Popular Musics After 1945

Popular Musics After 1945

Need Help Writing an Essay?

Tell us about your assignment and we will find the best writer for your paper.

Write My Essay For Me

TAKE-HOME FINAL EXAM

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE.

Answer five of the following questions. Only the first five answers you give will be graded, so there is no advantage in choosing more than five.

In order to make it easier for the TAs to grade, please delete any questions you do not plan on answering, and then type your answers underneath the remaining questions. Please leave the questions in bold, and please make sure your answers are non-bolded.

For each question, write no more than 400 words. You might be able to answer some of these in less space than that, so there’s no minimum length but there is a maximum.

Each question will be marked out of 100%. There is no set number of “points” to cover for each question, so just focus on writing the most complete and insightful answer you can.

If you have any questions while working on the exam, feel free to email me.

Please save your final answer document as a .PDF or .DOCX file, and upload it to cuLearn using the link under Topic 14 by no later than 11:59pm on April 25th

1: Briefly name the three main genres that were combined in early soul music, and briefly say why this combination was controversial (both of these parts together should only take one sentence). Then, in more detail, state the main similarities and differences between the Stax and Motown record labels, and how those similarities and differences might be described in terms of how the two labels combined and emphasized specific typical features of each of those three foundational genres.

2: Why is Black Sabbath generally said to be the first heavy metal band? What made them different from similar bands like Led Zeppelin and Cream (in ways that cause people to associate them with the creation of a brand new genre), but also what did they have in common with those bands?

3: Name the four pillars of hip-hop culture. For any two of them, also name an earlier style or topic we’ve studied that they clearly draw from, and say how they do so. Do this separately for each of the two pillars you choose, so that you are addressing two earlier styles/topics rather than the same one for both of them.

4: Name and briefly describe three techniques practiced by DJs/turntablists since the early 1980s which are comparable to performance techniques on more traditional instruments (i.e., the sorts of techniques which have allowed DJing to become recognized as a form of composition and performance, rather than just “playing records”). This question is mainly about describing how different techniques work, and what musical effects they create, so you can select freely between hip-hop DJing and other kinds of dance DJing without needing to make distinctions between the genres.

5: What were the main similarities between Tin Pan Alley pop and Brill Building pop? Why are they both described under the same large umbrella term (pop), but at the same time why do some popular music historians see something importantly different about the Brill Building style?

6: In what ways did early 1960s girl groups open up new possibilities for female self-representation in popular music, and in what ways did they continue to perpetuate older gender stereotypes?

7: Consider the following distinct historical phases in meanings of the term “folk music”: 19th-century romantic nationalism; post-1940s politicized folk revival; 1960s and 1970s singer-songwriters. In each phase, what were the main determinants of folk “authenticity” (i.e., what did committed listeners and artists tend to mean or want when they used words like “authentic”)? What might be said to be consistent through these various phases, and what changed quite radically?

8: Consider the following list of formal structures that we’ve named and studied over the course of the term: strophic form; 12-bar blues form; Tin Pan Alley pop ballad form (aka 32-bar chorus form); sectional form; EDM form. From this list, pick two that you feel are quite different in formal terms and which also create quite different musical effects. Describe the formal definition of each in detail, and also say how those formal properties allow for specific musical effects that differ.

9: One feature of mid-1970s U.K. punk is that it was generally perceived as oppositional to progressive rock (in the early-70s meaning of that term). In what ways can specific features of U.K. punk be seen as opposing specific features of progressive rock? Consider not just musical style, but also things like fashion, performance contexts, ideology, etc. Discuss at least 3-4 different topics here.