Solo (music)

Performance by a single musician

This article appears to be a dictionary definition. Please rewrite it to present the subject from an encyclopedic point of view. (May 2023)

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Trumpeter, bandleader and singer Louis Armstrong: as soloist.

In music, a solo (Italian for 'alone') is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring a single performer, who may be performing completely alone or supported by an accompanying instrument such as a piano or organ, a continuo group (in Baroque music), or the rest of a choir, orchestra, band, or other ensemble. Performing a solo is "to solo", and the performer is known as a soloist.

The plural is soli or the anglicised form solos. In some contexts these are interchangeable, but soli tends to be restricted to classical music, and mostly either the solo performers or the solo passages in a single piece. Furthermore, the word soli can be used to refer to a small number of simultaneous parts assigned to single players in an orchestral composition. In the Baroque concerto grosso, the term for such a group of soloists was concertino.

An instrumental solo is often used in popular music during a break or bridge to add interest and variety to a part of the song without lyrics.[citation needed]

## History

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### 18th century

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In the Baroque and Classical periods, the word solo was virtually equivalent to sonata, and could refer either to a piece for one melody instrument with (continuo) accompaniment, or to a sonata for an unaccompanied melody instrument, such as Johann Sebastian Bach’s sonatas for violin alone.[1]

## See also

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* Category:Solo music
* Cadenza
* Cello solo
* Concerto
* Drum solo
* Guitar solo
* Piano solo
* Tutti
* Violin solo
* Virtuoso

## Sources

[edit]

1. ^ David Fuller, "Solo", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).

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Musical ensembles by number

Solo: 1|

* Drum solo
* Guitar solo
* One-man band
* Piano solo

Duet: 2|

* Piano duet
* Piano four hands
* Musical duo
* Bicinium

Trio: 3|

* Clarinet trio
* Clarinet–cello–piano
* Clarinet–viola–piano
* Clarinet–violin–piano
* Flute, viola and harp
* Jazz trio
* Organ trio
* Piano
* Piano six hands
* Power trio (in rock music and heavy metal music)
* String
* Reed

Quartet: 4|

* Jazz quartet
* Piano
* Rock or pop quartet
* Saxophone
* Flute
* String
* Wind
* Woodwind

Quintet: 5|

* Brass
* Piano
* Pierrot ensemble
* Rock or pop quintet
* String
* Wind

Sextet: 6|

* Piano
* String

Other|

* Septet: 7
* Octet: 8
* String
* Nonet: 9
* Decet: 10
* Undecet: 11
* Duodecet: 12

Large groups|

* Big band
* Brass band
* Choir
* Concert band
* Orchestra
* Singakademie
* String orchestra

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Parts of a song

Verse–chorus form|

* Introduction
* Verse
* Pre-chorus
* Refrain/Chorus
* Post-chorus
* Bridge
* Solo
* Guitar
* Drum
* Break
* Breakdown
* Outro
* False ending

Other musical elements|

* Bassline
* Counter-melody
* Drone
* Drop
* Harmony
* Vocal harmony
* Hook
* Melody
* Ostinato
* Loop
* Riff
* Rhythm
* Groove

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