Instrumentation and metre in popular music
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Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can aurally identify the instrumentation and metre in popular songs.
Key learning points
- Pop music has been around since the 1950s and includes many different genres.
- Pop music shares common features including instrumentation and structure.
- Instrumentation is which instruments and voices have been used.
- Most pop songs have vocals, piano/guitar, bass guitar and drums, although more modern pop uses synthesized instruments.
- Metre is the organisation of bars and beats. Most pop songs have four beats in a bar or a 4/4 time signature.
Keywords
Instrumentation - the combination and use of different instruments and voices in a song is referred to as instrumentation
Riff - a short recurring or repeated motif used in pop music
Synthesiser - an electronic musical instrument
Metre - the organisation of bars and beats in a piece of music
Time signature - this tells us how many beats are in a bar of music
Common misconception
Synthesiser vs synthesised sound
You can use a synthesiser if you have one or show a youtube clip of one in action. Use keyboard and different sounds to explain synthesised
Teacher tip
Use more / different musical examples depending on your school context
Licence
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