Intro to Music - Music 101

Why were European influences dominant in early American music? Select all answers that are true.

1) Early religious, folk, and popular song traditions derived from mainland Europe. 2)Early settlers had little exposure to Native American traditions 3)American settlers were exposed to European classical music through travel. 4)Native American music was deemed primitive, and thus unworthy, by European settlers.

Based on your understanding of oral traditions, which of the following characteristics might apply to the passing down of folk music?

Frequent changes in the texts of songs

Who composed music for orchestra, but in the "pop" style?

George Gershwin

Ethnomusicologists rely on a ______________ rather than an ethnocentric perspective to study and describe music.

Global

dance music

Is instrumental and, in the European American tradition, features the fiddle as the primary instrument

children's song

Is short, simple, and easy to remember, and serves a unique function

Which of the following is most closely related to the role of the conductor of an orchestra?

Musical interpreter

Which of the following are examples of American roots music? Select all that apply.

Ozark mountain music, African American slave songs, Zydeco

The science of sound and the physical basis of music is called

acoustics

consonance

agreeable affect produced by certain intervals

cadence

all elements come to rest, a point of repose at the end of a musical phrase

monophony

all instruments or singers playing the same melody

The texture of Bolero is thickest ______________

at the end

Bolero

composed by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Premiered (first performed) in 1928 Performed in this video by the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Christoph Eschenbach

roots music

derived from the everyday lives of people

counterpoint

multiple lines of music played at the same time

Functional Music

music created for a specific purpose, such as communication or dance

Popular Music

music enjoyed by large numbers of people

Art Music

music that is formal, sophisticated, urban, and appreciated by an educated elite. It is music derived from a cultivated tradition based largely on notated music. A certain amount of musical training is needed to create and perform art music

Brass

Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Tuba, Euphonium

rubato

flexible tempo, music whose pace constantly speeds up and slows down

ensemble

in French - "together," in English - a group of some kind

jazz ensemble

large ensemble - sax, trumpet, trombone & rhythm sections

band (or wind ensemble)

large instrumental ensemble without the strings

orchestra

large instrumental ensemble, usually consisting of all 4 families

alto

low register female voice

bass

low register male voice

work song

Uses rhythm, pace, and spirit to make long hours of labor bearable

The musical language of America is based on

Western European musical concepts

Strings

violin, viola, cello, bass

time signature

written indication of meter

The merging of cultural traditions produces

new styles and modes of behavior

When music is transmitted from generation to generation by imitation or memory, this is referred to as

oral tradition

The rate of speed of sound waves is perceived as

pitch

All sounds have

pitch, duration, loudness, and tone quality

strophic

process where each stanza is set to the same music

revival

resurgence of an existing style

syncopation

rhythmic stress on an unstressed beat

Families of Western Instruments

strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion

Most early religious, folk, and popular songs were derived the styles of

the British Isles

atonality

the absence of a tonal center, or key

modulation

the change from one key area to another

Texture

the density of sound; the number of simultaneously sounding lines

Rhythm

the organization of time in music, creating patterns of long and short durations of sounds to achieve desired degrees of energy or intensity

meter

the pattern of stressed beats in music

Form

the shape or structure of a piece of music. Form is determined primarily by patterns of contrast and repetition.

timbre (tone color)

the sound quality of a particular instrument

Instrumentation

the sounds (instruments and/or voices) that you hear in any piece of music

tempo

the speed or pace of a piece of music

key

the tonal center, or tonality of a piece, or a part of a piece, of music

harmonize

to play together

Folk Music

usually of unknown origin and enjoyed by the general population, informal, aesthetically and musically unsophisticated music that communicates directly and obviously to large groups within a culture or subculture, such as a nation or an ethnic minority. It is usually transmitted and preserved by memory (oral tradition). Also known as traditional music

hootenanny

a folk music gathering

chorus

one complete chord progression in a jazz tune

homophony

one important melody, with accompaniment

polyphony

2 or more melodies of equal importance

Harmony

2 or more pitches sounding at the same time

chord

3 or more notes sounds simultaneously

Percussion

Drums, Cymbal/Gong, Xylophone/Marimba, Piano/Harp, Bells/Chimes

protest song

Encourages change in society and politics; emerged in the late 1800s and reached its peak in the 1960s

Which of the following is not a function of music?

Engineering

The primary factor in the development of America's cultural mainstream was the predominance of

English-speaking settlers

Cultures from the following continents are the primary sources of America's great musical diversity.

Europe, Africa, Asia

Woodwinds

Flute/piccolo, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Saxophone

lyric song

Focuses on emotion and mood, with little focus on action or drama

melisma

Many pitches sung on each syllable of text

narrative ballad

Originated in the British Isles, is often strophic in form, and tells a specific story

Music

Organized Sound organized both formally (usually some pattern of repetition of melody) and physically (consistent speeds of vibration creating pitches)

rally song

Promotes a specific cause, such as a union goal, political candidate, or patriotic event

Which of the following techniques and characteristics is least likely to apply to the blues?

Strong dance beat

Which of the following best describes the relationship between the blues and spirituals?

The blues is the secular counterpart to the spiritual.

What does it mean to improvise?

To simultaneously create, perform, and listen to music

interval

Two notes sounding at once

The composer of a folk song is often

Unknown

Downloading copyrighted music can be considered

Violation of the law

triad

a chord consisting of three pitches

ostinato

a clearly defined phrase repeated persistently

conjunct

a contour in which the intervals of a melody are close together

disjunct

a contour in which the intervals of a melody are far apart

phrase

a division of a melody equal to a clause or sentence of prose, or to one breath of singing

field recordings

a method of preserving folk music

notation

a method of preserving music in print

theme

a musical idea on which a composition is based

register

a portion of a melodic range of a voice or an instrument

pentatonic scale

a scale consisting of five tones (rather than the 7 tones we are accustomed to), common in Asian music

minor

a scale, or key, associated with a downcast or sad mood

major

a scale, or key, associated with a positive of upbeat mood

chord progression

a sequence of harmonies, such as a 12-bar blues progression

motive

a short, recurring bit of melody, used as an element of form

Melody

a succession of musical tones, usually of varying pitch and rhythm, that has identifiable shape and meaning

scale

a succession of pitches from which melodies are drawn

heterophony

one main melody, with additional independent lines around it or multiple, independent (unrelated) lines of melody

root

basic pitch

dissonance

disagreeable effect produced by certain intervals

soprano

high register female voice

tenor

high register male voice

twelve-bar blues

paired with a 3-line poetic stanza

vernacular music

the language of the majority of listeners

conductor

the leader of a large ensemble