Music Flashcards
Broadway support organization that undertook projects to support troops during both world wars, sponsors the Tony Awards
American Theatre Wing
modern jazz style with complex melodies, rhythms, harmonies, and irregular phrasing
Bebop
magazine devoted to tracking trends in entertainment, especially music broadcasts and record sales
The Billboard
soundproof housing that encases a movie camera, so camera motor is not picked up by the microphone
Camera blimp
jazz arranging technique in which instructions of the same family are assigned similar music to play
Block voicing
music style that originated with African Americans as a way to lament problems and unhappiness
Blues
20th century theatrical term for overall storyline and dialogue of a Broadway show
Book
jazz (and blues) piano style, left hand plays a heavy, bouncy, repetitive pattern, right hand performs syncopated melodies
Boogie-woogie
radio station operating just outside of US borders, usually broadcasting with a very strong signal, AKA an X station
Border blaster
guitar technique, finger of left hand is inserted into the sawed-off neck of a glass bottle so the finger can glide up and down the strings smoothly
Bottleneck
collective nickname for NY theater district
Broadway
debut 1936, first of the popularity charts issued by The Billboard
Chart line
in jazz and musical theater, describes one complete statement of the main melody
Chorus
uses twelve-bar-blues structure, customarily features female singer in concert situations, pre-planned material with accompanist or small ensemble
Classic blues
small jazz or blues ensemble
Combo
uses twelve-bar-blues structure, customarily features male singer in informal situations, playing guitar, improvising text, using great rhythmic flexibility
Country blues
popular singing style, capitalized on sensitive microphones, singer vocalizes with warm, resonant tone and very clear diction (Bing Crosby)
Crooning
style of visual art, literature, and music of 20th century, expresses artist’s inner feelings about the subject through distortion and exaggeration
Expressionism
set of treaties and protocols that govern humane behavior during war
Geneva Conventions
award from John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for exceptional scholarship or creative ability in the arts and sciences
Guggenheim Fellowship
in film scoring, the use of quiet, high-pitched strings to accentuate a moment in a scene
Halo of strings
unwritten plan for a jazz performance, discussed by the musicians and then played “from their heads”
Head arrangement
designation for a show whose songs are specifically suited for the situation in which they are sung or for the character who sings them
Integrated
film/tv music that parallels every gesture of the action, usually for comic effect
Mickey-mousing
long pole that suspends a microphone over a set
Microphone boom
20th century artistic trend that prized innovation above anything else
Modernism
most successful early sound-on-film technology, developed by Fox Studios
Movietone
comic genre usually presented in modern costume with popular tunes and dances
Musical comedy
portion of a show in which the characters alternate between singing and speaking
Musical scene
genre label for dramatic works with songs that are integrated into the storyline
Musical (theater)
music that is newly composed for a particular film
Original score
agency established during WWII to oversee US government information and propaganda efforts
Office of War Information (OWI)
decision by the American Federation of Musicians to ban instrumentalists from recording new pieces starting 8/1/42 until record companies agreed to pay royalties for their performances
Petrillo Ban
one of the earliest technologies to develop sound-on-film playback, invented by Lee de Forest
Phonofilm
piano that has had its tone color modified by various objects inserted into the strings
Prepared piano
1) printed guide to a concert performance
2) storyline/concept that is illustrated without words in instrumental music
Program
pre-existing source (novel, movie, play, etc.) that inspires a Broadway show; shows not based on earlier materials are called “original”
Property
annual prizes that reward achievement in journalism, literature, and musical composition
Pulitzer Prizes
harmonic progression introduced in the chorus of Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” (1930), subsequently borrowed for 100’s of new tunes
Rhythm changes
accompanying musicians (usually piano, string bass, drum set, and guitar) who support the harmony and rhythm of a jazz tune
Rhythm section
heavier suspended cymbal that allows the rhythm to remain audible even as the cymbal is ringing
Ride cymbal
jazz motif (melodic, rhythmic, or chord progression) that is repeated in an ostinato fashion
Riff
abbr. for “revolutions per minute,” which measures the rotation speed of audio recordings
rpm
jazz vocal technique in which the performer sings nonsense syllables, voice is treated as if an instrument
Scat singing
a short-long rhythmic pattern, with the short note occurring on a strong pulse
Scotch snap
an up-and-down pitch oscillation or “wobble,” added to particular notes by many jazz musicians
Shake
film lasting only a few minutes
Short
loud passage in a jazz piece, usually featuring the full ensemble playing in the same rhythm simultaneously
Shout chorus
recording featuring just one song or piece of music
Single
Soviet doctrine insisting that artists must produce readily accessible works, avoiding anything that would be difficult to understand
Socialist Realism
passage in a jazz piece in which the majority of performers stop playing to feature one soloist
Solo break
music in a film that the characters in that scene would be likely to hear
Source music
vocal genre developed by African Americans, usually has a simple, flexible melody and a religious meaning
Spiritual
song that has remained popular for a long time and has been recorded many times
Standard
experimental approach in which the performer touches the actual piano strings (plucking, strumming, stroking, etc.) rather than playing the keys
String piano
1) rhythmic device particularly prevalent in jazz, creates a compound-meter effect
2) style of jazz usually featuring big-band instrumentation, carefully planned music arrangements, and very danceable beats
Swing
film music that uses orchestral music
Symphonic score
short extension at the end of a chorus
Tag
1) music publishing district in New York
2) type of popular music issued by these publishers 1880’s-1950’s
Tin Pan Alley
comedy dependent on the audience’s awareness of current events
Topical humor
20th century style that breaks away as much as possible from traditional musical approaches
Ultramodernism
military welfare agency est. by the US gov. at the start of WWII by unifying the efforts of 6 private organizations: YMCA, YWCA, National Catholic Community Service, National Jewish Welfare Board, Salvation Army, and National Travelers Aid Association
United Service Organizations (USO)
introductory vocal passage in a Tin Pan Alley song
Verse
number in which a character sings about something imaginary so that the singer or another character starts to believe the vision
Vision song
most successful early sound-on-disc technology, supported by Warner Bros. and used for the first talking film
Vitaphone
collective nickname for the theater district in London
West End
Grouped the instruments into four categories
Curt Sachs and Erich von Hornbostel
The quality, character, or color of a musical sound
Timbre
Who were the composers of the musical The Threepenny Opera, written in 1928?
Weill and Bracht
Which composer wrote a piece that included percussion, piano, and a siren?
Varése
The president of the Musicians Union during WWII
James Petrillo
In “Quartet for the End of Time,” Messiaen devised a pattern of 29 chords that the piano must cycle through during a rhythmic pattern consisting of how many notes?
17
What year did Gershwin’s musical comedy Girl Crazy appear?
1930
Bandleader that was the first to employ racially integrated ensembles
Benny Goodman
Charles Seeger is the creator of a well-known compositional technique called
Dissonant counterpoint
Around what year was Schoenberg’s “Emancipation of the Dissonance” written?
1910
How many classical music library sets did Armed Forces Master Records, Inc. distribute throughout the US and in war theaters from Africa to the South Pacific?
1,800
The name of a newspaper dedicated to the entertainment industry
Variety
The first live network radio broadcast aired in 1926 and featured Serge Koussevitsky and the
Boston Symphony Orchestra
During the war years all four networks agreed to offer the same program simultaneously. What was the name of the program?
This is War!
The big band which enlisted in the Navy was led by
Artie Shaw
category of string instruments, according to the Sachs and Hornbostel classification system
Chordophones
category of wind instruments, according to the Sachs and Hornbostel classification system
Aerophones
category of drums, according to the Sachs and Hornbostel classification system
Membranophones
category of solid percussion instruments, according to the Sachs and Hornbostel classification system
Idiophones
tone sounding continually as a background to a performance
Drone
melody in which a number of pitches are sounded over a single syllable or instrumental stroke
Melisma
pitch intervals smaller than half-steps
Microtones
method to teach pitch, in which the syllables “Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti” are spoken as their pitches are sung
Solfege
pitch from which a scale is built
Tonic
form in which verses are sung alternating with a repetitive chorus or refrain
Verse-chorus
vocal music with instruments, literally “in the church (chapel) style”
A cappella
pattern related to verse-chorus, but where the “chorus” has new words each time
Alteration form
lowest female voice
Alto
individual pitches of a chord are played in rapid succession rather than simultaneously
Arpeggio
lengthening of a melody or rhythm by increasing the duration of all of its notes
Augmentation
male voice between bass and tenor
Baritone
lowest male voice
Bass
use of two conventional chords simultaneously
Bichord
section during a solo when unaccompanied soloist is featured while orchestra stops playing
Cadenza
soloist/small group presents a short motif, and larger group echoes or answers with contrasting material
Call-and-response
vocal work with accompaniment
Cantata
piano genre popular in Romantic era, small-scale work portraying particular image or mood
Character piece
instrumental genre that juxtaposes an orchestra against a soloist or small group of soloists
Concerto
melody that is juxtaposed against another melody, producing counterpoint
Countermelody
modernist musical texture in which two or more lines of music clash with each other
Dissonant counterpoint
contrasting material that occurs in between statements of the refrain of a rondo form
Episode
downward slide or droop from a pitch
Fall
sustain a note (or rest) longer than its notated duration
Fermata
brass instrument, lower than a trumpet and higher than a trombone
Flugelhorn
focus on abstract music that gives intellectual pleasure
Formalism
use of harmony in which common-practice chords are employed
Free tonality
rapid sweeping motion up or down a scale
Glissando
amplified partial of the overtone series, produced in different ways by different types of instruments
Harmonic
melody that follows a reversed contour in comparison to a different melody
Inversion
device that quiets or muffles an instrument’s sound
Mute
style that celebrates culture or characteristics of a country in art/music
Nationalism
a fairly prominent countermelody
Obbligato
assigning of instruments to various layers of the musical score
Orchestration
object that remains the same whether read forward or backward, in music, often a rhythm or series of pitches
Palindrome
concluding harmonic progression that moves from the subdominant (IV) chord to the tonic (I) chord
Plagal cadence
chord built with intervals that are a fourth apart
Quartal harmony
chord built with intervals that are a fifth apart
Quintal harmony
ensemble of five musicians
Quintet
speech-like singing style
Recitative
synonym for repetitive chorus in a verse-chorus form or the recurring “A” section in a rondo form
Refrain
material that recurs multiple times in a piece or movement
Ritornello
technique in which a series of pitches is repeated multiple times, but each time the initial pitch moves to the back of the line
Rotation
subtle speeding and slowing of the tempo
Rubato
joking or particularly fast movement, usually in a sonata cycle
Scherzo
successive repetition of a musical motif or phrase at higher or lower pitch levels
Sequence
pattern of repetition that can be diagrammed as a-a-b-a’
Song form
highest female voice
Soprano
highest male voice
Tenor
customary technique of common-practice harmony, consisting of chords that are built on intervals of a third
Tertian harmony
dissonant group of closely adjacent pitches
Tone cluster
rapid repetition of a pitch that creates a “trembling” effect
Tremolo
“all” or “everyone” in Italian, meaning that the full ensemble participates simultaneously
Tutti
type of text expression in which the music tries to create a literal depiction of a particular word/phrase’s meaning
Word-painting
voice is treated as an instrument, performing without text
Wordless voice
