SELECTION QUESTIONS

These questions should be projected or in some other way presented to students as they hear the selections. It would be best for the teacher to prepare some answers in case students do not respond sufficiently.

Tell them to write briefly and to focus most of their attention on listening to the selections rather than composing responses.

 

1.     BAMBOULA: No questions. Students should be familiar with the selection from the previous day’s lesson.

 

2.     CASCADES:

·        What adjectives would you use to describe this piece?

·        In what ways does it seem different from Bamboula?

·        What musical instrument do you hear?

·        Would you call this a listening piece or a dancing piece?

·        What do you feel driving the piece, keeping it moving along?

 

3.     I HATE A MAN LIKE YOU (disc 1 # 14)

·        What adjectives would you use to describe this piece?

·        Does this selection seem happier, jazzier, blusier, or in some other way different from the previous pieces?

·        What do the lyrics suggest about the life of the writer, Jelly Roll Morton?

·        What reaction do you have to the lyrics?

·        What musical instruments do you hear.

·        What about the style of playing and singing sets the mood of the selection?

4.     JUST A CLOSER WALK WITH THEE

·        What adjectives would you use to describe this piece?

·        How does this selection seem different from the previous selections?

·        In what way are the lyrics different from those of I Hate a Man Like You?

·        If you have sung this hymn in church, is the style heard here like the style you have sung?

·        What does the inclusion of this song in the New Orleans jazz tradition suggest about the people of New Orleans?

 

5.     BRASS BAND MEDLEY (disc 1, #7)

·        What adjectives would you use to describe this piece?

·        This is a collection of several songs. What similarity do you notice between the various songs?

·        What similarities do you notice with the previous selections?

·        What differences do you notice with the previous selections?

·        What does the inclusion of this song in the New Orleans jazz tradition suggest about the people of New Orleans?

·        Songs such as this were played by marching bands. What do you notice about the speed of the song?

·        Based on this selection and the previous selection, what social institution do you think was key to the lives of the people of New Orleans, particularly in the inner city and the African American community?

6.     Mama Inez

·        What adjectives would you use to describe this piece?

·        What is the chief difference you notice between this selection and the earlier selections?

·        What instruments do you hear being used?

·        Is the instrumentation similar or different from that of the earlier selections?

·        How might the location of New Orleans have been important in songs such as this becoming part of the New Orleans tradition?

·        In what language does the vocalist seem to be singing?