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Music 150

Exam 1

Thursday October10

Review Sheet

The exam will cover the material in the first eight chapters of the text and CD examples through chapter 8.

There are two required parts to the exam. These two--musical examples for you to describe and short answer questions --will be done in class on October 10.

There is an optional takehome essay question at the end of the Review Sheet. Tapes of the two pieces for the essay are at the Multi-media desk in the library. NOTE: The tapes are for use in the library If you choose to do the takehome essay, it is to be prepared and written up ahead of time and turned in with your in-class exam. The takehome essay can add up to 20 points to your score on the in-class exam.

 

PART I SHORT ANSWERS (47 points total)

All questions on the test will be based on these questions.

Exam questions may be multiple choice, matching, true false, short answer or brief essay.

Chapter I: The Anglo-American Tradition

Be able to identify

Aunt Molly Jackson

Woody Guthrie

Pete Seeger

Huddie Ledbetter

Kingston Trio

New Lost City Ramblers

1. What are likely characteristics of a typical Anglo-American ballad text?

2. What forces act on ballad texts to produce textual and musical variants? Is there an "authentic" or "correct" version of the text of a ballad? Of the tune?

3. What instruments were used to accompany ballads before 1800?

4 What are effects of adding accompaniment to ballads?

5. Describe the sound of the traditional singing voice for ballads. Does the singing style always reflect the subject matter?

6 Compare the approach a traditional ballad singer takes to performing with the approach of a professional folk singer. Describe the attitude of each toward the music sung, the vocal quality, the type of musical arrangement, the singer's attitude toward the audience and the audience's expectations.

7. List three different approaches to folk music that have evolved since 1900.

8 How did the transition from folk musician, creating songs to address the problems of a limited area, to FOLK MUSICIAN, creating songs aimed at no one group but rather meant to reach a large, diverse audience, affect performances by Aunt Molly Jackson? by Woodie Guthrie? by Huddie Ledbetter? by Pete Seeger? by the Kingston Trio? by the New Lost City Ramblers?

9. Do you agree with Kingman's view that, although "songs promoting unity and solidarity among the already committed are still and will always be effective sustainers of morale...," "the old line hard-hitting protest song is probably being sung to a diminishing public?" Why or why not?

10 How and why did folk songs become popular music in the 1960's? What happened to their "popularity?"

11. Are new "urban" folksongs still being created today? If not, why not? If so, how do they differ from the "urban" folk songs of the past? From the urban folk songs of the 1930's? From the folk music of the 1960's?

12. How has recording encouraged the preservation of folk music and styles from the past as living traditions?

Chapter II: The Afro-American Tradition

1. List three important characteristics of African music. For each one, describe how that characteristic has manifested itself in Afro-American music.

2. Where and when did the spiritual first evolve in Afro-American culture? In what ways did the Afro-American community reinterpret the Christian gospel to make it particular to their position in society?

3 . What instrumental forces usually accompanied the spiritual in the early 19th century?

4. How did Fisk University make Northern and European society aware of the spiritual? Why was this task undertaken?

5. Compare the character of singing in an Afro-American church, an urban upper middle class church and a lower class Southern white church in 1900.

6. What role does the spiritual play today?

7. When did the blues first evolve? List four social or cultural conditions peculiar to and/or new to Afro-Americans at that time which contributed to the rise of blues.

8 Was the starting point for blues a standard form? What factors contributed toward the standardizing of the form in the early 20th century? What contribution to standardization was made by W. C. Handy?

9 List three characteristics of blues lyrics.

10. List three ways the standard blues form encourages textual and musical improvisation.

11. List five typical vocal characteristics of blues singing.

12. Why was the guitar an especially appropriate instrument for accompanying rural blues? What special ways of playing the guitar (beyond picking and strumming) arose among rural blues guitar players?

Chapter 3: The American Indian Tradition

1. List three beliefs of Native Americans about music that defined its role in culture as utterly different from any European music.

2. What functions for music important in Native American culture are absent in Anglo-American culture?

3. List three different instruments that play a role in Native American music.

4. How have government policies toward Native Americans undermined Native American music within Native American culture?

5. What was the Ghost Dance? What significance did the Ghost Dance have for Native American attitudes toward the relationship between tribal identity and music? How did the Ghost Dance movement help to break down musical differences between Native American cultures?

6. What does the term renovated mean in relationship to music? How does a renovationist attitude toward music differ from a revivalist attitude? Describe briefly the importance of both of these concepts to an understanding of the state of Native American music today.

Chapter 4 The Latino Tradition

1. List three geographically distinct cultures which contributed to the development of music in Central and South America.

2 What is an albado ?

3. Contrast briefly the treatment of slaves in Spanish America with that in English America and the United States. What effect did this difference have on the development of music in Central and South America?

4. Compare the secular music of Mexico, as described on page 58-59, with that of the United States. In what ways are they similar? How--besides language--do they differ?

5. Compare the role of drums in Afro-Cuban music & Afro-American music.

6. Contrast briefly the corrido and the Anglo-American ballad? How are they similar? How different

7 What is conjuncto ?

8 What two distinct ways of "importing" Latin-American have been important influences on American music? (See page 68.)

9. What is clave ? Why is it important in Cuban music?

Chapter 5 Country Music

State briefly the significance of

Jimmy Rogers

Carter family

Vernon Dalhart

Chet Atkins

Bill Monroe

Hank Williams

1. List 3 characteristics of country music that have changed over time.

2. List 3 characteristics of country music that have not changed over time.

3. What family of instruments provides the backbone of country instrumental sound?

4. In what decade of what century does country music begin? Why can we date the beginnings of the music so precisely?

5. What technology was important to the beginnings of country music? Why was it important?

6. Compare the approach to country music exemplified by Jimmy Rogers in "Waiting for a Train" and the Carter family in "Can the Circle be Unbroken". Discuss briefly the how each approach is reflected in the country music of today.

7. How did the "western" get into "country and western"? What contributions did the west--its history, music, fashions, imagery, etc.--make to country music?

8. What effects does the emergence of rock'n'roll in the 50's have on country music?

9. Compare briefly the style of old country music and the Nashville sound of commercial country. Consider singing style, instruments used and style of playing.

10. When and where did honky-tonk arise? How does its function differ from old country music? from Nashville commercial country? How does the nature of text and music reflect these differences in function?

11. List 4 instruments basic to the sound of bluegrass.

12. What aspects of bluegrass grow out of traditional styles? What aspects go beyond traditional styles?

Chapter 6 Blues and Soul: From Country to City

State briefly the significance of

Bessie Smith

Robert Johnson

"T-Bone" Walker

Muddy Waters

Lighnin' Hopkins

B. B. King

1. List 3 characteristics of blues that have changed over time.

2. List 3 characteristics of blues that have not changed over time.

3. What characteristics of African music have remained important in Afro-American blues? What aspects of blues derive from musics blacks heard in America?

4. When did the blues begin? Why can we not be a specific about a starting point for blues as we could be for country music?

5. List four socio-cultural characteristics of the post-Civil war status of blacks in the South that contributed to the development of blues.

6. What factors contribute to the "standardization" of blues as a form in the first three decades of the 20th century?

7. Describe briefly the "standard" blues lyric form. Why is this form ideal for making up lyrics as you go along? for instrumental improvisation? What is fixed, what can vary?

8. Describe briefly the "standard" blues musical form. What is fixed, what can vary?

9. List 3 differences between the blues of the rural South 1900-1920 and the so-called "Classic" blues of the 1920's. In what respect is "Classic" blues unique among the styles of blues we have studied?

10. List 3 source geographical areas for rural blues. What contribution did technology make to the popularization of rural blues?

11. How did the function of blues change when the performers moved to large urban areas? How does the style of urban blues reflect these changes in function?

12. How can one differentiate between blues and R & B? Why were drums added to the blues? What were some of the effects of this addition? What new functions did R & B serve?

13. How did radio change the character of the R & B audience in the 1950's?

14. List 3 types of music that contribute to the 'soul synthesis'. What was the most important difference between soul music and R&B?

15. Who is the audience for blues today? How has that affected the character of the music?

Chapter 7 Rock and Its Progeny

State briefly the significance of

Bill Haley

Littel Richard

Elvis

Chuck Berry

Jerry Lee Lewis

Lieber & Stoller

"covering" a record

George Martin

1. List 3 characteristics of rock music that have changed over time.

2. List 3 characteristics of rock music that have not changed over time.

3. List 3 social conditions that contributed to the rise of rock'n'roll.

4. List 3 technological developments that are crucial to the rise and dissemination of rock n roll in the 1950's.

5. What is the most important source music for early rock'n'roll?

6. How did the emergence of rock'n'roll affect the recording industry in the short run? in the middle run? in the long run?

7. Compare the contributions of Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry to the development of rock music.

8. Compare the contributions of Bob Dylan, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to the development of rock music.

9. List three new genres of source music rock drew on beginning in the middle 60's.

10. How has rock music since 1970 reflected the changing economic, social and cultural climates during that time?

11. Rock music is the first music whose identity has grown at least as much from recordings as from live performance. What effect has this change had on the way the music is experienced?

12. How has the emergence of MTV in the last decade changed the experience of rock music? What effects has a home visual component had on live performance?

Chapter 8: From Psalm Tune to Rural Revivalism

State briefly the significance of

psalm tune

psalter

lining out

regular way

usual way

singing school

1. What type of religious music was brought to America by the Pilgrims and the Puritans? Was this music a notated or vernacular tradition? Were there different parts or did everyone sing in unison?

2. How did congregational singing change from 1620 to 1720? Where might one hear a style of congregational singing similar to that of 1720 in America today?

3. Describe briefly the operation of a typical singing school. Was it a permanent institution in the community?

4. What were the musical goals of the singing school reformers? How important was "improved performance" to the leaders of the reform movement?

5.Describe briefly the change in the way music might operate in a congregation whose members had attended a singing school.

6. How did singing schools encourage the emergence of composers? Did these composers generally make their living by composing?

7. Describe briefly the life of William Billings. Was he a successful composer? How, in his view, should a composer learn the craft of composition?

8. Were sacred and secular kept separate in music from 1620 to the Revolution? What was the most common home music during this period?

9. In what ways did the music of the Moravians differ from the music of the Puritan sects in pre-Revolution America? Did it develop a "usual way" of performing comparable to the New England "usual way"?

10. What were the most important characteristics of Shaker music?

PART II MUSICAL EXAMPLES (5 examples, 53 points total)

There will be five examples on the exam. Three will chosen from the CD's for the text, two will be "unknowns". On the exam I will list these categories" and the pieces on the CD's for the class.

There will be five examples on the exam. Three will chosen from the CD's for the text, two will be "unknowns". On the exam I will list these categories" and the pieces on the CD's for the class.

Anglo American ballad

Afro-American folk blues

Afro-American spiritual

Mexican secular music

Caribbean secular music

Native American song

20th century folk song

old timey country

honky tonk

Nashville country

rural blues

urban blues

R & B

soul music

rock'n'roll

rock 1960-1970

rock after 1970

rap

usual way singing

regular way singing

For the known pieces, you are to identify the piece (1), choose the category above which best fits the example (2), to cite two characteristics of the music (3 points each) and to describe the function the music served in its cultural setting (2). For the unknowns, you are to choose an appropriate category for the piece (2), to cite two characteristics of the piece which made you choose that category (3 points each), and to describe briefly the function the music served in its cultural setting (2).

PART III: Take-home Essay Question OPTIONAL Maximum additional points: 20. Tapes of Lament Over Boston and With God on Our Side are available for listening in the library at the Multi-meida checkout desk.

In his discussion of Native American music, Kingman begins with these words.

There are two ways to view an artistic artifact. The first is as a thing of interest and beauty in and of itself. The second is as something to be viewed in the complete context of the society that brought it forth, having essential meaning only in that context.

Both of these perspectives are basic to understanding any music; they are especially useful in contrasting music of the same culture but from very different times.

I want you to use these approaches as points of departure for your Takehome Essay.

Begin by listening to two pieces of U. S. Music written about two hundred years apart and differing greatly in style but sharing a common theme, a theme very mcuh on all our minds: William Billings' Lament Over Boston (about 1770) and Bob Dylan's With God on Our Side (about 1965). 5 copies of a tape of both pieces are available to listen to (NOT to check out) in the Media Center of the Library; ask for the Music 150 Exam I tape. (I apologize for the skips in the Dylan recording; I had only an LP record, and could not get over the skips.) The texts are at the end of the page.

After you familiarize yourself with the pieces, write a 3-4 page typed essay (not simply answers to the questions) describing and comparing them both as "(pieces)... of interest and beauty in and of (themselves)" and as " (pieces) to be viewed in the complete context of the society which brought (them) forth." The questions below are intended to guide your own investigations; they need not be answered literally, but your discussion should include consideration of all the points suggested. Conclude your essay with a brief statement of your own response to each piece..

AS "a thing of interest an beauty in and of itself."

FOR EACH PIECE: How is it made? Describe it's musical and textual characteristics. How does it make its effect? How does it utilize religious imagery? (I have included the text of Psalm 137; what does Billings take from the Psalm for his text?) How does it compare with other music of this type that we have examined? What stands out to you about it?

AS "something to be viewed in the ... context of the society which brought it forth... .".

FOR EACH PIECE: How does the composer view war? How does the attitude toward war relate to what was going on in its time? In what ways do the musical characteristics of each piece--performing forces, form, style, feeling--exemplify the social, cultural and musical characteristics of the society which produced it? Is the piece more than a reflection--does it seek to challenge attitudes of its time? Does it speak to our time?

Consider the FUNCTION of each piece. Why was each written? Who was its intended audience? How did each reach its audience at the time of its writing? How well do you think each piece served its intended purpose at the time it was written? What made it effective, or ineffective?

What place does each piece have in the world today?

 

Your essay is to be turned in with your in-class exam on Thursday October 10. It must be typed.

 

LAMENT OVER BOSTON (William Billings, text adaptation and music)

By the Rivers of Watertown we sat down and wept when we remember'd thee, O Boston.

As for our Friends, Lord God of Heaven preserve them, defend them, deliver and restore them unto us.

For they that held them in bondage requir'd of them to take up arms against their brethren.

Forbid it, Lord. God Forbid! Forbid it, Lord, God forbid!

That those who have sucked Bostonian Breasts should thirst for American Blood!

A Voice was heard in Roxbury which echo'd thro' the Continent, weeping for Boston because of their danger.

Is Boston my dear Town, is it my native place? For since their Calamity, I do earnestly remember it still.

If I forget thee, if I forget thee, yea if I do not remember thee, let my numbers cease to flow,

then be my Muse unkind; then let my tongue forget to move and ever be confin'd.

Let horrid Jargon split the Air and rive my nerves asunder;

let hateful Discord greet my Ear, as terrible as Thunder.

Let Harmony be banish'd hence and Consonance depart;

let Dissonance erect her Throne and reign within my heart.

PSALM 137

 

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down.. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

On the willows in the midst of it, w hung up our harps.

For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs.

Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

How can we sing Yahweh's song in a foreign land?

If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.

Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don't remember you;

If I don't prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Remember, Yahweh, against the children of Edom, the day of Jerusalem;

Who said, "Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!"

Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,He will be happy who rewards you, as you have served us.

Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE (words and music by Bob Dylan)

 

Oh, my name it ain't nothin', my age it means less.

The country I come from is called the midwest.

I's taught and brought up there the laws to abide,

And that the land that I live in has God on its side.

All the history books tell it, they tell it so well,

The cavalry charged, the Indians fell,

The cavalry charged, the Indians died,

For the county was young with God on its side.

The Spanish American War had its day,

And the Civil War, too was soon laid away

And the names of the heroes I's made to memorize

With guns in their hands, and God on their side.

The first World War, boys, it came and it went,

The reason for fighting I never did get.

But I learned to accept it , accept it with pride,

For you don't count the dead when God's on your side.

The second World War came to an end,

We forgave the Germans, and then we were friends.

Though they murdered six millions, in the ovens they fried,

The Germans now too have God on their side.

I learned to hate the Russians, all through my whole life.

If another war comes, it's them we must fight.

To hate them and fear them, to run and to hide,

And accept it all bravely with God on my side,.

But now we got weapons of chemical dust,

If fire them we're forced to, then fire them we must

One push of the button and shock the world white

And you never ask questions when God's on your side.

Through many dark hour I been thinkin' about this

That Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss

But I can't think for you, you'll have to decide

Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.,

So now as I'm leavin', I'm weary as hell

The confusion I'm feelin' aint no tongue can tell

The words fill my head and fall to the floor

That if God's on our side, he'll stop the next war.