blends.Pearson Edexcel
Fusion of African, Celtic and Western popular styles: Release combines African and Celtic musical influences with Western popular and electronic dance music.Pearson Edexcel
Fusion of West African and Celtic traditions: The group combines West African and Celtic musical traditions with electronic dance production, so listening must pick out both acoustic and technology-based…Pearson Edexcel

G

Gradual dynamic change: A progressive change such as a crescendo or diminuendo, which differs from a sudden jump from one dynamic to another.Pearson Edexcel
Ground bass: A repeating bass pattern over which the vocal line unfolds, repeating while the melody changes.Pearson Edexcel
Guitar technique: A technique on the guitar used to facilitate fast playing by avoiding the need to pick every note.Pearson Edexcel

H

Hammer-on: A technique where a finger strikes down onto the fingerboard to start a higher note.Pearson Edexcel
Hammer-ons and pull-offs: Techniques where a finger on the fretboard strikes or releases a string to sound the next note, so notes are sounded by the fretting hand rather than by…Pearson Edexcel
Harmonic and melodic minor: Forms of minor that raise the seventh degree, and the sixth in melodic minor.Pearson Edexcel
Harmonic chord progressions: Chords built on scale degrees and how they follow one another, such as I–IV–V–I in C major using C major, F major, G major then C major.Pearson Edexcel
Harmonic support: What the accompanying parts provide for the melody, rather than competing tunes.Pearson Edexcel
Harmonising a given melody: Choosing chords that fit the melody's pitches and support its phrasing.Pearson Edexcel
Harmony: Notes sounded together rather than a single line of pitches, covering a succession of chords and sometimes single chords.Pearson Edexcel
Harmony, tonality and chord colour: Changes of key or chord colour can be linked to the dramatic meaning of the lyrics.Pearson Edexcel
Harmony's interaction with melody and texture: Harmony or a chord pattern can interact with melody, bass or texture, and a tonic pedal or repeated chord loop can anchor the harmony.Pearson Edexcel
Heterophony: The same melodic idea presented simultaneously in varied versions, common in some folk traditions.Pearson Edexcel
Home note and tonic: In atonal music no single note or chord feels like 'home', so a tonic cannot be named.Pearson Edexcel
Homophonic: A texture where one melody is supported by block chords, so the parts are not independent melodic lines.Pearson Edexcel
Homophony: A melody set against chordal accompaniment, so the parts move largely together in rhythm.Pearson Edexcel

I

Identifying performers by timbre: Listening for the distinctive sound of each part and matching it to the correct instrument or voice rather than guessing from the style of the music.Pearson Edexcel
Imitation: Two or more parts share the same melodic idea, though not necessarily in full, exactly or at the same pitch.Pearson Edexcel
Imitation and contrapuntal writing: Independent interweaving lines that imitate or copy one another give polyphonic or contrapuntal texture, as when each voice enters in turn with the same tune.Pearson Edexcel
Imperfect cadence: A cadence that ends on V, approached from I or another non-dominant chord, and sounds unfinished.Pearson Edexcel
Instrument families and timbres: Sounds are classified by family and by how they are produced, and timbre, register and articulation help separate instruments that sound alike.Pearson Edexcel
Instrumentation: The instrument(s) and/or voice(s) that perform the music, named using recognised instrument and voice names.Pearson Edexcel
Instrumentation and mood: Williams uses instrumentation and dynamics to signal heroism or danger and to link features to on-screen action and atmosphere.Pearson Edexcel
Instrumentation and timbre: Electronic and sampled sounds are heard alongside acoustic instruments, and electronic timbres shape the sound.Pearson Edexcel
Interpretation of composer's markings: Following the divisions composers often show with phrase marks, slurs or breath marks.Pearson Edexcel
Interval: Two notes, distinguished from a chord, which requires two or more notes sounding simultaneously.Pearson Edexcel
Interval calculation: Counting five letter names inclusive from the tonic and checking the interval is a perfect 5th, keeping the same mode unless told otherwise.Pearson Edexcel
Interval of a minor third: Three semitones, the distance counted down from the major tonic to the relative minor tonic, or up from the minor tonic to the relative major tonic.Pearson Edexcel
Interval quality: An adjective expressing the major, minor, diminished or augmented character of an interval.Pearson Edexcel
Interval recognition: The minor 3rd is an interval of three semitones, and this interval is the clearest single test distinguishing minor from major tonality.Pearson Edexcel
Intervals: The distance between two neighbouring notes or two notes heard simultaneously, stated as an ordinal number with an adjective.Pearson Edexcel
Introduction: The opening passage or section heard before the first main idea arrives, whose job is to prepare for or introduce that idea.Pearson Edexcel

J

Jazz performance style: Equal written notes are performed unequally with a 'long–short' feel, giving a lilting rather than a square pair.Pearson Edexcel
Jazz style: A style whose defining rhythmic feature is swing, with a relaxed, lilting momentum rather than rigid even quavers.Pearson Edexcel
Justifying a structure from listening evidence: Naming a structure and citing repetition, contrast or return of material actually heard in the extract as the reason for the label.Pearson Edexcel

K

Key relationships centred on C minor: The home key of C minor shapes the movement's dark, dramatic character, with moves to related keys including E♭ major.Pearson Edexcel
Key signatures: The sharps or flats that relative keys share, for example one flat (B♭) for F major and D minor, or one sharp (F♯) for E minor and G major.Pearson Edexcel
Key signatures and cadences: Cadences that would normally confirm a key are avoided or undermined, and no key signature governs the music.Pearson Edexcel
Key signatures to four sharps and four flats: Recognising and writing signatures up to four sharps and four flats, and identifying the major or minor key each represents.Pearson Edexcel

L

Layered texture and groove construction: Parts enter and drop out to build and vary the groove, giving a layered texture.Pearson Edexcel
Layered texture and repetition: The layers of the texture should be recognised, and the music builds through repetition and layering as melodic ideas from different traditions are combined.Pearson Edexcel
Leading part: What a skeleton score usually shows most or all of, rather than the complete texture.Pearson Edexcel
Leaping: Another name for disjunct motion, where the melody jumps between notes that are not adjacent, for example C up to G or D down to A.Pearson Edexcel
Leaps of a third or more: Movement of a third or larger, which falls outside the description of a melody moving by steps.Pearson Edexcel
Legato: Articulation in which notes are smoothly joined.Pearson Edexcel
Legato and economy of picking: A smoother, connected line at speed, with economy of right-hand picking so the picking hand rests or moves less.Pearson Edexcel
Legato and smooth connection: Minimal separation, where notes are played smoothly and connected.Pearson Edexcel
Leitmotif: A device in which themes associated with characters or ideas recur across the score.Pearson Edexcel
Listening and identification: When you listen, identify which part is foregrounded and which parts are subordinate, then describe how the background supports the principal part.Pearson Edexcel
Listening evidence: Audible support for a feature choice, for example a sustained bass line under a melody or a sudden change from loud to soft.Pearson Edexcel
Long–short note pairing: A longer note is paired with a shorter one inside each triplet grouping, giving the lilting, walking feel.Pearson Edexcel
Long–short quaver pairing: Written equal quavers are performed with a triplet-based lilt, making the pair unequal, long then short.Pearson Edexcel
Low strings and chord-playing instruments: The group combining low string instruments with a chord-playing instrument, which together form the continuo.Pearson Edexcel
Lyrics: The words to which a song is set, applying to music in popular styles.Pearson Edexcel

M

Major and minor key systems: Familiar key systems distinguished by the third degree and by the pattern of whole and half steps, with minor commonly showing a raised leading note in…Pearson Edexcel
Major and minor patterns: A major scale follows the pattern of tones and semitones producing a bright, stable sound, while a minor scale uses a different pattern giving a darker colour.Pearson Edexcel
Major and minor tonality: A major key tends to sound bright because of its major third above the tonic, while a minor key sounds darker because of its minor third.Pearson Edexcel
Major and minor triads: A major triad shows a root, a major third above it and a perfect fifth above the root, while a minor triad lowers the third by a semitone.Pearson Edexcel
Major pentatonic degree pattern: The form that takes degrees 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of a major scale, omitting 4 and 7.Pearson Edexcel
Major scale construction: Major tonality is built from a major scale, and the rest of the scale pattern follows from the major 3rd between scale degrees 1 and 3.Pearson Edexcel
Major scale structure: The major scale follows the familiar arrangement of tones and semitones that produces its bright, stable sound.Pearson Edexcel
Major versus minor tonality: The major 3rd is the clearest single test distinguishing major from minor tonality, giving a bright, stable sound.Pearson Edexcel
Matching sound description to named effect: In an MCQ, linking the description of the sound to the correct named effect and ruling out options describing a different device.Pearson Edexcel
Matching terms to audible evidence: Matching the term to what you actually hear in that work and avoiding a term just because it sounds impressive.Pearson Edexcel
Measured repeated-note rhythm: A slower, metrically regular repetition, distinguished from a tremolo by its speed and blurred effect.Pearson Edexcel
Melisma: A group of notes used to set just one syllable of text.Pearson Edexcel
Melismatic: The adjective describing a melodic line or passage in which several notes are used to set a single syllable of text.Pearson Edexcel
Melodic contour and devices: The shape of a melodic line, whether it steps or leaps, rises or falls, and basic devices such as repetition, sequence, imitation and contrary motion between…Pearson Edexcel
Melodic devices: Methods concerning what one part does on its own, rather than how all the parts combine.Pearson Edexcel
Melodic line: An alternative term for a melody, a succession of single sounds that is usually tuneful or otherwise prominent or memorable.Pearson Edexcel
Melodic movement: Motion from one note to the next, where a leap is movement to a note further than a tone or semitone from the previous note.Pearson Edexcel
Melodic part: A single line in which the pitch device occurs, so the focus is on what that line does rather than on how the whole texture is built.Pearson Edexcel
Melodic sequence: A melodic idea restated at a different pitch level, keeping its interval pattern and rhythm.Pearson Edexcel
Melodic sharing and variation: A part may quote only a fragment, vary the rhythm or interval, or enter at a different octave.Pearson Edexcel
Melodic theme as a starting point: A short tune the improviser develops as the stimulus for a piece composed during performance.Pearson Edexcel
Melodic variation: Small differences between simultaneous versions of one line, such as ornamental variants rather than separate melodies.Pearson Edexcel
Melody: A succession of single sounds, most frequently an individual strand or part within a fuller musical texture, and usually tuneful or otherwise prominent or…Pearson Edexcel
Melody and accompaniment: A relationship in which one part clearly carries the tune while the other subsidiary parts support it.Pearson Edexcel
Metre: Sets up an expected pattern of strong and weak positions, such as the first and third beats being normally strong in simple quadruple.Pearson Edexcel
Metre and pulse: How beats group into bars, with the pulse being the steady underlying beat you tap.Pearson Edexcel
Minor pentatonic degree pattern: The form that takes degrees 1, 3, 4, 5 and a flattened 7 of a minor scale, omitting 2 and 6.Pearson Edexcel
Minor scale construction: Minor tonality is based on a minor scale, whose defining interval is the minor 3rd between scale degree 1 and scale degree 3.Pearson Edexcel
Minor versus major tonality: The minor 3rd gives the characteristic darker quality associated with minor keys, distinguishing minor tonality from major tonality.Pearson Edexcel
Modal centres and diatonic modes: Music that stays within a diatonic set but centres on a mode such as Dorian or Mixolydian, giving a different colour from major or minor.Pearson Edexcel
Modal tonality: Tonality based on modes, which are scale-types that predate modern major and minor scales.Pearson Edexcel
Modulation from tonic to dominant or relative major: The A section usually modulates from the tonic to the dominant or relative major.Pearson Edexcel
Monophonic: Describes music in which only one note is heard at a time – a single melodic line.Pearson Edexcel
Monophonic, homophonic and polyphonic textures: A single unaccompanied line is monophonic, a melody with chordal accompaniment moving together is homophonic, and independent interweaving lines are polyphonic.Pearson Edexcel
Monophony: A single melodic line, whether performed by one performer or several in unison or octaves.Pearson Edexcel
Motivic working: Taking a short cell and transposing, inverting, fragmenting or sequencing it.Pearson Edexcel
Murky bass: A bass with a pattern of broken octaves, as in parts of Beethoven's Pathétique sonata.Pearson Edexcel
Music technology: The same result as the mute can be obtained via music technology as a studio effect.Pearson Edexcel
Musical 'Wicked': The source is the album of the cast recording of the musical 'Wicked', not a film soundtrack.Pearson Edexcel
Musical conventions: Accepted practices that composers or performers follow, which shape music in different times and places.Pearson Edexcel
Musical elements vocabulary: A vocabulary bank for each work covering melody, harmony and tonality, rhythm and metre, texture, dynamics, timbre and instrumentation, and form.Pearson Edexcel
Musical features of the set work: The musical features identify Purcell's style, and a stated feature should be matched to evidence in the work rather than to the title alone.Pearson Edexcel
Musical structure in performance: Shaping and clarifying musical structure rather than playing continuously, giving a sense of breathing and structure rather than a continuous unbroken stream…Pearson Edexcel
musical vocabulary and terminology: Appropriate words related to the areas of study, recognised and used accurately.Pearson Edexcel

N

Named simple structures: Verse and chorus, call and response, binary and theme and variations, each identified from listening rather than from the title alone.Pearson Edexcel
Nature of musical sound: What kind of sound it is, such as a bowed string, a plucked string, a struck metal bar or a breath-driven pipe.Pearson Edexcel
Non-classical genres: The musical styles in which the extended sustaining or repeating of a note or harmonic interval is especially common.Pearson Edexcel
Note lengthening and shortening: The first of a pair of equal notes is held longer and the second is shortened, while the overall duration is broadly preserved.Pearson Edexcel
Note values and the effect of the dot: The dot adds half the value of the note it follows, so a dotted crotchet lasts a crotchet plus a quaver.Pearson Edexcel
Number of parts: Texture concerns how many parts sound at once, so count the parts before choosing a texture term.Pearson Edexcel

O

Octave span and letter names: A scale usually extends across an octave, returning to the same letter name at the upper or lower octave, with seven distinct letter names in the example.Pearson Edexcel
Off-the-beat rhythms: Some rhythms come off the beat, which is linked to syncopation.Pearson Edexcel
Onomatopoeia: A name that is onomatopoeic imitates the sound itself, here rather like ‘wah wah’.Pearson Edexcel
Ordinal numbers: Most intervals are stated as these, such as 2nds and 3rds, counted inclusively from the lower to the upper note.Pearson Edexcel
Organisation of musical material: How a piece arranges its musical material over time, including simple structures such as verse and chorus, call and response, binary and theme and variations.Pearson Edexcel
Organisation of pitch: A compositional method applying to a single melodic line rather than to the complete texture, for example melodic sequence.Pearson Edexcel
Ornamentation: Decorative added notes such as trills, mordents and turns that embellish a main melodic line.Pearson Edexcel
Ostinato: A repeating device comparable to a riff, which is a short repeated melodic or rhythmic figure.Pearson Edexcel
Overall form and named structures: The overall plan of a piece, which may be identified by a standard label such as binary, ternary, rondo, strophic, verse and chorus, sonata form or theme and…Pearson Edexcel
Overall shape of a composition: The large-scale plan of a whole piece, describing how its sections are arranged and relate across the composition.Pearson Edexcel

P

Pairing a long dotted note with a shorter note: The long note carries a dot and the short note follows immediately, together equalling a whole beat or whole beats.Pearson Edexcel
Part: A single melodic line, so counting parts means counting independent lines rather than counting instruments or players.Pearson Edexcel
Pedal: A note, usually in the bass and generally either the tonic or dominant of the key, which is sustained or repeated while chords change.Pearson Edexcel
Pedal point: A sustained or repeated note held under changing harmony.Pearson Edexcel
Pentatonic note sets: A five-note set, often the major pentatonic using scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, so it lacks semitone tension.Pearson Edexcel
Pentatonic scale: A five-note scale that uses five different pitches rather than the seven of a major or minor scale.Pearson Edexcel
Perfect 5th interval: The harmonic interval most notably treated this way, equal to seven semitones, for example from C up to G.Pearson Edexcel
Perfect cadence: A cadence identified by the movement V‒I, which sounds finished.Pearson Edexcel
Performance directions: Instructions in the score, such as 'pizzicato' and 'arco', that tell the player how the music is to be performed.Pearson Edexcel
Performance techniques producing articulation: Articulation can be produced by bowing, tonguing on a wind instrument, finger release on a keyboard, or consonants in singing.Pearson Edexcel
Performing dynamic markings: Performers change how much force or breath they use so the volume heard matches the symbol.Pearson Edexcel
Performing forces: Voice, acoustic bass and acoustic guitar, with no drum kit or percussion section.Pearson Edexcel
Performing forces of the set recording: The recording uses voice, acoustic bass and acoustic guitar only, with no drum kit or percussion.Pearson Edexcel
Period recognition: Linking a feature to the Baroque period rather than to another era, using the correct period label and rejecting distractors that describe features of a…Pearson Edexcel
Phrase: A short passage of music to some extent comparable to a phrase in speaking or writing, forming a coherent unit.Pearson Edexcel
Phrase boundaries: Points of momentary completeness or pause in the music, between which bars can be counted.Pearson Edexcel
Phrasing and articulation: The correct observance of divisions between whole phrases and sometimes shorter groups of notes, often to accord with a composer's phrase markings.Pearson Edexcel
Piano-led texture and vocal harmony: Piano-led accompaniment combined with rock instrumentation and layered vocal harmonies, with changes of texture between verses and chorus.Pearson Edexcel
Pitch: Refers to how high or low sounds are, and describes height only.Pearson Edexcel
Placing features in the correct movement: The famous extended harpsichord cadenza belongs to the first movement, not the third, so keep the third movement description separate.Pearson Edexcel
Plagal cadence: A cadence identified by the movement IV‒I, ending on the tonic.Pearson Edexcel
Plucked versus bowed tone: Plucking gives a short, percussive attack with quick decay, while bowing gives a sustained, singing tone.Pearson Edexcel
Polyphonic: Describes a texture with two or more parts sounding together, or, in its narrower sense, two or more simultaneous and largely independent melody lines.Pearson Edexcel
Polyphony: Two or more independent melodic lines of equal interest combined, as in imitation or a fugal entry.Pearson Edexcel
Popular vocal music: Area of Study 2, in which this set work is studied as a popular song for solo voice with band accompaniment.Pearson Edexcel
Portamento: A movement smaller than a semitone, which a singer can produce but a pianist on fixed keys cannot.Pearson Edexcel
Pre-conceived stimulus: A plan or seed idea prepared beforehand, such as a melodic theme or chord scheme, that guides the performance.Pearson Edexcel
Precise versus vague language: Using precise terms such as 'allegro' or 'forte' instead of vague words such as 'fast' or 'loud', and saying what is fast or loud.Pearson Edexcel
Precursors of modern scales: Modes are scale-types that predate modern major and minor scales.Pearson Edexcel
Principal part versus background: The principal part carries the melody or the main musical interest, while the background supplies harmony, rhythm, pulse or atmosphere beneath or around it.Pearson Edexcel
Production and arrangement: The composer enters notes, rhythms and timbres on a timeline or piano-roll and layers tracks, and the software plays the result.Pearson Edexcel
Pull-off: A guitar articulation in which a fretting finger pulls the string off the fingerboard so the released string vibrates to sound the pitch.Pearson Edexcel
Purcell: A composer whose works use repeating bass patterns, given as supporting context for the Baroque association.Pearson Edexcel
Purcell as composer: Henry Purcell is the composer of the set work 'Music for a While', and each composer should be linked firmly to their own work.Pearson Edexcel
Pure bell-like harmonic tone: The touch point determines which higher harmonic is heard, giving a clear, pure tone.Pearson Edexcel

Q

Quality and tone colour: The colour or character of a sound, such as bright, dark, warm, nasal, reedy or mellow.Pearson Edexcel
Queen as performer: The artist behind the song, which is not by a solo singer.Pearson Edexcel

R

Range and pitch span: The distance between the lowest and highest notes in a single melodic part, measured by identifying its lowest pitch and its highest pitch.Pearson Edexcel
Recognising: Spotting a term or symbol on the page and knowing what it signals.Pearson Edexcel
Recognising syncopation in styles: The effect of disturbing or playing with the expected pulse is common in jazz, pop, reggae and much twentieth-century music.Pearson Edexcel
Recurring main section (A): The section that returns several times in a rondo, acting as the anchor so that listeners recognise the return.Pearson Edexcel
Regular beat: Most music has a regular beat rather as most people have a regular pulse.Pearson Edexcel
Related keys: Keys such as the dominant, which shares most notes with the home key but shifts the centre of gravity, and the subdominant.Pearson Edexcel
Relating aural and score evidence: Comparing each option against what you actually hear or see in the score, checking both the melodic behaviour and the harmonic support before choosing.Pearson Edexcel
Relating structure to audible features: Linking each structural claim to a specific feature of the extract, such as a cadence, a new theme or a return, rather than guessing.Pearson Edexcel
Relationship between parts: Texture also concerns how the parts relate, whether they move together, imitate one another or are independent.Pearson Edexcel
Relationship of music to poem stanzas: The music repeats while the words of the poem's stanzas change, or the music changes from stanza to stanza.Pearson Edexcel
Relationship of notes to a principal note: The other notes are heard to lean towards the home note, and a melody that keeps settling on one note demonstrates the concept.Pearson Edexcel
Relationship of voice, bass and guitar: The bass and guitar share accompaniment and solo roles, and the texture shifts between voice with accompaniment and passages where the instruments carry the…Pearson Edexcel
Relative major and minor relationship: Major keys and their relative minors have the same key signature, but the two keys sound different because their tonic and scale patterns differ.Pearson Edexcel
Repeated pitch: Use of the same pitch repeatedly in a melodic part, so the same note is sounded again and again rather than moving up or down.Pearson Edexcel
Repeated sections (AABB): Each section is usually repeated, giving an AABB pattern.Pearson Edexcel
Repeating bass phrase: A short phrase in the lowest line that returns again and again, unchanged, while the music above varies.Pearson Edexcel
repeats: Repeated sections or passages of music, rather than any repeated note.Pearson Edexcel
Repetition and variation: Restating the melody recognisably, or altering rhythm, pitch, texture or instrumentation while keeping its identity.Pearson Edexcel
Repetition versus newly composed music: The key test is whether the music for each stanza is the same or similar, or whether it is newly composed.Pearson Edexcel
Repetition, contrast and return: What a listener hears coming back unchanged, what changes, and what returns, used to match the pattern to a structure label.Pearson Edexcel
Repetition, contrast and variation: The ways sections relate to one another, for example through repetition, contrast or variation of a previous idea, shaping the whole.Pearson Edexcel
Resolution: What happens when the harmony settles onto a chord that agrees with the sustained or repeated note.Pearson Edexcel
Rests and thinning texture: Where one line or both lines rest, the texture thins to one note or to silence without changing the number of parts.Pearson Edexcel
Return of opening material: After section B, the opening section is repeated, either exactly or varied, so the listener hears the opening idea again.Pearson Edexcel
Return to the tonic via other keys: The B section returns to the tonic, usually via other keys.Pearson Edexcel
Rhythm: The relationship between sounds and the passage of time, often concerning conventional groupings such as dotted rhythms.Pearson Edexcel
Rhythm, groove and metre: Rhythm and groove drive the piece, and sections, tempo and metre changes should be identified.Pearson Edexcel
Rhythmic notation in simple time: Reading and writing note values, rests, dots and bar divisions in simple time.Pearson Edexcel
Rhythmic stress: Can come from an accent mark, a longer note value, a change of pitch or articulation, or the natural emphasis of a melody.Pearson Edexcel
Rich: A descriptive term for a full, warm sound quality, as opposed to a weak, edgeless one.Pearson Edexcel
Riff: A short repeated melodic or rhythmic figure in popular styles of music, functioning much like an ostinato.Pearson Edexcel
Role of the bass: Shapes groove and harmony, providing the rhythmic and harmonic foundation beneath the sung melody.Pearson Edexcel
Role of the fretting hand in sound production: The fretting finger itself sets the string vibrating, rather than the picking hand attacking the string.Pearson Edexcel
Roman numeral chord labelling: Roman numerals describe chords by scale degree, with capital IV a major triad on the fourth degree and lower-case iv minor.Pearson Edexcel
Roman numeral labelling of chords: Numerals from I to VII label chords in traditional harmony according to which degree of the scale is used as the root.Pearson Edexcel
Rondo: Keeps returning to a principal theme between contrasting episodes.Pearson Edexcel
Root versus bass note: The numeral is chosen by the root, the scale degree on which the triad is built, not by the lowest sounding note.Pearson Edexcel
Rounded: A descriptive label for the character of a performer's or instrument's sound.Pearson Edexcel

S

Salsa as a named fusion genre: A named genre that developed from Cuban and other Caribbean and Latin traditions combined with jazz and popular dance-band elements, and now has its own…Pearson Edexcel
Scale and mode: The notes of a scale or mode relate to a principal note, and modes and other pitch organisations are covered by the wider term.Pearson Edexcel
Scale degrees and the tonic as reference point: The degrees of the key are numbered from the tonic upwards, written I to VII, with I on the tonic.Pearson Edexcel
Score reading and cancellation of directions: A direction in the score stays in force until it is cancelled, as 'arco' cancels 'pizzicato' and means '[with] the bow'.Pearson Edexcel
Score terminology: The vocabulary you use to read and describe a printed score.Pearson Edexcel
Section boundaries and cadences: The places where one section begins and ends, located by referring to audible features such as cadences, changes of texture, new melodic material or returns…Pearson Edexcel
Section order and return of material: Identifying form by listening for where new material begins, where earlier material returns, and how many distinct sections can be heard.Pearson Edexcel
Semitones: The smallest step on the keyboard, from one key to the very next, black or white.Pearson Edexcel
Sequence: A restatement of a motif at a higher or lower pitch, unlike repetition at the same pitch.Pearson Edexcel
Seventh chords such as G7: A symbol such as G7 is a G major triad with an added minor seventh above the root.Pearson Edexcel
Several distinct mode types: There are several types of mode, not a single mode, and each type has its own series of tones and semitones.Pearson Edexcel
Short brass passage in orchestral works: The second sense of the term, covering any short passage for brass inside an orchestral work.Pearson Edexcel
Simple versus compound time: In simple time each beat divides into two, while in compound time each beat divides into three.Pearson Edexcel
Simultaneity of pitches: The key test for monophonic texture: if a second pitch sounds at the same instant, the texture is no longer monophonic.Pearson Edexcel
Simultaneous parts: Two or more parts sounding at the same time, which in this texture present the same melodic line.Pearson Edexcel
Single chords: An isolated chord on its own, which the statement allows the term to refer to.Pearson Edexcel
Single line focus: Locating the repetition in a single line rather than describing the complete texture.Pearson Edexcel
Single line versus complete texture: The key test of scope: whether the device concerns one part alone or how all the parts combine.Pearson Edexcel
Single melodic part: One voice line or one instrument's line, scanned on its own rather than combined with several parts.Pearson Edexcel
Skeleton score: A notational summary that acts as a visual aid for students in appraising examinations.Pearson Edexcel
slide: A continuous pitch movement between two notes, not a detached leap.Pearson Edexcel
Solo: A single line or single performer, so the texture is thin and exposed.Pearson Edexcel
Solo as a complete piece or as a section: A solo may be a whole piece or a self-contained section within a larger work.Pearson Edexcel
Solo performance for one player or singer: A complete piece or a self-contained section written for a single player or singer, who carries the main material.Pearson Edexcel
Solo piano texture and chordal writing: The movement is for solo piano, using thick chordal writing as part of its dramatic character.Pearson Edexcel
Solo piano texture and dynamics: Solo piano writing with homophonic texture, octave doubling, wide dynamic contrast and use of the sustaining pedal.Pearson Edexcel
Solo voice with accompaniment: 'Music for a While' is a setting of words for solo voice with an accompaniment, so the text, the solo vocal line and the accompanying instruments are studied…Pearson Edexcel
Sonata form and structural contrast: A structure tracing an exposition with contrasting first and second subjects, a development and a recapitulation, with each feature linked to its section.Pearson Edexcel
Sonata form structure: The main section is a fast Allegro di molto e con brio in C minor, with an exposition containing first and second subjects, a development and a recapitulation.Pearson Edexcel
Sonority: The quality of sound produced by a particular instrument or voice, and it includes articulation, the way notes are played or sung.Pearson Edexcel
Sonority and texture: The background supports the principal part through harmony, texture, dynamics and rhythm, and the background shapes harmony, pulse and mood.Pearson Edexcel
Sound production: The way the sound is produced, which together with the blend of overtones gives an instrument or voice its tone colour.Pearson Edexcel
Special prominence of individual notes: Prominence is created by extra force at the start of the note, not by making the note longer or higher.Pearson Edexcel
Speed and fluency: The benefit of avoiding the need to pick every note, giving fluency in fast passages and a smoother, connected line.Pearson Edexcel
Staccato: Articulation in which notes are short and detached.Pearson Edexcel
Staccato and staccatissimo separation: Each note is shortened and clearly separated, or the separation is greatest with very short crisp notes.Pearson Edexcel
Stage musical: A number written for character and drama, studied in Area of Study 3: Music for Stage and Screen.Pearson Edexcel
Staggered entries: Each new part enters separately rather than all at once, while the part already sounding carries on.Pearson Edexcel
Standard note values: Duration is measured in note values such as the semibreve, minim, crotchet, quaver and semiquaver.Pearson Edexcel
Step versus leap: A step is a tone or semitone, while a leap is larger than a tone or semitone and is the opposite of a step.Pearson Edexcel
Stephen Schwartz as composer: The music and lyrics are by Stephen Schwartz, so credit him rather than the performer.Pearson Edexcel
stepwise: Motion by adjacent scale steps rather than by leap.Pearson Edexcel
Stepwise melodic movement: Movement between adjacent notes by steps, where a step may be a tone or a semitone.Pearson Edexcel
Stepwise motion: Movement to an adjacent note of the scale, one degree at a time, as in a passing figure such as C–D–E.Pearson Edexcel
Stepwise pitch succession: A succession of pitches arranged in stepwise order rather than by leaps, moving through successive letter names.Pearson Edexcel
Stopping strings simultaneously: The player stops two or more strings with the fingers at the same time, letting the notes be heard together.Pearson Edexcel
String articulation: How the string is sounded, for example plucked rather than bowed, giving a short, detached attack with rapid decay.Pearson Edexcel
String playing techniques: Playing two or more notes together on an orchestral string instrument, with two or more strings being stopped simultaneously.Pearson Edexcel
String technique: light touch versus stopping: Harmonics can be sounded by lightly touching a string at particular points rather than by normal stopping.Pearson Edexcel
Strong and weak beats: Some beats, notably the first of a bar, are strong or accented, others, notably the last, are weak or unaccented.Pearson Edexcel
Strophic: One repeated melody sets successive stanzas of text, so the musical structure stays constant while the words change.Pearson Edexcel
Strophic song setting: A setting in which the same or similar music is used for each stanza of the poem being set.Pearson Edexcel
Structural contrast and stylistic blend: Contrasting sections such as verse and chorus, with a blend of pop, rock and music-hall or vaudeville colouring.Pearson Edexcel
Structure and tonality of the third movement: The movement's gigue-like character, its main themes, the keys visited and its texture changes, described using accurate musical vocabulary.Pearson Edexcel
Studio production and multi-tracking: Polished studio production using multi-tracked vocals and overdubbing, shaping the sound and the clarity of the vocal layering.Pearson Edexcel
Stylistic features: Features of the music that you identify by listening to the extract and name when you hear them.Pearson Edexcel
Subject: A melody, or occasionally some other form of musical material, on which part or all of a piece is based.Pearson Edexcel
Successive repeated dotted pairs: The same pattern can repeat across several successive pairs, giving a running dotted feel.Pearson Edexcel
Sustained and repeated notes: A note or harmonic interval held for a long time or repeated many times, especially in non-classical genres.Pearson Edexcel
Swung rhythm: Two notes of the same value, usually quavers, are played with the first lengthened and the second correspondingly shortened, as often in jazz.Pearson Edexcel
Swung rhythms: An unequal long-short division of the beat, giving a lilt typical of jazz and blues.Pearson Edexcel
Syllabic: The style of text setting where each syllable has one note.Pearson Edexcel
Syncopation: Happens when a composer or performer places a stressed note where the metre would normally be weak, disturbing or playing with the expected pulse.Pearson Edexcel

T

Technique and timbre: The means by which the same instrument can change its tone colour, such as muted strings, pizzicato, or a singer switching between chest and head voice.Pearson Edexcel
Tempo: Words such as fast and slow describe this element of music, which is distinct from pitch.Pearson Edexcel
Ternary form: Sets a first section, a contrasting middle, then a return of the first.Pearson Edexcel
Ternary form structure: A form with three sections, often referred to as A B A.Pearson Edexcel
Terraced dynamics: A device Williams uses, alongside texture changes and metre shifts, to serve a dramatic or narrative purpose.Pearson Edexcel
Text: The words to which a song is set, applying to music in Western Classical styles.Pearson Edexcel
Text setting: The relationship between notes and syllables of text, described as melismatic or syllabic, and separate from tempo, dynamics or texture.Pearson Edexcel
Texture: Solo voice with plucked string accompaniment, the bass providing the rhythmic and harmonic foundation.Pearson Edexcel
Texture and combination of instruments: Recognising how instruments are combined, such as doubling, layering, antiphonal contrast or accompaniment versus melody.Pearson Edexcel
Texture and performing forces: One instrument sounds two or more sustained pitches together, rather than separate notes played one after another on one string or several instruments each…Pearson Edexcel
Texture and the build to a climax: Texture may be melody with accompaniment, or passages where voices combine, and the music builds towards a climactic passage.Pearson Edexcel
The dominant: The key a perfect 5th higher than the tonic, or home key, of a piece, for example D major in a G major piece.Pearson Edexcel
Thematic contrast and return: The lyrical second subject appears in a contrasting key, and the introduction's motif returns within the movement rather than being heard only once.Pearson Edexcel
Theme and variations: States a melody then reshapes it through changes of rhythm, harmony, texture, ornamentation or mode.Pearson Edexcel
Thin: A descriptive term for a weak, edgeless sound quality, as opposed to a full, warm one.Pearson Edexcel
Third movement of Brandenburg Concerto no. 5: The set work is the third movement of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no.Pearson Edexcel
Three-part and four-part music: Music that has three and four parts respectively, following the same principle as two-part music.Pearson Edexcel
Through-composed setting: A setting in which some or all stanzas are set to different music.Pearson Edexcel
Timbre and tone colour: The quality of a sound that effects can alter, as a wah wah pedal gives a vocal, crying colour to an electric guitar.Pearson Edexcel
Time and place context: The period or location clue in a question, which a convention must be matched against.Pearson Edexcel
Time signature: A marking that often indicates the metre, such as 2/4 with two crotchets per bar.Pearson Edexcel
Tonal centre versus key signature: Sharing a key signature does not make the keys identical, because the tonic and scale pattern differ, so the tonal centre is different.Pearson Edexcel
Tonality: The relationship of notes within a scale or mode to a principal note, a wider term than key but often used synonymously with it.Pearson Edexcel
Tone and semitone patterns: Each mode type has its own fixed series of tones and semitones, giving a distinct sound even from the same starting note.Pearson Edexcel
Tone colour: The particular quality of sound that lets you tell one instrument or voice from another, even at the same pitch and dynamic.Pearson Edexcel
Tone quality: The character of a performer's or instrument's sound, which may be termed rich, rounded, thin, etc.Pearson Edexcel
Tones and semitones: Both count as steps, since a step is a move to the next note up or down.Pearson Edexcel
Tonic and dominant relationships: The tonic is the home note and chord that the music gravitates towards, and the dominant is the key a perfect fifth above the tonic.Pearson Edexcel
Tonic and final: The principal note is called the tonic in tonal music, or the final in modal music, and acts as the home note.Pearson Edexcel
Tonic and mediant relationship: The defining interval is between scale degree 1, the tonic, and scale degree 3, the mediant, three semitones apart.Pearson Edexcel
Tonic and scale: A form of tonality organised around a tonic and using the notes of a major or minor scale.Pearson Edexcel
Traditional harmony: A style in which strict rules usually govern the approach and resolution of a dissonance back to a non-dissonant note.Pearson Edexcel
Traditional harmony in a named key: To label a chord, first establish the key, then match the chord's root to its scale degree and write the corresponding numeral.Pearson Edexcel
Treble-clef and bass-clef pitch reading: Naming notes in both clefs by reading pitch from staff position and ledger lines above and below the staff.Pearson Edexcel
Tremolo: The rapid repetition of a single note, or of notes a 3rd or more apart, usually alternating quickly between them.Pearson Edexcel
Tremolo strings: One of the features of the tense, dissonant 'Rebel Blockade Runner' music, alongside chromaticism and irregular accents, that creates menace.Pearson Edexcel
Triad: A three-note chord built in thirds, such as the tonic triad of C major (C–E–G) or of A minor (A–C–E).Pearson Edexcel
Trill: Alternates two adjacent notes, a 2nd apart, and is distinguished from a two-note tremolo.Pearson Edexcel
Trills: A conventional ornament alternating rapidly between a main note and the note above it.Pearson Edexcel
Triplet subdivision: Dividing each beat into a triplet, meaning three equal subdivisions, is the defining method behind the shuffle.Pearson Edexcel
Triplets: Three equal notes occupying the space where the metre would normally give two.Pearson Edexcel
Turns: A conventional ornament circling around a main note using the notes above and below before returning.Pearson Edexcel
Two-part music: Music for two melodic lines, with two notes sounding simultaneously except where one or both rest.Pearson Edexcel
Two-section A and B plan: A form with two sections, often referred to as A and B, each usually repeated.Pearson Edexcel

U

Unaccompanied versus accompanied solo: One instrument or voice alone is unaccompanied, while one featured performer supported by piano, orchestra or another ensemble is accompanied.Pearson Edexcel
Unison: All parts sound the same pitch or the same melodic line together, so the texture is one line in effect.Pearson Edexcel
Unison and octave relationships: The two parts move in unison and sound as one line, or the same pitch class is displaced by an octave.Pearson Edexcel
Use of music technology, loops and programmed rhythms: Electronic and sampled sounds are used alongside acoustic instruments, with programmed or looped rhythms.Pearson Edexcel
Using musical elements as evidence: Link what you hear to musical elements such as texture, timbre and rhythm rather than to a fixed list of marks or unsupported claims.Pearson Edexcel

V

Verse/chorus: Changing verses alternate with a recurring chorus, letting the chorus mark the text's key idea.Pearson Edexcel
Vibration: A faster vibration gives a higher pitch and a slower vibration gives a lower pitch.Pearson Edexcel
Virtual instruments and synthesizers: These are driven by sequencing software, which records, arranges and plays back note events.Pearson Edexcel
Vocal texture and studio production: Layered vocal harmonies, piano-led accompaniment, contrasting sections and a polished studio production are features to recognise in an extract.Pearson Edexcel
Vocal writing and word-setting: The song uses solo voice with instrumental accompaniment, and passages where voices combine, so word-setting can be described from what is heard.Pearson Edexcel
Voice types: Names such as soprano, alto, tenor and bass, used to identify the voices performing, including choirs and solo voices.Pearson Edexcel
Volume in music: The loudness or softness of musical sound or sounds at any moment.Pearson Edexcel

W

Wah wah (Harmon) mute: A mute used with trumpets and trombones, also called a Harmon mute.Pearson Edexcel
Word setting: The solo vocal line sets and shapes the words of the text, and the accompaniment supports or interacts with the singer.Pearson Edexcel
Word-painting: Where musical figures reflect the meaning of the text, so the music reflects the text.Pearson Edexcel
Work-specific description: Naming the instrument or the harmonic device actually present in a work rather than giving generic description.Pearson Edexcel
World and historical traditions: Conventions change over time and differ between places, so a convention from one tradition is not automatically valid in another.Pearson Edexcel

Other terms

12-bar blues: Twelve bars of chords in a fixed order, repeated for each verse, so the harmony cycles while melody and lyrics change above it.Pearson Edexcel
1970s pop-rock: A concise pop-rock track from the mid-1970s, placed within 1970s rock and pop recording practice.Pearson Edexcel

Where these terms come from

Each definition is one we publish on a Music GCSE topic page or study guide. Open a term to see how each exam board words it and which topic it belongs to. For the full course, go to Music revision or the glossary for every subject.

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