MUAR 392 Midterm
exam with complete
verified solutions
Critical Concept: GENRE - answer - can be difficult
to define, music types overlap and criss cross
- should be viewed not as a list of musical cac., but
as a contract bw audiences and artists
- genre underlies how musical meaning circulates
- Brackett: genres are not static groupings, but a
shifting field
- Brackett: genres are assemblages of musical
featues, social contexts, and fan communities
Critical Concept: PSEUDO-INDIVIDUALIZATION -
answer - the illusion of free choice in a culture of
mass production
- Adorno: all songs are standardized pretty much
the same, but listeners try and recognize patterns
Critical Concept: ESSENTIALISM - answer - idea that
a specific category of people have an underlying
essence that is transmitted genetically, not
learned
, - assumes there is a fixed repertoire of stylistic
features
- perpetuates ideas like "jazz is a male domain"
Critical Concept: HOMOLOGY - answer - idea that
types of people and music correspond in a one-to-
one relationship (ex: women prefer sweet jazz,
black people prefer listening to black performers)
- historically used to help market music
- reductive way of thinking; suggests genres have
fixed borders and ignores complex interaction w
music
Critical Concept: MAINSTREAM - answer - the most
popular music at a given time
Critical Concept: CROSSOVER - answer - music
moving over from a niche audience into the
mainstream market
- can be interpreted as a good thing or a bad thing
(selling out, smoothed for mainstream
consumption)
Critical Concept: INTERSECTIONALITY - answer -
interconnected nature of social categorizations
(race, class, gender) that allow for unique
experiences of oppression and complex prejudices
exam with complete
verified solutions
Critical Concept: GENRE - answer - can be difficult
to define, music types overlap and criss cross
- should be viewed not as a list of musical cac., but
as a contract bw audiences and artists
- genre underlies how musical meaning circulates
- Brackett: genres are not static groupings, but a
shifting field
- Brackett: genres are assemblages of musical
featues, social contexts, and fan communities
Critical Concept: PSEUDO-INDIVIDUALIZATION -
answer - the illusion of free choice in a culture of
mass production
- Adorno: all songs are standardized pretty much
the same, but listeners try and recognize patterns
Critical Concept: ESSENTIALISM - answer - idea that
a specific category of people have an underlying
essence that is transmitted genetically, not
learned
, - assumes there is a fixed repertoire of stylistic
features
- perpetuates ideas like "jazz is a male domain"
Critical Concept: HOMOLOGY - answer - idea that
types of people and music correspond in a one-to-
one relationship (ex: women prefer sweet jazz,
black people prefer listening to black performers)
- historically used to help market music
- reductive way of thinking; suggests genres have
fixed borders and ignores complex interaction w
music
Critical Concept: MAINSTREAM - answer - the most
popular music at a given time
Critical Concept: CROSSOVER - answer - music
moving over from a niche audience into the
mainstream market
- can be interpreted as a good thing or a bad thing
(selling out, smoothed for mainstream
consumption)
Critical Concept: INTERSECTIONALITY - answer -
interconnected nature of social categorizations
(race, class, gender) that allow for unique
experiences of oppression and complex prejudices
