Fine Arts Musical (Final!)

Front 1

1. What was the new role of dissonant chords in the 20th century?

Back 1

Used more freely, distinction was abandoned, “consonance is the new dissonance”

Front 2

2. Name three new chord structures and define them.

Back 2

traditional chord – triad made up of thirds

Polychord – Two traditional chords heard at the same times

Fourth Chord – chords in which the tones are a fourth apart, instead of a third.

Tone Cluster – a chord made up of tones only a half or a whole step apart. Produced by fist or forearm on a piano.

Front 3

3. What is polytonality? Bitonality? Atonality?

Back 3

Polytonality- Using 2 or more keys at the same times
Bitonality – Using two different keys at the same time.
Atonality – absence of tonality or key.

Front 4

4. Describe rhythm in the 20th century.

Back 4

o Increased emphasis on irregularity and unpredictability.

Front 5

5. Describe the melody of a twelve-tone composition.

Back 5

contains wide leaps that are difficult to sing

Front 6

6. Who was the most famous composer of Impressionist music? What country was he from?

Back 6

Claude Debussy - France

Front 7

8. Who wrote the poem “The Afternoon of a Faun”?

Back 7

Stepane Mallarme

Front 8

10. What scales did Debussy use in his music?

Back 8

Pentatonic scale and whole tone scale

Front 9

11. What is a pentatonic scale? A whole tone scale?

Back 9

pentatonic scale – five notes per octave
whole tone scale – six note scale made up of only whole steps

Front 10

13. What is neoclassicism?

Back 10

A musical style marked by emotional restraint, balance, and clarity, inspired by the forms and stylistic features of the 18th century music

Front 11

Who was the Russian composer who wrote “The Rite of Spring”?

Back 11

Igor Stavinsky

Front 12

15. What was the reaction to the premiere of “The Rite of Spring”?

Back 12

Terrible - a riot erupted.

Front 13

17. What is primitivism?

Back 13

The deliberate evocation of primitive power through insistent rhythms and percussive sounds.

Front 14

18. Describe “Expressionism” in music. Which one of the Listening Excerpts at the end of the study guide is an example of Expressionist music?

Back 14

an artistic movement which stressed intense, subjective emotion - they used deliberate distortion to assault and shock their audience; A Survivor from Warsaw

Front 15

19. Name three expressionist composers.

Back 15

Shoenberg, Berg, Webern

Front 16

20. What composer invented the twelve-tone system?

Back 16

Shoenberg

Front 17

21. What is the twelve-tone system?

Back 17

a 20th century alternative to tonality, a new way of organizing pitch in a composition

Front 18

22. What is serialism?

Back 18

series of values to manipulate different musical elements

Front 19

23. What are the four basic forms that a tone row can be presented in?

Back 19

Forward (original)
Backward (retrograde)
Upside Down (inversion)
Backward and Upside Down (retrograde inversion)

Front 20

24. What is Sprechstimme?

Back 20

Speech voice – halfway between speaking and singing

Front 21

26. What three languages are spoken in “A Survivor from Warsaw”?

Back 21

English, German, Hebrew

Front 22

27. Name two students of Arnold Schoenberg who became well-known composers and used the twelve-tone system in their music.

Back 22

Berg and Webern

Front 23

28. Name three 20th century AMERICAN composers.

Back 23

Charles Ives, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland

Front 24

29. What was Charles Ives’ career and why?

Back 24

insurance – felt his music could be better if he didn’t make a living from it & did not want his family to be broke

Front 25

30. What instrument did William Grant Still include in his Afro-American Symphony that gave it an African American character? Could the Afro-American Symphony be considered a program symphony? (according to the definition in the book) Why or Why not?

Back 25

tenor banjo; Yes – uses specific themes and each movement has a subtitle

Front 26

31. What is chance music? Which composer created the idea of chance music? Which one of the Listening Excerpts at the end of the study guide is an example of chance music?

Back 26

A composer chooses pitches, tone colors, and rhythm by random methods, or allows a performer to choose much of the musical material.
John Cage
4’33

Front 27

32. What is minimalist music? Name an important minimalist composer. Which one of the Listening Excerpts at the end of the end of the study guide is an example of minimalist music?

Back 27

characterized by a steady pulse, clear tonality, and insistent repetition of short melodic patterns; Based on the artistic movement, it was a reaction against the complexity of serialism and the randomness of chance music; Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Adams; “Short Ride on a Fast Machine”
John Adams

Front 28

33. What is Musical Quotation? Which one of the Listening Excerpts at the end of the study guide is an example of musical quotation?

Back 28

works containing deliberate quotations from earlier music; Concerto Grosso 1985

Front 29

34. What is “liberation of sound”? Which composer is responsible for this phrase?

Back 29

greater exploitation of noise like sounds - right to make music with any & all sounds; Edgar Varese

Front 30

35. What is mixed media?

Back 30

Electronic music (or any music) is presented with a visual counterpart such as slide projections, films, light shows, gestures and theatrical action

Front 31

36. Where did jazz originate?

Back 31

New Orleans

Front 32

37. What is ragtime music?

Back 32

Piano music in duple meter with a highly syncopated melody and the left hand maintains the beat.

Front 33

38. Who was the “king of ragtime”?

Back 33

Scott Joplin

Front 34

39. What are the “blues”?

Back 34

A form of vocal and instrumental music that grew out of African American folk music such as work songs, spirituals, and the field hollers of slaves.

Front 35

40. What was society’s first perception of Jazz music?

Back 35

Originally condemned for its emphasis on sexuality

Front 36

41. What 3 basic chords are used in a 12-bar blues progression?

Back 36

Tonic (I), subdominant (IV) and dominant (V)

Front 37

44. Name the six sub-styles of jazz and describe each.

Back 37

New Orleans
Swing
Bebop
Cool
Free Jazz
Jazz Rock

Front 38

42. Which beats are stressed in jazz music?

Back 38

The 2nd and 4th

Front 39

9. What is impressionism? What other fine art is it associated with?

Back 39

stress on tone color atmosphere & fluidity; painting and symbolist poetry

Front 40

Briefly describe the poem, “The Afternoon of a Faun”.

Back 40

It describes the sensual experiences of a faun who has just woken up from his afternoon sleep and discusses his encounters with several nymphs during the morning in a dreamlike monologue

Front 41

Describe the rhythm of Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”.

Back 41

unaccompanied flute melody; dreamlike and improvisatory

Front 42

Briefly describe what Stravinsky’s ballet “The Rite of Spring” is about.

Back 42

. there arose a picture of a sacred pagan ritual: the wise elders are seated in a circle and are observing the dance before death of the girl whom they are offering as a sacrifice to the god of Spring in order to gain his benevolence

Front 43

What is “A Survivor from Warsaw” about?

Back 43

A survivor from a concentration camp

Front 44

What are the “blues”?

Back 44

refers to a form of vocal and instrumental music, and to a style of performance

Front 45

What is improvisation?

Back 45

the heart of jazz, creating music at the same time its performed

Front 46

Who was Louis Armstrong? What was his nickname? Who was Glenn Miller?

Back 46

“Satchmo” - American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, greatest jazz improvisers, started scat singing; Glenn Miller – American jazz musician during the swing era, one of the best selling artists; while traveling to entertain US troops his plane went down, he was never found