MUSC 221 Final Exam - Listening Pieces

Toccata

Schnittke (Concerto Grosso No. 1) - 1976

• Sound Features:

  • Polystylism/collage effect: older + modern styles combine (not smoothly)

  • Older materials destabilized w chromatic canons: chromatic clusters and dense textures push the older materials toward instability. (include baroque/Vivaldi-like writing, galant style, hymn or popular melody, twelve-tone music, and waltz)

  • Sense of contest: soloists vs orchestra, past vs present, styles

• Structure: Rondo form with returning sections and destabilized styles.

• Stylistic / historical: Reacts against postwar modernist purity by mixing past and present.

• Genre issue: Polystylism puts many styles in conflict instead of one stable genre.

West End Blues

Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five - 1928 (composed by Joe “King” Oliver)

• Sound features:

  • Trumpet fanfare opening: bold virtuosity and solo display.

  • 12-bar blues base: blues progression, but not a traditional blues song.

  • Shift to solo improvisation: Armstrong makes the soloist central instead of group improvisation.

  • Scat and instrumental contrast: clarinet plus Armstrong’s voice/scat, then Earl Hines piano.

• Structure: Trumpet intro, then five blues choruses with changing solo textures.

• Stylistic / historical: Shows jazz moving from group improvisation toward the modern soloist.

• Genre issue: Turns blues material into instrumental jazz art without abandoning the blues.

Sometimes I’m Happy

Benny Goodman and His Orchestra - 1935 (song by Vincent Youmans, arranged by Fletcher Henderson)

• Sound features:

  • Big-band swing sound: reeds, brass, and rhythm section.

  • Hot vs sweet contrast: energetic jazz moments alternate with smoother, more polished ones.

  • Original melody reshaped: the tune is redistributed across soloists, saxes, and brass.

  • Constant variety: instrumentation, rhythm, and style keep changing.

• Structure: Introduction, first chorus, interlude, solo chorus, sectional chorus, half-chorus ending.

• Stylistic / historical: Classic swing-era arranging balances composition and improvisation.

• Genre issue: A popular song becomes a swing big-band arrangement through contrast and orchestration.

Koko

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - 1940

• Sound features:

  • 12-bar blues frame: traditional base in a modern way.

  • Jungle jazz opening: tom-toms create a dramatic atmosphere.

  • Recurring motive: three short notes + one long note unify the piece.

  • “Freak” sounds: plunger-muted trombone and “ya ya” effects.

• Structure: Introduction, seven blues choruses, coda.

• Stylistic / historical: Ellington expands jazz into a more serious, concert-like big-band art.

• Genre issue: Reimagines the blues as a composed big-band work, not just dance music.

Misterioso

Thelonious Monk - 1948

• Sound features:

  • 12-bar blues form: old blues frame remains.

  • Repeated-sixths theme: a simple, “boring” pattern becomes expressive.

  • Sparse piano style: Monk leaves space in his solo.

  • “Wrong” notes and dissonance + rhythmic unpredictability: (piano in return of theme)

• Structure: Introduction, theme chorus, vibes solo, Monk solo choruses, theme return.

• Stylistic / historical: Makes the blues into a modern bebop-era blues.

• Genre issue: Shows how bebop musicians reimagined the blues without abandoning it.

Giant Steps

John Coltrane - 1959

• Sound features:

  • Fast tempo + chord changes: chord harm motion driving piece (ii-V-Is)

  • Key centers a third apart: the harmony cycles through distant tonal areas.

  • Recurring rhythmic motives in the solo: even the speed is organized motivically.

• Structure: Pushes bebop harmony to an extreme rather than rejecting bebop.

• Stylistic / historical: Makes the blues into a modern bebop-era blues.

• Genre issue: Represents a late bebop language built around harmonic complexity and virtuosity.

Ray of Light

Madonna - 1998 (prod by William Orbit)

• Sound features:

  • Electronic-pop sound world: studio production shapes the song.

  • Genre mixing: electronic style with touches of rock.

  • Borrowed material: draws on melodies and lyrics from “Sepheryn.”

• Structure: Pop song form with a contemporary electronic sound palette.

• Stylistic / historical issue: Shows pop absorbing late-1990s electronic music trends.

• Genre issue: Pop works as a genre chameleon, borrowing from other styles while staying accessible.

The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel

Grandmaster Flash - 1981

• Sound features:

  • Breakbeat flow: built on Chic’s “Good Times.”

  • Rupture: constant breaks from one sample to another. + layered samples

  • Scratching and turntable sounds: the turntables become instruments.

  • Sonic kaleidoscope: disco, pop, Latin, Caribbean, spoken voice, and comedy all appear.

• Structure: Built from sampled flow and interruption rather than traditional song form.

• Stylistic / historical issue: Shows hip hop expanding popular music through DJ technique and technology.

• Genre issue: Hip hop treats recordings and turntables themselves as musical material.

Alright

Kendrick Lamar - 2015 (and Pharrell Williams)

• Sound features:

  • Jazz-like horns: backing sound includes sax color and older Black styles.

  • Descending half-step chord motion: adds gravity beneath the beat.

  • Aggressive but hopeful tone: strength rather than passive victimhood.

  • “I” to “we”: personal struggle becomes communal resolve.

• Structure: The hook acts as the main release point, turning struggle into uplift.

• Stylistic / historical issue: Connects personal suffering, police violence, and Black historical struggle.

• Genre issue: Shows hip hop functioning as protest music through sound, message, and collective identity.