Music 1013 Final

Who was the founder of Detroit's Motown Records? How did he come up with the necessary capital to start his record company?

Berry Gordy Jr. founded it with $700 of borrowed money.

After attending UT Austin for only one year, Janis Joplin returned to San Francisco to be lead singer of what band? How did Janis' voice change due to the overpowering accompaniment of a powerful rock band?

Big Brother and the Holding Company. She began to scream and shout her lyrics

What band did Al Kooper and Steve Katz form after the Blues Project had disbanded?

Blood Sweat and Tears

What male singer songwriter personified the folk-rock movement of the sixties, combining elements of pure folk music with rock and roll?

Bob Dylan

How did BS&T and Chicago compare when considering the influence of jazz and rock element in their musical style?

Chicago had more jazz influence; they played more blues songs

What was the most probable reason that BS&T album sales plummeted after 1971?

Clayton-Thomas left to pursue a solo career.

Harmony

Combination of notes simultaneously

In addition to co-founding folk-rock (along with Bob Dylan), The Byrds are often credited with starting another style of rock and roll that became popular during the 1970s. What was it called?

Country Rock

What four characteristics typify music of the San Francisco bands during this period?

Drug use, loud music, emphasis on the instrumentals, and electronic usage and experimentation

What does the acronym ELP stand for?

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

Who was art rock's premier iconoclast, attacking and ridiculing everything through his music? What was the name of his group, becoming underground favorites in L.A in 1965?

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

What rock keyboard player received a commission from the BBC to compose a piece for rock group and orchestra? For what rock band of the late 1960s and early 1970s did he play? What was the name of the six movement piece he composed to fulfill this commission?

Jon Lord of Deep Purple, and his piece Gemini Suite.

What keyboard player, more than any other rock artist, has persistently and successfully pursued the concept of art rock?

Keith Emerson

What are specific characteristics of the Motown Sound?

Lead singer with vocal backup, strong professional orchestration, using strings, brass, sax, keyboards and percussion. The beat is always strong with a heacy backbeat, often reinforced by handclaps. The songs often change key about 2/3 or 3/4 way through the song.

How would you characterize Janis Joplin's vocal style?

Mainstream rock, but she had roots in R&B and gospel

Three basic types of texture

Monophony, homophony, polyphony

What musical characteristics make the blues-based mainstream rock style of the Doors sound dark and down-beat?

Morrison's flat baritone voice. He sang in a narrow range, and was repetitive. They also used many minor keys, and have dark lyrics.

What is unique about Zappa's Help, I'm a Rock (1967) in comparison to other art rock compositions we have heard thus far? How does this composition relate to what was stated in your text regarding most rock musicians' conceptions of classical music?

Most focused on timbre and improvisation as generative elements. They avoided concerns with keys, melodies, traditional chords, and metrically organized rhythms. His song is chaotic, organized to sound unorganized. He was up to date with up to date experiments in classical music. His focus on vocal improvisation, timbre, and texture, often without traditional melody and harmony was thoroughly contemporary.

Timbre

Tone quality of the sound

What are the three rudiments of improvisation discussed in your text? One these basics are accomplished, what separates the best improvisers from their mediocre counterparts?

Total technical mastery of of their instrument, an absolutely solid feeling for the rhythm, and they must thoroughly understand the scales and chords, that is, the way pitches are organized vertically and horizontally. The best have some overall idea about the shape of their total solo.

Melody

Two or more pitches in succession with their own rhythmic duration

Chord

When three or more notes are sounded simultaneously

How would you describe Aretha's level of participation in the process of composing, arranging, performing, and recording her music?

high

What was the purpose of the hearing held before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in 1985, instigated by The Parents Music Resource Committee?

To see if record companies should have to label records if they have explicit content

James Brown's music maintained a high level of energy throughout, though the musical structures usually consisted of Brown's highly emotional vocal improvisations over riffs performed in extended, repetitive vamps. What are riffs and vamps?

A riff is a tightly coordinated accompanying patterns. A vamp is a repetition of the accompanying riff.

Who is the Columbia Records executive credited with recognizing Bob Dylan's raw new talent and signing him to a contract?

John Hammond

Who was the DJ in Cleveland that was influential in the expansion of black music into the white market during the 1950s?

Alan Freed

What was Hendrix' only top 40 single?

All Along the Watchtower

What record company was established in 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson? To what style of music were they primarily dedicated?

Atlantic Records which was dedicated to black music primarily R&B

What record company signed her when her contract with Columbia expired? Who was the producer largely responsible for developing her into a soul singer?

Atlantic Records' Jerry Wexler

From what two styles of black music did soul music evolve?

Gospel and Blues

Who is considered the first female rock star? With what group did she perform at the height of her success?

Grace Slick of the Jefferson Airplane

What was the reason for the 1965 Newport Folk Festival audience's negative reaction to Bob Dylan's appearence? What style of rock was born as a result?

He appeared on stage with an electric guitar. Folk rock was born from this act.

When we speak of Berry Gordy's insistence of total control, to what specifically are we referring?

He controlled how the dressed, how they looked, how they got out of cars, who they were seem with, there would be no change to the acts without his approval, and he handled their personal finances.

How did Jimi Hendrix begin his professional musical career?

He played backup for various black artists such as Little Richard, Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, and Jackie Wilson on the chitlin' circuit

What was unique about the way that Hendrix was able to get his break into the music business?

He set his guitar on fire?

What was Bob Dylan's most significant contribution to the history of rock?

His lyrics

Tempo

How fast notes move through time

What three questions should you ask yourself when attempting to determine the texture of a song?

How many lines are there? Is one line subservient to another? Are the lines imitating each other?

Do you believe that rock performers have gone too far in their attempt to gain attention with onstage and offstage antics?

I do, because the people who do these antics are not improving their music by performing these acts; it is solely to get their foot in the door.

Is the fact that music affects behavior good or bad? Why?

It is both good and bad, it can influence people to perform good deeds and it can influence people to do bad deeds.

According to your text, does product labeling constitute censorship?

It is the opposite of censorship

Is the rock music industry driven by the free will of those who listen to the music, and in some cases, decide to buy the product? Why or why not?

It is when the musician is only making a product. They then are not even a rock musician in the first place. However, they do decide, as they provide the money.

After a substantial change of personnel following their debut album, how was their follow-up album (Blood, Seat, and Tears) received by the record buying public? by the recording industry?

It was well received by both. It was a number 1 album and was nominated for 10 Grammys, winning three

Who was considered the Godfather of Soul?

James Brown

Who were the three Js that died between September 18, 1970 and July 3, 1971 all at the age of 27?

Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix

Who was the producer who proved invaluable to Atlantic Records in establishing the "soul sound"? What Memphis recording studio did he establish as Soulsville USA?

Jerry Wexler and the studio Stax Records

What was the name of his rock trio?

Jimi Hendrix Experience

What 1960s rock guitarist has become deified by later rock enthusiasts, especially guitarists? In what ways did he innovate guitar performance style?

Jimi Hendrix. He experimented with feedback, fuzz tone, and other electronically generated or modified sounds. He caressed his guitar and attacked it in a sexually suggestive way.

What is the problem inherent in the game of one upsmanship as new bands attempt to attract attention and distinguish themselves from all of the other up and coming artists?

Nobody wins for long

What cycle referred to by the authors in relation to Basic Statement #1? Can you provide an example in addition to the one given in the text?

Popularity to derision to nostalgia. Examples include Michael Jackson

What are six typical approaches used by art rock performers to bring together classical and rock elements?

Quote a classical excerpt in the midst of a rock song, use a melody as the basis of a rock song, create a series of rock songs conceived as units in a larger, adapt a full classical work to a rock style performance, create a work for rock group and classical ensemble, and using the musical language of rock, create an extended work modeled after a classical form.

What are the three most likely possibilities at any juncture in the musical form?

Repeat the previous material, play new material, or play something based on earlier material

What is the name of the premier keyboard player who, apart from his impressive solo output, played with an art rock band names Yes from 1971 to 1974 and again from 1976 to 1980?

Rick Wakeman

What was Bob Dylan's birth name?

Robert Zimmerman

Who was the lead singer for the Soul Stirrers, who served as a model for other gospel singers to cross over to the white market? What 1957 single succeeded in making the crossover a reality?

Sam Cooke. His single was You Send Me

What happened just prior to the release her second album Pearl in 1970?

She died of a heroin overdose.

Aretha Franklin's early recordings were unsuccessful, probably due to the style of music. How would you describe the songs on these four Columbia albums?

She sang show tunes and jazz flavored commercial pop

What Motown song miraculously rose to the #2 position late the same year the record company was established? Who was the artist that co-wrote the song with Gordy, and performed the lead vocal?

Shop Around co-written and performed by WIlliam Smokey Robinson

What was the primary cause of tension within BS&T as they recorded their debut album, Child is Father to the Moon (1968), resulting in a rather uneven recording?

Some members favored rock, and some favored jazz

What 10 year old amazed Berry Gordy with his musical ability, playing piano, organ, drums, and harmonica in addition to singing? What was the single he released in 1963 which was the first live single to hit #1?

Stevie Wonder, and his single was Fingertips

What Rolling Stones song did BS&T use as the basis for one of their extended compositions on Blood Sweat and Tears 3? Would you call this a cover? Why or why not?

Symphony for the Devil. I would still consider this a cover, as the lyrics are the same, even though almost every other aspect of the sound is different

What group served as Dylan's backup band during his recuperation after his motorcycle accident in 1966?

The Band

For what film did Simon and Garfunkel provided the musical soundtrack?

The Graduate

What archetypal San Francisco band of the 1960s (and beyond) began their musical career as Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, and then switched to the Warlocks? By what name are their unswervingly loyal followers called?

The Grateful Dead. Their followers are Dead Heads.

What was the first San Francisco band to land a recording contract with a major label, RCA? Under what names did this band record between their formation in 1965 and their disbanding in 1990?

The Jefferson Airplane. They recorded under the names Jefferson Starship and The Starship.

Name two prototypes for the female groups of the 1960s.

The Marvelettes and Martha and the Vandellas

What highly successful band of the 1960s provides an early example of the bad is good concept?

The Rolling Stones

What was the name of the female vocal group that raised Motown from being simply a successful business to an industry giant?

The Supremes

Who were the most popular Motown male group of the 1960s, boasting the dual lead singer format of Eddie Kendricks strong falsetto and David Ruffin's smooth baritone?

The Temptations

From what country did most of the art rock explorers come?

The UK

What rock band, above all others, embraced the rock opera as a means of creative expression?

The Who

How did the remaining members of The Byrds resolve the situation of Gene Clarke and David Crosby leaving the group?

The brought in other musicians to create The Notorious Byrd Brothers, an eclectic album using amphetamine references and electronically modified brass sounds.

What is improvisation?

The creation of a musical work as it is being performed.

Range

The distance between the highest and lowest notes in the melody

Dynamics

The fluctuations in loudness

Rhythm

The interrelation between music and time

Conjunct

The melody is gradually moving form low pitches to high pitches

Disjunct

The melody is jumping from high to low pitches

Form

The organizational structure of a piece of music.

A revised version of "The Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel reached #1 in 1966. How was this version different from the original which was released a year earlier?

The rhythm section: the bass line, the drum beat, and the electric guitar accompaniment. This song shows the transition from folk to folk rock.

Texture

The way the various musical lines function in relation to one another

Having had only one top 40 hit (Touch of Grey) in the 1980s, to what do we credit the Grateful Dead's level of success and longevity?

Their live performances

What inherent difficulty was created with the attempt to recreate live performances of complex songs like Karn Evil 9? How were they resolved by ELP?

There is a lot that goes into the song. They resolved it by hauling around 36 tons of equipment to recreate the songs.

What change in radio format assisted in gaining airplay for the San Francisco "acid rock" bands? What San Francisco DJ served as a key figure in this transition?

They changed format to album oriented rock, and the DJ was Tom Donahue

What was significant about Chicago's album sales beginning with Chicago V?

They had five number 1 albums in a row, Chicago V through Chicago IX

What is the most probable reason for the longevity of Chicago's success? How does this compare with BS&T?

They had stability in their personnel. 6 of the original 7 were still in the band as of 1986. BS&T often changed personnel, and Clayton Thomas leaving was the main reason their album sales plummeted.

What was the role of Holland, Dozier, and Holland at Motown Records? What were the typical responsibilities falling to each of these gentlemen?

They provided songs and production for the majority of Motown's hit singles. They were the creators of numerous hits.

What is the problem (evident in the Moody Blues' Days of Future Past) with most rock musicians' concepts of classical music?

They think it is too old, and the music sounds archaic.

What was significant about their experience traveling with the Dick Clark Cavaclade of Stars in 1964?

They were the opening act, and released Where did our Love Go?, which reached number 1, then they became the closing act

Why is the following statement prejudicial? Real rock is for real people.

This assumes that only "intelligent" people can understand anything more than three chords or four beats.

What are acid tests?

Thousands of people, hopelessly stoned, all finding themselves in a roomful of thousands of other people, none of whom they were afraid of

Triad

Three notes sounded at the same time; the most basic chord

What solution to the status quo was suggested by Frank Zappa at the Senate hearing mentioned above?

To encourage music appreciation in the schools; kids should know music besides pop music exists.

What is meant by the term "talking blues"? What blues singer is credited with developing this style?

a story is half spoken half sung to a simple chordal accompaniment. Huddie Leadbelly Ledbetter is credited with developing it, and Woodie Guthrie is credited with popularizing it

Which of the six typical approaches to art rock is exemplified in ELP's Pictures at an Exhibition (1972) (Karn Evil 9)?

an extended work for a rock group using a classical model but the musical language of rock

What is the most probable reason that the remarkable potential exhibited by The Byrds was only partially fulfilled?

constant personnel changes and poor group chemistry.

Aretha won the Grammy Award for best R&B performance by a female artist how many years in a row?

eight; 8