Fundamentals
This is the broadest definition of music as outlined in the Western tradition
What is sound organized in time
Known as the "Empress of the Blues," this singer’s recordings helped restore the financial stability of Columbia Records in the 1920S
Who is Bessie Smith
An famous area on 28th Street in New York where many song-pluggers would help sell sheet music by performing it in front of businesses
What is the Tin Pan Alley?
This 1924 George Gershwin composition is arguably the most famous example of a mixture between jazz and classical elements.
What is Rhapsody in Blue
Set in "Jimtown," somewhere in Dixieland, this was the first all-black musical comedy on Broadway
What is Shuffle Along?
This term describes the distance, or interval, between a pitch like A and the next higher or lower A, occurring when a string's length is halved or doubled.
What is an octave
This specific 12-bar musical form is often described as "the music of people" and a "despondent state of mind
What is the blues
A thirty-two-bar structure that consists of an A-B-A'-C phrase pattern that influenced "The Charleston"
What is show-tune form
A summer retreat Aaron Copland attended while composing Music for Theare that gave artists uninterrupted time to devote themselves to their projects
What was the MacDowell Colony?
This nearly universal jazz feature involves the lengthening of the first note's duration and shortening of the second in a pair of notes.
What is swing rhythm
These are the four basic properties of a single, isolated musical sound
What are pitch, duration, volume, and timbre
Often called the "Father of Big Band Jazz," this bandleader was one of the first to use "sectional writing" or "block voicing
Who is Fletcher Henderson
The studio that contracted Al Jolson to sing songs from The Jazz Singer on film to promote the Vitaphone
Who are the Warner Brothers?
In Ravels's Violin Sonata, the violin pizzicato mimics the sound of these instruments
What is the guitar, piano, or ukulele
The name of the earliest classical adaptation of "Tea for Two" and where it took place
What is "Tahiti Trot" in the Soviet Union
Orchestral musicians in the United States typically tune their instruments to this specific frequency, which sounds like the A above middle C
What is A-440
This blues substyle typically features a male singer in informal settings, often accompanied by a guitar or harmonica, using great rhythmic freedom.
What is country blues
A musical motif used in "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" that uses a perfect fourth and is supposed to represent the power of love
What is the river motif?
The ballet company that commissioned Milhaud to create La creation du monde
What is the Ballets Suedois (The Swedish Ballet)
In a standard 12-bar blues chorus, the lyrics usually follow this three-line rhyming scheme.
What is AAB
This classification system, named after two ethnomusicologists, groups instruments into categories like chordophones, aerophones, membranophones, and idiophones.
What is the Sachs-Hornbostel system
This New Orleans "red-light district," created by legislation in 1897, became the earliest concentrated hub for the development of jazz.
What is storyville
An effect added by Bernie in "Sweet Georgia Brown" during the first few seconds that emphasizes the 3rd beat, making it sound as if the piece changed to 3/4
What is a hemiola?
A type of chord Tailleferre uses in Sicilienne to help distinguish sections within the ternary (ABA) form.
What are polychords?
The boat's Black cook in Show Boat who questions Julie's racial background after hearing her sing "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man"
Who is Queenie?