Homework 2013-2014 C2 #1-3

Homework #1

Answer the following questions about the song, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
1. What ballet is this song a part of?
2. Who wrote the music?
3. When was he born?
4. What is the key signature of the song?

Homework #2
Answer the following questions about the movie Ray.
1. Where was Ray Robinson born?
2. How did he lose his eyesight?
3. What was the most important thing to his mother after that?
4. Where did he go to get his start as a professional musician?

Homework #3
Answer the following questions about  the movie Ray.
1. What was his record label when he had his first hit record?
2. What happened to get him banned from playing in the state Georgia?
3. Why did he fire his first manager?
4. How did he finally get off hard drugs?

Due Friday January 3rd, 2014 or Friday, January 10th if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2013-2014 C1 #28-30

Homework #28
Answer the following questions about the movie, Cadillac Records.
1. Who were the two important people who were left out of the movie?
2. Who was Willie Dixon?
3. Did most of the artists stay on Chess after it was sold?
4. What was Chuck Berry's biggest hit?

Homework #29
Answer the following questions about Bo Diddley.
1. What is the Bo Diddley beat?
2. What were some of Bo Diddley's hits?
3. Who was Jerome?
4. What was unusual about all his bands?

Homework #30
Answer the following questions about Heart and Soul.
1. Who wrote Heart and Soul?
2. When was it first a hit?
3. What are the chords?
4. What kind of music was popular at the time?

Due Friday November 22 or Wednesday Dec 4th if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2013-2014 C1 #25-27

Homework #25

1. What is the movie Cadillac Records about?

2. Why did Muddy Waters' music not go over so well in Chicago at first?

3. What changed that helped him become popular?

4. What was Leonard Chess' original idea about how he was going to make money?

5. How did Leonard come to start his record label?

6. What was his first hit record?

7. What happened to Leonard Chess' nightclub?

Homework #26

Answer the following questions:

1. What was Little Walter's main instrument?

2. What did Muddy Waters think of Howling Wolf?

3. Why did Chuck Berry come to Chicago?

4. What happened when Chuck Berry's music was played on the radio?

5. What was happening to the other artists on Chess Records at the time?

6. What was happening in America in general at this time?

Homework #27

Answer the following questions:

1. How did Leonard find Etta James?

2. What did he do for her when he found out about her father?

3. What trouble did Chuck Berry get into after he was a star?

4. Who helped Muddy Waters get the recognition he deserved?

5. What happened to Little Walter?

6. What happened to Leonard Chess?

7. What did Leonard do for Etta James before he died?

8. Name three songs that are in the movie?

Due Friday November 15 or November 22 if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2013-2014 C1 #22-24

Homework #22
Answer the following questions about the music to the movie Halloween:
1. Who is Michael Myers?
2. What is the time signature of his theme music?
3. Why does that make it seem unsettling?
4. What is another song in the original movie?

Homework #23
Answer the following questions about Fur Elise:
1. What was the original title of Fur Elise?
2. What is the key signature?
3. What are the only two chords the A section?
4. What are the first three notes of the left hand?

Homework #24
Answer the following questions about Fur Elise:
1. What is the first note (played with the right hand)?
2. What finger do most piano players use to play it?
3. Who was the Elise that Beethoven dedicated it to?
4. When was the song first published?

Due Friday November 8th or Friday November 15th if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2013-2014 C1 #19-21

Homework #19
Answer the following questions from the movie "Drumline":
1. What does the drum clef look like in drum notation?
2. What is the sticking for the "don't look down" exercise from "Drumline"?
3. What is the secret to playing it fast?
4. How do they each end the exercise?

Homework #20
Answer the following questions about the drum set:
1. What does the dominant hand do in the basic rock beat?
2. What does the other hand do?
3. What does the bass drum do?
4. When do you usually change it up?


Homework #21
Answer the following questions about drum circles:
1. What is a drum circle?
2. What instruments are usually found in drum circles?
3. What it the object of a drum circle?
4. What are the different ways you can play a cabasa?

Due Friday November 1st or Friday November 8th if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2013-2014 C1 #16-18

Homework #16
Answer the following questions:
1. Where did bachata music come from?
2. Who are some of the stars of bachata music?
3. What special device do most bachata guitar players use?
4. What are some of the other instruments heard in bachata?

Homework #17
Answer the following questions:
1. Who are some of the pioneers in electric guitar?
2. What is palm muting on the guitar?
3. Why is tuning such an issue with playing the guitar?
4. What was Jimi Hendrix most known for?


Homework #18
Answer the following questions:
1. What is double picking?
2. How do you play melodies when you double pick?
3. What genres of music would you find double-picking?
4. How do you hold the pick when you are double picking?

Due Friday October 25th or November 1st if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2013-2014 C1 #13-15

Homework #13
Answer the following questions:
1. What are some things you need to be able to do to read music?
2. What direction do you read music from?
3. What does it mean when there is a treble clef on the staff in traditional notation?
4. What does the foot pedal do on the piano?

Homework #14
Answer the following questions:
1. What rule of piano fingering do you have to break to play the intro arpeggio of Alicia Keys "If I Ain't Got You"?
2. How do you know what the key of a song is?
3. What key is "If I Ain't Got You" in?
4. What does the top number in the time signature stand for?

Homework #15
Answer the following questions:
1. Why does the opening notes of "Bella's Lullaby" (from the "Twilight" Movie) sound strange?
2. What is the key signature of the beginning of "Bella's Lullaby"?
3. What is difficult about the left hand part of "Bella's Lullaby"?
4. If you set you mind to do something there is nothing you can't do. What piece of music would you most like to be able to play?

Due Friday, October 18 or Friday, Oct 25 if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2013-2014 C1 #10-12

Homework #10

Answer the following questions:
1. What are drum rudiments?
2. Who invented them?
3. What was their original purpose?
4. What are the two most common ways to hold a drumstick?

Homework #11

Answer the following questions:
1. In musical notation what is the name of a note that gets 4 beats?
2. What does a half note look like?
3. What are the parts of a sixteenth note in traditional notation?
4. How do write 4 sixteenth notes in a row?

Homework #12
Answer the following questions:
1. How do you play a closed roll on drums?
2. What is a paradiddle?
3. What does the dominant hand do for most beats on the drum set?
4. What rhythm does the snare drum play in most pop music?

Due Friday October 11th or Friday October18th if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2013-2014 C1 #7-9

Homework #7
Answer the following questions:
1. What are the main parts of every guitar?
2. What is the number of the thickest string?
3. How many frets in an octave?

4. What is the order of operations for tuning the guitar?

Homework #8

Answer the following questions:
1. What notes are which strings tuned to in standard tuning on the guitar?
2. What notes are which strings tuned to in open D tuning?
3. How many chords are in the the song "These Boots Are Made For Walking"?
4.  Why is the rhythm to "Proud Mary" difficult to play?

Homework #9
Answer the following questions:
1. What is a power chord?
2. What is the shape of a power chord on the guitar?
3. What are downstrokes?
4. What is cross picking?

Due Friday October 4th or Friday October11th if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2013-2014 C1 #4-6

Homework #4

Answer the following questions:
1. What is the middle point between the G and A keys on the piano?
2. What is it called when notes are written down?
3. What are the numbers of each finger in piano music?
4. How many lines does the staff have in traditional notation?

Homework #5
Answer the following questions:

1. What does it mean when there is a treble clef at the beginning of the staff?
2. What is the nemonic to help you remember the spaces in the treble clef?
3. What is the nemonic to help you remember the lines in the treble clef?
4. What is the name of the music that we learned in Garageband Piano lesson #2?

Homework #6
Answer the following questions:
1. What fingers do you usually use for a root position chord?
2. What is an arpeggio?
3. What popular song did we learn that uses an arpeggio last week?
4. What is one rule for fingering on the piano?

Due by Sept 27th or October 4th if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com).

Homework 2013-2014 C1 #1-3

Homework #1

Answer the following questions:
1. What are the harmonics of a string?
2. What are the two strongest harmonics?
3. What are some factors that affect pitch?
4. What are some things you need to tune a piano?

Homework #2
Answer the following questions:

1. Who formalized the musical scale as we know it?
2. What was the invention that he used to do it?
3. What was the error he made in his discoveries?
4. Why do musicians ignore the error?

Homework #3
Answer the following questions:
1. How many different white notes are there on a piano?
2. What are the names of the different black notes?
3. Why should your wrists be straight when playing the piano?
4. Who are 5 biggest musical giants to influence the music you listen to?

Due by Sept 20th or Sept 27th if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com).

Homework 2012-2013 C3 #28-30

Homework #28
Answer the following questions:
1. What are some rules for playing music?
2. What are some rules that are commonly broken?
3. Do you think popular music is better or worse now than in the past? Why?
4. Do you think music now is more or less diverse? Why?

Homework #29
Answer the following questions:
1. What did Muddy Waters say the first time he heard himself recorded?
2. What are the different ways that people can record music?
3. Who invented the first sound recording device and when?
4. How has this affected our society?

Homework #30
Answer the following questions:
1. What are the usual steps for making a recording?
2. Who are some people doing research on music reproduction?
3. How does music fit into your life?
4. Who are 5 biggest musical giants to influence the music you listen to?

Due by the end of the 2012-2013 school year.

Homework 2012-2013 C3 #25-27

Homework #25
Answer the following questions:

1. What is the movie Cadillac Records about?

2. Why did Muddy Waters' music not go over so well in Chicago at first?

3. What changed that helped him become popular?

4. What was Leonard Chess' original idea about how he was going to make money?

5. How did Leonard come to start his record label?

6. What was his first hit record?

7. What happened to Leonard Chess' nightclub?

Homework #26

Answer the following questions:

1. What was Little Walter's main instrument?

2. What did Muddy Waters think of Howling Wolf?

3. Why did Chuck Berry come to Chicago?

4. What happened when Chuck Berry's music was played on the radio?

5. What was happening to the other artists on Chess Records at the time?

6. What was happening in America in general at this time?

Homework #27

Answer the following questions:

1. How did Leonard find Etta James?

2. What did he do for her when he found out about her father?

3. What trouble did Chuck Berry get into after he was a star?

4. Who helped Muddy Waters get the recognition he deserved?

5. What happened to Little Walter?

6. What happened to Leonard Chess?

7. What did Leonard do for Etta James before he died?

8. Name three songs that are in the movie?

Homework 2012-2013 C3 #22-24

Homework #22

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the definition of bass in music?

2. What is the usual function of the bass in pop music?

3. What are some less common uses for bass in music?

Homework #23

Answer the following questions:

1. What are some differences between the bass guitar and a regular guitar?

2. What are the similarities between the bass guitar and a regular guitar?

3. Who invented the first bass guitar?

4. Who made the first commercially successful bass guitar?

Homework #24

Answer the following questions:

1. What are some different ways of playing the bass guitar?

2. What materials are bass guitars made of?

3. How many strings does a bass guitar have?

4. Why do some bass players use 4 fingers for the first 3 frets?

Due Friday May 24 or Friday May 31 if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2012-2013 C3 #19-21

Homework #19

Answer the following questions:
1. What is one artist who popularized "swing music" in the early half of the last century?
2. How was swing music different from the jazz that came before it?
3. How can you describe swing music?
4. What does it mean when someone says the music swings?

Homework #20
Answer the following questions:
1. Who invented swing music?
2. What role did technology play in the popularity of swing?
3. How did the German Nazis regard swing music?
4. What was the next music to become popular after the swing era?

Homework #21
Answer the following questions:
1. What contemporary artists regularly use elements of swing in their music?
2. What are some modern artists that have revised the swing music style?
3. What are some styles that incorporate swing into hiphop and house?
4. What was one dance style associated with swing music?

Due Friday May 17th or Friday May 24th if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2012-2013 C3 #16-18

Homework #16

Answer the following questions:
1. What is the most common place for a drum fill?
2. Why have drum machines become so popular since the 80's?
3. What has replaced drum machines in most pop music?
4. What was the first drum machine and  who invented it?

Homework #17
Answer the following questions:
1. What are some common forms of musical notation?
2. What does it mean when there is a little dot after a note?
3. When writing music how do you indicate that a note should be held over into the next bar?
4. How do you indicate that something should be played smooth and flowing?

Homework #18
Answer the following questions:
1. How do you play a flam?
2. What is a flam tap?
3. In traditional notation what line is the snare drum usually written on?
4. What beat does the bass drum usually play on in most pop music?

Due Friday May 10th or Friday May 17th if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2012-2013 C3 #13-15

Homework #13
Answer the following questions:
1. What is the key signature of the original version of "Ordinary People" from Get Lifted?
2. Why did John Legend change it for live performance?
3. What are the three chords used in "Ordinary People"?
4. What is it about those chords that makes them sound sophisticated?

Homework #14
Answer the following questions:
1. In musical notation what is the value of a note that gets 4 beats?
2. What does a half note look like?
3. When writing music how do you decide what side of the note head the stem goes on?
4. How do write 4 sixteenth notes in a row?

Homework #15
Answer the following questions:
1. How do you play a closed roll on drums?
2. What is a paradiddle?
3. What does the dominant hand do for most beats on the drum set?
4. What rhythm does the snare drum play in most pop music?

Due Friday May 3rd or Friday May 10th if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2012-2013 C3 #10-12

Homework #10
Answer the following questions:
1. What is an arpeggio?
2. What is an octave?
3. What are scale degrees?
4. What is the scale degree of fa?


Homework #11
Answer the following questions about Fur Elise:
1. What are the notes the first figure that the left hand part plays?
2. What are the scale degrees of those notes?
3. In the second figure of the right hand what direction does the arpeggio go?
4. What does the left hand part have in common with John Legend's "Ordinary People"?

Homework #12
1. What are drum rudiments?
2. Who invented them?
3. What was their original purpose?
4. What are the two most common ways to hold a drumstick?

Due Friday April 26 or Friday May 3 if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2012-2013 C3 #7-9

Answer the following questions:

Homework #7
1. What was the original title of Fur Elise?
2. What notes are in an A minor chord?
3. Who is the "Elise" in "Fur Elise" rumored to be?

4. What is the 5th (so) of the key of A minor?

Homework #8
1. What are the two chords the A section of Fur Elise is based around?

2. What are the first 6 notes of the left hand part of Fur Elise?
3. What does the left hand do during the second chord?
4. What is one difference in the two endings of the A section?

Homework #9
1. What key does the B section of Fur Elise briefly go to?
2. What piano technique is used to play the first four notes of the B section?
3. How is the left hand part in the B section similar to the left hand in the A section?

4. How many sections are there in Fur Elise and how can they be described?

Due Friday April 19 or Friday April 26 by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2012-2013 C3 #4-6

Homework #4
Answer the following question:
What are the 7 most important rules for piano fingering?

Homework #5

Answer the following question:

Why are the black notes sometimes called sharps and sometimes called flats?

Homework #6

Answer the following questions:

1. What is an inversion?

2. What are the first and second inversions?

3. If it hurts or you get a cramp while playing the piano what should you do?

4. Why is the key of C the most popular key for beginning piano players to play in?

Due Friday, October 5, 2012 or Friday, October 12 if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2012-2013 C3 #1-3

Homework #1

Answer the following questions:
1. What connects the strings to the body of a guitar?
2. What is the number of the thickest string?
3. What is the main difference between an electric and acoustic guitar?
4. If you are right handed, what hand do you fret the guitar with?

Homework #2

Answer the following questions:
1. What is the first thing you must do to tune a guitar?
2. What can you use to help you tune the guitar?
3. What is each string tuned to in open D tuning?
4. What is one song that uses open D tuning?

Homework #3
Answer the following questions:
1. What is each string tuned to in standard tuning on the guitar?
2. What is it called when you lightly touch and play a string?
3. What is another way to play the guitar besides fretting it?
4. What is a power chord?

Due Friday April 12 or Friday April 19 if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2012-2013 C2 #16-18

Homework #16
Answer the following questions:
1. What is the destination of your song?
2. Is this a real place or an imaginary place?
3. Can you search the web to find a rhyme?
4. Why are the number of syllables in each line important?

Homework #17
Answer the following questions?
1. Why should you use earphones when recording a vocal in garageband?
2. If there is too much noise on your vocal track what can you do?
3. How can you get the t-pain effect on your vocal?
4. What are some ways to change the sound of your vocal?

Homework #18
Answer the following questions:
1. What does a audio compressor do?
2. What are the controls of a noise gate?
3. What is the purpose of an equalizer?
4. What are some ways to change the rhythm of your vocal in Garageband?

Due Friday, February  15, 2013 or Friday February 22, if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2012-2013 C2 #13-15

Homework #13
Answer the following questions:

1. What is "destination writing"?
2. When writing lyrics, what words should be the most emotionally charged?
3. What are the two types of detail you should balance in destination writing?
4. How can the rhythm scheme affect the rhyme scheme?

Homework #14

Answer the following questions:

1. In a hit song lyric, what does the verse do and what does the chorus do?
2. What is the effect of singing the title with long notes?
3. What kind of sections can we use in the verse/chorus structure for connective tissue?
4. What are some ways that the bridge lyric can contrast with the verses?

Homework #15

Answer the following questions:

1. What are the 4 primary chords that hit songwriters use?
2. How do songwriters add interest to these chords?
3. What notes are in the mixolydian mode?
4. What note is different from the major mode?

Due by Friday February 8, 2013

Homework 2012-2013 C2 #10-12

Homework #10
Answer the following questions:

1.What is it called when you move your fingers to different places on the piano to play scales?
2. What is the fingering of the right hand in the C major scale?
3. How many sharps are there in the G major scale?
4. Which notes are sharp in the D major scale?

Homework #11

Answer the following questions:

1. What is an arpeggio?

2. What direction does the arpeggio go in Alicia Key's song "Ain't Got You"?
3. How do you know what key a song is in when reading music?
4. What key is "Ain't Got You" in?

Homework #12

Answer the following questions

1. What are the differences in the two definitions of the song element "bridge"?

2. What is the "middle eight"?
3. What is a "collision" as a song structural element?
4. What is a "coda"?

Due Friday January 18, 2013 or Friday February 1, 2013 if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)

Homework 2012-2013 C2 HW# 7-9

Homework # 7
Answer the following questions:

1. What are the frets on a guitar?
2. What is the difference between a low note and a high note?
3. What are harmonics?
4. How do guitar makers know where to put the frets on a guitar?

Homework #8
Answer the following questions:

1. If you put a capo on the 7th fret of a guitar that is open D tuning what is the new key?
2. To play a lower note on the same string which direction does your hand need to move?
3. To tune a guitar what is the first thing you must do?
4. What are the notes of each string in open D tuning?

Homework #9
Answer the following questions:

1. What are some of the reasons for putting a bridge in a song?
2. What are some differences between a verse and a chorus?
3. How much can you take from another song without being sued?
4. What are some of the ways you can raise the emotional level of a song?

Due Friday January 11, 2013 or Friday January 18, 2013 if by email (albertwestside@gmail.com)