Music 204 Exam 1

What is prehistory?

The period between the birth of jazz and its first recording

What features does West African music have?

Functional, collaborative, aural, memorized/improvised, fluid pitch spectrum, rhythmically sophisticated

What features does 19th Century European music have?

Art music, authoritarian, notated, composed, discrete pitch, harmonically sophisticated

What is minstrelsy?

White performers in blackface caricaturing black culture and music, eventually black performers were driven to imitate their own culture

Who was the most famous vaudeville entertainer?

Bert Williams

Who were the Fisk Jubilee Singers?

Black singers from Fisk university who raised money to save the university

What music did the Fisk Jubilee Singers sing and introduce to the white audience?

Spirituals

What is march form?

AABBCCDD - several repeating sections

What role did cornets, woodwinds, and brass play in march style?

Cornet - melody; woodwind - obligato; brass - countermelody

Who was the main composer of marches?

John Philip Sousa

What is march style?

Two-beat meter, standard instrument roles, polyphonic

Who wrote Semper Fidelis?

John Philip Sousa

What form is Semper Fidelis in?

March form

What style is Semper Fidelis in?

March style

Who wrote Alexander's Ragtime Band?

Irving Berlin

What form is Alexander's Ragtime Band in?

Song - ABAC

What style is Alexander's Ragtime Band in?

Popular - NOT RAGTIME

Where did country blues develop?

Developed in Mississippi Delta by sharecroppers

What features does blues form have?

AAB stanzas, often a 12-bar blues

What features does blues style have?

Fluid pitch spectrum, plaintive vocalisms, story-telling through multiple stanzas, lyrics about personal troubles, blue notes (not from African or European music)

Who is the father of the Country Blues?

Charley Patton

What are juke joints?

Black dance/singing/drinking halls in the South where where country blues spread

Who wrote Down the Dirt Road Blues?

Charley Patton

What style is Down the Dirt Road Blues?

Country blues

What form is Down the Dirt Road Blues?

Blues form

What features does ragtime style have? What instrument does it use?

Composed and notated, two-beat meter, "ragged time" or syncopation, but still straight 8th notes. Usually used march form

Who wrote Maple Leaf Rag?

Scott Joplin

What style is Maple Leaf Rag?

Ragtime

What form is Maple Leaf Rag?

March

What was Congo Square?

An appointed site for African dance events in melting-pot New Orleans

Who lived in downtown and uptown New Orleans?

Creoles (Haitian) with lighter skin and higher class lived downtown, while descendants of slaves lived uptown

What is Storyville?

Two redlight districts in downtown New Orleans where jazz was born in the dance halls

Who was the first jazz musician?

Buddy Bolden (cornetist)

What is the second line?

A group of people that would follow behind a funeral procession, ready to party after. Started to embellish and rag melodies.

What is a cutting contest?

Contests between jazz musicians who tried to improvise and impress a crowd and "cut" their opponent

What featuers does New Orleans Jazz have?

Polyphonic texture; ensemble oriented; two beat feel (except the blues); march, blues, and song forms; breaks; stop-time accompaniment

What instrument roles does New Orleans have?

Just like marches; clarinet - obligato, cornet - melody, brass - countermelody

What is tailgate trombone?

Trombones using lots of glassandos and accents to play raucously and flamboyantly. (In New Orleans trucks, the trombone would have to sit out the back)

What was the first band to record jazz music?

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band (a white band)

Who wrote "Livery Stable Blues"?

Original Dixieland Jazz Band

What is the form of "Livery Stable Blues"?

Blues form

What is the significance of "Livery Stable Blues"?

First jazz song to be recorded, went huge and exposed a ton of people to jazz music

What was Jelly Roll Morton's significance?

He was the first to compose and notate jazz music

Who wrote "Black Bottom Stomp"?

Jelly Roll Morton

What style does "Black Bottom Stomp" use?

New Orleans Jazz

What techniques and texture does "Black Bottom Stomp" use?

Solos, call and response, breaks, polyphony

What was Joe "King" Oliver's style?

The third king of jazz, he played New Oreleans Jazz. Experimented with mutes on his cornet.

Who did King Oliver invite to his Creole Jazz Band?

Louis Armstrong (often dueted with him)

Who performed "Dippermouth Blues"?

King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, with Louis Armstrong

What style did "Dippermouth Blues" use?

New Orleans jazz style

What form did "Dippermouth Blues" use?

Blues

What was Sidney Bechet's instrument and style?

He was a saxophone player; played it in more of a solo, melodic way instead of just harmony

Who was Louis Armstrong's wife?

Lil' Harden, a jazz pianist in one of his bands.

Who was someone significant Louis Armstrong played with?

Fletcher Henderson

What were the Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings?

Louis Armstrong's most influential recordings. Introduces trumpet instead of cornet; more complicated, syncopated solos; scat singing

What is scat singing?

Singing nonsense syllables; using your mouth as an instrument

Who was the main musician on "West End Blues"? Who was the pianist?

Trumpet - Louis Armstrong; Piano - Earl Hines

What techniques did "West End Blues" use?

Prounounced solos, call and response, scat singing, both "hot" and "sweet"

What was Earl Hines' piano style?

He played piano as if it were a trumpet - octave melody, pauses for "breath", tremolo to imitate vibrato

What did W. C. Handy do for the blues?

He was a publisher, called himself the father of the blues because he was the first to make it more mainstream.

Who was Bessie Smith?

She was a blues singer, known as the Empress of Blues. She sang in a lot of W. C. Handy's music.

Who was Paul Whiteman? What was his style?

He was the "King of Jazz." He tried to orchestrate jazz into "Symphonic Jazz."

Who arranged for Paul Whiteman?

Ferde Grofé

What elements does Chicago jazz have?

White musicians; competitive counterpoint; more subdued solos; linear clarinets; more arranged; uncommon harmonies; mostly popular/song style

What was Bix Beiderbecke's instrument? What style did he use?

Cornet; He used a warm sound, relaxed phrasing, and unconventional melodies. He was the first "cool" soloist.

What was Frankie Trumbauer's instrument? What style did he use?

He played a C-melody Saxophone. He played "cool," his solos focused on story-telling.

What was a rent party?

Musicians cram as many people as they can into their apartment and use the money to pay rent; "cutting contests" between pianos. Harlem Stride emerged in rent parties.

What features does Harlem Stride have?

Piano style that grew out of ragtime, but more improvisational, virtuosic, faster, dissonant, and it's SWUNG

Who was James P. Johnson?

The father of stride piano.

Who was Fats Waller?

The "Clown Prince of Jazz," very talented stride pianist and songwriter. He became super popular through his engagement of the crowd.

Who wrote "Handful of Keys"?

Fats Waller

What style was "Handful of Keys"?

Harlem Stride

What style did Boogie Woogie grow out of?

Blues

What stylistic features did boogie woogie use?

Form based on 12-bar blues, ostinato in left hand, rifts in the right hand, swing

What is Art Tatum's significance? What style of music did he play?

He was blind since birth, and became the greatest Harlem Stride pianist