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CHAPTER 62 New Sound Palettes: Mid-Twentieth-Century
American Experimentalists
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Who studied the music of Japan, India, and Iran and combined Asian instruments with traditional Western ensembles?
a. John Cage c. Henry Cowell
b. Aaron Copland d. Harry Partch
2. Which innovative composer first explored tone clusters at the piano?
a. Aaron Copland c. Henry Cowell
b. Harry Partch d. John Cage
3. Which of the following was the MOST serious proponent of microtonal technique?
a. Aaron Copland c. Henry Cowell
b. Harry Partch d. John Cage
4. Which innovative composer constructed a scale of forty-three microtones to the octave and built instruments with this tuning?
a. Aaron Copland c. Henry Cowell
b. Harry Partch d. John Cage
5. Harry Partch experimented with a ________ tuning system.
a. microtonal c. pentatonic
b. modal d. whole tone
6. Which of the following musical concepts is/are associated with John Cage?
a. noise as music c. chance music
b. gamelan-type ensembles d. All answers shown here.
7. Which of the following works by John Cage has no musical content and can be performed by anyone on any instrument?
a. Sonatas and Interludes c. I Ching
b. Fontana Mix d. 4'33"
8. Which of the following composers invented the prepared piano?
a. Harry Partch c. Henry Cowell
b. John Cage d. Pierre Boulez
9. John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes evoke the sounds of the
a. bagpipe of eastern Europe. c. Javanese gamelan.
b. Japanese koto. d. sitar of India.
10. John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes is a work for
a. chamber ensemble. c. violin and piano.
b. prepared piano. d. a synthesizer.
11. John Cage is a composer born in
a. the United States. c. Germany.
b. Canada. d. Indonesia.
12. Sonata V, from John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes, is in ________ form.
a. binary c. rondo
b. ternary d. sonata-allegro
13. Which of the following characterizes the music of George Crumb?
a. unusual effects, including Sprechstimme
b. new sonorities
c. quarter tones
d. All answers shown here.
14. George Crumb taught composition at
a. Yale University. c. the University of Pennsylvania.
b. Harvard University. d. the University of North Carolina.
15. George Crumb’s music includes many settings of ________’s poetry.
a. Robert Frost c. Rod McKuen
b. Federico García Lorca d. Emily Dickinson
16. Crumb’s Caballito negro is included in a book of
a. madrigals. c. piano preludes.
b. song cycles. d. chamber works.
17. What are the performing forces of Crumb’s Caballito negro ?
a. soprano, piccolo, percussion c. soprano, piano, piccolo
b. soprano, piano, percussion d. soprano, marimba, percussion
18. The ensemble known as gamelan comes from
a. China. c. Korea.
b. Japan. d. Java.
19. Gamelan instruments are made of
a. wood. c. glass.
b. metal. d. oil cans.
20. Composers influenced by gamelan music include
a. Cage. c. Harrison.
b. Cowell. d. All answers shown here.
21. Groups of adjacent notes played on the piano with the fist, palm, or forearm are called
a. microtones. c. chance music.
b. tone clusters. d. prepared piano.
22. Which composer is associated with chance music?
a. Aaron Copland c. Henry Cowell
b. Harry Partch d. John Cage
23. Which of the following composers challenged audiences to consider what is music and what is noise?
a. Harry Partch c. Henry Cowell
b. John Cage d. Pierre Boulez
24. Quickly moving the tongue as though “rolling an R” while blowing into the flute is called
a. flutter-tonguing. c. prepared-flute.
b. R-tonguing. d. speed tonguing.
25. The melody for Wayang: Patalon is based on
a. the chromatic scale. c. the diatonic scale.
b. the pentatonic scale. d. microtones.
26. The Indonesian islands of Java, Bali, and Sunda are known for
a. gamelan. c. Patalon.
b. chance music. d. prepared piano.
1. The composers Henry Cowell and Harry Partch were highly influenced by a variety of non-Western music.
2. Harry Partch was the first composer to experiment with tone clusters on the piano.
3. Harry Partch developed a scale with forty-three notes in an octave.
4. Prior to each performance of music for prepared piano, materials are inserted between the strings entirely at random.
5. John Cage’s 4'33" questions the distinction between music and noise.
6. Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes are traditional works for the standard grand piano.
7. The overall form of Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes is four groups of four sonatas each, with interludes between the groups.
8. George Crumb spent most of his teaching career at the University of Illinois.
9. The mood of Crumb’s Caballito negro can be described as grimly playful.
10. Gamelan music traditionally accompanied shadow-puppet plays.
11. John Cage developed instruments such as cloud-chamber bowls and gourd trees.
12. John Cage closely adhered to Western musical traditions.
13. Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes closely approximates the African instrument known as gamelan.
14. Gamelan is an orchestra of metallophones.
15. Gamelan music is typically passed on through oral traditions.
16. American composer Lou Harrison wrote a number of works for Javanese-style instruments.
1. Describe the influence of non-Western culture on twentieth-century composers of Western music. Include examples from the textbook
in your answer.
2. Discuss the prepared piano. How is it created, who developed it, and what sound does it mimic?
3. Discuss how Cage and Crumb rely on the extraordinary creativity of others for their works to be successful.
4. What expressive techniques does Crumb use in Caballito negro?
