MUS 151
When did technologies — such as digital tape recorders, compact discs, synthesizers, samplers, and sequencers — become central to popular music?
1980s
How many regions should you have in each track after completing Chapter 4 in the Contemporary Songwriting book?
2
What year did Apple introduce the iPod?
2001
By 1949, about how many radio stations were making live broadcasts of country performers?
650
How many letters are in the music alphabet?
7
According to the instructions in Contemporary Songwriting, what key should you use to make a song in a minor key?
A min
What is the speech to song illusion?
A phenomenon that occurs when a repeated speech segment sounds like music
What is a triad?
A three-note chord that involves starting on a note then adding two more notes above it in skips
Why isn't The Face of Love, a collaboration between Eddie Vedder and Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn, an example of music functioning as a universal language?
American neither understood the words no possessed any knowledge of the centuries-long history of Sufi mystical traditions
What is the sock rhythm?
An intense, percussive dance beat played by electric guitars
According to Contemporary Songwriting, what is the name of the track one should use to indicate the song's form?
Arrangement track
What does A&R stand for?
Artist and Repertoire
When does a break typically occur
At the end of the bridge
In Contemporary Songwriting, what is the first loop you choose for your song?
Bass
Which artist as an example for a major Mixolydian sound in the Contemporary Songwriting book?
Beck
Where will the bridge go in your song, if you are following the instructions in Contemporary Songwriting?
Between Chorus 2 and Chorus 3
Which of these is not typically a repeating section of a pop song form?
Bridge
Joe, by Alabama Shakes, fuses together elements of gospel singing and distorted guitars. This is a combination of which two sub-genres of 1950s R&B?
Doo-wop and Chicago electric blues
What sub-genres fall under the umbrella term "World Music"?
Ethnic music International music Traditional music
Work, by Rhianna (Feat. Drake), ends by slowly getting softer until there is no sound at all at the end of song. What kind of ending is this?
Fade Out
What led to American musicians collaborating with foregin artists more regularly?
Fold and alternative music fans were searching for a broader range of musical experiences The globalization of the music industry
What do critics of DAWs (such as GarageBand and ProTools) say is a necessary part of music as a form of human expression?
Imperfection
What did Eminem add to dense, multi-syllable rhymes that is said to "win in a battle"?
Incredibly vivid stories
The American Popular Music textbook describes the differences in musical preferences between major and indie record labels. The Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the U.K. uses many traditional pop music elements, such as a verse and chorus form and a traditional rock drum beat. However, the loud, distorted guitars, shrill vocal timbres, and violent lyrics push this band firmly into the punk rock sub-genre, which was new at the time Anarchy in the U.K was released. What type of record label would pick up a band such as the Sex Pistols during this period
Indie, because they have to search for new talent and styles in order to stand out from the major labels
What Public Enemy's 1988 rap album that essentially insisted that rap music continue to engage with the real-life conditions of urban black communities?
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
What is the other common term for hillbilly music?
Old-time music
Many hillbilly musicians were not full-time musicians, except for Vernon Dalhart, who had a career performing _____ before switching genres?
Opera
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 2 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
The Crystal Pad region is not looped
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 5 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
The Loop Browser is set to find Ensemble loops
Define "improvisation"
The act of making up music as you play it
What are chord changes?
The arrangement of chords in a song
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 2 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
The base regions are the wrong loop type
What was a major factor in the rise of independent record labels in the 1950s?
The development of portable tape recorders
Which of these definitions best fits the term "interval?"
The distance on the piano keyboard between two notes
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 2 by looking at this screenshot
The first track has something in it
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 5 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
The melody has not been added until Verse 2
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 3 by looking closely at this screenshot of the Piano Roll Editor. What was done incorrectly?
The melody has notes happening simultaneously
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 6 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
The melody track is still "Classic Electric Piano"
The Piano Roll Editor is a grid of rows and columns that can be used to edit software instrument data in Garageband. If the rows correspond with white and black piano keys, what will happen when you change which row a given note is in?
The pitch (note) will change
What is mastering?
The process of editing and manipulating the audio of a whole song and transferring that song to an audio format (such as WAV or MP3 files) for listening
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 5 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
The shaker (African Kit) is not looped through the outro
How does the Contemporary Songwriting book define "timbre"?
The tone or quality of a sound that distinguishes it from other sound
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 5 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
The transposition does not happen at precisely the right time
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 5 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
The transposition values are not all the same number
Why was the electric guitar so crucial to Chicago Electric Blues?
The unique combination of distortion and sustained notes was a crucial stylistic element
What common music theory concept is shared by both Beethoven's 5th symphony and Kendrick Lamar's Rigamortis?
The use of a motive
In the mid-1970s, Kool Herc pioneered an innovation that helped shape the sound and sensibility of early hip hop. What was that innovation?
The use of the turntable as a playable instrument
What caused a "mushroom" of popularity in Country and Western music?
The wartime migration of white southerners who enlisted for WW2
What was the first international musical style to have a major international impact?
c. Habanera
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 2 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
the tracks are in the wrong order
Which record is said to have been a direct predecessor to the soul music of the 1960s?
"Have Mercy, Baby" - The Dominoes
Verse 3 of Bishop Briggs' Tempt My Trouble has a rhyme structure of a a b a. Which line of text best fits into the "b" category?
"I feel like we're two stoners, two loners"
What line of Feel it Still by Portugal. The Man would best be considered a hook?
"Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now..."
Choose the word from the Connection Lecture that best completes this sentence: "The fundamental skill that you will be learning in this class is _____"
. Craft
In Beat it, by Michael Jackson, Eddie Van Halen famously plays a shredding guitar solo toward the end of the song that uses 1) distortion and 2) feedback. This is an extension of the Chicago electric blues movement discussed in American Popular Music because of:
1) and 2)
What was the name of the African-American singer in the 1960s who set out to appeal principally to the country audience?
Charley Pride
Outros most often use material from the ______
Chorus
What section of a song generally contains the main hook, or hooks?
Chorus
After completing the bass track in Chapter 4 in the Contemporary Songwriting book, what are the remaining instrument types you should use in order to complete the assignment?
Comping instrument and texture instrument
Lou Bega's version of Mambo No. 5, a piece of Cuban salsa standard repertoire, fuses together elements of hip hop and Latin music. According to the terminology used in Contemporary Songwriting, Bega's version is more ________ than the original.
Contemporary
What is the rechristened term for hillbilly music?
Country and western music
If jump bands represented the hot end of the R&B spectrum, the cool end was dominated by __________?
Crooners
What does "DAW" stand for?
Digital Audio Workstation
What does DAC stand for?
Digital to Analog Converter
What 1935 invention became a very common piece of musical technology in jazz, R&B, and rock records?
Hammond B-3 organ
The Contemporary Songwriting book uses Maroon 5's Wait as an example of a song that combines styles from the pop sub-genre and what other style of music?
Hip hop
What postwar subgenre of country music was a hand-edged, electronically, amplified style?
Honky-Tonk
In Contemporary Songwriting you learned about major, minor and Major Mixolydian keys, Perfect, by Ed Sheeran, is a song about all of the good features of a loved one. Based on this fact, if the song is not meant to sound ironic what might you assume its key?
It is a major
Why do rappers like to use the lyric "Grey Poupon"?
It is a type of status symbol It is a very convenient rhyme with lots of rhyme-able words
Which of these is a common location for a bridge in a pop song
Just before the last chorus
Which of these tasks is not part of the role of a producer?
Leading the manufacturing and distribution process of CDs
What reason does the Connection lecture give to argue that limitations can be a good thing in art?
Limitations can push artists to do new things
According to the Connection Lecture, when the artist says something and they mean what they say, this is an example of ________.
Literal Expression
The Jimi Hendrix Experience formed in which European city?
London
Kanye West used what hip-hop producers call a "sample" to create the beat for his song Touch the Sky. In this case, he repurposed a Curtis Mayfield song, Move on Up. In Kanye West's version, the 4-measure sample plays over and over throughout the song. This technique is an example of what?
Loop-based composition
Which of these musical elements is not a common part of mixing?
Lyric writing
If your song is in the key of C major, what "scale" should you choose in the Loop Browser?
Major
MP3 files are not inherently illegal, but what practice involving MP3s is?
Making a digital copy of a CD and sharing it without the artist or record company's consentMaking a digital copy of a CD and sharing it without the artist or record company's consent
Who is credited with emerging as the first race record artist?
Mamie Smith
According to the Connection Lecture, when the very existence of a piece of music is a statement about the context in which it was created, this is an example of
Meta
Which artist is the triplet rap flow named after because of its use in their song Versace?
Migos
Who was one of the leaders of the Chicago Electric Blues movement?
Muddy Waters
What does MIDI stand for?
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
"Countrypolitan" was also referred to as the ____?
Nashville Sound
Where did Capitol Records set up its country music operation in 1950?
Nashville, Tennessee
According to Contemporary Songwriting, in your song if you used a hip-hop Drummer, would it be wrong to also use a bass loop from a country genre?
No
According to the Connection Lecture, when music is perceived to be expressing something specific, but it does so without explicitly saying that it is doing so, usually through metaphor or symbolism, this is an example of ________.
Nonliteral expression
The Weeknd's Can't Feel My Face has lyrical content that appears, on the surface, to be talking about a relationship gone sour. Although not explicitly stated in the lyrics, it is widely accepted that this song is actually about the use of cocaine. According to the Connection Lecture, what type of lyrical expression is this?
Nonliteral expression
According to the Connection Lecture, music is, in a sense, always using which type(s) of expression?
Nonliteral expression and meta expression
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 2 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
Not all dissonance have been changed to consonance
American Popular Music suggests that Willie Nelson was directly influenced by Jimmie Rodgers, one of the most influential of hillbilly music stars. Does this necessarily mean that Willie Nelson is, by definition, a country musician?
Not necessarily
In 1920, the first US commercial radio station emerged in which city?
Pittsburgh
Most doo-wop groups didn't think singing was a way to make a living. What changed this perception?
R&B artists started achieving commercial success
What song signaled rap's potential as a commercial phenomenon?
Rapper's Delight, by The Sugarhill Gang
What does R&B stand for?
Rhythm and blues
What caused the honky-tonk chart-toppers to decline in popularity in the mid 1950s?
Rock 'n' Roll
What do A&R personnel do?
Seek out talent
What was the principal means of disseminating popular music from the 19th century to the 1920s?
Sheet Music
What is the term that describes going from one key to the next on a piano keyboard?
Step
In most popular music, the melody is the part of the song that is ________?
Sung
What common arranging technique is used to create a steady building of intensity up to the song's peak?
Textural accumulation
What was not necessarily a part of the original compositional process of a song (before loop-based composition)?
Texture
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 2 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
There are two bases
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 3 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
There is a three-bar region in the melody
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 6 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
There is no reverb on the melody track
Analyze this completed Songwriting Assignment 6 by looking at this screenshot of it. What was done incorrectly?
There is only one melody track in the project
Why does the Contemporary Songwriting Book say crafting a bridge is one of the most creative aspects of popular music?
There is tremendous variety in how they are handled
What is the instrument that the American Popular Music textbook describes as "an important predecessor of the synthesizer?"
Theremin
What changed when country musicians started playing in a honky-tonk style?
They composed songs to fit aspects of life directly related to their audience
How many choruses will you ultimately have in your song, if you are following the instructions in Contemporary Songwriting (this does not include the outro)?
Three
In garageband what is the function of the solo button?
To mute un-soloed tracks
According to the Contemporary Songwriting book, what might you do in order to make your song sounds more traditional?
Use loops from a single style
Intros usually consist of a portion of the ___
Verse
Which of these elements is not a common aspect of mastering?
Vocal doubling
according to Rolling Stone Magazine, who was "the first to bring a woman's intuition" to Rock n' Roll?
Wanda Jackson
How does the Contemporary Songwriting book define "form?"
What the sections of a song are, and what order they are in
What is a break?
When instruments drops out for a short period of time (1-2 measures)
How does the Contemporary songwriting book define "harmony?"
When notes are played at the same time - i.e. sound simultaneously
How does the Contemporary songwriting book define "melody?"
When notes are played in sequence - i.e. one at a time
What is vocal doubling?
When two recordings of the same singer singing the same thing at the same time, on two seperate tracks, sound simultaneously in the mix
Which of these was Perry Bradford known for (select all that apply)?
Writing songs Exposing Mamie Smith to the Okeh Record Company
According to the instructor's Connection Lecture, can you complete the course assignments if you have no background?
Yes
Contemporary Songwriting uses the term "traditional" to describe music with stylistic consistency. In the song Walk, by Pantera, all of the musicians are playing within the heavy metal sub-genre, or other sub-genres that are closely related to heavy metal. Based on this fact, should Walk be considered a traditional song?
Yes
In Contemporary Songwriting, you learned about vocal ad-libs. In Come and See Me, by PARTYNEXTDOOR (Feat. Drake), Drake adds short improvisational fragments around the melody of the chorus throughout the last minute of the song. Might this be considered a vocal ad-lib?
Yes, this is an example of vocal ad-lib
Chicago electric blues was one of the first styles to use a distorted electric guitar sound. Zombie, by Bad Wolves, uses distortion in the electric guitar sound. Could you say that Bad Wolves is calling upon elements of R&B to get their sound?
Yes, this sound originated in R&B
If you are following the instructions in Contemporary Songwriting, where will your melody regions come from?
You will create them
What decade is often referred to as the "jazz-age?"
a. 1920s
Aside from english folk music, early American popular music was influenced by the music of which countries? (Select all that apply)
a. Italy b. Scotland c. France d. Ireland
Macklemore and Kesha have their own roles in the song Good Old Days, but which one of them sings the chorus?
a. Kesha
The doo-wop group The Dominoes combine which musical elements? (Select all that apply)
a. The driving, dance-based rhythm of rhythm and blues music b. Singing styles of the black gospel church
What is the word that defines the constraints that film, TV and commercial producers give to their music composers?
b. Brief
Who was the pioneer of bluegrass music?
bill monroe
What was the name of the first African-American owned record company?
black swan
What is the word that describes a track with no reverb?
dry
What character do music theorists use to label melodic phrases?
letters
What section of a song generally has more notes?
verse
Can empty spaces, or rests, work well in melodies?
yes
