Music Appreciation Unit 1 Lab Questions

Crystal Chand
4/21/15
Unit One Music Appreciation Lab Questions
1. Describe some of the influence of Latin music in the US in the early part of the twentieth century.
Answer: Latin bands were becoming a popular ballroom and club attraction, Afro-Cuban music was also developing and spreading. One major step for this music style was the Woodstock performance of then little known Afro-Cuban band Santana from San Francisco back in 1969.
2. What was the significance of “Machito and His Afro-Cubans?
Answer: Because of society’s racist attitudes during this time in history, it was a bold move to so forwardly acknowledge and emphasize the African roots of their music in their name. They went on to become a largely popular band and took their music to new heights, becoming a sort of “bridge between worlds” for the fast growing Latin American community.
3. How did Dizzy Gillespie incorporate Latin music into his music?
Answer: He asked his friend Mario Bauza to introduce him to someone who could infuse Afro-Cuban rhythm into his jazz band. He then met Chano Pozo, the congo player, whom he asked to remain a permanent member of the band after a successful performance at Carnegie Hall in 1947.
4. What was the Palladium?
Answer: The Palladium was an old dance studio in midtown Manhattan that later became known as “the home of Mambo.” It was a major entertainment hub for Mambonicks and their audiences. It was a place where people of all races, all cultures, and all classes could come together and just dance. It has been referred to as the “Madison Square Garden” of its time and “the beginning of true integration in New York City.”
5. How did the television and films increase the exposure of the U.S. to Latin music?
Answer: “I Love Lucy,” a popular TV show at the time, was based on a bi-racial marriage between an American woman and a Cuban man. “West Side Story,” a hit broadway musical of the time, was a combination of the mambo craze and rising ethnical tensions in society.
6. How did Latin music influence rock music?
Answer: Many of the songwriters and music producers of the rock and roll era made music similar to that which they’d been hearing practically all their lives; Latin music.
7. Why do you think Latin music had such a great influence on the development of popular music?
Answer: I believe Latin music’s influence on the development of popular music was so powerful because of how versatile and timeless its elements are. It slipped into genres that took off after its individual popularity went down and it somehow managed to fit into so many of them without fail. It is an adaptable sound, something you can work with. Which is very important in music, because it’s constantly changing.
8. Do you think that any of the music that you listen to has Latin influences? Why or why not?
Answer: I think it’s highly likely that there are Latin influences in a lot of the music I listen to because I like some older music, (like rock and roll for example) which was made in a time where the latest music styles were being derived from Latin music and also because the genres that are more popular today like pop, punk, etc. are almost all derivatives of that very music.