AoS2 Additive Vocabulary: Melody and Harmony
Popular music has its own vocabulary. Learn the melody devices (riffs, hooks, blue notes) and the harmony features (power chords, chord symbols, stock progressions) that describe rock, pop and more.
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Free interactive practice on the decisions the assessment actually asks you to justify.
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The sound of pop
Area of Study 2 is Popular Music: rock, pop, musical theatre, and film and game music from 1950 to today. To write about it well, you need the words that describe how the melody and harmony work. This vocabulary is added on top of the Area of Study 1 words you already know, so keep both in mind.
Melody words
Four devices a melody can use. Learn what each one does.
Melody or harmony?
Sort the popular-music vocabulary into melody devices and harmony features.
Match the melody word
- Riff
- Hook
- Pitch bend
- Melisma
- A short, catchy repeated melodic pattern
- A catchy, memorable phrase that stands out
- Sliding a single note up or down
- Many notes sung on one syllable
Spot the riff
A short, catchy melodic pattern is repeated through a whole song. What is it?
- A riff
- A hook
- A pitch bend
- A melisma
Harmony and tonality in pop
A power chord is just the root note plus a fifth, giving a strong rock sound. A chord symbol is a letter that names a chord, such as C7. A stock chord progression is a common sequence, such as I VI IV V. Popular music also leans on the pentatonic scale (five notes), the blues scale and modal writing.
Spot it in a song
- Power chord
- Chord symbol
- Chord progression
- Pentatonic scale
- Played low on the guitar, sounding neither major nor minor because it has no third
- The C7 printed above the stave for the guitarist to read
- The I VI IV V that a thousand pop songs lean on
- The five notes a blues soloist bends over a twelve-bar
Harmony features
Which TWO of these are HARMONY features? Choose all that apply.
- Power chords
- Chord progressions
- A hook
- A riff
Build a song part
Put the steps of building a simple rock song part into a sensible order.
- Choose a pentatonic scale
- Write a riff from it
- Add a vocal hook
- Back it with power chords
Riffs, hooks and power chords
A short repeated melodic pattern is a _____. A catchy, memorable phrase is a _____. A root note plus a fifth is a _____. A five-note scale is the _____ scale. Slightly flattened notes that give a bluesy feel are _____.
Spot the melody devices
Tap the TWO melody devices.
- Riff
- Hook
- Power chord
- Chord symbol
Sung notes
A singer performs many notes smoothly on a single syllable. What is this?
- Melisma
- A riff
- A power chord
- A pentatonic scale
Name the technique
For each description, choose the correct technique.
- A guitarist plays a short, catchy pattern over and over as the signature of the song. What is it?
- A rock guitarist plays only the root and the fifth for a strong, thick sound. What is it?
- A player slides smoothly from a low note up to a high note. What is it?
Describe the sound
Describe the melody and harmony features you would expect to hear in a rock or pop song.
- Name two melody devices and what they do
- Name two harmony features and what they do
- Give an example of a scale used in popular music