Area of Study 2: Music for Ensemble
What's covered
Key facts
Blue notes are slightly flattened notes that give blues its sound.
Backing vocals add harmony or repeated phrases behind a lead singer.
Call and response, where one part answers another, is common in jazz and blues ensembles.
Blues often uses the 12-bar blues pattern and blue notes.
Basso continuo is usually played by cello and harpsichord in Baroque ensembles.
A countermelody is a second tune played against the main melody.
Chamber music is for a small ensemble, one player per part.
The cello is the lowest-pitched instrument in a string quartet.
A homophonic ensemble has one part with the tune and others accompanying.
Jazz features improvisation over a chord sequence.
Sample questions
A taste of the 27 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What does musical theatre combine?
- •Only orchestral instruments
- •Only spoken word poetry
- •Only unaccompanied singing
- ✓Songs, dialogue, acting and dance
A typical jazz or blues trio consists of?
- •Flute, oboe and bassoon
- ✓Piano, double bass and drums
- •Three trumpets together
- •Violin, viola and cello
An ensemble texture with several independent melodic lines is?
- •Chordal
- •Monophonic
- ✓Polyphonic
- •Unison
Which feature is central to jazz?
- ✓Improvisation over a chord sequence
- •No harmony of any kind
- •Silent rests all the way through
- •Strictly fixed written notation
What is the job of a band's rhythm section?
- •To conduct the orchestra
- ✓To keep the time and harmony
- •To sing the lead melody
- •To write all the lyrics
What is a countermelody in an ensemble?
- •A repeated drum pattern
- ✓A second tune against the main one
- •A single unaccompanied line
- •The lowest bass note held
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