History/Culture
42. Name three African Americans instrumental in the founding of the Black Methodist church.
Absalam Jones, Daniel Coker, Richard Allen
Name four categories of instruments used in both African and early AAM. Name a specific instrument for each category.
Aerophone –trumpet, chordophone-lute, idiophone-mbira, membranophone-drum
What AAM performance techniques are typically used for cries, and hollers?
◊ 1. Yodeling
◊ 2. Glissando
◊ 3. Melisma
◊ 4. Falsetto
◊ 5. Blue/Bent notes
◊ 6. Repeated pitches
◊ 7. Guttural effects
53. What was the "hiring-out" system?
Skilled slaves were rented out to other owners
What are the “Blue Notes”?
- Bending notes
- Use of b3, b5, b7 notes of major scale
46. What types of work details were work songs used to coordinate?
• Planting
• Harvesting (Harvest Celebrations)
• Picking cotton
• Grinding corn
• Laying rail tracks
• Building fences
• Hauling fishing nets
• Rowing boats
• Corn husking (contests often held)
• Loading cargo
Name four early African American dances that evolved from the African ritual dances.
bamboula, calinda, chica, counjaille
5. Name and describe 7 vocal techniques used in AAM?
Call & response, gutteral effects, interpolation, melisma, lyric variation, falsetto, lyric improvisation, vocal rhythmization, blue notes
What functions did music serve in African society?
Music was Functional, Served a distinct purpose
Integrated with all aspects of society, Integrated with dance and speech
Chant, speech, and song combined, Celebrations
Ceremonial music for festivals, Installation of royalty
Reenacting history of tribe, Resolving disputes
Hunting/Planting/Harvest/Livestock/War
Religious rites, Life events, Story Telling
Explain polyrhythm
Simultaneous employment of two or more contrasting rhythms.
47. What is a camp meeting?
Emotional Revival service held outdoors in Tent or natural environment under brush arbor
38. What are "patting juba" and "hambone"?
Rhythmic body percussion using hands, feet, thighs
What is syncopation?
Rhythmic technique that emphasizes upbeats or weak beats
Who were the writers of most of the early hymns used as a basis for early AAM?
Isaac Watts, John Wesley
63. To what does Timbre refer?
Unique tone color of voice or instrument
◊ Music was primary form of slave communication
◊ Reflected African use of music
◊ Commentary on problems, despair, hope
◊ Assertion of humanity in non-human environment
43. What are other names by which the African thumb piano is known?
Sansa, mbira, Kalimba
What do the music textures antiphony, monophony, polyphony, homophony, and heterophony mean?
Antiphony - call & response
Homophony - melody + background accompaniment
Polyphony - multiple melodic lines of equal importance
Heterophony - different versions of single melody performed together
Monophony – one voice alone or multiple voices in unison
80. In what parts of the United states are Gullah people found, and why is their culture different from most African American culture?
Sea Islands off coast of SC and GA, Isolation allowed for more retention of African traditions
What are the differences between how the articulations legato and staccato are performed?
Legato- smooth and connected; staccato - short
Who was the founder of the African Grove? & What was the African Grove?
William Henry Brown, 1st black theater
48. Explain the statement, "In African music, the prime purpose of the instruments is to reconstitute spoken language.
Instruments were considered to be an extension of the voice, and often used for communication
What is a chord progression?
Sequence of chords that accompany a melody
What is a gandy dancer?
RR worker who lined and relined tracks
65. Explain the following rhythmic techniques: stratification, concrescence.
§Stratification-multiple layers of rhythm