Underscore (music)

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An underscore is generally defined as a piece of background music, usually designed as a mood enhancing accompaniment to a situation. Underscores are a popular focus of library music, and generally lack strong melody lines in order not to detract concentration too far from a focus.

Underscores are popular during television soap operas (particularly those produced in Australia) to help provide transitions between scenes, or assist in building an atmosphere. Other uses for underscores include backing for station identification, shopping channels and news bulletins.

There is no defined format to an underscore, though they generally consist of a simple drone or chord progression.