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? The West African region is the most relevant. It flourished in a rich history of empires (Mail, Songhay, Senegambian), arts of all kinds flourished and an influx of Arabic provided a written culture. Music flourished as well, Heterophonic singing styles and all kinds of instruments, which were also diverse and unique to each of the African communities to the west. 2. What are the general characteristics of (Black) African music? It played a big role in everyday life (Work, Play, religion. Royal customs, war, hunting, etc). It was often performed very energetically or with spirit. Music and dance was unified and Europeans thought dancing was sin. Africans did this as a part of the music. There was no clear separation between performers and audience (participation) and Audience tricks part in performers. Mixes different types of timbre (tune quality) (Distortion was valued!). Instrumental style emulates (Imitates) Voice. There is a feeling that is trying to be made through the instrument. Rhythm is steady and complex (polyrhythmic) (Syncopated as well). Featured Call and response, which was a common feature African Americans used. Featured heterophonic texture (choosing to do a different melody than the normal) and Strong spiritual essence, its real to the performer or the audience. 3. Know the various instrument types (i.e., aerophones, chordophones, membranophones, idiophones, electrophones). aerophones (winds): Flutes, horns/trumpets, chordphones (strings): fiddles, harps, zithers, bow, lutes, etc Membranophones (drums): all sizes, single and double headed, made from the tree trunks, gourds Idiophones (body of insruments, produces sound): Bells, xylophones, gongs, thumb piano, rattles, etc Electrophones: synthesizers, electric guitar, etc. 4. How were early accounts of African music documented? Traders, missionaries (Journals), Eurocentric a. Who was Mungo Park? A British physician who compiled a journal of observations with his encounters with slaves during the African slave trade, which included social conditions during the time and his observations of singing men in the coffles(a party of enslaved Africans).

Africans in the New World / Ch.1 5. What were the different ways that Africans reached the New World? They were shipped on human cargo ships and were part of the Transatlantic Trade Triangle which involved Europe, Africa, and North America (Carribean in it) a. What was the Middle Passage? 6. What is the difference between an indentured servant and a slave? An indentured servant is under contract for either a passage to America or money/rent of land. After the contract is over, the servant would be considered free. Slaves are not free and are considered property. a. What was unique and ironic about the practice of slavery in the U.S.? It was known as the peculiar institution because it contradicted with a lot American ideals of equality and freedom. American slavery was harsher than any other areas of slavery and it was known as chattle slavery. 7. How were slaves de-Africanized in the New World? They werent allowed to speak their native languages and there was a suppression of their native religions as well. a. How did the French and British slaveholders differ in their treatment of slaves? 8. What was pattin juba and why did it develop? A steeping dance invented by master Juba. It was a mixture of Irish and Black dancing styles. It incorporated using all parts of your body and was used because rhythmic instruments were banned. Involved stomping as well as slapping and patting the arms, legs, chest, and cheeks 9. In regards to African retentions in the New World know the following terms: Syncretism- Fusion of two or more different cultural practices into a new hybrid form re-interpretation-giving meaning to new experiences based upon past Creolization-African and European mixture 10. What were some of the instruments used for secular music on the plantation? European: fiddle, French horn, piano African banjo, fife/flute chimel, horns 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/whoops cries(usually solos), work songs (often call and response structure), recreational music (dance music usually with fiddle), Ballad/narrative (elaborate tales set to music) 12. What was the underlying meaning of many folktales, worksongs, and ballads? The rise of the underdog, using your wit to fool the stronger opponent, and trying to cope with the day and your troubles 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? Slaves attend the church of their masters and sat in the gallery or in the back of the church. They could of also went to separate churches with white masters leading them or even had black preachers as well/ a. Why was the Baptist church so popular among African Americans? 14. What were the Black Codes and why were they necessary? The black codes were regulations passed in response to black freedom and suffrage. They were passed to prevent rebellion and chaos people at the time (Mainly white) were afraid of. These codes defined Blood (creoles), prevented literacy, segregated public facilities, blocked suffrage of Blacks by instituting literacy test or grandfather clauses, etc. 15. What was the Invisible Church or Hush Arbor? Secret services often at night led by preachers (exhorters in forests) a. What was the ring shout? A religious ritual in which worshipers move in a circle while shuffling and stomping their feet and clapping their hands. It increased with tempo, involved Pattin Juba and featured spirituals. It was a singing and dancing ritual that usually followed a formal Christian service. 16. How were folk spirituals composed (hint: three ways)? Improvised on existing song, Combination of several old songs and also totally new material a. What is a homiletic spiritual? A genre of sermons, originating among African American preachers of the 1800s, in which spoken oratory changes into singing. 17. Why was George Leile significant to early religious practices? was among 1st black preachers 18. How was the African Methodist Episcopal church started? a. Which incident led to the establishment of the church? 19. What was the Great Awakening and when did it take place? The Great Awakening (1730s): outdoor revivals w/mixed congregations led by Rev. Jonathan Edwards a. Why was this event attractive to enslaved Africans? American Minstrelsy / Ch.1 20. Who was the founding father of American minstrelsy? Thomas Dartmouth Rice a.k.a Daddy 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? White males who wore black face a. Why were African American entertainers attracted to minstrelsy? It was successful and made money

22. How were the characters of Sambo and Zip Coon used to argue in support of slavery and against emancipation? Sambo helped perpetuate a happy slave and one who was too incompetent to survive. Zib Coon also showed the incompetence of slaves and these characters were too give off a sense of savagery in the slaves. 23. Why was William Henry Lane significant? A.K.A Master Juba, He was the only black to tour w/early minstrel troupes. He was one of the first black performers The Blues / Ch.3 24. Which figure in West African culture served as the predecessor of the bluesman/woman? a. According to Gerard Kubik, which area in West Africa seems to be most connected to the blues style? 25. Which song forms are the Americans roots of the blues? Spirituals, work songs, etc. 26. What is the historical context for the country/rural/gutbucket blues? a. What was the South like during and after the Reconstruction era? b. What was sharecropping? 27. Which harmonic/chordal structure is most often used for the blues? 1-4-5 chord progressions 28. What are blue notes? 29. Know the various blues styles in chronological order. Country/rural/gutbucket, Vaudeville/classical, Electric 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 (ex. Ma Rainy, Ida Cox, Bessie Smith), Sound is more refined than country blues and often accompanied by jazz musicians, a. Why was Ralph Peer significant? Columbia Records exec; coined term race music and supervised first recording of blues by Mamie Smith, aimed at the African American Market b. What was the title of the first hit-song recorded by an African American blues singer? Crazy blues by Mamie Smith c. What does TOBA stand for? Theatre owner book association Concert Spirituals & Early Classical Music Activity / Ch.2 31. What is a concert spiritual? West European style concert with a mix of African American style to it. West European arrangements of Folk spirituals in a classical fashion

a. How is the concert spiritual different from the folk spiritual? 32. Who was the first group to perform this genre? The Fisk Jubilee Singers a. Why was this ensemble formed? To raise money for the university because Fisk ran on donations. b. Who were the co-leaders of this group? c. What kinds of resistance and difficulties did this group face? d. How and when did they discover a way to attract audiences? 33. Know the significance of the following individuals: Blind Tom Bethune-piano savant who was autistic and blind. He showed a complete master of the piano and started doing recitals at 8.Toured for the most part of his life raising funds for either the confederates during the war or to make money for his masters Sisieretta Jones- Known as Black Patti in reference to a famous Italian soprano. Toured and performed in the Music hall of NY (Carnegie) and her infamy as Black Patti followed her everywhere. She died penniless Antonin Dvorak-A celebrated composer and the first director of the national conservatory of music on New York. He has black students and was satisfied in knowing the future music in these negroe melodies he heard. Ragtime & Early Jazz / Chs. 3 &4 34. When was ragtime most popular? Rose during the 1890s and Beginning around the 1900s, it reached its height a. Which events led to the music receiving more widespread exposure? 35. What did the piano symbolize in American culture during the late 1800s and early 1900s? Pianos were everywhere and it was an important part of an American household because it was where any type of music was played. It had become a central component of American middle class culture 36. What are the meanings of the word ragging? 37. Who was the most significant composer of ragtime? Scott Joplin a. What was the storyline of his theatrical work, Treemonisha? It was about the story of Monisha, an abandoned infant that had been found under the tree. After becoming educated, she struggles against the superstitions of her neighbors in a black rural community in Arkansas and tries to share her learning with them 38. What were some of the pre-jazz styles? a. Who was James Reese Europe? He was a successful conductor who found commercial success on the stage. He is also noted for enlisting in the New York 15th

infantry, an all-black volunteer unit activated for service in 1917. He was commissioned as a captain and director of the hellfighters regimental band and toured Europe, finding success among the French. This was pre-jazz and as Jazz began to be more refined and developed, he created his own Jazz orchestra. 39. Which city was the most significant to early jazz? a. What was unique about the citys social structure? 40. Who was Buddy Bolden? He was a barber/cornetist who had his own style of blues playing that influenced early Jazz. His career was cut short at 1907 after alcohol and mental problems interfered. 41. Why was the Original Dixieland Jazz Band important to early jazz? It made the first recordings of Jazz music for the Victor Company. Coined the term jazz among popular culture a. Who was the first black jazz musician to make a record? New Orleans Trombonist Edward Kid Ory 42. Why was Louis Armstrongs rendition of The Heebie Jeebies important? 43. Who founded the big band arranging style? 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? It was a startling commentary on the lynching of black people. It reflected both the anti-lynching activism of white and black political activists in the 1930s and Holidays own background as a poor and abused young woman in the ghetto. Rhythm & Blues / Ch.6 45. Who coined the term rhythm & blues? Jerry Wexler a. Which musical styles influenced R&B? Gospel, Jazz and the Blues 46. Who were some of the white impresarios of early R&B? Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records 47. Who was Louis Jordan and why was he significant to early R&B? He was a saxophonist and bandleader of R&B. The most important originator of R&B was Louis Jordan, who, in the early 40's, was the main pioneer of the movement away from big bands playing swing to small combos playing jump blues. 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