Area of Study 3: Traditional Music
What's covered
Key facts
The blues commonly uses a 12-bar chord progression built on chords I, IV and V.
Blues features include blue notes, call and response, and a walking bass.
Call and response is a texture where a leader's phrase is answered by a group.
British folk music is often strophic, modal and passed on by oral tradition.
Fusion music blends different traditions — for example Bhangra combines Punjabi folk singing and the dhol drum with Western pop, dance and reggae rhythms.
AQA Area of Study 3 covers traditional music: blues, folk of the British Isles, and world music.
World music studied includes African drumming (polyrhythm) and Indian classical music (raga and tala).
Sample questions
A taste of the 14 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
AQA's Area of Study 3 studies which kind of music?
- •Only Baroque instrumental concertos
- •Only electronic dance music
- •Only orchestral film scores
- ✓Traditional music: blues, folk and world
Indian classical music is organised around which two ideas?
- ✓Raga and tala
- •Riff and fill
- •Sonata and rondo
- •Verse and chorus
The standard blues chord progression is how long?
- ✓12 bars
- •20 bars
- •3 bars
- •7 bars
Which pairing correctly describes world music studied in AQA Area of Study 3?
- ✓African drumming uses polyrhythm; Indian classical music uses raga and tala
- •African drumming uses raga; Indian classical music uses polyrhythm
- •Both traditions are based on the 12-bar blues progression
- •Both traditions are strophic modal British folk songs
The 12-bar blues is built on which three chords?
- •All twelve chords
- ✓I, IV and V
- •II, III and VI
- •Only chord I
Call and response is a texture where a leader's phrase is answered by a group.
Answer: True
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