IDS quiz 1 vocab

call-and-respond

a characteristic feature of much African American music, in which musical forces alternate with one another, usually in quick succession; these forces may be a solo singer with a chorus or backing group, sung lines with guitar or band passages, an instrumental solo with a larger instrumental group, or other groupings. this form of expression is a characteristically African phenomenon in its origins

vaudeville

a kind of variety show that became the dominant form of popular entertainment in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in America. A typical performance might feature singers, actors, jugglers, animal acts, and other novelties

ragtime

a musical genre of African American origin, later exploited to great advantage by white performers, that emerged in the 1880s and became quite popular at the turn of the century. Ragtime is characterized by melodic accents that fall on "off" or weak beats; it is highly sycopated. Scott jopin is the recognized master of this genre, having composed numerous rags for the piano

bridge

a passage consisting of new, contrasting material that serves as a link between repeated sections of melodic material. A bridge is sometimes called a release

producer

a person engaged either by a recording artist, or, more often, a record company, who directs and assists the recording process. the producer's duties may include securing the services of session musicians; deciding on arrangements; making technical decisions; motivating the artist creatively, helping to realize the artistic vision in a commercially viable way; and not unimportantly, ensuring that the project comes in under budget

arranger

a person who adapts (or arranges) the melody and chords of a song to exploit the capabilities and instrumental resources of a particular musical ensemble. for example, a simple pop tune originally written for voice and piano may be arranged for a jazz "big band" with many horns and a rhythm section

minstrel shows

a popular form of mid-19th-century entertainment featuring white performers performing in black face makeup. the classic minstrel show was organized around a series of more or less independent sketches and songs, featuring characters such as Mr. Interlocutor, a lead performer who sang and provided patter between acts, and Bones and Tambo, who sat at either end of the line of performers

dialect

a regional speech variant; one may allude to regional musical "dialects" to describe stylistic variants of the same basic musical genre, as with Mississippi Delta blues or East Texas blues

ballad

a type of song consisting usually of verses set to a repeating melody (see strophic form) in which a story, often romantic, historic, or tragic, is sung in narrative fashion

crooning

an intimate, gentle style of singing facilitated by the introduction of the microphone and modern recording techniques. bing crosby was among the first great cooners

microphone

device for recording which replaced an older system of acoustic recording, allowing engineers to isolate and amplify particular sounds, including that of an individual human voice

sharecroppers

former slaves, denied opportunities for advancement by the imposition of laws enforcing racial segregation became sharecroppers. they farmed on land owned by former slave masters. purchases for farming and the landowner's share were deducted and the sharecropper kept the difference or added to debt

verse

in general usage, this term refers to a group of lines of poetic text, often rhyming, that usually exhibit regularly recurring metrical patterns. in the verse-refrain song, the verse refers to an introductory section that precedes the main body of the song, the refrain

verses

in general usage, this term refers to a group of lines of poetic text, often rhyming, that usually exhibit regularly recurring metrical patterns. in the verse-refrain song, the verse refers to an introductory section that precedes the main body of the song, the refrain.

refrain

in the verse-refrain song, the refrain is the "main part" of the song, usually constructed in AABA or ABAC form

formal analysis

listening for musical structure, its basic building blocks, and the ways in which these blocks are combined

soli

plural of solo; band textures achieved by having a small group of players within the band play certain passages of music together. soli playing contrasts with tutti sections, in which the entire ensemble plays

spirituals

sacred songs that originated in breakaway movements such as that of the separatist baptists, who believed that their musical texts, like their religious expression, should be intensely personal, exuberant, and free from doctrinal restraints

release

see bridge

pregón

spanish term for "announcement". In afro-cuban music pregón refers to (1) an improvised vocal solo based on the cries of street vendors, or (2) the improvised solo in call-and-response singing (as in the montuno form)

acappella

sung without instrumental accompaniment

timbre

the "tone color" or characteristic sound of an instrument or voice, determined by its frequency and overtone components. timbre is the aspect of sound that allows us, for example, to differentiate between the sound of a violin and the sound of a flute when both instruments are playing the same pitch

rhythm

the musical organization of time

Polyrhythmic

the simultaneous sounding rhythms in two or more contrasting meters, such as three against two, or five against four. polyrhythms are found in abundance in African and Asian music and their derivatives

arrangement

the way in which the song is presented in a particular performance

lyrics

words of a song

hook

A "catchy" or otherwise memorable musical phrase or pattern.

verse-refrain

A Tin Pan Alley song form that fuses the AABA structure and the verse-and-chorus forms.

broadsides

A ballad that is printed on a single sheet of paper; popular from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Broadsides were an early form of sheet music.

old-time music

A category of music comprising string band music (ranging from fiddle and banjo duets to larger dance ensembles with guitar, mandolin, and autoharp); ballad songs, performed with or without instrumental accompaniment; sacred songs and church hymns; and a variety of functionally specialized music genres such as lullabies and work songs.

waltz

A dance in triple time with a strong emphasis on every third beat.

radio

A device that received electromagnetic waves that began to create a unified national popular culture in the 1920s.

musical process

A formal analysis of the way popular music actually sounds.

composer

A person who creates a piece of music. Although the term may be used to describe the creators of popular songs, it is more commonly applied to those who create more extended, formally notated works of music.

lyricist

A person who supplies the poetic text (lyrics) to a piece of vocal music; not necessarily the composer

standards

A popular song of the 1910's to the 1940's that has been recorded many times, to the point where it has reached iconic status.

chorus

A repeating section within a song consisting of a fixed melody and lyric that is repeated exactly each time that it occurs, typically following one or more verses

riff

A simple, repeating melodic idea or pattern that generates rhythmic momentum; typically played by the horns or the piano in a jazz ensemble, or by an electric guitar in a rock 'n' roll context

strophic

A song form that employs the same music for each poetic unit in the lyrics

minor key

A term that refers to one of the two scale systems central to Western music; a minor scale is arranged in the following order of whole and half-step intervals: 1-1/2-1-1-1/2-1-1. A song is said to be in a minor tonality or key if it uses melodies and chords that are constructed primarily from the minor scale. In comparison to the major scale, the minor scale is often described as having a "sad" or melancholy sound.

major key

A term that refers to one of the two-scale systems central to Western music. A major scale is arranged in the following order of whole-and half-step intervals: 1-1-1/2-1-1-1-1/2. A song is said to be in a major tonality or key if it uses melodies and chords that are constructed primarily from the major scale.

radio network

An industry that grew beginning in 1922 when telephone lines were used to transmit running account of a football game; in 1926, the National Broadcasting Company was established, follows soon after by the Columbia Broadcasting System, the Mutual Broadcasting System, and the American Broadcasting System; by 1927 there were over 1000 radio stations in the United States.

tune families

Borrowed lyrics fit into many old-time songs because the tunes of various songs could be interchanged in the flow of performance.

backbeat

In rock music, the accenting of the 2nd and 4th beat of a four-beat bar.

folk music

In the most general sense, music that is orally transmitted and closely bound up with the daily lives and customs of local communities. More specifically, a popular style of the late 1950s and early 1960s (sometimes called urban folk music) featuring guitar playing singer/songwriters who often addressed topical issues. Bob Dylan began his career as a folk singer.

stoptime

Musical trick in jazz where the band stops abruptly for a few beats and one instrument plays a brief solo.

string band tradition

Old-time string bands drew on the traditions that English, Scots, Irish, and Welsh immigrants brought with them to America.

brass band concerts

One of the most important musical aspects of American Life from civil war thru 1910s; military-style bands disseminated throughout the country and performed for patriotic and popular events, and the music held special significance for those who had served in the armed forces

"Barbara allen"

One of the most widely performed examples of the British Ballad tradition, first definitively documented in London in 1666

disc jockeys

One who plays recordings (either on a radio program or in a live performance) involving the use of pre-existing recordings, most common in hip-hop and techno music.

strophes

Poetic stanzas; often, a pair of stanzas of alternating form that constitute the structure of a poem. these could become the verse and chorus of a strohic song

gospel music

Religious-themed popular music performed by both white and African American musicians. White groups such as the Carter Family performed restrained versions of traditional American hymns. Black groups drew their inspiration from the enthusiastic, deeply felt singing of black church choirs.

syncopation

Rhythmic patterns in which the stresses occur on what are ordinarily weak beats, thus displacing or suspending the sense of metric regularity.

crooners

Singers who mastered the electric microphone after its introduction in 1925.

montuno

Spanish term for a formal section within a performance of Afro-Cuban dance music (such as rumba, mambo, or salsa). The montuno, generally the second half of a given piece, alternates a fixed vocal refrain (the coro) with a solo vocal improvisation (the pregón), and may also include instrumental solos.

conjuntos

Spanish term for a musical group or ensemble, used widely in Latin America (e.g., Cuba and Mexico)

groove

Term originally employed by jazz, rhythm and blues, and funk musicians to describe the channeled flow of swinging, "funky," or "phat" rhythms

Jazz Age

The 1920s and early 1930s, a pivotal period in the history of American popular music.

tin pan alley

The center of the commercial songwriting and publishing business in New York from approximately the 1880s through the mid-20th century. The term has been applied to the popular songs published there by composers like Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, and George Gershwin.

A&R (artists and repertoire)

The department of a record company whose responsibility is to discover and cultivate new musical talent, and find material for artists to perform - naturally, with an eye toward commercial potential. as many artists today write and record their own material, the latter function of A&R has atrophied to some extent

British ballad tradition

Tradition of ballad songs from Great Britain which was brought to America. Many ballads in this tradition are published in Francis J. Child's five-volume English and Scottish Popular Ballads.

up-tempo

While an up-tempo does not differ essentially from ballads in form, it is different from ballads because of influences from African American music, including syncopation.

black spirituals

African American slaves forged alternative interpretations of spirituals that bore double meanings of religious salvation and freedom from slavery.

licensing and copyright agencies

Agencies set up to control the flow of profits and the sale and broadcast of popular music.

Soldier's Joy

Also known as "The King's Head," one of the most venerable, popular, and widely distributed fiddle tune in old-time repertoire. It is believed to have originated in Scotland.

dance music

An important area of American popular music shaped by European influence. Country dances were popular, and in the United States developed into a plethora of variants, both urban and rural, elite and working class, black and white.

sound film

An important means for the dissemination of popular music introduced in 1927.