Year 11 - Music
Other melodic devices
Understanding melody and harmony
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
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Lesson Summary
You will learn to identify a range of common melodic devices, including ornamentation, imitation and countermelodies.
Key Notes
- Composers use different melodic devices to develop and enhance their melodies.
- Ornamentation is a common melodic device in many styles.
- Common ornaments are trills, grace notes, turns and mordents.
- Imitation is a device where a part of a melody is copied in another part immediately or shortly afterwards.
- A countermelody is a contrasting second melody. It plays at the same time as the main melody and has equal prominence.
Vocabulary To Learn
- trill: a type of ornamentation based on alternating rapidly between two notes
- mordent: a type of ornamentation that creates the effect of a short trill
- grace note: a very fast note that plays just before a main melodic note: it is sometimes referred to as an acciaccatura
- imitation: a melodic device in which part of the melody is copied immediately in another part
- countermelody: a second melody that plays at the same time as the main melody
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Imitation and a countermelody are the same thing.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Composers use different melodic devices to develop and enhance their melodies. Ornamentation is a common melodic device in many styles.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'trill'
a type of ornamentation based on alternating rapidly between two notes.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Imitation and a countermelody are the same thing. Correction: They are related, but not the same. Imitation has to include copying part of the melody, normally immediately. A countermelody usually tries to contrast with the main melody so that it can be heard clearly separately.
More Lessons In This Unit
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