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- Practice Midterm 1-

History of "Jazz"

Dr. Karlton E. Hester

PLEASE NOTE: The sample practice midterm below for History of "Jazz" does not necessarily reflect the exact questions that will be asked on an exam for Music 80E or other courses using this website, nor does it necessarily reflect the format of the questions to be given on the actual exam. Further details on the midterm exam for Music 80E will be given in the classes preceeding the exam date.

A. Text Questions

Traditional African Music

1. Elements of texture, rhythms, melody and ________________ were preserved in both African and Afro-American music despite efforts to destroy African culture.
2. The ________________ (of Burundi), whose lives are centered about their cattle, have songs for herding cattle home in the evening; songs of praise of cows; songs for drawing water for cattle, etc.
3. African music is characteristically ________________ though African musicians do not actively conceptualize the abstract principles of their music.
4. A ________________ of sound is always desirable (even on wind instruments) as is evident from the predominance of plucked string instruments as opposed to bowed strings.
5. ________________ are used both as a melodic and an accompanying instrument. The musical bow often appears with a resonator attached either in the middle or at the end of the bow; the mouth is often used as a resonator as well.
6. The sanza (Central Africa, Mozambique, etc.) mbira (Southeast Africa), kembe (Central Africa), or limba (East Central and Southeast Africa), are other variations of ________________ found in the region.
7. Vertical wooden or bamboo flutes, whistles, mirlitons (a kazoo-like instrument), transverse trumpets and horns of ivory (frequently with raised embouchures) and ocarinas are included in the ________________ category of African instruments.
8. The ________________ (empty water jar) is an important percussion instrument commonly found in Ankole, Bugisu, Sebei, and Kitosi areas; the rhythms produced are used to accompany singing and dancing.
9. ________________ traditionally visit their patrons and lodge in each of their homes for a few days bringing their entire family with them.
10. The ________________ make music on all occasions all day long. The sanza, the most common instrument, is used to accompany dancing and singing and is played only by men. The one-stringed fiddle, however, is played by both sexes.

 

Early African American Music

11. The ________________ popularized the spiritual at home and abroad during the era of Reconstruction in America.
12. Patting juba or making juba was a form of rhythmic expression involving body rhythm as a replacement for the ________________.
13. Before the Civil War African American children on plantations had many of their own ________________.
14. The most preeminent European American writer of folk songs was Stephen Collins Foster (1826-64), the son of an army colonel. ________________ (1854-1911), the first composer in the African American tradition to receive popular acclaim, was Foster's counterpart.
15. The ________________ were most popular during times when racial tensions were at their zenith (1850-70).
16. When African American people poked fun at European American people in minstrel shows or ________________, they did so from the inside vantage-point stemming from having observed their subjects in their homes, churches, and places of employment.
17. ________________ is credited with starting Vaudeville for "white" audiences in 1866 in New York City.
18. Both "jig bands" and "jig piano" were nascent forms of the ________________ that became ragtime music of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
19. ________________ was the most prominent figure in the history of notated ragtime.
20. During the ________________ Mardi Gras-like celebration, slit drums, 2 string fiddles, and other varieties of African instruments were played. Writers of the period leave no doubt that the flavor of the festival was uniquely African.
21. ________________, a Brazilian state, has preserved more West African musical elements and traditions than any other place in Latin America or the Caribbean. The macumban vocal style involves the falsetto singing, polymetrical devices, responsorial technique, and polyrhythms that are still heard in western Nigeria.
22. ________________, both widely practiced in African music, were more easily maintained within worksongs and subsequently became the basis for African American forms and harmonic development.
23. Drums were never outlawed on the African continent or in ________________.
24. ________________ functioned as a religion for African people which enabled them to conveniently maintain their reverence to the personal lesser gods (loa ) that surrounded the supreme deity. Eventually these gods were identified with the saints of the Roman Catholic Church (in veiled form).
25. The mixture of women, sex, and the devil were constantly mixed in with ________________.
26. ________________ had been learned by African slaves on board slave ships where European crew members forced the captives to dance and exercise in order to minimize casualties.
27. ________________ - several different independent rhythms sounding at the same time.
28. ________________ - in African societies this powerful person is the music maker who serves as oral historian, a gossip spreader, etc.
29. ________________ - square in New Orleans where Afro-Americans could sing, dance, and play percussion together.
30. ________________ (1792-1844) had been the first African American musician to win wide acclaim domestically and in England; the first to publish sheet music; first to develop a "school" of African American musicians; he gave the first formal band concerts; was the first to tour the nation widely; and had been the first to produce a concert featuring an integrated group of musicians including European American performers.

 

The 20th Century

31. Despite the presence of some highly influential female blues singers throughout the blues evolution, rural blues was usually a male domain. The instrumentation of blues would continue to evolve. After 1926, ________________ was one of the most successful blues singers in getting his music out to the public.
32. An early blues innovator, performer, lyricist, and composer was ________________, the acknowledged "Mother of the Blues."
33. After World War I ________________ were issues by major record labels to capture the African American market by selling them recordings of "black" artists.
34. Handy's first published piece, ________________ influenced the popularity of blues music and contributed to him being titled "Father of the Blues."
35. Geographical areas involved in presenting ________________ were the places where many ragtime musicians gained their national reputations even before Tin Pan Alley assigned the label ragtime to the music.
36. ________________ (1896-1938) was a composer of rags that display remarkable craftsmanship and consistency. He met Scott Joplin in St. Louis in 1914. Joplin's influence undoubtedly enabled him to have his compositions published soon after their meeting.
37. ________________, "The Father of Modern Bass" was a very popular performer during the swing era but remained closer to tradition than some of his peers.
38. ________________ - an improvisational type of polyphony involving two voices embellishing the same melody either slightly or elaborately. It is a type of polyphony used by many non-Western cultures.
39. Jelly Roll Morton imposed a new level of compositional discipline upon the vitality of the ________________ style of combo playing. Both of these trends would alter the direction of "jazz" throughout America. Morton introduced the three to one ratio between notes for rhythmic patterns (the quasi-12/8 feeling) and developed it in his ragtime band.
40. ________________ was one of the first to employ horn-like solos in his right hand technique.
41. ________________ is a passionate style of blues performed as faithfully as the "Negro" spiritual. Some people claim it was derived from the sound of the steam locomotive. Others say it evolved from a quickening of the blues development in the lower Mississippi River area.
42. ________________ was never a "cutesy cooed" female, but has always been independent and forceful. Her unrestricted genius and eclectic playing have made her style hard to pin down, much to her critics' frustration or chagrin. Oscar Peterson refused to play on the same bill with her if she used her trio.
43. ________________ was the first African American woman to make a record when her legendary vaudeville routine with celebrity Bert Williams was produced in 1919.
44. In all aspects of her professional career - her voice, powerful bearing, timing, and ability to work with the finest jazz musicians of her day - entitled ________________ to the description the "Empress of the Blues".
45. If the titles of his songs are a reliable indication, ________________ was fond of women. The most important woman in his life was his wife, Martha Promise, whom he married in 1935. His songs were often personal or autobiographical.
46. ________________ - (one part - A) form where a song with the same music repeated to accompany the verses of text.
47. ________________ - the shape of a melody. This shape can roughly indicate the directions of the notes, steps and leaps, etc. graphically.
48. In Fats Waller’s ________________ (from Connie’s Hot Chocolates–1929), a blues vocal melody is supported by blues harmony that cleverly manages to avoid the tonic chord (through the employment of parallel seventh chords most of the time).
49. Although ________________ (b. 1903 and d. 1931) was always stuck performing with highly "commercial" ensembles, he was one of the first European American soloists to develop a reputation as an improviser in "jazz." Born in Davenport, he was a self-taught musician who began piano lessons when he was five years old but was unable to learn to read music.
50. The set of recordings that ________________ made for the Library of Congress's Folklore Archives in 1938 is the most complete and important oral document of the history of African American music on record, yet the recording quality is embarrassingly poor.
51. When Joe Oliver left the Ory-Oliver jazz band to move to Chicago, ________________ was recommended for the cornet spot in the best band in town.
52. The pioneering ________________ was the first African American band to record frequently, and, consequently, became an influential ensemble.
53. All of ________________ professional life was spent in Chicago, except for a few years in New York City, where she worked as "house pianist" for Decca Recording studio from 1937 to 1940. The superb bands she led from 1920 onward, were frequently booked extensively, and she recorded many of her compositions (which numbered over 150) at sessions for the Okeh, Paramount, Gennett, Columbia, Black and White, and Decca labels.
54. ________________ (b. December 18, 1897 or 98, d. December 29, 1952) Was the first important African American big band leader and arranger.
55. In 1934 Irving Mills recognized the commercial potential of presenting an all-woman swing band, and put up the financial resources to back one. With the stability of the powerful Mills organization as their sponsor________________ developed the most popular women's band of the decade.
56. ________________ led a band that was well disciplined but more commercial than many of the other Middle-of-the-Road big bands. Miller placed less emphasis upon the unrestained improvising of his sidemen and more on arrangement and orchestration.
57. ________________ was the son of the conductor of the Denver Symphony Orchestra and a trained musician who played with the San Francisco Symphony in 1914. He began styling himself as presenting not mere dance music but performing symphonic jazz , a "new" art form of which he was king.
58. ________________ lead the first significant assault on the legacy of trumpet as a jazz centerpiece and started a transition to the saxophone (from the clarinet). His musical approach would be echoed in the work of Johnny Hodges (a student), Willie Smith and Pete Brown.

B. Web Review Questions

1. In African music natural frequency stratification put ________________ on top of the drums.
2. African music is often directly associated with ________________ adding to the multidimensional effect of the presentation.
3. Captives from Africa in the "New World" were allowed to develop ________________ because then they were more productive when singing at work.
4. During enslavement, ________________ became attached to communication amongst Africans in the Americas.
5. Marching bands led to brass bands and eventually instrumental Ragtime bands like that of ________________ (1881-1919) who made African American music popular overseas.
6. It was not until 1920 that the struggle to convince the European American music establishment to record an African American female blues singer was successful. Okeh Records recorded ________________ (which artist?) ________________ (which piece?) and realized a success so great that the label became a rival to the larger Paramount and Columbia record industries.
7. Blues vocalist Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee around 1895 and died in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1937. She went on the road while still in her teens as an apprentice to ________________ on the Theater Owners' Booking Association (TOBA) circuit.
8. ________________ - music educator who built a band based upon precision and discipline, who used a varied instrumentation (temple blocks, timpani, celeste, etc.), emphasis on melodies with unpredictable phrasing, and colorful solo devices (timbral contrasts, dynamic contrasts, etc.) to create a style that moved in a direction different from that of Henderson's.
9. ________________ - Leader of one of the leading bands in the Midwest who trained Count Basie in the Kansas Blues style that became the foundation his development in later years (after taking over his band after his death). Developed a riff style (after Armstrong's combo riff style) and later a tradition of trading fours, and other economical devices. His band too was often poorly paid even when recording, but established the swing feel that dominated the Big Band era. He also borrowed sophisticated chord structures from popular songs.
10. ________________ - Played for silent films, accompanied Bessie Smith & Clara Smith and played with the Blue Devils before becoming a band leader. Established a comping piano style that would influence many generations of pianists. The bands renowned soloists include Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, etc.
11. ________________ - Became the most celebrated jazz orchestra composer/leader in the world. Moved his very steady bands (little turnover) through many developmental transformations and took the jazz orchestra into symphonic directions while always maintaining the tradition. Did not follow the riff style, but set new standards on almost all levels of the big band phenomenon (soloists = bass in melodic role).
12. ________________ - Drummer whose style of driving a big band was second to none and who led one of the most significant bands in Harlem. Got his big break when Duke Ellington got him an opening at the Black Bottom Club. Found Ella Fitzgerald at the Apollo (amateur night) and hired her on the spot.
13. ________________ - Durations of sound and the manners in which they are accented.
14. ________________ - basic pulse of music.
15. ________________ - The regularly recurring pattern of beats, or the organized units of time by which the time-span of music is measured.
16. ________________ involves the alternation of a repeated pattern (A) with contrasting new melodies (BCD, etc.) resulting is an ABACADA formal pattern.

C. Combined Lecture & Text Questions

1. Pre-written and memorized passages of music fail to qualify as jazz, by the strictest definition, because they are missing

2. To improvise is to_________ and _________ simultaneously.

3. Swing is a term that primarily indicates a:

4. The technique of plucking the strings of a musical instrument is termed:

5. Playing chords in a syncopated way underneath a soloist is called:

6. Most jazz is guided by:

7. Which is true?

8. Stop-time solo breaks are when:

9. Ragtime might have been derived from the term "ragging," which meant:

10. The African-American music called the blues is thought most comprehensively to derive from:

11. Why is the party atmosphere of New Orleans thought to have contributed significantly to the development of jazz?

12. Early drummers were often restricted to playing on the _________ because recording apparatus could not handle loud percussion sounds.

13. The ___________ was far more common than the _________ in early jazz groups.

14. Known especially for polish and swing feeling was the big band of:

15. Which statement is false?

16. The first bandleader to organize a highly effective African American musicians' union in New York near the turn of the present century was:

17. All of the following are characteristics of African music, except:

18. The terms "membranophones", "chordophones", "idiophones", etc. denote

19. The opera by Scott Joplin, of which excerpts were shown in class, is named ________________.

20. In the film Harlem Hellfighters, it is shown that James Reese Europe's band ________________ .

21. The recording of ________________ playing Maple Leaf Rag is an example of freedom with form and interpretation, whereas the piano roll recording adheres more closely to the written sheet music.

22. A scientific ________________ serves as the formalized framework which guides the assessment and evaluation of reality. It is, therefore, a perceptual, cognitive and affective achievement representing the organizational process for understanding. It is the singular screen through which all understanding is filtered.

23. ________________ is a process whereby the "cultural substance" of one group of people is utilized to give "meaning" to the cultural manifestation of another group of people.

24. A people’s ________________ is their picture of the way things in sheer actuality are, their concept of nature, of self, of society. It contains their most comprehensive ideas of order.

25. A people’s ________________ is the tone, character, and quality of their life, its moral and aesthetic style and mode. It emerges as a set of guiding principles which define the underlying attitude they have towards themselves and their world.

26. ________________ studies aim to understand the unique and the non-recurrent.

27. ________________ is a component of the cultural factor which pertains to a people’s assumptions or beliefs about the origin and the structure of reality (universe).

D. Film Questions

Music 80E Students: you are only responsible for answers to questions about films we have viewed in class by the date of the exam, October 25, 2002.

1. In the film Jazz On A Summer's Day the last clip features ________________ singing a spiritual.

2. After singing Sweet Georgia Brown Anita O'Day (the woman with the decorative hat) demonstrates an exemplary performance of ________________. (Jazz On A Summer's Day)

3. In the film Jazz On A Summer's Day the camera shifts from the performers to the scenery and the sailboats during whose piano solo? Answer: ________________

4. In the film Jazz Women ________________ is shown performing Woman's No Fool with a piano player whose identity remains unknown, because he is only shown from behind.

5. In the film Jazz Women Billy Holiday performs Now Baby or Never and God Bless the Child with Count Basie accompanying her.

6. In the film clip showing ________________ Rita Rio gives a stunning tap dance performance with high heels while simultaneously conducting the ensemble.

7. Black piano players in speakeasies and saloons invented ragtime out of a combination of which elements?

8. Most European Americans in the north did not live with African Americans as in the south and got their conceptions from traveling shows. The most popular minstrels were performing when?

9. ________________ from Florence Alabama is known as the "Father of the Blues".

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Living Encyclopedia of Global African Music
Received 10/18/2002
Posted 10/18/2002