Music History and Culture

Question 1

Opera seria

Answer 1

Enlightenment era form of opera. Focused on tragic and serious subjects that were historical rather than mythical.
Three acts with alternating arias and recitatives, with usually six or seven characters.

Question 2

Opera buffa

Answer 2

Enlightenment era form of opera. Focused on humorous and light-hearted elements. A wide range of characters. Spoken dialogue replaced recitative. Form was less structured and often featured prominent orchestral and instrumental parts. Music tended to be faster and helped portray comic elements of the plot line, such as laughter and sneezing.

Question 3

Name some composers from the 19th Century that featured brass with large orchestrations and increasingly powerful orchestral sounds.

Answer 3

Igor Stravinsky, Wagner, Strauss, Mahler.

Question 4

The Sugarhill Gang helped to widely popularize which term in their 1979 song “Rapper’s Delight”?

Answer 4

Hip Hop. Used the words “hip hop” in the song.

Question 5

Which Cuban style is derived from mambo with a characteristic pattern of two eighth notes followed by a quarter note?

Answer 5

Cha-cha-cha (An onomatopoeia of two eighth notes followed by a quarter note)

Question 6

What is a traditional form of Japanese that stems from the 1600s?

Answer 6

Kabuki.

Question 7

The Middle Eastern maqam systmen of melodic organization is most similar to which aspect of Western music theory?

Answer 7

Modes.

Question 8

Ostinatos are found extensively in the world music of which region? (China, India, Mexico, or Ethiopia)

Answer 8

India.

Question 9

Reggae music originated in which Caribbean nation in the 1960s? (Haiti, Cuba, Trinidad, or Jamaica)

Answer 9

Jamaica. Roots in traditional calypso and mento music, as well as in American Jazz, rhythm and blues, ska, and rocksteady movement of the 60s. Jackie Mittoo, Winston Wright, “Scratch” Perry, and The Pioneers.

Question 10

Loud, forceful, and fast sounds tend to convey which of the following modes? (Sorrow, Elation, Hope, Passion)

Answer 10

Passion. Sorrow is represented by slower sounds, elation can be represented by loud and fast sounds, but not forceful sounds; hope tends to be represented by sustained, high sounds.

Question 11

The Fibonacci sequence in mathematics can be seen in all of the following aspects of music EXCEPT (choices are: “The syncopation of dance forms with the divine equation”, “Compositional climaxes of musical works at the golden ratio”, “Diatonic scales and the foundational structure of the tonic triad”, or “The design and construction of instruments such as the violin”

Answer 11

The syncopation of dance forms with the divine equation.

Question 12

The structure of sonata form in music can be seen most similarly to which literary narrative structure? (Setup-bridge-resolution; Setup-plot-conflict; Setup-conflict-resolution; Setup-resolution-plot)

Answer 12

Setup-plot-resolution. Three main sections in sonata form: Exposition, development, and recapitulation. In both setup and exposition, the main idea is introduced. In development and conflict, the melody and plot lines progress. In the recapitulation and resolution, both melody and plot lines resolve at the end.

Question 13

Which of the following forms is a monothematic composition in which a single subject is continually echoed throughout the piece through imitation and development?

Answer 13

Fugue form. The fugue theme is introduced at the beginning of the work, also known as the exposition, and is echoed in all of the fugal voiced in different pitches and various keys.

Question 14

Which composer wrote the chamber work Quarter for the End of Time, which includes imitations of bird calls?
(Rameau, Schumann, Messiaen, Ravel)

Answer 14

Olivier Messiaen.