The cards Question What is a pop ballad? Tap to flip Answer An important genre of pop music: typically a slow song with romantic or sentimental lyrics. Question What is diatonic harmony? Tap to flip Answer Harmony that uses only notes from within the key (major or minor). Question What is a root position chord? Tap to flip Answer A chord with its root note (the note in its name) at the bottom. Question What is a chord inversion? Tap to flip Answer A chord with its notes rearranged so that the root note is not the lowest note. Question What metre do pop ballads typically use? Tap to flip Answer 4/4. Question What structure do pop ballads typically use? Tap to flip Answer A verse-chorus structure. Question Which instrument is often prominent in pop ballads? Tap to flip Answer The piano or keyboard. Question Which instrument groups are commonly used to thicken the texture in pop ballads? Tap to flip Answer Strings or brass. Question Give one typical pop ballad artist. Tap to flip Answer e.g. Whitney Houston or Elton John. Question When chord inversions are used, why does the bass line change? Tap to flip Answer The bass has to play the lowest note of each chord. Question Why do composers use chord inversions? Tap to flip Answer To add interest with subtle tension and to make smoother transitions between chords; they are used sparingly, not at random. Question What is a broken chord? Tap to flip Answer A chord whose notes are not all played at the same time. Question What is a block chord? Tap to flip Answer A chord whose notes are played together, at the same time. Question What is the voicing of a chord? Tap to flip Answer The way the chord's notes are spread out on an instrument. Question What is a passing note? Tap to flip Answer A non-chord note that makes a melodic link between two chord notes. Question What is arco? Tap to flip Answer Playing a string instrument with a bow. Question How does a chord's inversion differ from its voicing? Tap to flip Answer The inversion depends on which note is at the bottom; the voicing is how the notes above are spread (close together or far apart). Question What can be added to chords to make them sound more melodic? Tap to flip Answer Passing notes. Question What is vibrato? Tap to flip Answer A technique in which the pitch moves slightly up and down to add intensity and expression. Question What is rubato? Tap to flip Answer When a performer slightly changes the tempo to add expression. Question What is melismatic singing (melisma)? Tap to flip Answer Singing more than one note (often many notes) on a single syllable of a word. Question What is phrase structure? Tap to flip Answer The pattern of phrases in a melody, which should balance repetition and contrast. Question What must a vocal melody fit that an instrumental melody does not have to? Tap to flip Answer The natural rhythms and mood of the words. Question What is overdubbing? Tap to flip Answer Recording several layers of sound one at a time and layering them together in a piece. Question What is verse-chorus form? Tap to flip Answer A common structure in popular music built around alternating verses and choruses. Question What is a drum fill? Tap to flip Answer A short variation in a drum groove, usually at the end of a phrase or section. Question What is reverb? Tap to flip Answer A slight echo effect that can be added to a sound. Question What are drum grooves in pop ballads usually like? Tap to flip Answer Simple, with a strong backbeat, and often with reverb. Question What are drum fills typically used for in pop ballads? Tap to flip Answer To build energy at key moments. Question Besides the lyrics, how are a verse and chorus usually made to contrast? Tap to flip Answer With contrasting chord sequences, textures, rhythms and melodies, giving them contrasting moods. Question What is a musical climax? Tap to flip Answer The emotional and expressive high point of a piece of music. Question What is a countermelody? Tap to flip Answer A second melody played at the same time as the main melody. Question What is modulation? Tap to flip Answer A change of key part way through a piece of music. Question Where do pop ballads typically reach their emotional climax? Tap to flip Answer In the final chorus. Question What is a typical modulation in a pop ballad? Tap to flip Answer Up a tone (two semitones). Question How is a countermelody made to contrast with the main melody so it can be heard? Tap to flip Answer By choosing a suitable timbre and octave and using the 'space' in the main melody. Where this deck sits in the curriculum Curriculum National Curriculum for England Stage GCSE (Years 10–11) Course GCSE Music Unit Extending understanding of pop music: pop ballads and modern pop Exam boards AQA, Eduqas, OCR England's National Curriculum sets what is taught; the units and their order are Oak National Academy's. Flash Feed is not affiliated with Oak or any exam board.
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A Music lesson by Oak National Academy licensed under Open Government Licence (OGL)
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