music multiple choice

The element of music that constitutes the temporal aspect of sound is:

rhythm

The word that refers to how fast or how slow a pulse occurs is ________.

tempo

When pulses are organized into groups containing strong and weak beats, we refer to this as ________.

meter

The ________ is the first strong pulse in each meter.

downbeat

The term that refers to the relative highness or lowness of sound is ________.

pitch

The word _________ refers to the distance between to pitches.

interval

The chromatic pitch set includes most of the pitches used in Western music, but not all of them.

False

 A set of only seven pitches that forms the basis for most music is called a ________.

scale

The part of a musical work that you typically sing along with or that might get stuck in your head is called the ________.

\n melody

The element of music that has to do with loudness or softness is _________.

volume

Volume in music is indicated by numbers that represent the amplitude of the sound wave.

True

The Italian terms crescendo, decrescendo, forte, mezzo forte, and mezzo piano all refer to _________ in music.

\n dynamics

The element of music that has to do with how pitches are begun, sustained and released is _________.

articulation

The ability to recognize differences between voices (like your mother versus your sister) and between instruments even if they are playing the same pitch (like a flute versus a trombone) is due to variances in _________.

timbre

One of the characteristics of music is _________, which concerns the contents of and interactions between various layers or voices in a musical work.

texture

Monophonic, polyphonic, heterophonic, and homophonic are all terms that refer to a musical work's _________.

texture

The way a musical work unfolds over time, or its ________, typically relies upon repetition, variation, and contrast.

form

A way of making connections between closely-related works and musical artists that share stylistic, formal, and cultural elements is to categorize the works by _________.

genre

The term "fixed composition" refers to works in which the pitches and rhythms are identical between performances.

True

Emotional expression in music is not subjective, because every listener will perceive the same emotional content.

False

The composer who wrote the scores for the original Star Wars trilogy (among the best-known musical works created for the big screen) is _______.

John Williams

A session musician is a musician who:

participates in recording sessions for television and film

The composer of the music for Star Wars was a session musician, so he:

already had a deep understanding of how music can shape the viewer's experience of drama

In the European tradition, opera is a staged work of music theater that features:

All of the above 

The technique of assigning a unique theme to each character, object, place, and idea in a drama is the use of ______.

leitmotif

It is possible that Richard Wagner (1813 – 1883) has had a greater impact on the development of Western art music than any other composer.

True

Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934) was _____.

\n a British composer who wrote *The Planets*

Holst became wealthy as a trombone performer in the middle part of his career.

False

Holst had a sincere interest in and passion for astrology, and this led to the creation of *The Solar System Cycle*.

False

In *Star Wars: A New Hope*, when the droids R2D2 and C3PO land on Tatooine, Williams utilized the following elements popularized by Igor Stravinsky:

All of the above 

*The Rite of Spring* was:

a ballet

*The Rite of Spring* does not tell a coherent story.

True

*The Rite of Spring* depicted pagan rituals and caused consternation among members of its Parisian audience at the premier.

\n True

John Williams was only influenced by specific historical compositions, rather than by style more generally.

False

In a musical technique called *underscoring*: 

None of the above 

Ragtime was a style of music popularized by pianists and featuring steady rhythm with the left hand and ______ with the right.

syncopated rhythms

*Black and White Rag* was a work that manipulated repetition and contrast by giving listeners familiar music each time the A section returned but preventing them from being bored by including contrasting material.

True

The barroom music in *Star Wars* relies heavily upon the unstable and irregular rhythms characteristic of ragtime music.

False

Just as ragtime was becoming passé, a new style called _____ burst onto the scene.

Dixieland jazz

In *polyphonic jazz* all of the musicians play the same melody at the same time.

\n False

A song cycle consists of about 8-20 songs that work together to __________.

tell a story

A modern concept very similar to a song cycle is a _________, in which a popular artist releases a collection of recordings that accomplish the same purpose as a song cycle.

concept album

Beyonce's album *Lemonade* is a good example of a modern work that accomplishes the same purpose as a song cycle.

True

Franz Schubert wrote many great works for public concert halls, and is now known as one of the greatest 19th-century symphony composers.

False

During the 19th century, there was new interest in rural folk culture, folk stories, folk poetry, folk dances, and folk songs.

True

Schubert's songs were taken seriously as cultural expression because:

\n None of the above 

The term ballad comes from the ________ word meaning "to dance."

French

For most of history, a ballad has been some variety of a lengthy song meant for dancing.

False

"Pretty Polly" is an example of a ballad that is difficult to discuss in specific terms because:

All of the above 

*Murder ballads* were similar to true crime shows today, because they detailed the misdeeds of condemned criminals.

True

Dock Boggs developed a unique playing style on the banjo, based upon his observation of:

African American banjo players at dances

Beginning in the 1950s, enthusiasm for Appalachian folk music swept Northern college campuses in what is known as the Appalachian Revival.

False

Civilizations around the world have long used song as a vehicle for telling long stories, or *epics*.

True

The term **prosody** refers to:

The meter of poetry

Performances of Homer's *Iliad* would originally have been accompanied by a four-stringed lyre.

True

A complete recitation of the Sunjata story can take _________ hours.

6-8

The text of the Sunjata story is maintained in writing by the jali caste, who are members of the nobility in West Africa.

False

A typical *jali* instrument is the:

All of the above

In music composition, mimesis is the process of:

creating imitation of real-world sounds

The incorporation of a passage of existing music into a new composition is termed:

quotation

When a composer uses familiar musical styles or clichés to communicate to a listener, it is referred to as the use of:

musical topics

Audiences of the Romantic Era (1815-1900) were fascinated by:

the personal lives of artists

Berlioz' *Fantastical Symphony* was based upon his desire for relationship with Harriet Smithson.

True

In Berlioz's "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath," the incorporation of "Dies irae" is an example of the compositional practice of:

quotation

A compositional technique that attempts to imitate or represent real-world sound is: 

mimesis

Even though instrumental music does not have words, it can communicate meaning with which of the following techniques?

All of the above

Hector Berlioz was 55 years old when he wrote his *Fantastical Symphony*.

False

Before enrolling in the Paris conservatory in 1826, Berlioz studied the field of:

medicine

Mussorgsky belonged to a progressive school of 19th-century composers of which nationality?

Russian

Mussorgsky and his colleagues were known as "The Mighty Few."

False

Antonio Vivaldi was a violinist and composer in the city of Nice, France.

False

Vivaldi trained as a medical doctor but abandoned school to teach music.

False

Solo music in China is predominantly programmatic.

True

Historically, the Chinese tradition of music composition has been primarily:

oral

*Lesions* is a chamber work for clarinet, horn, and cello commissioned for Ensemble Q of Queensland Conservatorium and written by which of these composers?

\n Catherine Likhuta

*Lesions* is divided into four sections that represent stages in the grief process: 

True

Anoushka Shankar (b. 1981) is a renowned sitar player from which musical tradition?

North Indian

A raga is a type of:

mode

Which of these was the first musical presentation to which the public could buy tickets?

The operas at the St. Cassiano Theater in Venice

During his years as a concert pianist, Ludwig van Beethoven's career was suspended due to this health concern:

deafness

The letters Beethoven wrote to his brother reflecting the shame he felt about his affliction are known as the:

Heiligenstadt Testament

Beethoven held a famous concert on December 22, 1808, at the Theater an der Wien, which translates to "Theater on the Banks of the Vienna River."

True

Challenges to concert performances during Beethoven's time included all of the following except for:

the lack of public concert halls

"Sweet Jazz" was a term used to describe lively dance music primarily intended for:

white consumers

"Hot Jazz" was a term used to describe the rhythmically interesting style associated with:

African American musicians

Paul Whiteman's 1924 concert was intended to demonstrate the potential of jazz as serious concert music.

True

Whiteman's strategy for marketing jazz to resistant white audiences included inviting prominent performers, conductors, and critics of classical music to his 1924 concert.

True

George and Ira Gershwin were cousins who became famous for writing Broadway musicals.

False

While in Chicago in the 1920s, Florence Price published:

All of the above 

As an accomplished African American musician and educator, Florence Price left her home in Little Rock, Arkansas, due to the unbearable burden "Jim Crow" laws placed on the black community.

True

The 1930s saw decreased prominence of black performers and composers of classical music.

False

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement in which African American artists sought to incorporate compositional techniques from the Renaissance period.

False

Technological limitation which included the inability to amplify contributed to the slow rise of rock concerts in the 1960s.

False

Which of these famous African American artists performed works composed by Florence Price:

All of the above 

Music festivals during the 1960s were widely popular but rarely turned a profit.

False

The first major music festival was called:

Monterey International Pop Festival

Woodstock was the largest music festival of the 1960s and took place against the backdrop of the:

All of the above

Woodstock began as a venture to hold a music festival in order to popularize Janice Joplin.

False

The Beatles' album *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band* was unique because it was intended to be heard: 

through headphones by isolated listeners

The Beatles formed in _____ in _____.

Liverpool, 1957