P

Pace

Usually an alternative term for tempo or speed.

Part-song

Any song written for several vocal parts, although it usually has the melody in the highest part with accompanying harmonies in the other voices. Developed in popularity in the early 19.

Pause

Indicates a note or rest should be held on longer than its printed valve (the actual length being at the performer's discretion). The printed sign for a pause is .

Pentatonic

(As in old materials but add -) The scale is widely found in folk music from, for example, Scotland, China etc. The tune of Auld Lang Syne is pentatonic.

Percussion

The name given to the family of instruments (perhaps the most ancient in existence) which are played by striking or shaking a resonating surface. The family is further divided into those that have a definite pitch (xylophone, glockenspiel etc.) and those that are unpitched. Contemporary percussion ensembles also use a variety of unusually devices - car horns, tins, chains, pipes etc.

Performance

The act of playing music to an audience.

Phrase

A short section of a piece into which the music seems to naturally fall. Often it can be four bars in length but shorter and longer phrases occur. In notation a phrase is often indicated by a curved lined (slur) either over or under a group of notes.

Polyphony

Literally 'many sounds'. Music in which several strands of music are combined. Historically the era for polyphonic music was between the 13 and 16, but polyphony survived beyond 1700 and is often used as a tool in music of today.

Pop

Generic term and short for popular music of the day, often used when discussing music from the 'charts'.

Pulse

Another term for 'beat'.