CHAPTER 51 A Good Beat: American Vernacular Music at the
Close of an Era
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. An important American instrumental ensemble of the nineteenth century was the
a. symphony orchestra. c. brass band.
b. minstrel show. d. jazz band.
2. The most famous eighteenth-century American band was the
a. Washington Posts. c. New York Civic Band.
b. U.S. Marine Band. d. Boston Pops Band.
3. Players of brass and woodwind instruments were able to march in the late nineteenth century thanks
to instrument designers such as
a. Adolphe Sax. c. Harry T. Burleigh.
b. Scott Joplin. d. Patrick S. Gilmore.
4. Which of the following describes the career of Patrick S. Gilmore?
a. led the Union Army band in concerts
b. composed When Johnny Comes Marching Home
c. was a virtuoso cornet player
d. All answers shown here.
5. America’s most famous bandmaster was
a. Stephen Foster. c. Charles Ives.
b. John Philip Sousa. d. Scott Joplin.
6. John Philip Sousa conducted the
a. Washington Posts. c. New York Civic Band.
b. U.S. Marine Band. d. Boston Pops Band.
7. John Philip Sousa composed
a. The Washington Post. c. The Stars and Stripes Forever.
b. Semper Fidelis. d. All answers shown here.
8. Which American composer became known as the “King of Ragtime”?
a. Sousa c. Strauss
b. Joplin d. Armstrong
9. Scott Joplin became famous when
a. Treemonisha was premiered.
b. he moved to New York.
c. his Maple Leaf Rag sold a million copies.
d. he performed in Missouri.
10. Scott Joplin was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his opera
a. Treemonisha. c. The Maple Leaf Rag.
b. A Guest of Honor. d. The Sting.
11. What is the principal musical characteristic of ragtime?
a. imitation c. syncopation
b. improvisation d. the use of American tunes
12. In Joplin’s rags, what is a strain?
a. the most difficult passage
b. a section usually having sixteen measures
c. the trio of a rag
d. the complicated rhythm in a rag
13. The American wind band tradition grew out of the ________ military band.
a. British c. German
b. French d. Irish
14. Who composed When Johnny Comes Marching Home ?
a. Patrick S. Gilmore c. Scott Joplin
b. John Philip Sousa d. Adolphe Sax
15. Which band leader was also a virtuoso cornet player?
a. Patrick S. Gilmore c. Scott Joplin
b. John Philip Sousa d. Adolphe Sax
16. Who was known as the “March King”?
a. Stephen Foster c. Patrick S. Gilmore
b. John Philip Sousa d. Scott Joplin
17. What nationality is Scott Joplin?
a. German c. Canadian
b. American d. English
18. In ragtime, a section usually having sixteen measures is called
a. a strain. c. the chorus.
b. a verse. d. the coda.
19. Syncopation is the principal musical characteristic of
a. ragtime. c. marches.
b. art songs. d. wind band music.
20. What is significant about the recording of the Maple Leaf Rag included with this textbook?
a. Scott Joplin recorded it. c. Dick Hyman recorded it.
b. Lang Lang recorded it. d. Willie “the Lion” Smith recorded it.
21. Scott Joplin was posthumously awarded the ________ for his opera Treemonisha.
a. Nobel Prize c. Grammy for Best New Album
b. Pulitzer Prize d. Gershwin Award
22. Who thought that recordings would reduce the demand for live performances?
a. Stephen Foster c. Patrick S. Gilmore
b. John Philip Sousa d. Scott Joplin
23. The Joplin recording of the Maple Leaf Rag included with this textbook was originally created on
a. a piano roll. c. a recording lathe.
b. a two-track recording machine. d. compact disc.
24. What is the meter for the Maple Leaf Rag ?
a. duple c. quadruple
b. triple d. mixed
25. What style developed in the late 1800s primarily among African American performers that took Euro-American traditions and
modified them through rhythmic and melodic variation?
a. opera buffa c. bebop
b. ragtime d. jazz
1. Prior to the nineteenth century, the United States had no band tradition.
2. After the Civil War, the Union Army band was directed by Patrick S. Gilmore.
3. Patrick S. Gilmore composed the popular march The Stars and Stripes Forever.
4. John Philip Sousa created a sensation in both the United States and Europe.
5. John Philip Sousa conducted arrangements of ragtime.
6. Scott Joplin introduced the Maple Leaf Rag on a concert tour of Canada.
7. Scott Joplin received a Pulitzer Prize immediately after the premiere of his opera Treemonisha.
8. Ragtime was named for its ragged, highly syncopated rhythms and melodies.
9. In piano rags, the left hand plays the syncopated melody.
10. Some actual performances of Scott Joplin are preserved on piano rolls.
11. Patrick S. Gilmore was a virtuoso cornet player.
12. John Philip Sousa invented ragtime.
13. The sections of a ragtime piece are called strains.
14. The Maple Leaf Rag was not widely known until 1971.
15. Joplin received royalties for his music instead of flat payments.
16. Although Sousa benefited from recordings of his music, he was not a fan of the technology.
1. What impact do the band and band music have on American culture? Include examples in your answer.
2. Describe the essence and typical structure of ragtime music.
3. Discuss Scott Joplin’s contribution to American music.
PART 6: TWENTIETH-CENTURY MODERNISM
PRELUDE 6 Making Music Modern
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. The artistic trends of the early twentieth century can best be characterized as
a. a reaction against Romanticism. c. influenced by Romanticism.
b. influenced by an earlier era. d. an extension of Romantic ideals.
2. How did non-Western arts influence twentieth-century Western arts?
a. Western artists sought the spontaneity of primitive art.
b. The abstraction of African sculpture influenced Western painters.
c. Western composers adopted non-Western rhythms in their music.
d. All answers shown here.
3. The concept of art was rejected by
a. Impressionism. c. Dadaism.
b. Expressionism. d. surrealism.
4. Which composer was MOST closely associated with Dadaism?
a. Stravinsky c. Debussy
b. Satie d. Schoenberg
5. Salvador Dali and Joan Miró are associated with
a. Impressionism. c. Dadaism.
b. Expressionism. d. surrealism.
6. Which early twentieth-century movement declared an alienation from established institutions?
a. Dadaism c. surrealism
b. Futurism d. Expressionism
7. In which cultural center did Cubism develop?
a. London c. Rome
b. New York d. Paris
8. The movement whose artists explored creativity by breaking from social and artistic conventions was called
a. surrealism. c. Impressionism.
b. post-Romanticism. d. the avant-garde.
9. What is vaudeville?
a. a type of operetta set in small villages
b. musicals based on romance and comedy
c. a type of comedic musical sketch, many of them written by immigrant composers
d. a ballad opera
10. The center of music publishing in New York was called
a. Broadway. c. Washington Square.
b. Tin Pan Alley. d. Times Square.
11. Irving Berlin’s first hit song was
a. Hinky Dinky Parlez Vous. c. When Johnny Comes Marching Home.
b. Summertime. d. Alexander’s Ragtime Band.
12. Which early twentieth-century songwriter composed the wartime hit Over There?
a. Irving Berlin c. Victor Herbert
b. George M. Cohan d. John Philip Sousa
13. Which American musician introduced ragtime and early jazz styles to France during the First World War?
a. James Reese Europe c. Irving Berlin
b. Scott Joplin d. John Philip Sousa
14. Which of the following statements characterizes America during the 1920s?
a. Women gained the right to vote. c. Jazz flourished.
b. Alcohol was banned. d. All the answers shown here.
15. For what kind of jazz is Duke Ellington known?
a. big band c. bebop
b. New Orleans d. third stream
16. The element of rhythm in twentieth-century music is best characterized as
a. adhering to the basic metrical patterns of the past.
b. disregarding the basic metrical patterns of the past.
c. adopting dance rhythms borrowed from the folk idiom.
d. returning to the patterns of the Baroque era.
17. The element of melody in twentieth-century music is best characterized by
a. a singing vocal style.
b. balanced phrases.
c. wide leaps and dissonant intervals.
d. a consideration of melody as the primary element in music.
18. The element that MOST decisively separated twentieth-century music from that of the past was
a. melody. c. rhythm.
b. harmony. d. texture.
19. What type of harmony is implied by stacked chords?
a. atonal c. twelve-tone
b. polyharmony d. diatonic
20. The emphasis on rhythm brought the ________ section of the orchestra to greater prominence.
a. brass c. string
b. woodwind d. percussion
21. When did sound recording make vernacular music traditions more prominent?
a. twentieth century c. 1926
b. nineteenth century d. mid-twentieth century
22. When did the first wave of modernist attitudes take hold?
a. after the First World War c. just before the First World War
b. during the First World War d. in 1903
23. Which art movement declared in its 1909 manifesto a focus on the dynamism of twentieth-century life?
a. Futurism c. Dadaism
b. Expressionism d. Cubism
24. Which artist(s) is/are associated with Cubism?
a. Salvador Dali and Joan Miró c. Marcel Duchamp
b. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque d. Henri Rousseau
25. ________ was a type of comedic musical sketch, written by immigrant composers, that often satirized immigrants.
a. Tin Pan Alley c. Dadaism
b. Vaudeville d. Opera buffa
26. The simultaneous use of several rhythmic patterns is called
a. multi-rhythm. c. jazz.
b. polyrhythm. d. homorhythm.
27. Which composer advocated for the elimination of harmonic centers altogether?
a. Aaron Copland c. Igor Stravinsky
b. Arnold Schoenberg d. George Gershwin
1. During the early twentieth century, the arts were marked by artists’ desire to throw off the style of the nineteenth century and to
capture the spontaneity of primitive life.
2. Dadaism embraced the complexity of Western art.
3. Pablo Picasso is associated with Cubism.
4. Surrealism was based on geometric patterns.
5. Avant-garde artists sought to distinguish themselves from traditional “high culture” and from mass-market tastes.
6. Irving Berlin was a successful Tin Pan Alley composer.
7. Radio underwent enormous growth during the 1920s.
8. The Depression had little impact on the performing arts.
9. Big-band swing was the dominant form of American popular music in the 1930s and 1940s.
10. The complexity of rhythm in modern Western music far exceeds that in Asian and African music.
11. Composers of modern music enlivened their music with the rhythms of popular music.
12. Melody in early twentieth-century music is characterized by wide leaps and dissonant intervals.
13. Although polyharmony features chords with six to seven notes, it still sounds consonant.
14. Percussion instruments came into prominence in modern music.
15. The first wave of modernist attitudes took hold in 1918, just after the end of the First World War.
16. Erik Satie is a French composer associated with Dadaism.
17. Avant-garde is a French term that originally described the part of an army that charged into battle.
18. Vaudeville had its roots in minstrel shows.
19. Irving Berlin introduced ragtime and early jazz styles to France.
20. The elimination of harmonic centers is generally described as polyharmony.
1. Describe the major artistic trends of the early twentieth century, and note how they were a reaction against earlier styles. Include
examples in your answer.
2. Describe the role that musical theater has played in the emergence of American popular music.
3. Describe the changing role of harmony in twentieth-century music.
4. Discuss the ways in which performers were sometimes caught between preserving nineteenth-century traditions and embracing the
ideal sounds for the twentieth century.