Set Works

Question 1

What is swing?

Answer 1

A popular style of music from 1930s and 40s. Features jaunty rhythmic pulse of quaver triplets and emphasis on the off-beats.

Question 2

What is 32-bar song form?

Answer 2

AABA structure. Uses 8 bar phrases.

Question 3

What is a middle 8?

Answer 3

The third section of 32-bar song form, lasting eight bars and usually contrasting with the rest of the musical material.

Question 4

What is a riff?

Answer 4

Short repeated phrase.

Question 5

What is a jazz standard?

Answer 5

A popular song that has been used by many jazz musicians as the basis for their extended improvisations.

Question 6

At what speed does Nat King Cole play ‘Caravan’?

Answer 6

Crotchet = 135

Question 7

How does Nat King Cole make ‘Caravan’ interesting?

Answer 7

He swings the middle eight whilst the rest of the song is in straight 16th.

Question 8

What form is used in Caravan?

Answer 8

32-bar song form however it is notated with double the bars so that the basic form lasts for 64 bars.

Question 9

What key is Caravan in?

Answer 9

Bb minor.

Question 10

What instruments are used in Caravan?

Answer 10

Vocals, piano, double bass, guitar, drums, bongos, valve trombone.

Question 11

How long are the phrases in Caravan?

Answer 11

16 bars.

Question 12

What is the time signature of Caravan?

Answer 12

4/4 with fast crotchest.

Question 13

How does Nat King Cole begin Caravan?

Answer 13

With a 12 bar introduction starting with a bass solo of three repeated notes. A new instrument is added every two bars: bongos, then piano chords, then trombone three note motif.

Question 14

What does Cole do with the rhythm of the vocal line?

Answer 14

He consistently sings around the beat, mostly singing behind the beat, producing a laid-back feel contrasting the more urgent accompaniment.

Question 15

What is the trombone doing when the vocals enter in Caravan?

Answer 15

It plays gentle dominant seventh arpeggios.

Question 16

How is the 64 bar form different the second time it is played in Caravan?

Answer 16

It is played instrumentally.

Question 17

In the A sections of the instrumental part, what are the guitar and piano playing for the first two phrases in Caravan?

Answer 17

Rhythmic stabbing chords.

Question 18

What play’s the melody in the A sections of the instrumental part of the song in Caravan?

Answer 18

The trombone.

Question 19

Where does the bass have a prominent role in the A sections of instrumental part in Caravan?

Answer 19

At the ends of phases.

Question 20

What happens in the B section of the instrumental part in Caravan?

Answer 20

The piano plays a swing jazz improvisation over a fast moving crotchet walking bass line.

Question 21

What happens after the final A section of the instrumental part in Caravan?

Answer 21

The vocals re-enter, but this time going straight to the third phrase.

Question 22

How does the song end after the final A section of Caravan?

Answer 22

With a short repeated bass riff and a fade out into which the trombone inserts its opening three-note motif.

Question 23

How does Caravan give a sense of Middle Eastern exoticism?

Answer 23

Through the use of chromatic movement, the outline of a tritone in bar 4 and the diminished 5th in bar 8.

Question 24

What is the harmonic journey of the melody of Caravan?

Answer 24

A long note of the dominant, an outline of notes of the dominant 7th, a long note of the subdominant, alteration of notes between the dominant and flattened 6th, a long subdominant, a descending chromatic scale, a long note of the tonic.

Question 25

What harmony is used under the melody in the A section of Caravan?

Answer 25

Static harmony of repeated dominant 7th chords is used with hints of flattened 6ths and 9ths drawn from the melody line. These chords don’t resolve to the tonic chord of Bb minor until the last four bars.

Question 26

What harmony is used under the melody in the B section of Caravan?

Answer 26

The harmonic rhythm speeds up, moving every four bars to a new harmony based on the circle of 5ths: Bb, Eb, and Ab, before an F7 returns the music to Bb minor.

Question 27

What techniques does Cole make use of in his piano improvisation in Caravan?

Answer 27

Arpeggios and chromatic auxiliary notes.

Question 28

What is the texture in Caravan like?

Answer 28

Harmony only suggested from the bass and melody lines, keeping texture light. Bongos produce considerable rhythmic interest, accenting notes unexpectedly. There are a number of syncopated moments e.g. stabbing repeated chords from guitar and piano during trombone solo.