How to Create a Compelling Ostinato

musical style. a form of expression within a musical genre.

Instrumentation

1. Step 1 – Choose a Foundation Instrument.
2. Step 2 – Create a Basic Pattern.
3. Step 3 – Spice Up the Pitches.
4. Step 4 – Expanding Our Sense of Space.
5. Step 5 – Color Up the Sound.
6. Step 6 – Beginning to Create a Composition.
7. Step 7 – The Final Result.

Motif [motive] A short musical idea, melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, or any combination of these three. A motif may be of any size, and is most commonly regarded as the shortest subdivision of a theme or phrase that still maintains its identity as an idea.

Ice, Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice (1990) samples Under Pressure by Queen. U Can’t Touch This – MC Hammer (1990) samples Rick James’ Superfreak. Bittersweet Symphony – The Verve (1997) samples The Last Time by the Rolling Stones. Stayin’ Alive – N Trace (1998) samples the Bees Gees.

Ostinato

Riffs most commonly appear in rock, funk, jazz, and Latin music, though they can be found in almost any genre of music. A riff can be a wide range of things – from a melodic lead line that is repeated throughout a song, to a particular chord progression, to even just a single note played with a unique rhythm.

An anacrusis is an unstressed pickup or lead-in note or group of notes that precedes the first accented note of a phrase (a short unit of musical line).

So, google says that upbeat is “an unaccented beat preceding an accented beat”. Upbeat at the beginning also called “anacrusis”.

No. Pickup measures by definition are partial measures and do not count as “bar no. 1” or the “first measure.” However, if your “pickup” measure is actually a full measure with rests in the first beat(s) then yes, that would be the first full “measure” of the song.