The Evolution of Musical Styles and Traditions in Rock and Popular Music, Exams of History of Music

Download The Evolution of Musical Styles and Traditions in Rock and Popular Music and more Exams History of Music in PDF only on Docsity! History of Rock n Roll Exam 1 LATEST UPDATE 2024(GRADED A) Apollonian - ANSWER following the Greek god Apollo -- god of harmony and reason -- emphasizes the objective, calm experience of the reasoning mind, freed of the violent desires of the feeling body Dionysian - ANSWER following the Greek god Dionysus (or Bacchus, in the Roman tradition) -- god of wine, of drunken ecstasy, of chaos and unbridled physical pleasures -- emphasizes the subjective, passionate experience of the emotional, erotic, sensous mind, very much rooted in the body. Rockism - ANSWER that rock 'n' roll, when you get down to it, amounts to loud music played by white guys with guitars Common Practice - ANSWER his is a term used in classical music, not rock, but it works very well in a rock context. by 'common practice,' classical musicians recognize the fact that, despite the evolution of different styles and historical periods (baroque, classical, romantic, etc.), there was a shared vocabulary of harmony, melody, form, texture, format, performance techniques -- a general, complete musical language, which lasted for a very long time (very roughly, 1700 to 1920; -the same thing is true in rock music: a set of musical conditions was laid down beginning in the 50s (the 'baroque' formative period of rock) and definitively in the 60s (the 'classical' period), involving guitars, drums, bass, and sometimes horns or keyboards; a folk and blues grounding; a straightforward electric amplification technology, subject to various forms of tweaking; an emphasis on verse/chorus lyrics and, sometimes, improvisation. Beat - ANSWER the level of pulse that best expresses the heartbeat of the musical flow. it tends to be on the faster side, like a heartbeat (vs. a walking rhythm) Measure - ANSWER the grouping of beats into larger, clearly perceptible units of time. since measures group beats, the measure is slower than the beat. Downbeat - ANSWER the pulse that marks first beat of each measure. the downbeat is commonly the strongest beat of each measure. Upbeat - ANSWER any beat of the measure that is not a downbeat. Oral Tradition - ANSWER -Where rock music, like pop music, primarily lives -principally learned and transmitted by ear Written Tradition - ANSWER written notation, sheet music, and classical-based Four-beat Feel - ANSWER which musicians call four-beat time, 4/4 time, 4/4, or simply four; introduced in jazz beginning with the swing style, which was dominant in American pop between roughly 1935 and 1950. swing is recognizable by its bass line, which walks, or plays a note evenly on every beat of a four- beat measure: 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 Two-Beat Feel - ANSWER two-beat time, 2/4 time (or 2/2), 2/4, or simply two. -often evoked as a boom-chuck or oom-pah rhythm -as the motor of traditional popular music in America before the 1920s -- including marching-band music, country music, ragtime, and much early jazz, and it has continued up to the present day in country music, band music, and other forms of pop music and rock. -the bass tends to emphasize two notes per measure in a down-up pattern that leaves some space between the notes: 1-(and)-2-(and)-1-(and)-2-(and) Backbeat - ANSWER -middle beat; opposes the downbeat -in jazz, R&B, gospel, and rock, it is often played hard, creating what is called a backbeat rhythm or simply a 'backbeat' -by counterbalancing the downbeat, a strong backbeat gives an extra push to the music and to the dancers, creating potent energy and drive. if we hear the downbeat as 'down' and the backbeat 'up,' a strong backbeat rhythm feels like an up rhythm, in every way. Swing Beat - ANSWER -divisions in the beat, called offbeats, can be unequal, with the first half of the beat lasting longer than the second half. the latter kind of division produces what is called swing rhythm (or feel, or beat; also sometimes referred to as shuffle rhythm), because it gives a lilting or 'swinging' feel to the beat; and it is, as you might expect, essential to the jazz style called 'swing. Blue Notes - ANSWER blue note is a pitch space, rather than a pitch point: it is a place in certain scales where you can bend, dig in, wail, or otherwise move around, rather than hitting and staying on one precise pitch so often happens (barring stylistic interpretations) with other notes and other scales. blue notes are located around the third, fifth, and seventh degrees of the diatonic minor scale Blues Pentatonicism - ANSWER the minor pentatonic scale sometimes incorporates blue notes Roots - ANSWER sense of cultural, and indeed personal origins and grounding. roots in that sense are certainly essential to who we are, as individuals, as families, and as communities; its more about something like knots and strands. musical activity, like social activity more generally, is made up from the innumerable strands of people's lives. in certain times and places, some of those strands get bound together so decisively and distinctively that they seem to form a 'knot' of fixed style which, being highly valued, ends up becoming 'roots' for later music. Cross Rhythmic Patterning - ANSWER African American music is the vitality, or good-feeling, life-affirming energy, of its rhythm. this quality certainly goes back to Africa, as we can hear from comparing the rich traditions of sub-Saharan African music with African American music. both traditions prize rhythmic intensity, variety, and exhilarating cross-patterning or 'polyrhythms,' producing, among other things, the effect we Americans think of as syncopation. you can hear cross-rhythmic patterns in a great deal of African music Call and Response - ANSWER -often an improvised element to the blues; call and response btw the singer and the accompaniment -also heard is another deep musical tradition going back to Africa, and its echo is heard throughout blues, jazz, rock, Heterogeneous sound - ANSWER a striking element in African American music is its enthusiasm for a diversity, even friction, of sounds and sound combinations; of diverse kinds brought together The Blues - ANSWER W. C. Handy, who popularized the blues as a popular song genre in the 1910s, wrote in his autobiography that he discovered it in the South in about 1900. 12 Bar Blues Poetic Form - ANSWER the poetic form of the 12-bar blues is based on a series of stanzas (verses), which are often improvised as to content and number sung. each stanza is made up of three rhyming lines, of which the first two are the same line, repeated, while the third, the 'kicker,' responds to them: a a b. the repeated a line allows for emphasis, and gives time to think of a b line in improvised situations. the b line provides closure. Boogie/ Boogie-Woogie - ANSWER boogie woogie conveys a feeling of rhythmic power by pounding or leaning insistently on every beat of the measure, making the music incredibly intense and exciting. boogie rhythm is intimately connected to blues form and expression, and to dance music. blues -- boogie -- dance: three foundations of the rock 'n' roll tradition. Syncopation - ANSWER musical attack that occurs on a relatively weak beat (or offbeat) at the expense of a neighboring strong beat which receives either no attack or else a much weaker attack that produces the same effect as no attack. syncopation has been around a very long time, but was pioneered as a distinctive feature of American popular music by African American musicians, drawing on the rich heritage of cross-rhythms handed down from African music. Walking Rhythm/Bass - ANSWER bass line, which walks, or plays a note evenly on every beat of a four- beat measure: 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 -this four-beat walking technique helps to counteract the natural feeling of a 'marching' duple rhythm (1- and-2-and), though that rhythm is still present behind the walking four-beat rhythm, in its underlying duple rhythmic grid. Timbre - ANSWER the specific, unique quality of sound made by any voice, instrument, or combination of the two. just as each of us has a distinct quality of speaking voice; texture/quality of a sound Fixed Pitch - ANSWER like pianos, each key can only strike one, unvarying pitch. Variable Pitch - ANSWER like the human voice, can create variable pitches through bending and sliding all the way up and down its range [guitar, violin, flute] Scale - ANSWER melodic grid; a generalized, implicit background framework of notes, on which actual melodies are built.the melodic grid also moves from left to right; but it highlights the vertical aspect, showing musical pitches moving up and down; scales are made of higher and lower pitches Octave - ANSWER the higher or lower replication of a note -- which happens when you double, or halve, its rate of vibration ; it encloses eight pitches of a common scale. these pitches are named A B C D E F G; there are actually only seven different pitches; the eighth pitch, or octave, completes the cycle 12 Bar Blues Melodic Form - ANSWER melodic form of the blues follows the poetic form stated above, making an a a b structure of musical phrases too. the second a phrase is often an elaboration of, or response to, the first (= a a' b: we add an apostrophe to distinguish a repeated musical element that is somehow varied). blues melodies often take after two basic shapes: either falling from high to low, or more of an arch, rising from a lower note and then falling back down. these different shapes can correspond to two common blues singing styles, known as shouting (featuring a loud, forceful voice, which often begins its phrases on a high note and then descends) and crying (featuring a more modulated, often quieter voice, often using arch-shaped phrases). 12 Bar Blues Harmonic Form - ANSWER 2-measure pattern or cycle, lasting the equivalent of one poetic stanza. that 12-bar pattern repeats over and over again, as long as necessary to complete all the lyrics, and the song. within each stanza, each of the three poetic lines (a, a, b) is usually sung or played for about 2 bars, and is followed by 2 bars of instrumental response. this adds up to four-bar phrases, x three = 12 bars in all for each blues stanza. -the most basic blues chord progression is simple and purely diatonic (no chromatic inflections). it includes chords built on the first, fourth, and fifth degrees of the scale only (I, IV, V). the 12-bar form is divided into three phrases of four bars each, corresponding to the three lines of poetry. each of these phrases begins with different chord (I, IV, V), ends with same chord (I). in the most straightforward blues structures, each of these chords lasts two measures. this adds up to an overall blues progression as follows: I - I | IV - I | V - I. Classical Music - ANSWER classical aspect or dimension of music is the aspect that makes us think about music as something admired, contemplated, emulated as a standard of aesthetic beauty and a benchmark of the highest quality. the model for 'classicism' in music is traditional 'high art' or 'museum' culture -- or, in specific musical terms, the opera house and classical concert hall. Pop - ANSWER the popular aspect of music differs from its classical and folk aspects in pointing to the marketplace, rather than to a perceived value or community. music, whatever else it is, is also a commodity in our modern world, being sold for profit to anyone who has the cash and inclination; Folk - ANSWER the folk aspect of music would point to a different function, namely, its origin in a specific community, usually with a specific ethnic profile. since all music must originate in a community of some kind, all music has a 'folk' or ethnic aspect in this sense. Mozart's music has an ethnic dimension, as does Michael Jackson's. just as all music can function in a 'classical' sense, all music has a 'folk' dimension as well; -so folk music blends with pop, classical music draws on folk elements Big Bands - ANSWER the bands in the large clubs and dance halls were usually big bands, meaning a larger band of about 9-13 musicians, 'big' by comparison with the small bands (usually 4-7 musicians) that had been common since the earliest days of jazz, and which continued to thrive in smaller clubs. big bands were necessary to produce the big sound for a big hall. they were commonly referred to as orchestras, reflecting not only their size, but also their emulation of the high status of elite classical music as a benchmark for elegance, quality, and style; -big bands included different musical sections: a reed section (saxophones and clarinets), a horn section (trumpets and trombones), and a rhythm section Hot - ANSWER opposite of sweet music; hot music was jazz music. the term hot means fresh and exciting, even edgy, and it also means illegal -hot music gave a lot of space to improvisation by solo players, meaning stretches of music where one performer would invent a melody on the spot, accompanied by the entire band. being unwritten, such improvised elements fell outside of the norms of written classical music as it was known to most people, and were usually expected to incorporate bluesy and syncopated elements. -wing beat discussed earlier (vs. straight beat); the four-beat feel, marked by a walking bass line; prominent use of syncopation; blue notes (which are all the easier to introduce in non-written melody); and a generally exciting, upbeat sound. Cool - ANSWER could be music in which the sense of excitement is controlled in order to produce a smooth, restrained effect; smooth, orderly, and relatively gentle; everything blends together Hot vs Cool in Abstraction - ANSWER abstraction can be clean, precise, and cool, as in the boxy or curvy industrial designs we have been mentioning; but it can also be messy, chaotic, and hot, as we see in a great deal of relatively 'wild' or 'crazy' 1950s- and 60s-era paintings, for example, which were not bound by the strictures of industrial mass-production and market-share economics. Relaxed Intensity (excitement) - ANSWER a general approach to rhythm that combines excitement, even driving intensity, with a relaxed feeling. -is a hallmark of swing dancing-->heir routines, many captured on film, are spectacular and reflect remarkable acrobatic abilities; but the pair never, ever seem to break a sweat or run out of breath. they are always cool, in control, even casual. -effortless energy; elegance under pressure, seemingly without trying -subtleties of musical rhythm, which juxtapose elements of steadiness, rushing, and lateness. American Popular Song - ANSWER between roughly 1920 and 1960, a continuous stream of new songs was composed in a popular but also sophisticated style, often for Broadway musicals -they were classic hit songs of the era, performed endlessly in a multitude of different contexts, to such an extent that many of them became known as standards, i.e., universally-known songs that any competent pianist or band could play for a musical or social occasion. standards circulated as sheet music, but were often simply learned by ear as tunes, lyrics, and chord changes. only rarely were these songs identified with just one singer or recording. -these Broadway-style songs reflected, and also helped to project, American social life as a sophisticated, glittering world of urbane romance. the image they created was young at heart, but fully adult and socially elite American Popular Song Formal Structure - ANSWER it is in four stanzas, arranged musically to form an A- A-B-A pattern (as illustrated to the left of the lyrics). that pattern only really becomes clear when you listen to the music: the melody and harmony are largely the same in all of the A sections (only the words change), while the B section, commonly known as the bridge, release, or turnaround, features new and contrasting melody and harmony. Lateness - ANSWER ex-jazz idiom by the great singer Billie Holiday--comes in rhythmically late in relation to the beat, and the musical phrase, she is bending the song to her own style, and her own expression; taking her sweet time, over a beat and flow of chords that remain rock steady. lateness, balanced against a rock-steady beat, is a key feature of Swing-Era performance style. -makes the song sound completely original, completely his own, and completely meaningful: Standards - ANSWER universally-known songs that any competent pianist or band could play for a musical or social occasion. standards circulated as sheet music, but were often simply learned by ear as tunes, lyrics, and chord changes. only rarely were these songs identified with just one singer or recording Covers - ANSWER replication of classic songs in the rock era is much more defined by what are known as covers, meaning the performance of a song already identified with some other band and recording 33 vs 45 vs 78 - ANSWER number-names for all of these formats comes from their differing r.p.m. (revolutions per minute); -in 1948, the 33 or LP (long-playing) record appeared, which was physically larger than the then-universal 78 format (12 inches, vs. the old 10),-->held more music, and were made out of a new material called vinyl, which was lighter, more flexible, and more durable than the shellac used for traditional 78s. the LP record would gradually change the way audiences experienced recorded sound, having a formative impact on the world of rock 'n' roll as a consumer's music. -1949, the 45 appeared, which was smaller than the 78 (7 inches, vs. 10), but held roughly the same amount of music -- just one 3-minute song on each of its two sides (known as the 'A' and 'B' sides). 45s were the opposite of LPs: rather than inviting the listener to wallow a longer-lasting musical environment, they kept it in bite size pieces that were ideal for radio, for individual purchase, and for the juke boxes that had come to inhabit bars, diners, and malt shops all around the country since the 1930s. the 45 was a fundamental engine for popular music consumption in the 1950s, because it enabled kids to get a little music for a little money Country and Western (vs hillbilly) - ANSWER after World War 2, traditional marketing categories were themselves re-labeled to reflect a more sophisticated and 'modern' public attitude toward music and its communities. the old popular and classical categories continued, but the hillbilly category, intended principally for southern, rural European Americans, was renamed country and western music, reflecting the principal styles involved; this name would eventually be shortened to country. Rhythm and Blues (vs race) - ANSWER After WWII, the old race category, intended for African Americans, was renamed rhythm and blues, also reflecting the principal styles involved; this name would eventually be shortened to R&B. both of these name changes accompanied developments in style, as post-War musicians and audiences sought new horizons and new approaches to music. Sentimental Songs + Novelty Songs - ANSWER in the expanding pop universe after World War 2, one of the important unsophisticated trends was a renewal of the old vogue for sentimental and novelty songs, capitalizing on an appeal to direct or childlike emotions. sentimentality had long been a potent current in American music. [the little white cloud that cried--Johnny ray; over the top emotionally] -one driving force behind novelty songs was vaudeville, the old variety genre that included a strong dose of performance-art comedy and farce, usually based on the simplest materials [spike jones--cocktails for 2-->trademark battery of unpredictable, goofy sounds interjected into a classic swing song.] - ANSWER