Music Vocabulary

artist (noun): a professional singer, musician or songwriter - Taylor Swift has become one of music's best-selling artists.

art music (noun): music written and performed by professional musicians mostly for the upper classes, like classical Indian music and European opera - Wealthy Chinese lords paid musicians to play relaxing art music, while poor people played lively folk music for fun.

beat (noun): the regular pulse in music that dancers move to and audiences clap to - Dance music always has a strong beat.

classical music (noun): European orchestral and keyboard music that's written by composers - Sayoko loves listening to classical music, especially the music of Mozart and Beethoven.

country music (noun): a genre of American music with origins in the rural folk music of Europe - Many people were surprised when Ray Charles began singing country music.

folk music (noun): traditional music from a particular region or country - Did you hear any traditional folk music while you were in China?

genre (noun): a kind or style of music, movie, TV show, painting, etc. - In music classes at school, the only genres we studied were classical music and jazz.

harmony (noun): the combining of musical notes that sound good when played or sung together - If singers don't sing in harmony, it can sound terrible.

hip hop (also "rap") (noun): a musical genre in which artists rap over beats and sampled sounds - When my girlfriend wants to listen to hip hop, she always puts on Jay-Z or Kanye West.

jazz (noun): a genre in which artists improvise within a rhythmic and harmonic framework - If you want to hear great jazz, listen to the recordings of John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

Latin music (noun): a genre of popular music in Latin America and Spain that has complex rhythms - I hadn't heard much Latin music until I visited Mexico and South America

live (adjective): played at a concert in front of an audience - You don't hear live music in dance clubs anymore, only recorded music.

lyrics (noun): the words of a song - If you don't listen to the lyrics, you won't know what a song is about.

melody (noun): a tune, or the notes of a song - Can you whistle the melody of the song that begins with "Happy birthday to you"?

pop music (noun): a popular music genre with short, melodic songs that are easy to remember - My uncle's nearly 60, but he still likes listening to pop music.

popular music (noun): music that many people like and buy, like rock music and heavy metal, hip hop and rap, pop songs, etc. - Our music teacher knows lots about classical music, but nothing about popular music.

recording (noun): a piece of music that's recorded in a studio or at a concert - Recordings used to be made on tape recorders, but they're usually digital now.

rhythm (noun): a pattern of beats and sounds that musicians play in time to and dancers move to - The rhythms of African music are much more complex than those of European music.

rock music (noun): rhythmic blues-based music played on guitar, bass, drums, etc. - Let's listen to some rock music for a change.

traditional music (noun): music that developed over a very long time, like traditional African drumming and Chinese folk songs - People still play traditional music in Peru's mountain villages.