FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE
Music 3500: American Music
This final exam is comprehensive —it covers the entire course
(Monday April 24 starting at 5PM in Knauss Hall 2452)
Exam Format:
70 questions (each question is worth 4 points), plus a 40-point "fill-in-the-blanks"
chart (described below)
(these two things total a maximum of 320 possible points toward your final course
grade total).
The format of the 70-question computer-graded section of the final exam will be:
...Matching
...Multiple Choice
...True/False (from text readings, class lectures, YouTube video links)
General study recommendations:
- Do the online quiz assignments for Chapters 1-9 (these must be completed by Monday
April 24)
---------For the Computer-Graded part of the final exam:
1. Know the definitions of Important Terms at the ends of Chapters 2-8
- Chapter 1 (textbook, page 5) -- know "popular music," "roots music," "Classical artmusic"
- Chapter 2 (textbook, page 19) -- know "old-time music," "hot jazz," "race music"
- Chapter 3 (textbook, page 31) -- know "bebop," "big-band," "boogie-woogie"
- Chapter 4 (textbook, page 42) -- know "backbeat," "chance music," "cool jazz," "multiserialism," "rhythm & blues," "soul"
- Chapter 5 (textbook, page 52) -- know "soundtrack," "free jazz"
- Chapter 6 (textbook, pages 58-59) -- know "fusion," minimalism,"
- Chapter 7 (textbook, pages 69-70) -- know "techno," "smooth jazz," "hip-hop"
- Chapter 8 (textbook, page 81) -- know "sound art"
2. Know which decade the following music technologies came from:
(Review the chronological order of music technologies at the end of Chapter 9--textbook,
page 83)
Possible Answers: a) 1920s
since 1980
b) 1930s c) 1940s d) 1950s e) 1960s f) 1970s g)
AM radio, electric microphone, 78-RPM records, movies with sound, Stereo (2-channel)
recording and playback,
FM radio, 33-RPM stereo LP records, commercial TV, reel-to-reel tape recording,
electric guitar invented, 45-RPM singles,
8-track tapes, cassette tapes, Apple personal computer, MIDI, Compact disc, 12-inch
single, MTV, Internet/World Wide Web,
DVDs, Amazon, Google, eBay, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, YouTube
3. Music Examples to Study: (These will be used in some way for HALF the
questions on this final exam)
This is a selection of some of the important musical works we have covered this
semester.
They will be used as the basis for seven sets of questions (35 questions out of 70) in
matching an artist or group to either:
- a musical work
- their specific style category
- a brief description of them that includes their musical style and time era.
Examples for Roots music
"Delta" Blues
Robert Johnson: "Cross Road Blues" (1936)
Traditional Folk Music
Woody Guthrie: This Land is Your Land (1940)
Gospel Music
Mahalia Jackson: Move On Up A Little Higher (1948)
Examples for Popular Music
Ragtime piano music
Scott Joplin: The Entertainer (1902)
Jazz (this is popular music; not "roots" music)
-Louis Armstrong: Hotter Than That (1927)--hot jazz
(Dixieland)
-DukeEllington:ItDon'tMeanaThingIfItAin'tGotThat
Swing(1931)--bigband"swing"
-CharlieParkerandDizzyGillespie:Koko(1945)--bebop
-Dave Brubeck Quartet: Take Five (1959)--cool jazz
-Ornette Coleman: Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (1960)
-- free jazz
-Kenny G: "Songbird" (1986)--smooth jazz (he is the biggestselling jazz artist of all time)
Broadway Musicals
-Kern and Hammerstein: "Ol' Man River" from Showboat (1927)
-Leonard Bernstein: "Tonight (ensemble)" from West Side Story
(1957)
-James Rado: "Hair" from Hair (1967)
-Stephen Sondheim: "Epiphany" from Sweeney Todd (1979)
Tin Pan Alley/Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary
-Bing Crosby: White Christmas (1942) -- Tin Pan Alley
-Barbra Streisand: The Way We Were (1974) -- Tin Pan Alley
-Frank Sinatra: New York, New York (1980) -- Tin Pan Alley
-Josh Grobin: You Raise Me Up (2003) -- Adult Contemporary
Film Music:
-Bernard Hermann: soundtrack to Psycho (1960)---film score
-John Williams: soundtrack "Theme" from Harry Potter series,
films 1-3 (2001-04)--film scores
Country & Western Music
-Gene Autry: Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1949)
Country Music
-Hank Williams, Sr.: Hey, Good Lookin' (1951)
-Johnny Cash: I Walk The Line (1956)
-Merle Haggard: "Okie From Muskogee" (1969)
-Kenny Rogers: "The Gambler" (1978)
Urban Folk Music (this is popular music; not "roots" music)
-Bob Dylan: "Blowin' in the Wind" (1962)
-Richie Havens: "Handsome Johnny" (1966)
R & B , Soul , Funk, Disco, Techno Music
-Muddy Waters: "I Got My Mojo Workin'" (1956)--'50s R & B
-James Brown: "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (1965)--'60s Soul
music
-The Village People: "YMCA" (1979)--disco
-Whitney Houston: "Saving All My Love For You" (1985)--'80s
R&B
-Derrick May: "Strings of Life" (1987)--Techno
Rock styles
-Bill Haley and His Comets: Rock Around the Clock (1954)-rockabilly
-Bob Dylan: "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965)--folk-rock
-The Beach Boys: "Good Vibrations" (1966)--psychedelic rock
-Alice Cooper: "School's Out" (1972)--arena rock
-Patti Smith: "Gloria" (1975)--punk rock
-The Talking Heads: "Burning Down The House" (1983)--new
wave
-Nirvana: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991)--grunge
Rap styles
-Afrika Bambataa: "Planet Rock" (1984)--rap/electro-funk
-N.W.A.: "Express Yourself" (1988)--gangsta rap
-Public Enemy: "Fight The Power" (1989)--enlightenment rap
-Outkast: "Hey Ya!" (2003)--southern hip-hop (Dirty South)
Examples for Classical Art-Music
Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question (1908)--experimental
symphonic music
Henry Cowell: The Banshee (1925)--experimental piano music
John Cage: The Perilous Night [from Sonatas and Interludes for
Prepared Piano] (1948)--prepared piano
Edgard Varese: Poeme electronique (1958)--electronic
music/musique concrete
Philip Glass: "Floe" from Glassworks (1981)--minimalism
Lisa Coons: Songs from the Wasteland (2007)--sound art (musical
sculptures designed for music to be played on)
-------For the Fill-in-the-blanks chart section: (worth 40 possible points)
You are not allowed to consult electronics or notes of any kind while writing this essay
Topic: In handwriting that is legible, show what happened in U.S. music and culture in
the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s:
- List at one significant music-related technology developed in each of these decades.
- List one leading artist in popular music during each of these decades (identify each
artist's music style, and provide the title of a specific musical piece they performed and/or
wrote).
- List one important art music composer in each of these decades (include the title of a
specific musical piece by that composer)