OCR GCSE Music The Conventions of Pop (Area of Study 5) overview quiz quiz

The supertonic (ii), mediant (iii) and submediant (vi)

The tonic (I), dominant (V) and submediant (vi)

The tonic (I), subdominant (IV) and dominant (V)

Any three minor chords chosen freely by the player

Accents on the strong beats, 1 and 3, as in a march, usually played on the bass drum

A bass solo played in the middle of the song while the rest of the band stops playing

A slow, steady tempo that gives the music a gentle, relaxed feel rather than a driving one

Accents on the off-beats, beats 2 and 4, usually on the snare drum

The grand piano playing chords

The distorted electric guitar

The jazz saxophone playing solos

The synthesiser playing pads

A full chord made up of the root, the third and the fifth, the same as an ordinary major triad

Any chord at all that is simply played very loudly, whatever notes it happens to contain inside it

A chord of just the root and fifth (no third), played under distortion

A seventh chord, made by adding a seventh on top of an ordinary triad to give a richer, jazzier sound

An extended improvised solo, usually played in the middle section of the song over several bars

The chorus of a song, the repeated section with the main hook that returns between each of the verses

A drum fill played at the end of a phrase to lead the band into the next section of the song

A short, catchy, repeated melodic-rhythmic idea, usually on guitar or bass

Fast and upbeat, with lyrics all about dancing and having a good time on a night out

Slow, with emotional and often romantic lyrics

A medium tempo, with lyrics about politics and protest rather than love or heartbreak

Very fast and purely instrumental, with no singing or lyrics of any kind at all

It stays at exactly the same texture and volume throughout, never adding or taking away any layers at all

It gradually gets quieter and thinner towards the end, fading away to almost nothing in the final chorus

It grows from a sparse verse to a full chorus and uses a key change to lift the final chorus

It suddenly speeds up to a fast dance beat near the end, turning the slow ballad into an upbeat club track

At the very start, before the first verse, so the whole song is in the higher key from the beginning

Only in the verses, never in the choruses, so that each verse is in a different key from the one before

There is never a key change in a pop ballad, because changing key would spoil the emotional mood

Near the end, to lift the final chorus

The opening instrumental introduction that is played before the singer comes in on the first verse

The most memorable, catchy idea, often a vocal phrase or riff in the chorus

The bridge section, the contrasting middle 8 that links the second chorus to the final part of the song

The very last chord of the song, played and held as the track comes to a close at the end

A walking bass, a smooth bass line that steps from note to note, a performance feature rather than production

A backbeat, the accenting of beats 2 and 4, which is a rhythmic performance feature rather than a production one

Sampling (using a section of an existing recording in a new track)

A power chord, the root and fifth played under distortion, which is a harmony feature rather than a production one

A single continuous section played from start to finish, with no verses, chorus or other sections at all

Twelve bars of blues repeated over and over, exactly the same all the way through, with no chorus

A free improvisation, with no fixed structure, where the band simply makes up the music as they go along

Intro, verses, a repeated chorus, often a bridge or middle 8, and an outro

The use of a twelve-bar blues, which is actually a feature of 1950s rock and roll rather than the rock anthem

The distorted electric guitar with riffs and power chords, and a big sing-along chorus

A backbeat accenting beats 2 and 4, which both rock and roll and the rock anthem share in common

A verse-chorus structure, which is found in both styles and so does not tell the two of them apart