1.

Give full details of your musical background and interests.2. Read the beginning chapters on Elements of Music. Now find a block of time when you can be left undisturbed for at least 5 minutes. The choice of time and location are entirely up to you.3. Try to describe and explain as many of the sounds around you as you can using a listening chart.

4. Write a concluding paragraph in which you address the following questions:a) Was there unity to what you were hearing? Did certain sounds keep repeating (like a barking dog). Or did things keep changing?b) What kind of sound environment was this? In the country early on a Sunday morning? A busy traffic intersection? An office…?c) How was your mood affected?5. Silvie? is a folk song composed by Huddie Ledbetter, a.k.

a. Lead Belly, (1889-19496. The ?Body and Soul? and Haydn ?scherzo? excerpts (pp. 32-34) both illustrate basic features of repetition and contrast, but they are obviously very different in terms of sound and style. What are some of the ways in which repetition and contrast are achieved in these examples ?7. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down? (pp.

57-58) is a remarkable example of a ballad song recalling a brutal event on the night of April 2,1865 during the last days of the American Civil War8. .?Nobody Knows the Trouble I?ve Seen? by Mahalia Jackson is an outstanding example of commercial black gospel9. How would you compare the two versions of Bourgeois Blues, by Leadbelly and Taj Mahal? How is that effect achieved with his special use of instruments10. Duke Ellington’s Mood Indigo, most people agree, has a mysterious, evocative quality.

11. Round Midnight? (pp.106-108) brings us to the world of bebop. The textbook refers to it as ?a cerebral, intellectual jazz? the emphasis is on unusual harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic treatments?? To what extent are these qualities present in this example?12. Amazing Grace (pp.74-76) is perhaps the most popular hymn in the English language and has been heard in hundreds of different versions13. This question comes in two parts. It is meant to acquaint you with two examples of POLYPHONY composed by the greatest exponent of it, Johann Sebastian Bach.

The first example is of imitative polyphony and comes from the First Book of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. By the way, you might want to look up information on the WTC–just for your own interest. Anyway, please turn to J.S. Bach?s Fugue in c minor(pp.242-244) Follow Goals, Guide, and Reflections.

Keep in mind that the word fugue comes from the same source as the word fugitive and refers to a chase of some sort; that is, one line of music chasing after another, and not very different in principle from what happens in Row, row, row your boat.The second example comes from J.S. Bach’s cantata, Wachet auf, his Cantata no. 140, fourth movement. Wachet auf is one of about 250 Lutheran cantatas which Bach wrote for the church of his day. The title Wachet auf comes from the name of the Protestant hymn (chorale) on which much of this particular cantata is based, and draws its lyrics from Matthew 25: 1-13, the story of the five wise and five foolish virgins.

Open your Bibles for more details. It remains to this day an inspiring story, not only about the nature of faith, but also about the virtues of being prepared for opportunities that can come your way.