MUSC 323 Quiz 1

Question 1

What was Tin Pan Alley?

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

How did Tin Pan Alley get its name?

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

What symbol is this?

Answer 3

Treble Clef

Question 4

What symbol is this?

Answer 4

Bass Clef

Question 5

What symbol is this?

Answer 5

Grand Staff

Question 6

What symbol is this?

Answer 6

Key Signatures. # = Sharp, b = Flat.

Question 7

What are the values of these notes (beats)?

Answer 7

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)

Question 8

What is a chord?

Answer 8

Two or more different notes (3+) that are played together at the same time!

Question 9

How did early popular music composers make money?

Answer 9

They sold sheet music, performed in brothels, casinos, restaurants and bars, and minstrel shows!

Question 10

How were wax cylinders produced?

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

How are vinyl records produced? Apart of the electrical era!

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Composer Quiz: Albert and Harry Von Tilzer

Answer 12

From indiana, jewish immigrants, “Von” in name was adopted to sound fancy.

NOTABLE HIT: Take me out to the ball game.

Question 13

Composer Quiz: Scott Joplin

Answer 13

-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”

Question 14

Composer Quiz: Irving Berlin

Answer 14

-Couldn’t read music
-Ran away from home
-Sang Acapella

NOTABLE HIT: “White Christmas”

Question 15

Composer Quiz: Harold Arlen

Answer 15

-Son of Jewish Immigrant

NOTABLE HIT: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”

Question 16

George Gershwin

Answer 16

• Jewish Parents
• Jazz Classical

NOTABLE HIT: “Embrace You”

Question 17

Song Quiz: Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gilepsie

Answer 17

Hot House

Question 18

Early Jazz: What to appreciate

Answer 18

• 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)

Question 19

Culture of Jazz:

Answer 19

-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)

Question 20

Habanero Rhythm

Answer 20

Backing to iconic opera track

BEATS: duh duh duh da duh duh duh da duh duh duh da duh

Question 21

Tresilo Rhythm

Answer 21

8 beat units split into 3,3,2

BEAT LAYOUT: 123, 456, 7, 8

NOTABLE HIT: Justin Bieber “Sorry”

Question 22

Listen Along: “Greatest Solo of All Time”

Answer 22

Had a series of saxophones

Tenor: Semilow frequency
Alto: Higher frequency
Baritone: Lowest Frequency.

Question 23

Big Band (1930s-1940s)

Answer 23

-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

Question 24

Composer Quiz: Jelly Roll Morton

Answer 24

-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

Question 25

Composer Quiz: Duke Ellington

Answer 25

-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”

Question 26

Composer Quiz: Glenn Miller

Answer 26

-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”

Question 27

Composer Quiz: Billie Holiday

Answer 27

-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”