MUSC 323 Quiz 1 Flashcards
What was Tin Pan Alley?
Tin Pan Alley was a NYC neighbourhood full of music publishers, songwriters, and composers. Loaded with people playing music, pianos galore. Created sheet music to sell and make a living on.
How did Tin Pan Alley get its name?
Given by newspaper writer Monroe Rosenfeld. While he was staying in New York, he named it due to the dozens of people pounding on pianos, he said it sounded like hundreds of people pounding on tin pans.
What symbol is this?
Treble Clef
What symbol is this?
Bass Clef
What symbol is this?
Grand Staff
What symbol is this?
Key Signatures. # = Sharp, b = Flat.
What are the values of these notes (beats)?
Whole note= 4 beats
Half note = 2 beats
Dotted half note = 3 beats
Eighth Note = (1 and)
Sixteenth Note = (1 and 2 and 3 and 4)
What is a chord?
Two or more different notes (3+) that are played together at the same time!
How did early popular music composers make money?
They sold sheet music, performed in brothels, casinos, restaurants and bars, and minstrel shows!
How were wax cylinders produced?
PHONOGRAPH
1. Phonograph was set up with a blank wax cylinder and recording stylus.
2. Artist was positioned in front of the equipment, had to blare their music in higher octaves because recordings were inaccurate.
3.Begin recording, as playing begins, the actual soundwaves are engraved into the wax cylinder.
4. Swap to a listening needle and hear the playback, artist may need to reposition and rerecord to capture a better recording.
How are vinyl records produced? Apart of the electrical era!
GRAMOPHONE
1. Set up turntable / vinyl cutting machine.
2. Prepare artist by positioning in front of recording equipment.
3. Set stylus, mic, and recrding levels.
4. Adjust and assess the recording, if ok, use as master recording and print duplicates for retailers.
Composer Quiz: Albert and Harry Von Tilzer
From indiana, jewish immigrants, “Von” in name was adopted to sound fancy.
NOTABLE HIT: Take me out to the ball game.
Composer Quiz: Scott Joplin
-Ragtime: EX Farmer and Slave
-Tutor by jewish immigrant
-Pianist, guitarist, mandoline, cornette
-Sold his sheet music for cash (20,000 annual salary)
-Made it big at Chicago’s World Fair
NOTABLE HIT: “The entertainer 1902”
Composer Quiz: Irving Berlin
-Couldn’t read music
-Ran away from home
-Sang Acapella
NOTABLE HIT: “White Christmas”
Composer Quiz: Harold Arlen
-Son of Jewish Immigrant
NOTABLE HIT: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
George Gershwin
- Jewish Parents
- Jazz Classical
NOTABLE HIT: “Embrace You”
Song Quiz: Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gilepsie
Hot House
Early Jazz: What to appreciate
- Complex Rhythms
- Syncopated Entrances
- Higher quality recordings
- IMPROVIZATION (Solos were NOT written down)
- Unequal note disruption
-251 Chord progression (added a trill to make it sound more interesting)
Culture of Jazz:
-African American Based
-Improv
-Blue Notes
-Call + Response
- Solos
- Built on European Harmonic Ideas
- Forged on Rhythm, Afro-Caribbean jazz influence (slaves weren’t allowed drums so they used washboards)
Habanero Rhythm
Backing to iconic opera track
BEATS: duh duh duh da duh duh duh da duh duh duh da duh
Tresilo Rhythm
8 beat units split into 3,3,2
BEAT LAYOUT: 123, 456, 7, 8
NOTABLE HIT: Justin Bieber “Sorry”
Listen Along: “Greatest Solo of All Time”
Had a series of saxophones
Tenor: Semilow frequency
Alto: Higher frequency
Baritone: Lowest Frequency.
Big Band (1930s-1940s)
-Instruments vary by section.
-Followed a score
-Scripted solos, they aren’t improvized.
Some big band instruments are as follows:
-sax quartet
-trumpet
-keyboard
-upright guitar
-fugles
-Tuba
-voice
Composer Quiz: Jelly Roll Morton
-Claimed he invented jazz, he was 1 of the first, ego was contested in the industry.
-Died by a stab and was refused treatment because he was a POC
Composer Quiz: Duke Ellington
-Noticed by recording, and talking to successful people in the industry.
-Chromatic notes, blue notes
-Thick chords, stacked harmonically
-Improv @ piano
-call and response, swing kind of rhythm
NOTABLE HIT: “Take the A Train”
Composer Quiz: Glenn Miller
-Driver of big band
-Capitalized on trends set by POCs
-Popularized and commercialized by white people
-WW2 America Music –> wanted to be a soldier but couldn’t because he was visually impaired, played with military bands though.
-Trombone Player
-Plane disappeared and never seen again.
NOTABLE HIT: “In the Mood”
Composer Quiz: Billie Holiday
-Main singer of the era
-Aided by recording tech because she wasn’t loud enough for recordings to pick up her voice.
-Known for conversational, speech like, singing.
NOTABLE HIT: “Blue Moon”
