Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Music

The Essence of Hip Hop Culture

Hip Hop is an artistic and cultural movement composed of a large conglomerate of artistic forms. It is characterized by four elements, which represent different manifestations of culture: Rap (Oral: reciting or singing), Turntablism or "DJing" (auditory or musical), Breaking (Body: dance), and Graffiti (visual: painting). Despite their varied and contrasting methods of implementation, these elements are often associated with the poverty and violence that underpinned the historical context giving rise to the subculture.

Hip Hop's Roots: Self-Expression in Urban New York

For young people in the urban poor areas of New York, Hip Hop offered a reactionary outlet against inequalities and hardships. Initially, it functioned... Continue reading "Hip Hop: Culture, Elements, and Music's Profound Influence" »

Quiz 4

David by Donatello

Origin: Florence, 1440, Early Italian Renaissance

Reappearance of the nude figure, contrapposto, of a biblical hero.

Madonna of the Rocks

Origin: Milan, 1483, High Italian Renaissance

David by Michelangelo

Origin: Florence, 1501, High Italian Renaissance

Symbolizes civil liberties embodied in the Republic of Florence.

Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo

Origin: Rome, 1508, High Italian Renaissance

Commissioned by Pope Julius II. Four years work on 300 figures in the Creation of Mankind.

Villa Rotonda by Palladio

Origin: Vicenza, 1550, High Italian Renaissance

Shows Roman aspects like columns and a dome, similar to the Parthenon.

Merode Altarpiece by Robert Campin

Origin: Tournai, 1430, Northern Renaissance

Controversial painting triggering... Continue reading "Key Artworks and Architecture: Renaissance to Art Nouveau" »

Intro to Entertainment Management

ENTERTAINMENT AND POPULAR CULTURE - The impact of pop icons and performers in music, dance, and theatre combined with social media has made the entertainment industry a rave for popular culture to thrive. Pop culture is entertainment, music, and sports. Popular culture is distributed across many forms of mass communication.

MUSIC AND POP CULTURE - It contrasts with high cultural art forms, such as opera, classical music, and artworks, magazines, radio, television, movies, music, books, cheap novels, comics, cartoons, and advertising. After the Industrial Revolution, people had increased leisure time. This led to a demand for amusement and entertainment, which also prompted the growth of mass media.

ENTERTAINMENT... Continue reading "Exploring Entertainment Management and Popular Culture" »

Renaissance Architecture

Stone was the main material for building. Greek and Roman architecture orders in the columns, flat and vaulted. Churches with a Latin or Greek cross ground plan.

Quattrocento: Florence was the main city. Brunelleschi's dome of Florence Cathedral covered the space of 417 meters by building a double dome. Leon Battista Alberti: Santa Maria Novella and Rucellai Palace and Sant'Andrea. Block of stone, several floors, windows are formed by Greek columns.

Cinquecento: Rome was the main city. The popes commissioned lots of buildings.

Renaissance Painting

Quattrocento: Influenced by classical art. They were interested in the human body. Main subjects were mythology, religion, and portraits. Boticelli: Mythological paintings with... Continue reading "Renaissance Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, and Influence in Europe" »

Folk Music and Ethnomusicology

Folklore encompasses the traditional beliefs, stories, customs, and art of a community. Ethnomusicology is the study of traditional music, dance, and instruments, with Béla Bartók as one of its founders.

Examples of folk music include:

• Lullabies
• Love songs (serenades)
• Music for festivities and rituals (Christmas, Easter, funerals)
• Work songs
• Play songs
• Dance music

Musical Phrases and Repetition

A musical phrase is a meaningful segment of a melody. Repetition is common in music, such as:

• Canon: A composition with several parts repeating the same melody.
• Ostinato: A repeated accompanying pattern.

Call and response is a participatory pattern found in various African cultures, involving a leader and a group response.

Traditional

Musicians

They have a maximum play time & minimum fees for different types & length of performance.

Set times

When you plan an event/entertainment you must know that the standard play time is 40 mins before taking a break. Breaks should last no longer than 15-20mins. It also depends on the vibrancy of the preceding performance.

Cover bands

What is a dance band? Dance bands are otherwise known as variety bands/cover bands. They perform top dance hits that your wedding party guests/corporate event audience will enjoy.

Musicians & vocalists

Versatile & play everything from jazz, soul, motown, disco, R&B, blues, pop, contemporary, swing, to current dance music hits. A dance band will typically include male and female vocalists, a saxophone,... Continue reading "Musicians, Set Times, Cover Bands, and Variety Entertainment" »

Circumstances Enabling Renaissance Art and Culture

• Economic prosperity followed the end of epidemics and famines in the Middle Ages. A new social class arose that demanded culture, art, and music: wealthy merchants (the bourgeoisie) became patrons of the arts, in addition to the nobility and the clergy.
• The birth of humanism, a mindset that promoted the development of art (not only religious art as before) to cater to human needs.
• The wisdom of Antiquity was widely spread, emphasizing human concerns.
• The invention of the printing press and travels around the world (including the arrival in America) eased the expansion of new trends.

How Humanism Influenced Renaissance Music

• The diffusion of knowledge affected music as well, helped by the printing

What Does Baroque Adjective Mean?

-Meaning “regularly shaped”. At first, the word in French was used mostly to refer to pearls. Eventually, it came to describe an extravagant style of art characterized by curving lines, gilt and gelt.

Musical Instruments of Baroque:

a) What is a Luthier? The composer who cares for the timbric richness of his works and the interpreter will specialize in his instruments, which will lead to the first virtuosos.

b) Who was the most famous luthier? Amanti, Stradivari and Guarnieri.

c) Where did he come from? Stradivari made palatino quartet and kept in the royal palace in Madrid.

d) Do you know interesting anecdotes about him?

Religious Music:

a) Cantata: is a simpler form composed by texts or popular religious themes.... Continue reading "Baroque Period: Music, Art, and Society" »

1. This individual is sometimes viewed as the “father” of big band swing: Fletcher Henderson
2. The practice of pitting one section against another in alternating patterns is called: antiphonal voicing
3. Which of the following in NOT a feature of Count Basie’s solo style toward the end of his career: Long, complicated melodies in right hand
4. This Ellington sideman came to be known as the father of the jazz bass solo: Jimmy Blanton
5. This swing artist was discovered at a talent contest at Harlem’s Apollo Theater: Ella Fitzgerald
6. The famous nickname given to Billie Holiday by her close friend Lester Young was: Lady Day
7. The two most prominent alto saxophone players of the swing period were Johnny Hodges and: Benny Carter
8. Coleman Hawkins’ most famous recording

1. Pop Music

What is Pop Music?

• A genre of popular music originating in the 1950s.
• Derived from Rock and Roll.
• Often borrows from other genres like dance, urban, and rock.

Structure of Pop Music: 32-Bar AABA

• Also known as 32-bar form, American Songbook, or ballad form.
• Common in jazz standards and still found in pop music (often modified).
• Each letter (AABA) represents 4x8 (or 8 bars).
• A: Main melody; the 2nd A can be identical, similar, or a response.
• B: Middle eight or bridge, usually contrasting with A. Example: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Voices in Pop

• In Harmony: Singing different notes that harmonize.
• In Unison: All singing the same notes.
• Descant: Singing a higher part in time with the main tune.
• Call and Response: Repeating the lead vocalist or