Mostly popular music vocabulary, with example sentences.

Music Terms

A professional singer, musician or songwriter - Taylor Swift has become one of music's best-selling artists.

Music written and performed by professional musicians mostly for the upper classes, like classical Indian music and European opera

The regular pulse in music that dancers move to and audiences clap to - Dance music always has a strong beat.

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

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.

Traditional music from a particular region or country - Did you hear any traditional folk music while you were in China?

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Played at a concert in front of an audience - You don't hear live music in dance clubs anymore, only recorded music.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rhythmic blues-based music played on guitar, bass, drums, etc. - Let's listen to some rock music for a change.

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.