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Americas Musical Landscape 8th Edition Jean Ferris -Test Bank
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America’s Musical Landscape, 8e (Ferris)
Chapter 2 Early Folk Music
1) The term broadside is associated with the musical.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Broadside is connected to the term “ballad.”
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2) A field holler is typically sung by multiple voices.
Answer: FALSE
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3) The field holler is melodically related to jazz.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: The “bent” pitches of the field holler are also evident in jazz.
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4) Call and response is used in numerous types of African American music.
Answer: TRUE
Explanation: Jazz, blues, and gospel, for example, all feature call and response.
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5) Most ballads are attributed to known composers.
Answer: FALSE
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6) Folk music brought to the United States from other countries was frequently altered to reflect New World experiences.
Answer: TRUE
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7) Ballad lyrics are rarely altered over time.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Exact lyrics change from performer to performer, while the idea of the story remains generally the same.
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8) Folk music in the United States was influenced by European sources only.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Africa is an important source of folk music in the United States.
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9) Africans were forcibly brought to America at about the time the Pilgrims arrived.
Answer: TRUE
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10) The musical abilities of slaves were sometimes advertised as a desirable commodity.
Answer: TRUE
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11) “Shenandoah” is most closely connected to which of the following?
- A) political ballad.
- B) sea chantey.
- C) love song.
- D) historical ballad.
Answer: B
Explanation: The rolling depiction of the American river is melodically similar to British sea songs.
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12) Which best describes a ballad?
- A) an unaccompanied British song.
- B) an informal dance.
- C) a story told in song.
- D) a song performed on plantations.
Answer: C
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13) While much African music is rhythmically flexible, which of the following features a steady pace?
- A) field holler.
- B) work songs.
- C) broadsides.
- D) spirituals.
Answer: B
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14) The banjo’s roots originate in which of the following areas?
- A) Africa.
- B) England.
- C) Scotland.
- D) Ireland.
Answer: A
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15) Disasters, famous murders and other historical events are subjects frequently described in
- A) broadsides.
- B) field hollers.
- C) work songs.
- D) spirituals.
Answer: A
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16) Which of the following is not part of the British folk tradition?
- A) lullaby.
- B) chanteys.
- C) singing games.
- D) field hollers.
Answer: D
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17) Ballads are written in ________ form.
- A) through-composed
- B) strophic
- C) vernacular
- D) hymn
Answer: B
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18) Which of the following is not characteristic of folk music?
- A) origin is obscure.
- B) difficult to perform.
- C) simple and unpretentious.
- D) enjoyed by sophisticated and inexperienced listeners.
Answer: B
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19) Which one of the following is not a kind of folk song?
- A) chantey.
- B) lullaby.
- C) ballad.
- D) anthem.
Answer: D
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20) A chantey is ________.
- A) a nonsense song
- B) a religious song
- C) a song about adventures at sea
- D) a lullaby
Answer: C
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21) “Barbara Allen” is a
- A) chantey.
- B) ballad.
- C) lullaby.
- D) hymn.
Answer: B
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22) Which of the following is true about field hollers?
- A) they were composed and set to written notation.
- B) they were improvised.
- C) they were performed in unison by large groups of singers.
- D) they were usually accompanied by the banjo.
Answer: B
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23) Which of the following elements of African-American music can be traced most directly to Africa?
- A) melody.
- B) rhythm.
- C) lyrics.
- D) harmony.
Answer: B
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24) Which of the following best describes the term “baile”?
- A) Spanish folk dance.
- B) missionary hymn.
- C) Spanish work song.
- D) Welsh ballad.
Answer: A
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25) The “corrido” is a type of
- A) square dance.
- B) instrument.
- C) ballad.
- D) psalm book.
Answer: C
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26) The “alabado” is a type of
- A) Spanish folk dance.
- B) Spanish hymn.
- C) Welsh ballad.
- D) work song.
Answer: B
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27) “Alabados” are musically related to Roman Catholic chant in regard to
- A) harmonic structure.
- B) rhythmic flow.
- C) expression of loneliness.
- D) secular function.
Answer: B
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28) Ballad singers are required to
- A) memorize multiple song verses.
- B) sing with intense emotion.
- C) accompany themselves on a stringed instrument.
- D) use movement to help express emotion.
Answer: A
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29) Which genre evolved out of the work farms and cotton fields of the post-Civil War South?
- A) blues.
- B) lullaby.
- C) chantey.
- D) alabado.
Answer: A
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30) The “ring shout” included a shuffling of feet because
- A) it added a rhythm not possible with drums.
- B) dancing was forbidden at some services.
- C) the performance usually lacked harmony.
- D) dancers were required to form a ring.
Answer: B
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31) Which of the following elements of music remains steady to facilitate work such as hammering?
- A) melody.
- B) rhythm.
- C) form.
- D) harmony.
Answer: B
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32) West African drumming is musically complex because
- A) it requires the musicians to read difficult notation.
- B) it requires the use of the gourd banjo.
- C) the instruments are created out of natural materials.
- D) it involves multiple layers of underlying rhythms.
Answer: D
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33) A drone is ________.
- A) a type of African drum
- B) a type of banjo
- C) a long-held, constant pitch
- D) a steady rhythmic pattern
Answer: C
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34) A scale commonly used in folk songs like “Barbara Allen” is known as a
- A) chromatic scale.
- B) pentatonic scale.
- C) major scale.
- D) minor scale.
Answer: B
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35) The song “EL Cutilio Los Reyes Magos” is unusual for a dance song in that it
- A) has no specific meter.
- B) changes tempo.
- C) has five beats per measure.
- D) has only two parts.
Answer: B
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36) Music has historically allowed people to express displeasure without fear of censorship or retaliation. Beginning with the broadside, explain how this has been the case. Continue your historical tracing by thinking of other types of music that you know. Why are musicians allowed this freedom? Do you think this is the case in every country?
Answer: Broadsides were often political in nature, and because there was no known composer for most of them, the anonymous authors could freely express their opinions. Songs such as “The Liberty Song” expressed political points of view that could have meant trouble for someone giving a speech in a public forum. Interestingly, music has been used in this manner in America long after the Revolutionary period, and even continued when composer’s names were connected with their songs. In the Vietnam era, music groups made powerful statements against the war, and although some songs used veiled language, others contained open criticism of the government. A more recent example occurred during the 2002 American presidential campaign when the country group “Dixie Chicks” overtly criticized President George Bush. In some countries, performers would be jailed for verbally attacking a living president or leader. America’s freedom of speech equally applies to song.
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37) How is folk music impacted by geography and history? List several genres and explain how regionalism and era impact folk music lyrics.
Answer: Folk music reflects topics of interest to local people at a given time in history. Sea chanteys were created in places where people worked on or near the water. Cowboy songs were popular in the American West. “The Ballad of Casey Jones” reflects the building on the American railroad, and would have been of limited interest to someone from another country. While some folk songs are timeless because of their wonderful stories or great melodies, others fade into history because they lack interest to people outside of the original folk setting.
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America’s Musical Landscape, 8e (Ferris)
Chapter 4 Secular Music in the Colonial, Revolutionary, and Federal Periods
1) Though a devoted patriot, Francis Hopkinson composed his songs in conscientious imitation of British songs.
Answer: TRUE
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2) Concert music by contemporary European composers such as Mozart and Haydn was widely appreciated by most American audiences in the 1700s.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Americans of that time were for the most part unaware of the musical trends in Europe.
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3) Household music refers to vocal and piano pieces accessible to amateur performers.
Answer: TRUE
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4) A “fife” is a small percussion instrument.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: A fife is a small flute.
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5) The music publishing business in America was first associated with art music.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: Household music, largely written for amateurs, drove the early music publishing business.
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6) The favored instrument to accompany dancing in the early 1700s was the drum.
Answer: FALSE
Explanation: The fiddle was favored for dancing.
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7) Music societies were normally located in rural areas.
Answer: FALSE
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8) Early American art songs, like their European models, required professional training to be performed correctly.
Answer: FALSE
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9) Which of the following is not a keyboard instrument?
- A) virginal.
- B) fortepiano.
- C) harpsichord.
- D) armonica.
Answer: D
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10) Which of the following is not a supposed effect of glass harmonica music?
- A) makes women faint.
- B) soothes marital disputes.
- C) wakes the dead.
- D) cures smallpox.
Answer: D
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11) The term “amateur,” when applied to Moravian musicians, meant:
- A) they had no prior knowledge of music.
- B) they were unfamiliar with American music.
- C) they composed and performed music for the love, not money.
- D) they composed music with styles no one had heard before.
Answer: C
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12) The first secular songs published in America were usually associated with:
- A) theatre.
- B) the military.
- C) the emerging concert scene.
- D) political campaigns.
Answer: A
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13) Like Thomas Jefferson, many early Americans agreed that:
- A) art must be practical to be worthwhile.
- B) American art must have no semblance to English art.
- C) art, especially music, should be experimental.
- D) all art was unnecessary and had no place in American life.
Answer: A
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14) All of the following are true about music in New Orleans except:
- A) slave musicians did not perform in public.
- B) military-style bands played a prominent role.
- C) music was provided for balls and parades.
- D) both slave and free musicians performed.
Answer: A
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15) Which of the following was one of the most popular concert attractions in eighteenth century America?
- A) traditional military funeral parades.
- B) battle pieces.
- C) performances of Mozart.
- D) performances of Haydn.
Answer: B
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16) Most of the plays performed in eighteenth-century America were:
- A) pantomimes.
- B) adaptations of English pieces.
- C) nonmusical.
- D) adaptations of ancient Greek tragedy.
Answer: B
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17) Fife and drum corps
- A) included African American members.
- B) transmitted commands on the battlefield.
- C) announced the beginning and end of the day.
- D) all of the above.
Answer: D
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18) Which of the following statesmen was known for writing art songs?
- A) Thomas Jefferson.
- B) Benjamin Franklin.
- C) Francis Hopkinson.
- D) George Washington.
Answer: C
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19) Some of the earliest American popular songs ________.
- A) had no lyrics
- B) were influenced by Native American musical characteristics
- C) were composed by foreign musicians
- D) could only be played on the fiddle or fife
Answer: C
Explanation: After the ban on play houses and performances was lifted in 1789, a wave of foreign (mostly British) musicians came to America and composed many pieces, some of which became America’s first popular songs.
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20) A fiddle was a small, light
- A) guitar.
- B) violin.
- C) virginal.
- D) wind instrument.
Answer: B
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21) Which of the following is not true regarding Benjamin Franklin?
- A) he invented an instrument that Mozart enjoyed playing.
- B) he wrote about the subject of music.
- C) he believed that American music was superior to European music.
- D) he played musical instruments.
Answer: C
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22) Early military bands played
- A) for marching and transmitting commands on the battlefield.
- B) to improve morale of the troops.
- C) to entertain at parades and informal concerts.
- D) all of the above.
Answer: D
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23) Francis Hopkinson extended the artistic scope of American music by
- A) composing operas in the European style.
- B) organizing concerts of Mozart and Haydn.
- C) composing several art songs.
- D) writing original songs in a folk style.
Answer: C
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24) Why did European musicians during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods dominate the American music scene in terms of composing and teaching?
Answer: The “cultivated” 18th-century American view was that colonists were musically inferior to the European performers dominating the concert stages and would do best to emulate European styles. In this pre-radio and recording era, there was little chance to even hear current art music. With no system in place for music education in America, those wishing to study music turned to European musicians who were deemed “up to date.” Those who wished to pursue serious music study actually left the United States to study with European “masters.”
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25) The text mentions that children and women took music lessons from immigrant professional musicians. Find out whether or not men studied in a similar manner. Why or why not?
Answer: Men did not tend to study music from the professionals. During this historical period, it was not considered proper for men to study music. The study of music had a female connotation in America at this time.
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26) Describe the attention given to unity and variety in art music as opposed to design principles in folk and popular music.
Answer: All music contains some balance of unity and variety or it would likely be considered noise rather than music. Art music’s focus on unity and variety takes on a different dimension in part because of the length of the works. Because art music pieces tend to be much longer than popular music works, the composer’s musical “blueprint” is much more detailed in a piece of art music. Major sections may be completely lifted and re-stated, for example. Importantly, art music experiments with the listener’s expectations regarding repetition. Art music is considered interesting when the composer deviates from an expected pattern of repetition. Folk and popular music, on the other hand, typically follow a standard form, often creating variety by alternating between verse and chorus.
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27) Describe the utilitarian functions of military bands. How does this tradition continue into the high school and collegiate band experience in America today? How does this compare with the orchestral experience?
Answer: Bands have been associated with utilitarian functions since their inception as military units. In the military, bands were expected to raise the troops’ spirits, and provide a steady beat for marching. School bands in America today continue to serve utilitarian functions. Marching bands at the high school and collegiate levels provide entertainment at football and basketball games, creating an atmosphere without being the center of attention. Orchestras, on the other hand, continue to have a “higher art” role in the school setting, reflecting very different functional roots.
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