PASADENA CITY COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC

MUS 25: Afro-American Music Midterm Exam Study Guide African Origins / Ch.1 1. Which region of Africa is most relevant to African American culture and music, and why? -West Africa, Senegal, Gambia, Ghana - early documentation of African music 2. What are the general characteristics of (Black) African music? - big role in everyday life, music and dance unified, mixes different types of timbre 3. Know the various instrument types (i.e., aerophones, chordophones, membranophones, idiophones, electrophones). -aerophones (wind) -chordophones (string) -membranophones (drums) -idiophones (body of instr. produces sound) -electrophones (technology) 4. How were early accounts of African music documented? -journals a. Who was Mungo Park? Africans in the New World / Ch.1 5. What were the different ways that Africans reached the New World? -ship a. What was the Middle Passage? -part of Transatlantic Trade Triangle 6. What is the difference between an indentured servant and a slave? - servants had debt and slaves were captured a. What was unique and ironic about the practice of slavery in the U.S.? -slaves were personal property -contradiction of American ideals 7. How were slaves de-Africanized in the New World? -not allowed to speak native, no native religions a. How did the French and British slaveholders differ in their treatment of slaves? -the French allowed a little more leeway. 8. What was pattin juba and why did it develop? -use of the body as an instrument -instruments were forbidden 9. In regards to African retentions in the New World know the following terms: syncretism -fusion of cultural practices into hybrid form, re-interpretation -give meaning to new experience, creolization -African/European mixture. 10. What were some of the instruments used for secular music on the plantation? -jug, washboard, spoons, diddley bow a. Know how to classify each as an instrument type.

11. Know the various song types of secular music during slavery. -pattyroller songs, field hollers, work songs, recreational music, ballad 12. What was the underlying meaning of many folktales, worksongs, and ballads? -it is about their hardships a. What is double entendre? -double meaning Early African American Sacred Music / Chs. 1 & 2 13. What were some of the ways that African Americans experienced religion in a group setting during the antebellum period? -went to their master's church a. Why was the Baptist church so popular among African Americans? -provided escape 14. What were the Black Codes and why were they necessary? -slaveholders banned slave gathering -didn't allow them to come together 15. What was the Invisible Church or Hush Arbor? -secret services in the forest often at night a. What was the ring shout? -singing within the group 16. How were folk spirituals composed (hint: three ways)? -improvised on existing songs, combination of songs, new material a. What is a homiletic spiritual? -songs worked into sermons 17. Why was George Leile significant to early religious practices? -among the 1st black preachers 18. How was the African Methodist Episcopal church started? -dissenters start own church a. Which incident led to the establishment of the church? -segregation, separate churches 19. What was the Great Awakening and when did it take place? -outdoor revivals with mixed congregations, 1730s a. Why was this event attractive to enslaved Africans? -focused on exciting, inspirational music American Minstrelsy / Ch.1 20. Who was the founding father of American minstrelsy? -T.D. Rice a. Which character did he create? -Jim Crow 21. Before African Americans entered the entertainment form, most minstrels came primarily from which ethnic group? -whites a. Why were African American entertainers attracted to minstrelsy? -Negro spirituals included in performances

22. How were the characters of Sambo and Zip Coon used to argue in support of slavery and against emancipation? - the idea of savages, idea of illiterates (Zip Coon) 23. Why was William Henry Lane significant? - only black to tour with early minstrel troupes The Blues / Ch.3 24. Which figure in West African culture served as the predecessor of the bluesman/woman? -Bert Williams a. According to Gerard Kubik, which area in West Africa seems to be most connected to the blues style? -west Sudan 25. Which song forms are the Americans roots of the blues? -field hollers, work songs 26. What is the historical context for the country/rural/gutbucket blues? -Mississippi Delta, plantations a. What was the South like during and after the Reconstruction era? -segregation at its worst, lynchings b. What was sharecropping? 27. Which harmonic/chordal structure is most often used for the blues? - A-A-B structure most common 28. What are blue notes? - adaptation of West African scale to European tonal system 29. Know the various blues styles in chronological order. a. Also, be familiar with the artists associated with each style listed in the lecture notes. 30. What was unique about the Vaudeville Classic blues? - Dominated by African American women a. Why was Ralph Peer significant? - Columbia Records exec, coined term "race music" b. What was the title of the first hit-song recorded by an African American blues singer? -Crazy Blues c. What does TOBA stand for? -Theater Owners Booking Association Concert Spirituals & Early Classical Music Activity / Ch.2 31. What is a concert spiritual? -mix of classic European music and Black minstrelsy a. How is the concert spiritual different from the folk spiritual? -much more formatted 32. Who was the first group to perform this genre? -Fisk Jubilee Singers a. Why was this ensemble formed? -fundraising

b. Who were the co-leaders of this group? -George White, Ella Sheppard c. What kinds of resistance and difficulties did this group face? -no support, few funds d. How and when did they discover a way to attract audiences? -sang minstrels in their concerts 33. Know the significance of the following individuals: Blind Tom Bethune - blind, autistic slave; prodigy on piano, Sisieretta Jones- billed as the greatest singer of her race/first African American artist in Carnegie Hall, Antonin Dvorak - saw future of American music in black tradition/Bohemian composer. Ragtime & Early Jazz / Chs. 3 &4 34. When was ragtime most popular? -1880s-1910s a. Which events led to the music receiving more widespread exposure? - captured
public attention w/ World Expositions

35. What did the piano symbolize in American culture during the late 1800s and early 1900s? - piano as icon of middle class status in U.S. 36. What are the meanings of the word ragging? - syncopation or embellishments 37. Who was the most significant composer of ragtime? -Scott Joplin a. What was the storyline of his theatrical work, Treemonisha? 38. What were some of the pre-jazz styles? -ragtime, Vaudeville blues, brass bands a. Who was James Reese Europe? -composer/conductor/ led "Hellfighters" 39. Which city was the most significant to early jazz? -New Orleans a. What was unique about the citys social structure? -three tier society 40. Who was Buddy Bolden? -first to lead a jazz band 41. Why was the Original Dixieland Jazz Band important to early jazz? -all white a. Who was the first black jazz musician to make a record? -Kid Ory 42. Why was Louis Armstrongs rendition of The Heebie Jeebies important? 43. Who founded the big band arranging style? -Fletcher Henderson & Don Redman a. Who were some of the most popular big bands in Harlem during the 1920s and 1930s? 44. What was the underlying meaning of Billie Holidays Strange Fruit? -lynchings Rhythm & Blues / Ch.6 45. Who coined the term rhythm & blues? -Jerry Wexler a. Which musical styles influenced R&B? -Jazz and blues

46. Who were some of the white impresarios of early R&B? -Johnny Otis 47. Who was Louis Jordan and why was he significant to early R&B? African American jazz musician, saxophonist/ pioneer for early R&B 48. Know the various styles of early rhythm & blues and the artists associated with them. Listening Examples Know the following aspects of the listening examples: composition titles, artists (if known), and style. Afro-American Spirituals, Work Songs and Ballads 1. Trouble So Hard track #1 2. The Grey Goose track #16 3. John Henry track #17 Say it Loud! 4. Maple Leaf Rag 1/1 5. St. Louis Blues 1/2 6. Heebie Jeebies 1/4 7. It Dont Mean a Thing 1/11 8. Cross Road Blues 1/12 9. Straighten Up & Fly Right 2/1 10. Saturday Night Fish Fry 2/13 11. Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean 2/16 12. How Blue Can You Get? 4/4