Solo
A complete piece (or a section) for one player or singer with no accompaniment, or for one player or singer with accompaniment
Tone (quality)
The quality of a performer’s sound (which may be termed rich, rounded, thin, etc.)
Forces
The instrument(s) and/or voice(s) that perform the music
Ensemble
Defined, for purposes of GCSE performance, in the ‘Content’ section of Component 1: Performing
Double (verb)
Doubling occurs where one performer consistently plays or sings the same notes as another – strictly speaking at the same octave, but duplication at the octave may be involved
Double stopping
Where two (or more) notes are played together on an orchestral string instrument (two or more strings being ‘stopped’ simultaneously).
Glissando
A slide between adjacent notes of a chromatic or diatonic scale. The terms glissando and portamento are to some extent interchangeable, but a portamento involves movements smaller than a semitone (such as a singer can achieve but a pianist cannot)
Hammer on
A guitar technique used to facilitate fast playing by avoiding the need to pick every note
Harmonics
Each sound combines a fundamental and a series of much less clearly heard higher pitches called harmonics. With stringed instruments these can be sounded by lightly touching a string at particular points (rather than by normal ‘stopping’)
Improvisation
A piece composed as it is performed, although frequently based on a pre-conceived ‘stimulus’ such as a melodic theme or chord scheme
Melisma(tic)
A melisma is a group of notes used to set just one syllable of text. The adjective is ‘melismatic’. Where each syllable has one note, the style is ‘syllabic’
Pull off
A guitar technique: a string is plucked by ‘pulling’ the string off the fingerboard with a finger used to fret the note
Range
The distance between the lowest and highest notes in a single melodic part. (A soprano part working between middle C and the C above has a range – or ‘compass’ – of an octave)
Tessitura
The most widely used part of a vocal or instrumental part’s range
Wah wah
The Wah wah (or Harmon) mute, as used with trumpets and trombones. The name is onomatopoeic – the resulting sound can be rather like ‘wah wah’. The same result can be obtained via music technology as a studio effect
Phrasing
The correct observance of divisions between whole phrases and sometimes shorter groups of notes (often to accord with a composer’s phrase markings)
Pizzicato
Where the string(s) of a stringed instrument are plucked rather than bowed. The direction ‘pizzicato’ in the score is cancelled by ‘arco’, meaning ‘[with] the bow’
Professional reference recording
A recording of a piece submitted for Component 1 in lieu of a score – with the performance and the recording of professional standard
Realisation
Defined in specification under Component 1, Content
Sequenced compositions
Compositions produced mainly or entirely via electronic sequencing software
Skeleton score
A kind of notational summary ‒ a visual aid for students in appraising examinations. It usually shows most or all of a single leading part rather than the complete texture
Tablature
Notation other than staff notation with letters, numbers or other conventional signs – today used particularly by guitarists
Tremolo (tremolando)
Rapid repetition of a single note or of notes a 3rd or more apart
Lyrics
Words to which a song is set (applies to music in popular styles) ‘Words’, ‘Text’ or ‘Poem’ Words to which a song is set (applies to music in Western Classical styles)
Word painting
Word painting occurs when a composer deliberately illustrates a word or phrase with a matching musical image (e.g. by having rising notes for ‘ascending’)
A complete piece (or a section) for one player or singer with no accompaniment, or for one player or singer with accompaniment
Tone (quality)
The quality of a performer’s sound (which may be termed rich, rounded, thin, etc.)
Forces
The instrument(s) and/or voice(s) that perform the music
Ensemble
Defined, for purposes of GCSE performance, in the ‘Content’ section of Component 1: Performing
Double (verb)
Doubling occurs where one performer consistently plays or sings the same notes as another – strictly speaking at the same octave, but duplication at the octave may be involved
Double stopping
Where two (or more) notes are played together on an orchestral string instrument (two or more strings being ‘stopped’ simultaneously).
Glissando
A slide between adjacent notes of a chromatic or diatonic scale. The terms glissando and portamento are to some extent interchangeable, but a portamento involves movements smaller than a semitone (such as a singer can achieve but a pianist cannot)
Hammer on
A guitar technique used to facilitate fast playing by avoiding the need to pick every note
Harmonics
Each sound combines a fundamental and a series of much less clearly heard higher pitches called harmonics. With stringed instruments these can be sounded by lightly touching a string at particular points (rather than by normal ‘stopping’)
Improvisation
A piece composed as it is performed, although frequently based on a pre-conceived ‘stimulus’ such as a melodic theme or chord scheme
Melisma(tic)
A melisma is a group of notes used to set just one syllable of text. The adjective is ‘melismatic’. Where each syllable has one note, the style is ‘syllabic’
Pull off
A guitar technique: a string is plucked by ‘pulling’ the string off the fingerboard with a finger used to fret the note
Range
The distance between the lowest and highest notes in a single melodic part. (A soprano part working between middle C and the C above has a range – or ‘compass’ – of an octave)
Tessitura
The most widely used part of a vocal or instrumental part’s range
Wah wah
The Wah wah (or Harmon) mute, as used with trumpets and trombones. The name is onomatopoeic – the resulting sound can be rather like ‘wah wah’. The same result can be obtained via music technology as a studio effect
Phrasing
The correct observance of divisions between whole phrases and sometimes shorter groups of notes (often to accord with a composer’s phrase markings)
Pizzicato
Where the string(s) of a stringed instrument are plucked rather than bowed. The direction ‘pizzicato’ in the score is cancelled by ‘arco’, meaning ‘[with] the bow’
Professional reference recording
A recording of a piece submitted for Component 1 in lieu of a score – with the performance and the recording of professional standard
Realisation
Defined in specification under Component 1, Content
Sequenced compositions
Compositions produced mainly or entirely via electronic sequencing software
Skeleton score
A kind of notational summary ‒ a visual aid for students in appraising examinations. It usually shows most or all of a single leading part rather than the complete texture
Tablature
Notation other than staff notation with letters, numbers or other conventional signs – today used particularly by guitarists
Tremolo (tremolando)
Rapid repetition of a single note or of notes a 3rd or more apart
Lyrics
Words to which a song is set (applies to music in popular styles) ‘Words’, ‘Text’ or ‘Poem’ Words to which a song is set (applies to music in Western Classical styles)
Word painting
Word painting occurs when a composer deliberately illustrates a word or phrase with a matching musical image (e.g. by having rising notes for ‘ascending’)