IB Music SL key terms

A specific piece of music set by the IB for detailed study in a given session. Candidates learn its context, structure, and musical elements and must be able to discuss it in the listening paper.

A piece heard for the first time in the exam. Candidates answer questions by ear, describing what they hear using correct terminology rather than relying on prior knowledge of the work.

The process of listening closely and describing what is heard in musical terms: instrumentation, texture, rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and expressive character. It is central to the listening paper.

The building blocks of any piece: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, and structure. Candidates use these categories to organize descriptions of both familiar and unfamiliar music.

The tone colour or quality of a sound that lets a listener tell one instrument or voice from another, even at the same pitch and volume. Described with words such as bright, nasal, warm, or reedy.

The particular instruments or voices used in a piece, and how they are combined. Identifying forces by ear, including families and playing techniques, is a common listening-paper task.

How musical lines are woven together: monophonic (one line), homophonic (melody with accompaniment), polyphonic (independent overlapping lines), or heterophonic (simultaneous variants of one line).

Two or more independent melodic lines sounding together, each with its own shape and rhythm. Imitation, where one line echoes another, is a common contrapuntal device to identify by ear.

A short, recognizable musical idea, usually a few notes with a distinctive rhythm or interval pattern. Motifs are developed, repeated, and transformed to build larger structures.

The technique of taking a theme or motif and changing it: altering intervals, rhythm, instrumentation, harmony, or key. Following these changes by ear shows how a composer builds a movement.

A melodic or harmonic pattern repeated at a higher or lower pitch level. Sequences create forward motion and are easy to hear because the shape stays the same while the pitch shifts.

The large-scale plan of a piece, such as binary, ternary, rondo, sonata, or strophic. Recognizing returns, contrasts, and sections by ear lets a candidate map a work's structure.

A harmonic point of rest or arrival that ends a phrase or section. Perfect, imperfect, interrupted, and plagal cadences differ in strength and create different effects of closure.

The simultaneous sounding of pitches and the chords they form, together with how those chords progress. Describing harmonic language includes consonance, dissonance, and tonal or modal colour.

The sense of a piece being organized around a central key or tonal centre. Related ideas include modulation to a new key, modal scales, and atonality with no fixed centre.

A change from one key to another within a piece. Listeners detect it when the tonal centre shifts, often prepared by pivot chords or a new accidental appearing in the melody.

The main tune: a succession of pitches organized in rhythm that the listener perceives as a single line. Describing its contour, range, intervals, and phrase shape is a core listening skill.

Decorative notes added to a melodic line, such as trills, turns, mordents, and grace notes. In many traditions performers add ornaments spontaneously, so the same tune varies between performances.

The organization of sound in time: note lengths, patterns of stress, and the interaction of different durational layers. Describing syncopation, dotted figures, and ostinatos all falls under rhythm.

The recurring pattern of strong and weak beats that groups music into bars, such as duple, triple, or compound time. Irregular metre changes the grouping or mixes bar lengths.

The speed at which music moves, often given in beats per minute or by Italian terms such as adagio, andante, and allegro. Changes of tempo, including rubato, affect expressive character.

The loudness and softness of music, from pianissimo to fortissimo, including gradual changes such as crescendo and diminuendo. Dynamics shape phrasing and dramatic effect.

The circumstances surrounding a work's creation and use: time, place, composer's life, audience, purpose, and cultural tradition. Contextual knowledge supports analysis of prescribed works and links investigations.

Music created spontaneously in performance rather than fully written down beforehand. It appears in jazz, Indian classical music, and Baroque practice, and its presence or absence is worth noting when listening.

A coursework component in which the candidate compares two or more pieces from different musical cultures, identifying genuine musical links and presenting findings in a written media script.

The social, historical, and religious setting in which a musical tradition exists, including who performs, for whom, and on what occasion. Understanding it prevents superficial comparisons between traditions.

Examining two pieces side by side to show similarities and differences in specific musical elements, supported by accurate terminology and musical evidence rather than vague general statements.

Concrete details from the music, such as a named interval, rhythmic pattern, instrument, or structural point, used to justify a comparison or claim. It distinguishes analysis from opinion.

A category of music defined by shared conventions of style, function, or performing forces, such as symphony, ballad, or gamelan. Genre labels help organize comparisons but should be justified with musical features.

The characteristic way a composer, period, or tradition handles musical elements, recognizable across works. Identifying stylistic fingerprints by ear supports both the listening paper and the links investigation.

The set of pieces a candidate prepares and performs for assessment, chosen to show a range of styles and technical demands suited to the candidate's instrument or voice and level.

A performer's command of the physical and musical demands of a piece: accuracy of pitch and rhythm, tone production, articulation, breathing, fingering, and consistency under performance conditions.

The performer's personal shaping of a piece through tempo, dynamics, phrasing, and articulation, communicated convincingly while remaining faithful to the score's markings and style.

How individual notes are attacked and released: legato, staccato, accent, slur, or marcato. Clear articulation shapes phrasing and is a common focus of solo performance feedback.

The shaping of a musical line into coherent phrases, with breathing points, rises and falls, and a sense of direction. Good phrasing makes the structure audible to the listener.

The way a performer creates and controls sound on an instrument or voice, covering resonance, support, projection, and consistency of quality across the range.

A creating option in which the candidate writes an original piece, developing musical ideas coherently and using notation or a recording to communicate the score to performers.

A creating option in which existing material is reworked for new forces or style, showing understanding of instrumentation, texture, and idiomatic writing for the chosen ensemble.

The melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic material a composer invents and then repeats, varies, or contrasts. Coherent development of ideas is a central criterion in creating coursework.

Any system for writing music down so others can perform it, from staff notation to graphic scores, chord charts, and tablature. The chosen notation must be accurate and appropriate for the intended performers.