Midterm Flashcards
Nearly every aspect of popular music that is today regarded as American in character has sprung from three broad “streams.” What are the three streams?
African, Latin American, European
Define: Ballad
A series of verses telling a story, often about a historical event or personal tradgedy, sung to a repeating melody. This form of music is often called strophic.
Define: Chorus
Repeated melody with fixed text inserted between verses
“Certain features of African music form the core of African American music and, by extension, of American popular music as a whole.” The book lists at least 5 of these features. What are they?
- Buzzy tones,
- Low Pitched sounds
- call-and-response forms
- polyrhythms (multiple interlocking repeating rhythmic patterns)
- repetition (and riffs)
What was a rhumba-based style pioneered by Cuban and Puerto Rican migrants in New York City in the 1960’s?
salsa
What is the name of the Brazillian dance style strongly rooted in African music?
samba
What is a “Cool sophisticated style of Brazillian music”, popular in the US in the 1960’s?
bossa nova
What kind of music were Americans listening to before minstrelsy?
English/Irish ballads
What year was the first minstrel show?
1828
Who were the two first big minstrel stars?
Thomas Dartmouth Rice
George Washington Dixon
The Minstrel Show started in the city of _________
New York City
What city became the center of the music industry at the end of the nineteenth century?
New York City
When was Stephen Foster writing songs?
1840s-1860s
Name three Stephen Foster songs?
Camptown Races
Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair
Oh! Susana
When did big brass bands first become popular?
After the Civil War
Who was America’s March King?
John Phillip Suza
When did ragtime first come on the scene?
1880s
When did ragtime popularity peak?
1900-1910
Define: Ragtime
Syncopated music typically (though not exclusively) played on the piano.
Who is the most famous ragtime composer?
Scott Joplin
Name two famous Tin Pan Alley composers.
Paul Dresser
Harry Von Tilzer
When was the photograph invented?
1877
Who invented the phonograph (in America)?
Thomas Edison
Define: Nickelodeons
Machines that would play the latest hit for a nickel
In what decade did nickelodeons first appear on the scene?
1890s
At the beginning of the 1900’s, the phonograph industry was dominated by what two record companies?
Victor Talking Machine Company
Columbia Records
In what decade was the first radio program?
1900s
There was a lot of migration within the united states after WWI. From where to where?
From the south to the north. From country to city.
In the 1920’s, “________, which had previously been the exclusive right of the wealthy, now appeared in middle-class homes”
telephones
In the year _______, was the first time that a song was a hit as a record before being a hit as sheet music.
1919
In the year _____ there were only three commercial radio stations in the US. Two years later, there were over 500.
1920
What year saw the first nationwide commercial radio network?
1926
What was the name of the first nationwide commercial radio network?
NBC
When was the microphone invented?
1925
What effect did the invention of microphone have on music styles?
Crooning (a more intimate style because you could whisper)
When did The Jazz Singer come out?
1927
Who starred in The Jazz Singer?
Al Jolson
What’s the significance of the movie The Jazz Singer?
It was the first talkie (or part talkie), and it made its star performer one of the first multi-media stars.
When was prohibition?
1919-1933
Name four dances (from between 1910 and 1935) that were “dance crazes”.
One-Step,
Bunny Hug,
Turkey Trot,
Grizzly Bear
Jazz first appeared in the city of ___.
New Orleans
Jazz probably emerged in the year ___
1900
The first jazz recording was made in the year _______.
1917
Name some of the main musical influences on early Jazz. (Pick SIX.)
Latin Music, Tin Pan Alley, The Blues, New Orleans funeral music, brass bands, ragtime
Who billed himself as the King of Jazz?
Paul Whiteman
What was the typical Tin Pan Alley (TPA) song form?
Verse (intro), then AABA refrain.
What were TPA songs about?
romance,
privacy,
they were songs that helped you to escape your troubles
What’s the connection between TPA and Broadway musicals?
it was a mutually beneficial relationship: Broadway needed songs, TPA composers needed places to showcase them and popularize them
What year did the musical Show Boat come out?
1927
what was so special about Show Boat?
It was the first major Broadway musical where the plot was important and the songs were integrated into the plot.
What was the best-selling song from 1927 to 1942?
My Blue Heaven
Who sang the popular song My Blue Heaven (the most popular version)?
Gene Austin
Define: Race Records
Music by and for African Americans.
Define: Classic Blues
softer, TPA style songs with blue notes, sung by African Americans
When was classic blues first recorded? (Decade)
1910s
Name an early star of classic blues?
Alberta Hunter
Who was known as “The Father of the Blues”?
WC Handy
Define: Country Blues
a rougher, more guitar-driven, originating in the Mississippi Delta
When was country blues first recorded? (Decade)
1920s
Name an early country blues star?
Robert Johnson
Define: Hillbilly music
white southern music with roots in gospel and English/Irish ballads; the forerunner of country music
When was Hillbilly Music first recorded?
1920s
Name two early Hillbilly stars
The Carter Family.
Jimmie Rodgers
Who was Ralph Peer?
He coined the term “Race Records”, was the first person to record a lot of the music we now call “blues”, and also recorded the first “hillbilly music”
When was the Great Depression?
1929-1939
What factors led to a decline in the gramophone record industry during the 1930s?
radio.
the Great Depression.
What factors led to the increased popularity of swing music during the 1930s?
end of prohibition,
increased power of radio,
the desire to forget your troubles during the Great Depression.
Where did the term “hep cat” come from?
Hepikat- word for “eyes wide open” from the Wolof people of Senegal
What is the lindy hop?
the dance most closely associated with Swing music
Where did the Lindy Hop begin? (Specific building?)
Savoy Ballroom in NYC
Benny Goodman grew up in ___
Chicago
Benny Goodman was the son of ___ immigrants.
Eastern European / jewish
Benndy Goodman’s primary instrument was:
the clarinet
Early in his career, Benny Goodman bought and used song arrangements by __________
Fletcher Henderson
How did Benny Goodman get his first big break?
On a “Let’s Dance” tour sponsored by Ritz Crackers
What does ASCAP stand for?
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
What does ASCAP do?
They try to collect royalties for song writers
What is BMI?
Broadcast Music Incorporated - an alternative to ASCAP
When did BMI form?
1940
What is the AFM?
American Federation of Musicians – a union for musicians.
In the year _______, the ASCAP had strike and no radio could play their music
1941
In the year _______, the AFM called a strike against recording companies
1942
AFM called a strike against recording companies, and so for over a year, the only people who could record with the major record companies were ________, who weren’t considered musicians.
singers
The person who probably did the most to popularize Latin music during the Swing era was _________, also known as “The Rhumba King”.
Xavier Cugat
What were the major developments and advancements in music recording and playing technologies during the postwar era?
Magnetic tape recording,
the “battle of the speeds”,
overdubbing
Who is Les Paul?
A guitar player and inventor who did some of the first multi-track recording in the late 40’s.
Name four “Big Singers” of the post war era.
Frank Sinatra,
Nat “King” Cole,
Perry Como,
Bing Crosby
The first example of modern pop-hysteria took place in the year ____
1944 (Frank Sinatra)
The first example of modern pop-hysteria was called ______________.
The Columbus Day Riot of 1944
The musician that people were going nuts over in the Columbus Day Riots of 1944 was _______
Frank Sinatra
Urban Folk came to be popular during these years:
early 1950s
The Mambo Craze took place during these years:
1949-1955
In approximately the year _________, the record industry changed the name of “Race Records” to “Rhythm & Blues”
1949
The first radio station devoted to exclusively playing music for a black audience started in the year ______.
1949
The first radio station devoted to exclusively playing music for a black audience featured a popular DJ named…
BB King
Who was the leading figure of the jump band style?
Louis Jordan
Name one successful blues crooner in the post-war (WWII) era
Charles Brown
Chicago Electric Blues is derived most directly from the __________ style of music.
Country Blues
One of the most famous musicians of the Chicago Electric Blues genre is _____________.
Muddy Waters
What were the styles of postwar R&B? (select 4)
Chicago Electric Blues, jump blues, blues crooner, Doo-Wop (vocal harmony groups)
Who was the leading artist in the post-war “vocal harmony groups” style?
The Dominos
Two famous women R&B singers in the early 50’s
Big Mama Thornton,
Ruth Brown
The pioneer of bluegrass music was___
Bill Monroe
Bluegrass music emerged in these years:
late 1930s & early 1940s
According to the textbook, “_____________ was the most significant single figure to emerge in country music during the immediate post-WWII period.” Sadly, he died young.
Hank Williams
When was the Cold War in full swing?
mid 1950s
Who was probably the first person to coin the term “rock ‘n’ roll”?
Alan Freed
Alan Freed worked as a DJ at a radio station in the city of _________.
Cleveland
Alan Freed was eventually prosecuted for _________,
Accepting payola
‘payola’ refers to the practice of:
taking bribes to get certain records played more frequently
The supreme court decision that ended racial segregation in public schools (Brown v. Board of Education) happened in the year _________.
1954
What is a baby boomer?
A person born during or just after WWII
At first, the term “rock ‘n’ roll” just meant
music that appealed to teens
Which of the following people was a rock-n-roll star who was a teenager?
Frankie Lymon
In the 50’s there were a lot of musicians doing covers. What is a ‘cover’?
Playing or recording a version of a song that has already been recorded. Often “cleaned up” imitation of R&B songs during the 50s.
A black singer named Paula Watson recorded a song for the Supreme record label. Then Decca Records got a white singer named Evelyn Knight to record a nearly identical version of the song. Supreme sued Decca for copyright infringement. The song was _____________.
A Little Birdie Told me
The year that Supreme Records sued Decca Records for copyright infringement was around ______.
1948/49
The owner of Sun records said something like, “If I could only find a white man with the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I’d be a millionaire.” His name was ___________. When did he find who he was looking for? Who did he find?
Sam Phillips.
1954.
Elvis Presley.
The first rock ‘n’ roll record to be a Number One pop hit was __________ by ____________.
Rock around the clock by Bill Haley & the Comets
The first rock ‘n’ roll record to be a Number One pop hit was a hit in the year:
1955
Name three rock ‘n’ roll stars on the R&B side of rock ‘n’ roll.
Chuck Berry,
Little Richard
Fats Domino
Name four rock ‘n’ roll stars on the Country side of rock ‘n’ roll.
Elvis Presley,
Bill Haley & the Comets,
Buddy Holly
Jerry Lee Lewis
Elvis Presley’s biggest hit was a song called ____________
Don’t Be Cruel
