[MUS139] Quiz 2 Study Guide

What song demonstrates rock 'n roll's most often used rhythm pattern?

"We Will Rock You (Links to an external site.)" by the English band Queen (Links to an external site.) containing a driving boom-boom clap/boom-boom clap rhythm pattern can be counted for our purposes as; one & two/three & four creating a duple beat pattern counted in groups of four. This duple pattern is the most often used rhythm pattern in rock music. The individual rhythms may vary from song to song, but this underlining counting pattern is pretty universal especially for classic rock.

What is a backbeat?

A backbeat is an accent on the second and fourth count of a four-beat rhythm pattern.

According to the article in the New York Times link to the book "Birth of Loud", What did Leo Fender think of the electric guitar that Paul Bigby built in 1948 for country music star Merle Travis?

Fender studied it, but knew it was too luxurious

Which rock star was inspired to pick up a Stratocaster guitar after watching Buddy Holly perform on British T.V.?

Guitar God Eric Clapton said in an interview for Guitar World that as a kid in the 1950s when he saw Buddy Holly and the Cricikets on T.V. in England, he saw Holly playing a Stratocaster guitar and Clapton decided there and then to learn to play the guitar and become a musician. The Fender Stratocaster became Clapton's principle guitar of choice as it would be for Jimi Hendrix.

According to the article on Leo Fender (Today What I Found Out), which style of music was the first to use Fender's solid body guitars?

Initially, it was country musicians that first discovered and began popularly using Fender guitars.

What were the key elements of songs from the "Tin Pan Alley" era?

It was important to keep the songs simple enough for non-professionals to play and contain themes with universal subject matters like love for home or a sweetheart. Melodies were kept within a narrow range so that non-professionals could sing them.

How did Leo Fender help solve the loudness gap for live bands in 1951?

Leo Fender introduced the Fender Precision Bass in 1951. The Precision Bass was designed to overcome loudness problems.

Along with lending his name to the Gibson Companies' first solid-body electric guitar, what was Les Paul's other important contribution that had as great an impact on pop music as his signature guitar?

Les Paul was the first player to claim the studio as an instrument. He aimed to control not only the music that went onto the canvas of the recorded sound, but everything about the canvas itself: the framing, the pristine background, and the depth and layering of the sound.

What was unique about Elvis Presley's vocals on his first album from 1956?

Placing the voices equally in the over-all mix of the recording created the sense of the singer as an integrated member of the group. PreviousNext

What defines the two different kinds of melody most prevalent in rock music?

Popular music and rock-oriented music in particular employ two different kinds of melodies. The first one is a 'stand-alone" melody which has its origins in European folk and classical music. By outlining harmonies and chords as its basis of design, stand-alone melodies express a kind of completeness and don't need support from other instruments to be musically coherent. The other type of melody utilized in rock music is the "riff" based melody that derives from an African tradition of singing and drumming. Riffs are short, vocal, or instrumental distinctive melodic fragments oftentimes repeated in a song.

What is missing from a "riff based" melody?

Riff based melodies need other musical parts to fill-in the blanks Next

What trend does the song "Sunshine of Your Love" illustrate?

Syncing the vocal and lead guitar on a recurring riff as the basis for the melody.

In the early 20th century, what was music's big game changer?

The advent of recorded music was the greatest "game changer" in the history of music and how the musical experience was interlaced in the social fabric of society.

In 1925, what invention predicated the development of a new low-key spoken style of singing called crooning?

The electronic microphone allowed singers to sing in a more natural (almost spoken) voice compared to the loud music hall style of previous eras.

What is a hook in a song?

The most memorable riff in a song, the one intended to catch the listener's attention is called the "hook". Often the vocal hook is the title of the song.

What is swing?

The most popular rhythm in big band jazz before the 1950s: "swing"; the rhythmic "feel" or "groove" of swing was built around an uneven long-short rhythm.

What innovation did early rock musicians like Chuck Berry and Little Richard introduce that separated rock 'n roll from Rhythm and Blues?

They both shifted the feel of the rhythm away from a swing feel and began playing the rhythm in an even manner like a clock.

What was "Tin Pan Alley" main goal?

Tin Pan Alley's goal was to sell sheet music of songs to the general public. It was important to keep the songs simple enough for non-professional musicians to play. Most songs contain themes with universal subject matters like love for home or a sweetheart. Melodies were kept within a narrow range so that non-professionals could sing them. The song and not a particular performance was what was important.

How were vocals mixed on recordings before and then after rock 'n roll?

Vocals in rock music do not push the band into the background of the recording the way earlier pop music like the songs of Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra did in the 1930s and 1940s. Sinatra's recordings always featured him in the fore front of the arrangement. The recording technique was designed to set the singer a little apart from the accompaniment