Midterm I Terms Flashcards
Beat
Level of pulse that best expresses the heartbeat of the musical flow; tends to be on faster side like heartbeat rather than walking rhythm
Apollonian vs. Dionysian
emphasizes objective, calm experience of the reasoning mind, freed of the violent desires of the feeling body vs. emphasizes subjective, passionate experience of the emotional, erotic, sensuous mind, very much rooted in the body
Measure
Grouping of beats into larger, clearly perceptible units of time
Downbeat
Pulse that marks the first beat of each measure, usually the strongest pulse
Upbeat
Any beat of the measure that isn’t a downbeat
Oral Tradition vs. written tradition
learned or transmitted by ear vs. written notations, sheet music
walks, walking beat
plays a note evenly on every beat of a four beat measure
four beat feel
four beat time, 4/4
Backbeat
middle beat that is a relatively strong upbeat
backbeat rhythm
backbeat played hard, counterbalancing downbeat
offbeat
diversions within the beat
straight rhythm
offbeats are equal, dividing the beat into 2 even halves
swing rhythm
first half of the beat lasts longer than the second half
syncopation
an attack that occurs on a relatively weak pulse (cross-rhythmic patterning of black roots)
timbre
the specific, unique quality of sound made by any voice, instrument, or combo of the two
pitch
the higher or lower placement of a note along the melodic spectrum
fixed pitch
one, unwavering pitch (piano key)
variable pitch
range of possible pitches (human voice)
melodic grid (scale)
generalized, implicit background of notes, on which actual melodies are built
octave
higher or lower representation of a note when you double/halve its rate of vibration
diatonic scale
7 pitches, traditional scale found in Western classical music and the traditional mainstream music that emerged in relation to it
major diatonic scale
expresses strength or happiness but can be used for all kinds of emotions
minor diatonic scale
expresses suffering or sadness usually, but can express any emotion
chromatic scale
12 pitches, with additional sharps (raised) and flats (lowered)
tonic
home note of a scale, where the melody ends and often where it begins
5th degree
fundamental building block for melody and harmony
degrees
positional numbers
diatonic modal scales
7 notes within the octave, avoid chromatic inflections
mixolydian scale
sounds like major but has flatted 7th degree
pentatonic scales
five different pitches within the octave
major pentatonic scale
degrees 1,2,3,5,6
minor pentatonic scale
degrees 1,3,4,5,7
blues pentatonic scale
minor pentatonic scale plus blue notes in 3,5,7
roots music
marketing category beginning in 1980s combining elements of traditional, acoustic and popular music
personal roots
primary handed down by those who raise us and secondary roots of teenage/adult years when we strive to define ourselves
call and response
interaction between singer and audience, or singer and instrument
blue notes
pitch spaces centering around the 3, 5, 7 degrees of the diatonic scale
city blues
jazz or vaudeville style, first recorded in 1920
country blues
rural, folky style
shouting
loud, forceful voice, often begins its phrases on a high note and then descends
crying
more modulated, often quieter voice, often using arch-shaped phrases
12 Bar Blues
classic blues form (study summary diagram)
8 Bar Blues
modified 12 bar blues, more simple to pure duple
“Refrain” Blues
last 8 bars have a lyric that recurs in each stanza, functioning as refrain, while first 4 bars differ, functioning as verses
bluesiness
label for music that successfully incorporates blue notes
classical
aspect of music that makes us think about something admired, contemplated, emulated as a standard of aesthetic beauty and a benchmark of the highest quality
folk
aspect of music points to its origin in a specific community, usually with a specific ethnic profile
popular
aspect of music that points to the marketplace rather than to a perceived value or community
fake music vs. legit music
improvised, played by ear vs. proper classical music
classical music
a benchmark of quality and enduring value
folk/ethnic music
“roots music” that is neither classical nor popular (in sense of being widely admired, disseminated, or sold) but created in a distinct, ethnically defined community (usually at home or a social gathering)
jazz
combines syncopation of ragtime with the wailing intensity of blues, incorporating both into a loose, often raucous sounding polyphonic band style
Swing Era
begins on/shortly after August 21, 1935, Benny Goodman, dance music, big bands
musical sections of big bands
reed section (saxophones & clarinets) horn section (trumpets & trombones) rhythm section (accompaniment instruments such as piano/ guitar for chords, bass fiddle for bass notes, drums for percussion)
sweet music
played entirely according to old ways (written notation, Euro-American style)
hot music
fresh, exciting, edgy, excitement is provocatively intense and unbridled
swing beat
lopsided (dum ba dum) to create a driving rhythm
swing
general approach to rhythm that combines excitement, even driving intensity, with relaxed feeling (relaxed intensity)
American popular song
song composed in a popular, sophisticated style (1920s-60) often for Broadway musicals; connection to elite society of era
standards
universally known songs that any competent pianist or band could play for a musical or social occasion
covers
performance of a song already identified with some other band and recording
American popular song form
four stanzas arranged musically to form an AABA pattern
33 or LP
long-playing record appeared in 1948, physically larger than 78 (12in), held more music, made out of lighter, flexible, more durable vinyl
78
10in, made out of shellac, replaced gradually in involving marketplace of late 40s and beyond
45
appeared in 2949, 7in, held same 3 min song on each side (A and B)
hillbilly category
renamed country & western in 50s, now country
race records
marketing category of 20s renamed rhythm & blues in 50s, now R&B
western theme
cowboy or western showed connection to southwest and west
western swing
swing jazz and hillbilly music hybrid; swing jazz (4, big band jazz horns and rhythm sections) and hillbilly (simple, folk-like tunes, harmonies and lyrics, hillbilly instruments such as fiddles and guitars)
honky tonk
named for raunchy bars with dance floors that existed all over the South; evokes hot, lonely, edgy places where lost souls gather and do sinful things they later regret; emphasis placed on distinctive personality & mood of singing voice, accompanied by a restrained, polished electric swing band showing western swing influence in smooth balance of 2 and 4 beat feel
Chicago Blues
grittier, hotter sound, a large number of singers and players congregated, recorded and interacted there
rock
describes dancing or lovemaking in many blues and R&B songs
jump bands
kind of dance band that played music that was simple, direct bluesy, rhythmic, and perfect for dancing
independent record labels
white record company owners began in 40s to promote black music directly, take more risks than major labels but have less resources
slap bass
stand up bass which is literally “slapped” while the notes are played to produce a percussive sound like a quiet drum set
rockabilly
loud music, centering on twangy electric guitars, bass and drums; simple, based on diatonic melodies and chord patterns, often in blues form; stripped-down and lean (often guitarist is also a singer); edgy, even wild, theatrical excitement and tension of young, usually male performers, melodies and timbres, lyrics, on stage and on record; strong roots in Southern music; edgy electrify spoke to urban youth everywhere with equal power
Sun Studios sound
Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee
(loud, lean, edgy, strong, southern, R&B influenced blues and boogie basis adapted to a twangy hillbilly string band format, almost always white musicians, unvarnished ‘hillbilly’ approach to singing), electrification (guitars have sharp, hot, precise tone instead of softer, bell-like tone of older swing jazz guitars, with their mellow, hollow body Gibson style), sharply percussive to slap bass; slap-back echo
slap-back echo
2 entrained tape recorders slightly out of synch with one another create a quick echo of extraordinarily clean, pure, wet sound, as well as directness and simplicity
rockism
rock ‘n’ roll, when you get down to it, is just loud music played by white guys with guitars
common practice
shared vocabulary of harmony, melody, form, texture, format, performance techniques, a complete musical language
boogie
rhythmic power by pounding or leaning insistently on every beat of the measure, connected to blues form and expression, and to dance music, foundations of rock ‘n’ roll (blues boogie dance), also closely related to Chicago blues
chromatic inflections
isolated sharps/flats, outside of a particular scale, frequently added to diatonic tunes for ornament/style
modernism
‘aggressively’ innovative,
abstraction
dissonance and other techniques made modernist music seem abstract; elimination of recognizable traditional design elements
South
grew out of British and other European traditions, essential background in African traditions, hybridization of white and black, country/hillbilly music, southern rock (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana)
cool music
music in which the sense of excitement is controlled in order to produce a smooth, restrained effect
lateness
something is rhythmically late in relation to the beat, suggestive of bending the melodic rhythm to musical ideas and emotions
rock ‘n’ roll piano
influenced by New Orleans, can go back to rhythm and blues or the boogie style of the 1930s (Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino), feverish intensity
full triplet rhythm
plays all three parts, unlike swing rhythm that would not play on the 2 of 123 division (dum _ ba-dum vs. dum bah dah)
teen crooners
‘lite’ version of a Romantic singer like Frank Sinatra; from above attempts to represent a more adult singer/musical style (sympathetic chaperone to young audience); from below attempts to represent more directly an adolescent singer/style, often with a band that sounded more like rock ‘n’ roll
doo wop
forgotten third rail of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B vocal harmony, beat box technique, heterogeneous sounds, call and response, attractive, charismatic lead singer, strong reliance on bluesy singing, 12 bar blues form, ‘boogie intensity’ in rhythm, gospel-strength backbeat, pervasive simplicity in lyrics and musical style
great doo wop progression
I -vi - IV - V
a simple strong harmonic framework to play around with, build upon
high modernism
idea of progression, innovation, moving forward aggressively and idealistically to a bright, uncharted future
pointillism
music made up of little points of sound surrounding by the feeling of space
ambient music
not listened to consciously; background music for shopping or relaxing at home; term coined by Brian Eno in 1970s; Muzak
hi-fi
sound reproduction improves with tape recorders publicly after WWII, playback equipment gets stereo, FM radio, analogue (not transistorized)
lounge music
vague, ‘cheesy music’, anything intended to be heard in a lounge (a room in a bar or restaurant with a relaxed, open-ended atmosphere and open space for live music, drinking and dancing)
wall of sound
Phil Spector’s heavy application of reverb and extensive multi-tracking, creating massiveness and complexity
garage or low-fi
draws on rock ‘n’ roll, Chicago blues, rockabilly, rough inspirations; qualities include amateurish, stripped down hot/messy quality
short; simple; loud; messy; incompetent
girl groups
propped up by professional songwriters, vocal harmony, model of pop-music girlhood, sheet music & Tin Pan Alley & Brill Building, candy element of instantly and easily consumed, industrially made ready for this process, self invention and self-defining teen girlhood
surfing music
largely male bands, evoke more physically active, socially rebellious edge, drums and guitars are essential, simple, influences include rockabilly, rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, garage, ‘bonding’ music like girl groups, thin twangy clean sounding rock ‘n’ roll
psychedelic musical qualities
LSD, trippy saturation, hallucinogenic lyrics, tremolo harpsichord, floating intense or weird musical traits, can converge with Eastern spirituality, raw or edgy trends with poppy ‘cuteness’, ‘epic’
counterculture
social movement (involving politics, lifestyle, fashion, music) that opposes the mainstream, both intuitively and self-consciously
the Beats
first counterculture; teen element but most famous figures were a bit older with distinctly sophisticated, urban sensibility (San Fran, Greenwich Village NY); hipster, beatnik; Bohemian lifestyle; Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg; sex, drugs, and jazz; debt to literature, learning, liberal arts, not Elvis/doo wop but Franz Kafka, Romantic poets, Modernist art
Harry Smith and the Anthology of American Folk Music
1952 6 LP set that provided a ‘bible’ for folk revival movement (Folkway Records & Moe Asch0, reflected depth, beauty, and strangeness of American ‘roots’ music
folk revival
twin sibling of the beat movement in late 50s and early 60s, folk music linked to cultural community roots, idea of protest in 30s, beats also folkies, Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie
British invasion
1963 beginning, fueled by American invasion of Britain with several musical styles (ragtime, jazz, blues, swing), skiffle and the rockers
skiffle
guitar-based, mostly acoustic style that fused American blues, jazz, and folk; fleeting, tenuous, humorous, bit counterculture; British skiffle combines 2 beat feel with 4 beat driving rhythm, strong backbeat, and strummed folky acoustic-guitar sound (the intersection of folk and jazz)
concept album
an entire LP album built around an overarching plan
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
1967, concept album around nostalgic, archaic English dance band, the album of the 60s, unprecedented complexity, death of Beatles theme, shift away from public instead of toward them, (LSD, eastern spirituality)
‘sweet’ vs. ‘salty’ music
inclusive, miniature artworks with attractive hooks and wide variety of influences vs. centered unwaveringly on rock ‘n’ roll
2 beat feel
one and two and, 2,/4, 2
sentimental songs, novelty songs
capitalize on appeal to direct or childlike emotions, renewal in pop culture after WWII, inspired by vaudeville
heterogeneous sound
diversity, even friction, of sounds and sound combinations, often in the African American world
solid body vs. hollow body guitar
thinner, twangy sound (Les Paul) vs. smooth, warm, consistent bell-like sound (Gibson)
Beatles effect
- grounding in basic rock style
- pop sensibility of the moment
- broad diversity of other musical trends
- suggest essential connection between rock ‘n’ roll and other music
- comparatively quiet/implicit rebellion, based on philosophy of acceptance, musical liberals, nice boys
bubblegum music
pop songs with child-like vapidity, industrially generated; short songs with focus on a catchy tune, no grand message, blissful absence of pretension or any greater meaning; squeaky clean alter ego of garage rock
improvisation
do you have a plan? how many times can it be improv? Same solo and other changes in band = improv? call it a solo instead? = no challenge creative innovation in the moment
blues rock
rebels with a cause, improvisation, virtuosity of technical skill, intensity of interaction among band members in the moment, electrified, related to 50s skiffle but more emphasis on ‘theater’ of individual suffering and achievement and ‘glory’ of instrumental blues soloing
Stones effect
- basic rock style grounding
- resistance to mainstream pop sensibility
- resistance to other influences
- suggest essential distinction between rock ‘n’ roll and other music
- comparatively loud and raucous, based on philosophy of judgment and rejection as well as joy and celebration, musical conservatives, bad boys
