Music EC-12 CD=7.Music as Reflection of Culture

Question 1

What is Brazil’s most classic popular music?

A. Mambo
B. Salsa
C. Baiao
D. Samba

Answer 1

Answer D is correct.

Samba, a dance form with African roots, is the musical form most commonly associated with Brazil. Both the urban and rural versions of this dance share alternating stanzas and refrain with responsorial singing between solo and chorus.

Question 2

Mambo

Answer 2

Mambo is a popular big-band ballroom dance form that acquired popularity in the 1940’s and ‘50’s with roots in the Cuban rumba. It has influenced the popularity of other Latin America dances, such as the “cha cha.”

Question 3

Salsa

Answer 3

Salsa is a 20th-century dance form with ties to the Cuban mambo and cha cha. It was developed in the 1960’s and ‘70’s by Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants in New York. An eclectic musical form, It typically reflects the two-part structure of the Cuban “son,” which itself is a fusion of West African and Hispanic musical and rhythmic elements.

Question 4

Baiao

Answer 4

Baiao is a unique type of country music from the Northeast region of Brazil. It is characterized by syncopated rhythms, raised fourths, lowered sevenths, and a prominent use of the accordion. The genre has colorful history and traditions associated with it, including exotic attire.

Question 5

In what countries does overtone singing have its strongest association?

A. Cambodia and Vietnam
B. China and Malaysia
C. Mongolia and Tuvan
D. India and Pakistan

Answer 5

Answer C is correct.

Mongolia and Tuvan are two countries closely associated with overtone singing, also referred to as “throat singing,” “xoomei,” or “khoomi.” It involves manipulating the jaw, lips, etc. during low, guttural singing to simultaneously produce overtones. Monks from the Gyuto Tantric University in Tibet are known for singing with a similar technique since the 15th century.

Question 6

What instrument is most closely associated with the music of the western Africa?

A. didjeridu
B. djembe
C. steelpan drums
D. darabukka

Answer 6

Answer B is correct.

Djembe (also jembe, jenbe, djimbe, jimbe, jymbe, yembe, yimbe, or jimbay ) is one of many types of drums that originated in Africa, but the djembe may be the most well-known African drum outisde the continent. Djembe playing is an honored tradition in Africa, is essential to national ballet, and unique patterns and phrases define dance rhythms that are associated with rituals and cermonies.

Question 7

Didjeridu

Answer 7

The didjeridu is closely associated with the indigenous music of the aboriginal culture in Australia. The sound of the overtones above the low guttural fundamental is unique. The didjeridu is traditionally played in sacred ceremonies to accompany singing and dancing.

Question 8

Steelpan drums

Answer 8

Steelpan drums were developed in Trinidad and Tobago from discarded American 55-gallon oil-drums left on the south American islands after World War II. Originally associated with rebellious teenage groups, the creating “pans” has become an increasingly specialized skill, and the government now sponsors competitions that have resulted in rigorous performance standards.

Question 9

Darabukka

Answer 9

Darabukka is a goblet-shaped drum associated with music (after 1900) of Eygpt, which is referred to as “the epicenter for all Arab and Middle Eastern music.” Another goblet drum with a similar spelling - darbukas - is listed among instruments associated with music of Hungary.

Question 10

What category of instrument includes the flute?

A. aerophone
B. chordophone
C. idiophone
D. membranophone

Answer 10

Answer A is correct.

Aerophone is a general term for musical instruments that produce sound through vibrations in a body of air (e.g. flute, pipe organ).

Question 11

The Hornbostel-Sachs classification system divides instruments into four classifications…

Answer 11

Aerophone
Chordophone
Idiophone
Membranophone

Question 12

Chordophone

Answer 12

Chordophone is a general term for musical instruments that produce sound through vibrations in a stretched string (e.g. guitar, piano).

Question 13

Idiophone

Answer 13

Idiophone is a general term for musical instruments that produce sound through vibrations in the substance of the actual instrument (e.g. xylophone, marimba, bell). Subcategories of idiophones are instruments which are struck, scraped, plucked, blown, or made to sound by friction.

Question 14

Membranophone

Answer 14

Membranophone is a general term for musical instruments that produce sound through vibrations in a stretched membrane. Subcategories of membranophone are instruments which are struck, sounded by friction, and instruments that resonate sympathetically with another sound (“singing membranes”).

Question 15

Which of the following is most closely associated with music of the Korean ruling class?

A. a-ak
B. sog-ak
C. hyang-ak
D. chong-ak

Answer 15

Answer D is correct.

Korea’s traditional music is generally divided into two categories: chong-ak, which is music of the ruling class, and “sog-ak” which is music of the common people.

Question 16

A-ak

Answer 16

A-ak is ritual temple music that can be heard at a temple at Munmyo Korea that honors Confusicius and his disciples.

Question 17

Sog-ak

Answer 17

Sog-ak is a term designating music of the common people, one of the two general categories of Korea’s traditional music. Chong-ak, the other category, designates music of the ruling class, and “sog-ak.”

Question 18

Hyang-ak

Answer 18

Hyang-ak is a generic term that refers to native Korean music, but does not imply characteristics of music associated with any particular class.

Question 19

What term is both a jazz style and a quality of jazz performance that stands in contrast to “straight” rhythm in music?

A. cool
B. bebop
C. swing
D. free

Answer 19

Answer C is correct.

The swing style of jazz emerged in the 1930’s and is characterized by performance by larger bands with an emphasis on precision and ensemble. Bands comprised of white musicians mirrored jazz’s popularity to a wider audience. Leading bands included those led by virtuosic instrumentalists, such as Ellington, Goodman, Basie, Dorsey, Shaw, and Miller. Difficult to precisely define, descriptions focus on rhythm and forward propulsion, which can be enhanced by use or manipulation of timbre, attack, vibrato, rubato, and intonation to further the degree or the effect of “swing.” Swing became a term that was synonymous with jazz before giving way in the 1940’s to bebop (bop), which was later referred to as “modern” jazz.

Question 20

Cool (jazz style)

Answer 20

Overlapping and co-existing with bop, “cool” jazz appeared in the work of Miles Davis, who assembled a nine-piece band that recorded pieces in 1949-50 that were re-issued in 1957 as “Birth of the Cool.” The new laid-back style in those pieces, characterized by slower, softer, relaxed and understated expression, was in stark contrast to the more frenzied bop. Rather than virtuoso display, Davis’ added his lyric and melancholy style to the intertwining improvisational lines that served to define the “cool” style.

Question 21

Bebop (jazz style)

Answer 21

Overlapping the end of the swing era of jazz, the bebop or bop style of jazz emerged in the 1940’s, re-labeled by some historians as “modern jazz.” Parker, Gillespie, and Monk were leading figures in the new style. Like swing, rhythm in bop was again a primary feature of the style, but faster tempi, a connection to scat-singing, new harmonic substitutions and melodic construction, and virtuoso playing were characteristic of the style.

Question 22

Free (jazz style)

Answer 22

In the 1960’s Coleman and Coltrane led the challenge to jazz traditions in a breakaway movement referred to as “free” jazz style (or “the new thing”). Consistent with the spirit of the decade in which it emerged, “free” jazz broke away from the harmonic, melodic, and formal conventions of the mainstream jazz “establishment.” The controversial underlying philosophy was uncompromising and true to its title of “free,” characterized by individualism, collective improvisation, and zealous energy and emotion. “Free” jazz’s lack of popularity and commercial appeal can be attributed to its “dissonant, strident, and often atonal style.”