West African Traditions
Musical storyteller of the Mandinka people.
What is Jali?
The new musical genre developed during the Protestant Reformation
What is chorale?
Genre associated with Big Band era of 1930s-40s.
What is swing?
A musical texture in which a unison, single melody is sounded.
Leading figure of the Swing Era.
Who is Duke Ellington?
Characteristics seen in subsequent musical styles and genres include the stressed importance on storytelling, combination of sung passages with instrumental interludes, and this
What is call-and-response?
Music often sung by medieval clerics without instrumental accompaniment.
What is plainchant?
Jazz music's place of origin.
What is New Orleans?
A system of musical notation--used to facilitate music reading in early America--that uses note heads in specific shapes
What are shape notes?
Brought elaborate polyphonic settings to the forefront during the Renaissance period.
Who is Palestrina?
A distinctly American genre of music that can be performed in big bands or combos.
What is jazz?
Composers Leonin and Perotin developed early polyphony (organum) here
What is the Notre Dame School?
Early genre rooted in work songs and spirituals built upon a standard form that originated in the Mississippi Delta.
What is the blues?
A non-metrical instrumental improvisation in classical Turkish music.
What is taksim?
The Dean of African American Composers.
Who is William Grant Still?
Blends African musical elements with Christian themes
What are spirituals?
Musical form in which successive stanzas are sung to the same music.
What is strophic?
Genre featuring small combos, virtuosic improvisation, fast tempos, and complex harmonies.
What is bebop?
"Angels We Have Heard On High" features this technique where multiple pitches are sung to one syllable of text
What is melisma?
What is the blues?
Music of the Yoruba religion is often used to attract gods' attention, represent a deity's character, and support worship through this unique feature
What is "talking drums" that imitate vocal inflections of native language?
What is usul?
Jazz musical characteristics include syncopation, call-and-response, use of instruments like the saxophone, trombone, and trumpet with rhythm section, and this
What is improvisation?
Both Handel's Messiah and Bach's St. Matthew Passion are examples of this.
What is oratorio?
Along with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, served as prominent figure in bebop era.
Who is Thelonious Monk?