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African American Music > Test 1 > Flashcards

Test 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

Laga

A 
Forces: female group, drums
Concluding the excision rite for young girls.
Rite of Passage dance
swords=symbol of virginity
Pentatonic melody
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2
Q

Yole

A

Forces: female group, female solo
call and response
Young girls learn the songs from older sisters.
Sang during play.
Two girls sing solo parts and are answered by the group.
Soloists must be strong and confident.
Pentatonic Melody.

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3
Q

Rice Harvest Music

A

Forces: Male group, Drums, bells
Two drummers give the rhythm for work to which the reapers sing.
The foreman of the reapers wears metal bells on his ankles which jingle as he moves.
Relieves boredom, increases motivation, call upon the days to bring good harvest.

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4
Q

Giata-Music for the Mask Race

A

Forces: Male solo, male group, drums, calabash rattle

Races held on market days.
Masker chases young man who tries to dodge him.

Way to impress girls.

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5
Q

Kneebone Bend

A

Forces: Male solo, mixed group, clapping, stamping

Demands singers shout
Danced in loose circle counter clockwise.
Africanisms: Pentatonic melody, Call and response, building intensity

Purpose: Communicate with the Orisha

Juba: Stamping and clapping pattern

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6
Q

Chickens Done Crowed

A

Forces: Male solo,
Hollers expressive of occasions when emotion or distance render ordinary song or voice inadequate.

Tonal aspect of African languages may have delivered specific info or messages.

Africanisms: Improvisation

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7
Q

Pick A Bale O Cotton-Hoedown

A

Forces: Fiddle, male solo, mixed group, harmonica, banjo, tambourine,

Sung at the end of work parties

Africanisms: Pentatonic melody, improvisation, call and response, building intensity

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8
Q

Doncha Hear Yo Po Mother Callin

A

Forces: Male group,

Shares elements of field work song holler, but with rhythmic aspects to keep going

Africanisms: Pentatonic Melody, improvisation, harmonization in thirds

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9
Q

Were You There?

A

Forces: Male group, mixed group

“Lining out”-the only way congregations sang hymns for a long time. The song leader had the hymnal and would chant out the next line. In many cases there are only two lines.

This song is AABA

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10
Q

Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?

A

Forces: Piano, Male solo,
Old Testament cult spiritual-b/c it said when certain circumstances occurred, there would be the next escape.
Jubilee

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11
Q

Ain’t Got Time To Die

A

Forces: Male solo, Mixed group

Example of a jubilee
Call and response

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12
Q

Gospel Train

A

Forces: male solo, mixed group

Jubilee, cult spiritual
Musical Type: Figure
Africanisms: Pentatonic

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13
Q

Wade In The Water

A

Forces: Mixed group
Musical Types: Figure, call and response

Textual Types: cult spiritual, Jubilee

Africanisms: Call and Response, Pentatonic

Reference to the red sea, also babtism (which is what the slave owners would’ve assumed)

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14
Q

De Boatman’s Dance

A

Forces: Fiddle, male group, male solo, banjo, tambourine, bones

Probably borrowed from oral tradition.

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15
Q

Baby In A Guinea Blue Gown

A

Forces: Male solo, guitar/banjo, fiddle, trumpet (horns) , trombone, clarinet

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16
Q

Gullah People

A

Former Slaves
African American community that has preserved more Africanisms in their speech, customs, and rituals, than any other in the U.S.

Due to the fact that they were allowed to keep aspects of their culture because they were needed for their rice harvesting skills

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17
Q

Lorenzo Turner

A

Linguist who studied the music and language of the Gullahs

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18
Q

Amelia Dawley

A

Mary’s Mother
A daughter of African slaves
Gullah woman who had maintained the Mende song

Absorbed some of the traditions through games the elders played with her.

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19
Q

Joseph Opala

A

Historian studying slave trade between Sierra Leon and the coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia.

Found Amelia Dawley’s song

Worked with Cynthia Schmidt to retrace the song back to the Mende country (Sierra Leon).

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20
Q

Cynthia Schmidt

A

Musicologist

woman who went outside of the region they were searching to the small town where they found the song;s origins

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21
Q

Tazieff Koroma

A

Linguist

Made the connection between the word and knowing it could only come from Sierra Leon

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22
Q

Senehun Ngola

A

The town where they found the song’s origination

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23
Q

Baindu Jabati

A

The head woman
Related to Mary
Woman whose grandmother had remembered the song

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24
Q

Mary Moran

A

Amelia’s daughter

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25
Q

Nabi Jah

A

Elder chief

remembered parts of the burial ritual called Tenjami

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26
Q

Death Rites

A

Ceremony begins at night with the call asking the ancestral spirits to help the person who died cross the water.

Typically entrusted to women. Women apply white clay to their skin (sym: Death, mourning, ancestors).

The women start the procession and the song that calls everyone in the village together to the burial site.

Mourners cook a domestic animal, take the food to the grave site, dish out the food and blend the rice with palm oil and meat, they share with everyone present.

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27
Q

What was the role African Music played in life?

A

Music for almost every activity: battle, rejoicing,
commemorating agricultural rites, religious rites etc.

Everything that was done had a spiritual component

Rituals were performed in larger community celebrations with singing, dancing, and drumming, but were also a part of daily routine

Most important rituals were burial and funeral rites

28
Q

Important Instruments

A 
Horns
drums
rattles
chanting
singing
29
Q

Characteristics of African Music

A 
Poly rhythmic
Pentatonic
Call and Response 
Improvisation
Harmonization in thirds
30
Q

Malinke

A

Closest thing to a professional cast of musicians. They travel. Might supplement or lead other drummers.

Also good at carpentry and leather working because they had to make their own drums

31
Q

Talking Drums

A

Two heads connected by cords.

Hold the drum under arm, squeezing and relaxing the arm changes the pitch.

32
Q

Acculturation

A

Process of changes that occur when two different cultural groups come into prolonged contact

33
Q

The Spiritual

A

Most widely known of early African American musical genres.

Created out of African cultural memory and the protestant cultural experience.

Used simile, metaphor, personification

Focus of songs was slavery and the possibility of freedom

34
Q

Ring Shout

A

an African tradition that predates the spiritual.
Counter clockwise circle, walking w/dance-like movements.
Call and response melodic figures
intensity building to a dramatic climax
poly rhythmic
interconnection of movement and song
collective participation

35
Q

Characteristics of the Spiritual

A

Syncopation
many melodies are pentatonic
call and response pattern/verse and refrain structure
improvised harmonization and hetero-phony

36
Q

Textual Types of Spirituals

A
  1. Sorrow songs
  2. Jubilees
  3. Cult spirituals-coded messages. Israelite, Moses, rover Jordan (Ohio river), Red sea (Atlantic ocean).
37
Q

Musical Types Spirituals

A
  1. Call and Response-medium-fast tempo, emotional, often ecstatic quality, tend to be pentatonic (Aint got time to die)
  2. Sustained-slow tempo, long sustained phrases,
    (were you there?)
  3. Figure- fast tempo, musical lines made of segments, rhythmic swing, short phrase lengths
    (Didn’t my lord deliver Daniel)
38
Q

Early Minstrelsy

A

Not developed by Black, but was rooted in depictions of slave culture.

Staged theatrical entertainment

Exaggerated versions of life, included backface

Performers prided themselves on their acting skills and being able to portray slave life.

39
Q

Jim Crow

A

Caricature of ignorant plantation slave

40
Q

Zip Coon

A

Caricature of an urban slave, ridiculous, womanizing braggart.

41
Q

Three part productions of Minstrel Shows

A

1st- “minstrel line” banter between the MC and the end-man (Mr.Tambo and brother Bones), light-hearted songs and a promenade

2nd- “Olio” featured singing, dancing, and verse speaking

3rd-finale with entire cast

42
Q

African American Minstrels

A

Black troupes began to perform in 1840’s.
Emphasize their authenticity as Negroes and most claimed to be ex-slaves.
Inherited white created stereotypes, and could often only make minor changes to the parts.

Finally had the chance to become paid performers.
Many felt they weren’t skilled enough to play themselves.

43
Q

How did troupes legitimize themselves?

A

quoting reviews-showed they were at least equal to the whites

Using burnt cork to affirm their blackness

Playing up the natural spontaneity of their performances

44
Q

Georgia Minstrels

A

“The only Simon pure negro troupe in the whole world”

toured successfully throughout the N.E.
Audiences began to question the white minstrels qualifications to perform black material and began to decrease. Their shows became more dance hall and vaudevillian, whereas black troupes had to stick to plantation material.

45
Q

Charles Callendar

A

A white tavern owner bought and toured one of the best troupes

46
Q

Billy Kersands

A

Emerged with his own minstrel company. They could sing, dance, and were funny.

47
Q

James Bland

A

Most prolific, famous, and influential black minstrel song writer
“Carry me to old virginny”
“In the evening by the moonlight”
“Dem Golden Slippers”

48
Q

Themes of Minstrels

A

City slicker vs. country coon
finding families lost in slaver (happened post civil war. before it was more about the struggles of slavery)

songs emphasizing the humanity of African Americans

49
Q

How do we know what musical practices were prevalent in African Society During the slave trade period?

A

Chronicles of European travelers and traders

50
Q

Which family of instruments was most prevalent in African music making?

A

Percussion

51
Q

In which area of Africa did the slave trade focus?

A

West Coast

52
Q

What were characteristics of African musical texts?

A

extemporization (improvization)
call and response
spoken sections

53
Q

What were drums made out of?

A

logs or gourds

54
Q

What were plantation instruments most commonly played by slaves?

A

Banjo and fiddle

55
Q

What is Pattin’ Juba?

A

Rhythmic foot tapping, thigh slapping, hand clapping

Means of drum substitution

rhythmic support for singing

56
Q

What are types of work songs?

A

boat song
corn song
woodcutting song

57
Q

Upon what African American genre is the ring spiritual built?

A

Shout

58
Q

What is the goal of the ring spiritual?

A

religious ecstasy

59
Q

How did the performance of spirituals spread?

A

Fundraising efforts of small black colleges

60
Q

What were part of the original spiritual performance practices?

A

call and response
strong clear voice
communal participation

61
Q

What is the most common method of creating spirituals?

A

combining material from pre-existing religious songs

62
Q

What instruments are most associated with Minstrel songs?

A

banjos and fiddles

63
Q

Who were the most common antebellum performers?

A

whites in blackface

64
Q

What were minstrel traditions?

A

lunch time parade through town
emotional ballads
all-male troupes

65
Q

What were some stereotypes about African Americans perpetuated by minstrel shows?

A

they were irresponsible
they were thieving
happy go lucky

African American Music (2 decks)

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