The Technicals | Terms and Types | Old Folks and Newcomers | What's in a Canon? | Big Ideas |
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What is an orchestra?
A group of musicians in Western music made up of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.
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What is opera buffa?
A comic opera form from Italy
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Who is Sissieretta Jones (1868-1933)?
The highest-paid African American musician of her day, and the founder of Black Patti's Troubadours
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Who is Kendrick Lamar (b. 1987)?
The artist of the album "To Pimp a Butterfly," and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize
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What is roasting (or the dozens)?
A way of demonstrating playful linguistic excellence through carefully worded insults
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What is a concerto?
A piece of music for solo instrument and orchestra
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What is a primadonna?
During the 19th century, the leading lady of an opera cast
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Who is Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)?
The sister of the winner of the Prix de Rome in 1913, and a famous composition teacher in Paris
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Who is Beyoncé (b. 1981)?
The artist who referenced the Black Panthers in her Superbowl halftime show featuring her song "Formation"
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What is Fluxus?
A coalition of artists that included Moorman, Paik, and Yoko Ono with a manifesto about accessible art
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What is call and response?
A style with West African roots that involves a leader and a chorus singing (or speaking) back and forth to each other
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What is rubato?
The flexible handling of rhythm
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Who is Clara Schumann (1819-1896)?
A virtuoso nineteenth-century pianist and composer whose husband was a student of her father
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Who is Eric Satie (1866-1925)?
A two-time dropout of the Paris Conservatoire who penned a piece with instructions to play it 840 times
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What is a song cycle?
Especially in nineteenth-century Germany, a collection of songs that are organized around a central story or theme
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What is meter?
How the beats are divided (often into twos or threes)
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What is aleatoric music or chance music?
A compositional style which is not controlled by the composer
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Who is Yvette Janine Jackson?
Composer of "radio opera" who began her studies at Columbia University's computer music center
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What are spirituals?
The roots of jazz are often said to be in ragtime, blues, and this iconic African American song form
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What is polytonality?
The use of several keys at once (as in Stravinsky's Rite of Spring)?
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What is sonata form?
The form that is often the first movement of a symphony
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What is bel canto style?
A 19th century Italian singing style characterized by perfect legato and agile delivery
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Who is Charlotte Moorman (1933-1991)?
The cellist who worked with Nam June Paik on the composition "TV Cello" (1971)
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Who is Carlos ChĂ vez (1899-1978)?
A composer interested in pre-conquest Mexico, who wrote two Aztec ballets
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What is double consciousness?
W. E. B. DuBois's famous term for the internal conflict experienced by subordinated or colonized groups in an oppressive society
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