Compositional Devices

What does 'Motif' refer to in compositional devices in music?

• Most melodies usually use repetition either in full or in part by exploiting motifs.
• Two or more voices play the same tune starting at different times.
• The parts move in the same direction, and the interval is the same between the notes.
• A short musical idea which can be either a melodic fragment, an interval or a rhythmic pattern that dominates and characterises the piece.

What does 'Rhythmic Repetition' refer to in compositional devices in music?

• A melodic idea in a song to a simple repeated unique rhythm on one note.
• Sometimes in a melody, the pitches might change, but the rhythm is repeated.
• A short melody or pattern that is repeated continuously.
• Inverting a melody is a compositional device that turns the tune upside down.

What does 'Parallel Motion' refer to in compositional devices in music?

• The parts move in the same direction, and the interval is the same between the notes.
• Sometimes in a melody, the pitches might change, but the rhythm is repeated.
• The melody appears in another part shortly after you first hear it.
• Notes that move in step or thirds are usually part of a scale pattern, arpeggio or chord.

What does 'Contrary Motion' refer to in compositional devices in music?

• A melodic idea in a song to a simple repeated unique rhythm on one note.
• when the parts move in opposite directions.

• a compositional device that turns the tune upside down

• A melody repeats at a higher or lower pitch.

What does 'Imitation' refer to in compositional devices in music?

• Used to decorate the melody in all periods of musical history.
• When composers write a melody in reverse, it is called retrograde.
• The melody appears in another part shortly after you first hear it.
• A melodic idea in a song to a simple repeated unique rhythm on one note.

What does 'Sequence' refer to in compositional devices in music?

• Inverting a melody is a compositional device that turns the tune upside down.
• A melodic idea in a song to a simple repeated unique rhythm on one note.
• The parts move in the same direction, and the interval is the same between the notes.
• A melody repeats at a higher or lower pitch.

What does 'Canon' refer to in compositional devices in music?

• Two or more voices play the same tune starting at different times.
• A short melody or pattern that is repeated continuously.
• A short musical idea which can be either a melodic fragment, an interval or a rhythmic pattern that dominates and characterises the piece.
• When a composer augments a melody, they make the note values longer than their original length.

What does 'Ostinato' refer to in compositional devices in music?

• A melodic idea in a song to a simple repeated unique rhythm on one note.
• Used to decorate the melody in all periods of musical history.
• A short melody or pattern that is repeated continuously.
• Contrary motion is when the parts move in opposite directions.

What does 'Pedal Note' refer to in compositional devices in music?

• The melody appears in another part shortly after you first hear it.
• A note repeats throughout an entire phrase, section or piece.

• Used to decorate the melody in all periods of musical history.
• making the note values longer than their original length.

What does 'Ground Bass' refer to in compositional devices in music?

• A short melody or pattern that is repeated continuously.
• Most melodies usually use repetition either in full or in part by exploiting motifs.
• A short musical idea which can be either a melodic fragment, an interval or a rhythmic pattern that dominates and characterises the piece.
• A short recurring melodic pattern written in the bass line of the music.