What does sampling mean in music?

Sampling in music refers to the process of taking a portion or snippet from a pre-existing recording and incorporating it into a new piece of music. This technique is commonly used in various genres, particularly in hip-hop, electronic, and pop music, where artists loop or alter existing sounds to create something new. Sampling allows musicians to draw on the cultural and historical significance of prior works and recontextualize them in innovative ways. This practice can involve manipulating the sample's pitch, tempo, or layering it with other sounds to create a unique piece.

The other options involve different aspects of music creation and performance. Creating original scores involves composing entirely new music, while playing music by ear refers to the ability to reproduce music based on auditory memory without written instructions. Improvising musical segments involves spontaneously creating music in real-time rather than using pre-recorded material. These practices distinctly differ from sampling, which specifically focuses on utilizing existing audio recordings.