Correct answer is marked with an asterisk (*)

Part I

1. While the character of Zip Coon in the minstrel show was clearly a caricature of a black man, his elaborate speeches probably also appealed to working class audiences for the way they poked fun at the manners of:
a) Chinese immigrants
b) White share croppers
c) *upper class Whites
d) opera singers

2. Which of the following dance genres that became popular in the first half of the 20th century was NOT associated with Latin culture?
a) Cha cha cha
b) *Lindy hop
c) Tango
d) Rumba

3. Which of the following repertoires were represented in early hillbilly music?
a) Ballads from the British Isles
b) European dance tunes
c) Religious music
d) *All of the above

4. The minstrel show is often cited as the first uniquely American popular culture phenomenon because:
      a) no previous form of entertainment had reached a “mass” audience nationwide
      b) it accurately represented American ethnic groups
      c) it allowed working class people to attend public concerts for the first time
      d) *it articulated uniquely American social and racial concerns

5. One of the things that marks “Maple Leaf Rag” (and other ragtime) as African American in its style:
      a) AABBACCDD form
      b) non-European harmonies
      c) instrumentation
      d) *syncopation

6. What distinguished Tin Pan Alley, a new phenomenon in the 1890s, from earlier business models for music publishing?
a) *it focused exclusively on creating popular music hits
b) its sales were enhanced by mass entertainment
c) it benefitted from legal copyright
d) it bypassed mass entertainment venues like Vaudeville and marketed directly to the consumer

7. One of the first American composers to make a living by writing popular songs, many of which are still widely sung today:
a) Gene Austin
b) Scott Joplin
c) Mark Twain
d) *Stephen Foster

8. The son of a Czech violin maker who invented the resophonic guitar, one of the signature instruments of American popular music:
a) Al Jolson
b) Paul Whiteman
c) Benny Goodman
d) *John Dobyera

9. An African American singer who starred in one of the first talking pictures in 1928:
a) Al Jolson
b) Bessie Smith
c) James Reese Europe
d) Don Aspiazú

10. Which of the following was the symbol that Jimmie Rodgers FIRST associated himself with, and which set a precedent for the image of the adventurous and unfettered man in country music?
a) the minstrel show
b) the medicine show
c) *the train
d) the cowboy

Part II--LISTENING
Each example will be played twice. Read the questions carefully before listening.

Example#1 “Manicero”
11. Which of the following genre names was used to market this song in the U.S.?
a) *rumba
b) jazz
c) tango
d) salsa

(ex.1 cont’d.)
12. In its Cuban folk version, this genre (from previous question) was very different with respect to:
a) style of dance
b) racial makeup of the performers
c) song form
d) *all of the above

13. An important Afro-Cuban element that can be heard here is:
a) vocal style
b) *clave
c) call/response form
d) piano

Example#2 “Gospel Ship”
14. What singer/group is this?
a) Jimmie Rodgers
b) *The Carter Family
c) Al Jolson
d) The Jubilee Singers

15. What is the form of the entire song from which this excerpt is taken?
a) AABBACCDD
b) AABA
c) AAB
d) *strophic

16. The texture at the end of this excerpt is best described as:
a) monophony
b) *homophony
c) polyphony
d) polyrhythm


Example#3 “My Blue Heaven”
17. What is the name of this singer, who was one of the first to be called a “crooner”?
a) Louis Armstrong
b) Jimmie Rodgers
c) *Gene Austin
d) Irving Berlin

18. What is the form of this excerpt?
a) AABBACCDD
b) *AABA
c) AAB
d) strophic

(ex.3 cont’d.)
19. This song was calculated to appeal to:
a) *middle class ideals of domestic life in the 1920s
b) working class escapism in the 1890s
c) evangelical Christian yearning for reward in the hereafter
d) African American dreams of social mobility in the 1930s

Example#4 “East St. Louis toodle-oo”
20. Who is the composer of this music?
a) *Duke Ellington
b) Scott Joplin
c) Irving Berlin
d) Benny Goodman

21. This composer’s music is distinguished from other jazz stars of his time, like Louis Armstrong and Count Basie, by:
a) timbral innovations
b) more elaborate written arrangements
c) its “jungle music” sound, developed for exotic floor shows
d) *all of the above

22. The soloist here is playing:
a) a saxophone
b) a synthesizer
c) a trumpet with plunger mute
d) a kazoo

Example#5 “Black Snake Moan”
23. Which of the following marketing labels would have been used for this song?
a) *Race records
b) Hillbilly
c) Jazz
d) Rhythm and blues

24. What is the form of this excerpt?
a) AABBACCDD
b) AABA
c) *AAB
d) strophic

25. In addition to form (from previous question), what aspect of this performance is typical of the country blues?
a) guitar accompaniment
b) alternating conversation between voice and instrument
c) “moaning” vocal effects
d) *all of the above

Bonus Questions:

26. A self-taught songwriter from Milwaukee who composed a huge hit in the 1890s and becamse a successful New York music publisher:
a) *Charles Harris
b) Louis Armstrong
c) Stephen Foster
d) Bessie Smith

27. In 1829 the blackface performer T.D. Rice developed this popular song and dance, whose name took on new meanings after the civil war:
a) Vaudeville
b) *Jim Crow
c) Ragtime
d) the Cakewalk

Correct answers are marked with an asterisk (*); note that this is version ‘a’, so the letters may not correspond to your version

Part I
1. The song “New San Antonio Rose” by Bob Wills differed from the swing music of bandleaders like Benny Goodman in what respect?
*a) incorporation of southwestern influences, like accordion and polka-type rhythm
b) use of string instruments instead of horns
c) simple strophic form
d) all of the above

2. The child of a preacher who was a professional gospel singer before recording early hits at Stax Studios in Memphis, then at Atlantic Records, and who went on to be one of the most popular soul singers of all time:
a) George Clinton
b) Ray Charles
*c) Aretha Franklin
d) Janis Joplin

3. Which of the following encouraged independent recording labels in the 1940s?
a) the advent of BMI licensing agency
b) magnetic tape recording
c) regional radio programming
*d) all of the above

4. The term “payola” refers to:
a) the profit made when established artists record cover versions of less well-known artists’ songs
*b) record company bribes to djs to favor their songs
c) royalties paid to songwriters
d) a bonus paid to a musicians when his/her song makes the Top Forty

5. In 1965 Bob Dylan shocked the folk music audience at the Newport Jazz festival by:
a) admitting that he was Jewish
*b) using electric guitars
c) criticizing the Vietnam war
d) coming on stage nude

6. Buddy Holly is generally credited as the originator of:
a) rock and roll
b) the hip-shaking rock and roll dance style
c) boogie piano style
*d) the standard guitar band format of lead, rhythm, bass and drums

7. The term “pachuco” refers to:
a) a type of Latin dance that was popular in the 50’s
b) an instrument used in latin percussion ensembles
*c) Mexican american zoot suiters in the 40s who listened to swing and boogie woogie
d) Mexican radio DJs

8. In what year did The Beatles make their first U.S. appearance, playing on the Ed Sullivan Show?
a) 1952
b) 1959
*c) 1964
d) 1968

9. The earliest precedent (among the musicians listed below) for the association between folk music and progressive politics in the United States was established by:
a) Elvis Presley
b) Bob Dylan
c) Bill Monroe
*d) Woody Guthrie

10. Larry Graham’s “slapping” technique, heard in the recordings of Sly and the Family Stone in the early 1970s, was:
a) a way of playing the bass
b) a percussive rhythmic effect
c) extremely influential in the sound of funk music
*d) all of the above

11. A San Francisco-based musician/band that epitomized the communal culture and aesthetics of the “Summer of Love,” and of the late 1960s generally:
a) the Beach Boys
b) Earth Wind and Fire
c) Bob Dylan
*d) the Grateful Dead

Part II--LISTENING
Each example will be played twice. Read the questions carefully before listening.

Example 1
12. Who is this singer?
a) Bill Monroe
b) Bob Wills
c) Chuck Berry
*d) Hank Williams

13. Which of the following genre names best describes the style of this recording?
a) western swing
*b) honky tonk
c) rockabilly
d) rock and roll

14. Which of the following performers was most clearly influenced by this singer’s vocal style?
a) Bill Haley
b) Janis Joplin
*c) Elvis Presley
d) Bob Dylan

Example 2
15. In what city was this recorded?
a) Chicago
b) Memphis
c) New York
*d) Detroit

16. Which of the following genres most obviously influenced this group’s singing style?
a) jump blues
b) rock and roll
c) funk
*d) doo wop

17. In what respect were this group’s performances different from the performances of contemporary rock and roll and soul performers?
a) their use of 12 bar blues
*b) reserved and elegant dress and dance movements
c) the use of background vocals
d) all of the above

Example 3
18. What was the date of this recording?
a) 1963
b) 1969
c) 1974
*d) 1978

19. Sales of this song were greatly enhanced by:
a) its performance for TV audiences on Saturday Night Live
*b) its cross marketing with the movie Saturday Night Fever
c) the glamorous image of the female lead singer
d) all of the above

20. One stylistic element of this song that was not heard in dance music ten years earlier is:
a) rhythm guitar
b) stress on the back beat
*c) steady “4 on the floor” bass drum pulse
d) call and response form form

Example 4
21. In what city was this performer based?
a) San Antonio
b) Chicago
c) New York
*d) San Francisco

22. The dance rhythm of this song is best described as:
a) rumba
*b) cha cha cha
c) tango
d) calypso

23. The composer of this song is:
*a) Tito Puente
b) Carlos Santana
c) Ritchie Valens
d) Harry Belafonte

Example 5
24. This performer’s music was influential in the development of which genre?
a) soul
b) funk
c) hip hop
*d) all of the above

25. What aspect of this song’s form most strongly determines the singer’s approach to vocal improvisation (especially as heard at the end of this excerpt)?
a) strophic structure
b) AABA structure
*c) call and response
d) 12 bar blues chord progression

26. The texture of this excerpt is best described as:
a) homophonic
b) monophonic
*c) polyrhythmic
d) unison


Bonus Questions
27. A star of the “Grand ol’ Opry” who helped shape the “Nashville sound” through his own publishing company:
*a) Roy Acuff
b) Bill Monroe
c) Phil Spector
d) Merle Haggard

28. Which record label recorded Muddy Waters and many other Chicago blues Artists in the 1940s and 1950s?
a) Atlantic
*b) Chess
c) Columbia
d) RCA Victor

Final Exam Key
(Version ‘A’)
Correct answers are marked with an asterisk (*)

Part I
1. Which of the following became an important new paradigm of the popular music business around 1960?
a) top forty radio lists
b) music videos
*c) the creative role of the studio producer
d) all of the above

2. In the 1920s, which soloing instruments were most strongly associated with the New Orleans and Kansas City styles of jazz, respectively?
a) trumpet with New Orleans, clarinet with Kansas City
b) saxophone with New Orleans, trumpet with Kansas City
c) saxophone with New Orleans, guitar with Kansas City
*d) trumpet with New Orleans, saxophone with Kansas City

3. Which of the following historical conditions was new in the late 1950s and caused record companies to focus more on the youth market?
a) the Vietnam war
*b) increased levels of employment and disposable income among youth
c) an interest in black music among white youth
d) all of the above

4. The fundamental innovation of hip hop music in the 1970s, which made it entirely distinct from other genres that it drew upon (including soul, funk, and reggae) is:
*a) DJ manipulation and repetition of “break beats”
b) cyclical form
c) spoken “rapping” over music
d) lyrics about social and political issues

5. Although he was born in Tupalo, Mississippi, Elvis Presley made his first recordings in which city?
a) Chicago
b) Los Angeles
c) New York
*d) Memphis

6. Which of the following genres of music, by its preservation on recordings and by a series of imitations from one generation to the next, was a model for the focus on guitar in heavy metal?
a) classic blues
*b) country blues
c) bluegrass
d) jump blues

7. In general (despite the occasional exception), which of the following makes the experience of Latinos in New York different from that of Chicanos in Los Angeles?
a) New York Latinos have participated in jazz, hip hop, and other U.S. styles of popular music
*b) New York Latinos have been more strongly associated with Caribbean-derived genres, like mambo and salsa, that had significant popularity as dance music for anglos
c) New York Latinos have maintained some relationship with the cultures of their parents
d) New York Latinos have developed verbal slang that expresses their ‘in between’ cultural identity

8. How does urban folk music of the 1950s and 1960s most clearly differ from the rural styles that inspired it?
a) its stress on acoustic instruments and sounds
b) its values of participation and community
*c) its association with progressive politics
d) its common use of strophic and verse and chorus forms

9. This genre was significantly popularized in the U.S. by British bands in its early stages:
a) ‘60s rock
b) punk
c) heavy metal
*d) all of the above

10. Which of the following genres of music did not have significant roots in DJ practices?
a) disco
b) reggae
*c) funk
d) hip hop

11. Early house music is most strongly associated with what city?
a) Detroit
*b) Chicago
c) New York
d) San Francisco

12. A British punk band who caused controversy when they released the song “God Save the Queen”, which was strongly critical of the royal monarchy:
a) The Ramones
b) Judas Priest
*c) The Sex Pistols
d) Bad Brains

13. Which of the following is NOT considered one of the four main elements of hip hop?
a) breaking
*b) moshing
c) graffiti
d) rapping

14. A dominant formal structure for commercial popular songs since the early twentieth century, associated especially with Tin Pan Alley:
*a) AABA
b) call and response
c) cyclical
d) all of the above

15. The advent of MTV coincided with the commercial demise of which genre?
a) heavy metal
*b) disco
c) punk
d) hip hop

16. An important influence on early reggae music was:
a) British punk
*b) American R&B
c) bhangra music
d) hip hop


Part II—Listening.
Each example will be played twice. Read the questions carefully before listening.

Example 1 Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair
17. What is the form of this song?
a) AAB
b) AABBACCDD
c) call and response
*d) AABA

18. Who composed this song?
a) Scott Joplin
*b) Steven Foster
c) Bessie Smith
d) Jim Crow

19. Which of the following terms best describes this music, as it was marketed and used in its time?
*a) parlor music
b) opera
c) broadway show song
d) traditional folk ballad

Example 2 “Get Up Stand Up”
20. Which of the following genre names best describes the style of this song?
a) funk
b) soul
c) doo wop
*d) reggae

21. The commercial success of this genre of music can be explained, in part, by:
a) an exceptionally large record-buying public in Jamaica
b) its attractive MTV videos
*c) competition between sound system DJs, which fueled creative competition between recording studios
d) the international spread of ska music, which preceded the advent of this musical style by two decades

22. Although this artist’s long dreadlocks (hair style) and the marijuana “spliff” featured in many images of him were consistent with counter cultural imagery world wide, they were for him markers of this religion:
a) Christianity
b) Islam
c) Voodoo
*d) Rastafarianism

Example 3 “Norwegian Wood” 23.What aspect of this song exemplifies a broader international connection that these musicians made in their music and their personal lives?
a. its reference to Norway
b. its similarity to the Viennese waltz
*c. use of the North Indian sitar
d. all of the above

24. A stylistic aspect of this song that distinguishes it from most other pop songs of its time:
*a) its rhythmic meter
b) lyrics that deal with romance
c) its 3-minute length
d) strophic form

Example 4 “Night of the Living Baseheads”
25. The form/texture, respectively, of this recording are best described as:
a) AABA/homophonic
b) AABA/polyrhythmic
*c) cyclical/polyrhythmic
d) cyclical/unison

26. The lyrics of this song refer to:
*a) The crack cocaine epidemic that was sweeping through African-American communities at the time
b) Tensions between the L.A. police and young African-American males
c) The party lifestyle of inner-city youth
d) The sound of the music itself

27. Which aspect of rap music is this group most commonly given credit for establishing?
a) focus on the DJ/turntablist
*b) socially and politically conscious lyrics
c) the break beat
d) lyrics about milkshakes

Example 5 “I Wanna Be Sedated”
28. This group’s music was an early precedent for what genre?
*a) punk
b) heavy metal
c) disco
d) classic rock

29. In what respect is this song typical of that genre?
a) fast tempo
b) simple chord progression
c) lack of instrumental virtuosity
*d) all of the above

30. This song was intended as:
a) an effort to break into the Top Forty with a catchy hook
*b) a parody of pop song generally, and the Beach Boys in particular
c) a coded celebration of psycho-active drugs
d) a mixture of country, blues, and rock

Example 6 “Smoke on the Water”
31. This group’s music was an early precedent for what genre?
a) punk
*b) heavy metal
c) disco
d) psychedelic rock

32. Which aspect of this recording most clearly points to that genre (previous question)?
a) cyclical form
*b) distorted and heavy timbres
c) use of brass instruments
d) keyboard solos

33. An instrument that enters for the first time with the voice, and which suggests the link between this recording and the tradition of art rock or progressive rock:
a) guitar
*b) organ
c) trumpet
d) drums

Example 7
34. What is the name of this group?
a) Judas Priest
b) the Clash
*c) Nirvana
d) Sub Pop
35. This group got its start with what record label?
a) Chess
b) Sun Studios
c) Stax
*d) Sub Pop

36. Which of the following aspects of this song distinguishes it from most punk music that preceded it?
a) distorted electric guitars
*b) carefully crafted arrangement and textural changes
c) screaming vocals
d) rebellious attitude


Bonus Questions:
37. In relation to Chicano/Mexican contributions to jazz, the importance of the “1884 World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition” held in New Orleans was:
*a) The main entertainment was the band of the “8th regiment of the Mexican Cavalry” which became a huge hit and influenced the New Orleans music scene.
b) A large number of Mexican cotton growers attended the event bringing with them music from Mexico
c) A large number of Chicanos/Mexicans were employed to work at this event and were exposed to New Orleans music.
d) A Chicano jazz band was hired for the main entertainment.

38. Which of the following statements provides the most defensible ground on which to argue that independent labels stimulate innovation more than major labels?
a) the majors are interested in making money, while the indies just do it for love
*b) the majors seek to invest in a few big stars, while the indies are more willing to take a chance with commercially unproven groups
c) the majors emphasize image more than talent, whereas the reverse is true with indies
d) the majors provide less financial backing to their artists than do the indies

39. Which of the following independent record labels essentially created its own sound, by systematic artist coaching and production techniques, as opposed to the others that captured a sound that had already developed in local clubs and performance venues?
a) Chess in Chicago
*b) Motown in Detroit
c) Sub Pop in Seattle
d) Sugar Hill Records in New Jersey (New York area)

40. Which of the following hip hop artists was a former gang member and also was a pioneer in integrating European electronic studio sounds into hip hop?
a) Eminem
b) Snoop Dog
c) Ice Cube
*d) Africa Bambaata