Chapter 48-51 Vocabulary

Question 1

Melodie

Answer 1

An accompanied French art song of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the French parallel to the German Lied.

Question 2

Impressionism

Answer 2

A French movement developed by visual artists who favored vague, blurring images intended to capture an “impression” of the subject. Impressionism in music is characterized by exotic scales, unresolved dissonances, parallel chords, rich orchestral tone color, and free rhythm.

Question 3

Ninth Chord

Answer 3

Five-note chord spanning a ninth between its lowest and highest pitches.

Question 4

Camp Meeting

Answer 4

A musical gathering where hymns, spirituals, and folksongs were sung; popular in nineteenth-century America.

Question 5

Ring Shout

Answer 5

Religious dance of African American slaves, performed with hand clapping and a shuffle step to spirituals.

Question 6

Spiritual

Answer 6

The folklike devotional genre of the United States, sung by African Americans and whites.

Question 7

Ragtime

Answer 7

Late nineteenth-century piano style created by African Americans, characterized by highly syncopated melodies; also played in ensemble arrangements, Contributed to early jazz styles.

Question 8

Strains

Answer 8

One of a series of contrasting sections found in rags and marches; in duple meter with sixteen-measure themes.

Question 9

Piano Roll

Answer 9

A perforated paper roll that was recorded and then capable of playing back mechanically on a player piano.

Question 10

Expressionism

Answer 10

A style of visual art and literature in Germany and Austria in the early twentieth century. The term is sometimes also applied to music, especially composers of the Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Berg, Webern)

Question 11

Avant-Garde

Answer 11

A French term that refers to new styles and techniques in the arts, especially in the early twentieth century.

Question 12

Vaudeville

Answer 12

A light comedic variety show with music featuring popular song, dance, comedy, and acrobatics; flourished in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries.

Question 13

Tin Pan Alley

Answer 13

Nickname for the popular music industry centered in New York from the nineteenth century through the 1950s. Also the style of popular song in the United States during that period.

Question 14

Changing meter

Answer 14

Shifting between meters, sometimes frequently, within a single composition or movement, also shifting meter.

Question 15

Polyrhythm

Answer 15

The simultaneous use of several rhythmic patterns or meters, common in twentieth-century music and certain African musics.

Question 16

Polyharmony

Answer 16

Two or more streams of harmony played against each other, common in twentieth-century music.

Question 17

Atonality

Answer 17

Total abandonment of tonality (which is centered in a key). Atonal music moves from one level of dissonance to another, without areas of relaxation.

Question 18

Serialism

Answer 18

Method of composition in which various musical elements (pitch, rhythm, dynamics, timbre) may be ordered in a fixed series.