Midterm 2 Practice Quiz

Answer: True. Chapter 10 details the vast range of sounds and styles typical of Ray Charles’ music, including his very famous “Georgia on my Mind,” originally a Tin Pan Alley tune.

Answer: B, arose as more dignified replacements for the terms “race” and “hillbilly” music. These genres continued to be marketed to the same demographic categories, largely defined by race and locale, as the earlier genre distinctions.

Answer: B, exemplified the sense of freedom, vitality and enjoyment of the New Deal Era; it was primarily dance music characterized by “rocking” rhythmic motion and played by big bands. Roosevelt’s New Deal brought about the end of the Great Depression. New economic relief gave rise to a swelling, vibrant youth culture in the 1920s with a rhythmically-charged dance music to match the sentiments.

Answer: D, Motown Records. Like Phil Spector at Philles Records, Barry Gordy influenced every aspect of music production at Motown Records, creating a distinct sound based on complex polyrhythmic textures and sophisticated arrangements.

Answer: A, Jump Band. Jump Band (a precursor of rock ‘n’ roll) can be identified by its fusion of boogie woogie, blues, and swing, all with a pared-down ensemble consisting of some combination of drums, bass, piano, guitar, and brass.

Answer: D, both A and B. This example features a loose 12-bar blues, evidencing African American influences, while also adapting the yodeling and vocal timbre typical of the “high, lonesome sound” of early country and ballad singers. Rodgers’ song exemplifies the cultural syncretism between musical features common even in this time of racial segregation.

Answer: C, is a kind of extended Afro-Cuban montuno section, with small melodic-rhythmic building blocks (riffs) combined and re-combined in different ways throughout the piece. This piece represents a shift in the Afro-Cuban sound where the montuno section takes on a primary role (rather than just appearing at the end after a verse-chorus section) and the instruments start to play repeated riffs, eventually themselves called “montunos.” Answer A describes “La Bamba” by Ritchie Valens; answer B describes Fletcher Henderson and Benny Goodman’s style of swing, answer D describes “Caravan” by Duke Ellington.

Answer: B, a repetitive, riff-based instrumental style featuring complex, interlocking polyrhythms which evidence conceptual links with African music styles. Brown’s music is in fact audibly connected to the Black Power movement in his explicit emphasis on the rhythmic complexity, cyclical forms, and speech-like singing typical of African American music. Brown often downplays melodic elements, more typical of European American conventions, in his music.
Answer A is typical of Motown or Tin Pan Alley (though the genres differ in numerous ways, they share those features in common); answer C is typical of psychedelic rock; answer D is typical of urban folk.

Answer: D, Afro-Cuban jazz. This fusion genre is distinct from bossa nova, and extremely different than Mariachi. Know the stylistic differences between Latin genres, as these will be on your exam!

While a major musical influence in the 1960s, Eric Clapton was a British musician closely tied to blues-based styles of rock music, and was not active in developing the San Francisco rock scene (also sometimes referred to as “psychedelic rock”).

Answer: D, both A and C. The verse of “Maybelline” conveys the action in Berry’s story of a car chase, over a static harmony (the lyrics change each time this section returns); the chorus features a 12-bar blues form (the lyrics of the chorus remain the same each time it is heard). This fusion of verse/chorus and 12-bar blues is a common and important feature of early rock ‘n’ roll music.

Answer: D, Bill Monroe. Bluegrass is very evidently linked to the acoustic string instrumentation and nasal vocal timbres early country, but with clear influences of blues improvisation and form. The song “It’s Mighty Dark to Travel” exemplifies this style.

Answer: A, Roots Rock. In its focus on more straightforward song forms, Roots Rock represented a push against the more elaborate studio records coming on to the market in the later 1960s, especially from the likes of the Beatles (Sgt. Peppers’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) and the Beach Boys (Pet Sounds)

Answer: D, Sectional forms. These are not typical of the early blues, but are associated with ragtime and experimental rock. Know the typical elements of the blues, as well as the differences/similarities between country blues and classic blues.

Answer: D. The Beach Boys’ “Surfin USA” is very similar to Chuck Berry’s music, especially the song “Sweet Little Sixteen,” in its instrumentation, harmony, and form, but the Beach Boys’ lyrics associate this upbeat rock ‘n’ roll music with new themes (i.e. surfing and beach culture).

Answer: C, Complex, interlocking rhythms. Specter’s reverberation effects, wide variety of instrumental timbres, and homophonic textures helped create the impression of a dense, unified block of sound coming toward the listener (hence the term “Wall of Sound”). Complex, interlocking rhythms can be found in many Motown records, where these rhythms create the impression of several distinct layers in the music.