Modern/Contemporary

Question 1

Blues

Answer 1

African-American vocal genre that is based on a simple repetitive formula and characterized by a distinctive style of performance

Question 2

Jazz

Answer 2

A type of music developed mostly by African Americans in the early part of the 20th century that combined elements of African, popular, and European music, and that had evolved into a broad tradition encompassing many styles

Question 3

Ragtime

Answer 3

Musical style that features syncopated rhythm against a regular, march-like bass

Question 4

Orchestral Song

Answer 4

A late romantic genre of classical music for solo voices and orchestra

Question 5

Operetta

Answer 5

19th century kind of light opera with spoken dialogue, originating in opera bouffe

Question 6

Klangfarbenmelodie

Answer 6

Term coined by Schoenberg to describe a succession of tone colors that is perceived as analogous to the changing pitches in a melody.

Question 7

Socialist realism

Answer 7

A doctrine of the Soviet Union, begun in the 1930s, in which all the arts were required to use a realistic approach (as opposed to an abstract or symbolic one) that portrayed socialism in a positive light. In music this meant use of simple, accessible language, centered on melody, and patriotic subject matter.

Question 8

Ultramodernism

Answer 8

Current in American music between the World Wars that focused on developing new musical resources

Question 9

Sound Masses

Answer 9

Minimizes the importance of individual pitches in preference for texture, timbre, and dynamics as primary shapers of gesture and impact