MHL 145 - Subjecto.com (2023)

Lesson 1
The two most often used scales in the Western European music tradition are the major scale and the:

Minor scale

A diatonic, seven-note scale that progresses in whole (W) and half (H) steps according to the W W H W W W H pattern is known as:

Major scale

What musical term is used to describe the speed of the beat?

Tempo

The function of the clef is to indicate the range of pitches to be played.

True

What fundamental element of music may be defined as "the succession of articulated durations"?

Rhythm

The span of eight letter-name notes is called:

Octave

Piano music is typically notated using the _________ staff.

Grand

According to the text, the most common clefs are:

Treble and bass

The distance between any two adjacent keys on the piano is called a:

Semitone

The placement of the notes on the staff indicates their duration.

False

Lesson 2
The musical language of ________ is characterized by the fundamental harmonic relationship between tonic and dominant.

Tonality

Which of the following is a distinctive characteristic of blues music?

Pitch Bending

What is the interval between C and E?

Third

A blue note is produced by:

Pitch bending

A pitch that doesn’t quite fit in the traditional 12-note scale.

Blue note

An accent on an unexpected part of the measure, that strengthens weak beats and undermines the strong ones produces:

Syncopation

Three or more notes sounding together.

Chord

A chord in which each note is separated from the next by a third is known as a:

Triad

A single repetition of the chord progression used to organize music in an improvisation.

Chorus

Several different rhythms sounding at the same time.

Polyrhythm

A 12-bar blues chorus normally consists of what formal scheme?

A A B

There is general consensus that jazz is characterized by three essential features. These three essential features are:

Improvisation, swing feeling, bluesy flavor

Lesson 3
Which of the following refers to a style of bass line in which each beat receives a separate tone, thus creating a moving sequence of quarter notes?

Walking bass

In jazz, the general label for any wind instrument is

horn

What musical feature distinguishes ragtime melodies from the ones used in the marches of brass bands?
Maple Leaf Rag

Almost constant syncopation

While seemingly very dissimilar, ragtime piano and the marches played by brass bands actually shared much in common. Only one characteristic below is unique to ragtime piano. Which one is it?

Abundant syncopation in the melody above the steady duple background is unique to ragtime piano.

Early (or rural) blues may be readily distinguished from classic (or urban) blues in several ways. Which statement below is NOT accurate?

Even in early (or rural) blues, the 12-bar form was firmly established.

Which of the following refers to the rhythmic, improvised accompaniment on piano?

Comping

Which of the following was NOT influential to the origins of jazz?

Avant-garde European art music

Which of the following was NOT the first Mississippi Delta Blues singer, but arguably the most influential?

Robert Johnson

Which of the following refers to the method of playing string instruments by plucking instead of bowing?

Pizzicato

According to the text, which of the following is a characteristic that ragtime shares with the marches of brass bands?

Duple meter

Which of the following genres of music primarily featured female perspectives and musicians?

Classic blues

Which of the following is a synonym for "urban blues"?

Classic blues

What music genre would he following excerpt best fit in?
Maple Leaf Rag

Ragtime

In America, the African call-and-response tradition may be traced from early African-American music through the blues and into jazz. What distinctive characteristic do we hear in call-and-response in jazz music?

A new call begins before the previous response has finished, thereby overlapping it.

Which one of the following is NOT true of jazz?

The music reflects the experience of the New Orleans upper class, who had the leisure time to create it

Lesson 4
Which musician fits the following description?
An early important white trumpeter, his improvisations conveyed an advanced harmonic conception.

Bix Beiderbecke

Which of the following best describes "Dixieland Jazz"?

A term for New Orleans-style jazz played by white bands

Which musician fits the following description?
The legendary "Father of Jazz," he is regarded as one of the great pioneering New Orleans jazz musicians, but he was never recorded.

Buddy Bolden

The group of jazz musicians known as the Austin High Gang was affiliated with which city’s jazz scene?

Chicago, IL

New York jazz musicians of the 1920s were known for their exceptional skill on brass instruments due to the high concentration of classically-trained brass players in the city.

False

Which of the following describes a characteristic feature of New Orleans jazz in which multiple instrumentalists improvise together, creating a distinctive polyphony?

collective improvisation

Which of the following describes a point in the music, normally at the turnaround, when all the instrumentalists except one stop playing, allowing that one performer to begin or end a solo improvisation with a virtuosic flourish?

Break

In New Orleans jazz, a second melody (or counter-melody) played on clarinet, subordinate to the principal melody played on cornet, is known as:

Obbligato melody

Which of the following describes a style of jazz piano derived from ragtime? (Hint: New Orleans and Harlem were both important in its development.)

Stride piano

Which musician fits the following description?

An early important white saxophonist, he played the distinctive C-melody saxophone and had a linear approach to improvisation.

Frankie Trumbauer

The banjo plays a solo during the first 30 seconds of Jelly Roll Morton’s "Black Bottom Stomp."

False

Which musician fits the following description?

A cornetist, trumpeter, and band leader, he was one of the great early New Orleans jazz musicians and the first great jazz solo improviser, known for spontaneous, swinging melodies.

Louis Armstrong

Composer, pianist, and band leader, he was one of the great early New Orleans jazz musicians and one of the first musicians to bring together elements of ragtime piano and blues in a rhythmic manner that suggested swing eighth notes.

Jelly Roll Morton

Which of the following best describes "scat singing"?

Singing nonsense syllables while improvising a melodic vocal solo

Which musician fits the following description?

A clarinetist and soprano saxophonist, he was one of the great early New Orleans jazz musicians, known for his blues-infused improvisations.

Sidney Bechet

Which musician fits the following description?

A pianist and composer, he was known as the "father of stride piano." "The Charleston" was one of his popular pieces.

James P. Johnson

Lesson 5
Which musician fits the following description?

The first great tenor saxophonist, he developed a warm, full sound that was emulated by many who came after him.

Coleman Hawkins

A pioneer in the emerging swing style of jazz; his charts featured a call-and-response that would pit the reeds against the brass, which became a model for most of the swing bands that followed; "Wrappin’ It Up" was one of his band’s notable pieces

Fletcher Henderson

Which of the following is not a component of Fletcher Henderson’s charts?

Percussion

Which of the following musicians was known for his growl style?

Cootie Williams

A pioneer in the emerging swing style of jazz; his charts featured a call-and-response that would pit the reeds against the brass, which became a model for most of the swing bands that followed; "Wrappin’ It Up" was one of his band’s notable pieces:

Fletcher Henderson

Which musician fits the following description?

The greatest composer of the swing era; pianist, composer, arranger, and band leader; he had an extraordinary knack for utilizing the distinctive sounds of his sidemen in his charts.

Duke Ellington

Which musician fits the following description?

A French gypsy guitarist, he is considered the first great European jazz musician.

Django Reinhardt

Which musician fits the following description?

A star trumpeter who developed a "growl style" of playing that lent the trumpet a more vocal quality; featured soloist on East St. Louis Toodle-Oo.

Bubber Miley

One of the great jazz pianists coming out of the stride tradition, he possessed extraordinary facility, combining dazzling technique with a marvelous feel for the blues; he is noted for his chord substitutions, and is reputed to have never lost a cutting contest:

Art Tatum

Which musician fits the following description?

Tenor saxophonist, he joined Ellington’s band in 1940; his "airy" ballad style solos were so tuneful that they often sounded as though they could have been the original song:

Ben Webster

The first 50 seconds of "East St. Louis Toodle-oo" feature a "wa-wa" solo by Joe Nanton on the trombone

False

Which musician fits the following description?

Alto saxophonist, the most celebrated soloist in Ellington’s orchestra; his sultry, ballad style of playing is featured on a number of tunes, notably "Warm Valley."

Johnny Hodges

One of Fletcher Henderson’s major contributions to the Swing style was the way he structured his band. Which statement accurately describes this organization?

The band would be divided into three sections: reeds, brass, and rhythm.

The use of the growl style gave the brass a more vocal quality, and contributed to:

The "Ellington Effect"

Lesson 6
Lester Young is known for his innovative characteristics as a soloist. Which one of the following is NOT a characteristic of Young’s solo style?

Young’s tone was heavier than Hawkins’, with more vibrato

Count Basie pared down the role of piano in the rhythm section and pioneered the spontaneous, off-the-beat style of playing known as

comping

One of the first masters of the walking bass, his association with Basie goes back to the 1920s. He possessed a superb sense of timing that helped promote the bass to its role as principal timekeeper in the band.

Walter Page

Which piece played by the Count Basie band features a series of alternating solos between the tenor saxophonist and the pianist-—even to the point of "trading fours" in the fourth chorus?

"Lester Leaps In"

"A-tisket, A-tasket" was Ella Fitzgerald’s big first hit after the Chick Webb Orchestra disbanded in 1942.

False

Count Basie’s band first came to prominence in which city?

Kansas City

Which of the following musicians fits this description?
This singer won a talent show at the Apollo Theater at age 17 and was the featured singer with the Chick Webb Orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom.

Ella Fitzgerald

The Benny Goodman Sextet’s "I Found a New Baby" features one of the first electric guitar solos in jazz. Which of the following musicians plays the electric guitar in that recording?

Charlie Christian

Which of the following is considered one of the greatest jazz vocalists of all time?

Billie Holliday

Which of the following musicians fits this description?

The most outstanding soloist in Count Basie’s band, he was a tenor saxophonist noted for a linear style of playing that conveyed progressive harmonic implications. He was nicknamed "Pres."

Lester Young

The first great electric guitarist in jazz was:

Charlie Christian

Which of the following musicians fits this description?

He played acoustic guitar in count Basie’s orchestra. His approach added a buoyancy to the Basie rhythm section that no other big band had.

Freddie Green

Which of the following musicians fits this description?

One of the first vibraphonists, he established own orchestra after a sideman stint with Benny Goodman.

Lionel Hampton

Which of the following musicians fits this description?

Pianist and band leader, he developed a more relaxed, swinging style of jazz.

Count Basie

Which of the following denotes a short, catchy melodic gesture?

Riff

Which of the following musicians fits this description?

He was one of the earliest drummers to play the ride rhythm on the hi-hat as it was opening and closing, producing a smoother, more sustained rhythm.

Jo Jones

Which of the following musicians fits this description?

The leader of one of the few white bands regarded as "hot" by black jazz musicians, he popularized swing for the broader American population. In a racially segregated America, he crossed the color line by hiring African Americans to play in his combos.

Benny Goodman

Which of the following musicians fits this description?

Nicknamed "Lady Day," she is considered by many the most expressive and deeply moving jazz vocalist of any era.

Billie Holiday