A to Z dictionary

Dictionary of musical concepts starting with P

Concept	Level	Listen	Definition
Pan pipes	Int 1	You don't have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player. This website makes use of Adobe Flash Player, you have an old version which cannot play the content we've created. Why not download and install the latest version now? It will only take a moment.	Pipes which are graded in size and are bound together. The sound is made by blowing across the top of the pipes. One of the oldest wind instruments from South America.
Passacaglia	H		Variations over a ground bass. See Chaconne, Ground bass. The excerpt is from the famous passacaglia from 'Peter Grimes', the 20th-century opera by Benjamin Britten, and is very quiet at the beginning.
Passing note	Int 2		A note which moves between two notes of the same chord which are a 3rd apart. Passing notes are in the melody part between harmony notes on the beat.
Passion	Int 2		A type of oratorio dealing with the story of the Crucifixion as told by the four apostles (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Text is in German and features chorales as well as recitatives, arias and choruses. See Oratorio, Chorale, Recitative, Aria, Chorus. The excerpt is from the last chorus of J S Bach's St John Passion.
Pattern	Acc 3		A melodic or rhythmic grouping of notes as in an ostinato.
Pause	Acc 3		The musical flow is held up by a long note or silence. Listen to the pause in an imperfect cadence, before the start of a cadenza from a concerto.
Pavan	H		Also pavane. A Renaissance court dance linked with the galliard. The pavan is slow and stately with two beats in the bar.
Pedal	Int 2		Short for pedal point. A note which is held on or is repeated continuously in the bass beneath changing harmonies. Very often the note held on will be the tonic (tonic pedal) or the dominant (dominant pedal). See Inverted pedal.
Pentatonic scale	Int 1		Any five-note scale. In practice, the most common one is that on which much folk music is based, particularly Scottish and Celtic. Auld Lang Syne is composed using this pentatonic scale. The five notes could be C D E G A.
Percussion	Acc 3		Instruments which are hit, shaken or scraped. Pitched percussion can produce different notes, e.g. glockenspiel and xylophone. Unpitched percussion has no fixed pitch, e.g. cymbals and side drum.
Perfect cadence	Int 2		A cadence consists of two chords at the end of a phrase. A perfect cadence is the dominant to tonic chords (V-I). In the key of C major, chords G-C.listen to this coda from the end of a movement of a concerto and notice it ends with a perfect cadence.
Phrase	Acc 3		A short musical idea, part of a melody. Listen to a phrase from a song.
Piano	Acc 3		A keyboard instrument which produces sounds by hammers hitting strings.
Pibroch	Int 2		The classical music of the highland bagpipe, always in theme and variation form.
Pipe band	Acc 3		A band made up of bagpipes and drums.
Pipes	Acc 3		Short for bagpipes. See Folk group.
Pizzicato	Int 2		Abbreviation pizz. An instruction given to string players to pluck the strings instead of using the bow. See Col legno, Arco.
Plagal cadence	H		Plagal cadence – A cadence is formed by two chords at the end of a phrase. A plagal cadence is the subdominant to tonic chords ( IV–I ). In the key of C major, chords F to C. See Interrupted cadence, Perfect cadence and Imperfect cadence.
Plainchant	H		Also known as Plainsong and Gregorian chant. Unaccompanied melody set to words of the Roman Catholic liturgy, such as the Mass. Plainchants are modal and have no regular metre. They follow the rhythm of the Latin words.
Plucking	Acc 3		Sound made when you pluck the strings of a stringed instrument with a finger or fingers. Compare Bowing.
Polyphony	Int 2		Texture which consists of two or more melodic lines, possibly of equal importance and which weave independently of each other.
Polytonality	H		The use of two or more keys played or sung at the same time, e.g. the melody might be in the key of C major whilst the accompaniment might be in E major. This device was used by many 20th-century composers, e.g. Bartok, Ives, Holst and Stravinsky. The excerpt is from a folk song arrangement by Britten with the piano playing the melody in a different key from the singer.
Pop	Acc 3		A style of popular music played by a group of musicians. See Pop group below, Rock band.
Pop group	Acc 3		A group of musicians who play or sing in the popular style of the day. The group usually consists of guitars, drum kit, keyboards and vocals. See Rock band
Pop instruments	Int 1		See Pop group above and visit Electric guitar, Synthesizer.
Programme music	Int 1		Music which tells a story or paints a picture in sound. This excerpt describes a peasant dance at a wedding.
Pulse	Acc 3		The basic beat in music. The pulse may be in groups of two, three or four with a stress on the first in each group.