Assignment 12
Remember our first test is on Friday.
Bring it!
Bring your recorder to class on Wednesday.
Write
Complete exercises 5.9 and 5.10 on S2S p. 174.
Prepare
Complete the practice test. There is now an answer key online. The practice test will not be graded, but it is in your interest to come to class Wednesday prepared with any questions.
Teoría (looking ahead)
The following is due before class on Friday. However there are a bunch of exercises, and you should get working on this to be sure you understand the material and to space out your practice.Skill 1: construct major scales, 40 seconds, stop after 7, treble clef, score 90 or higher Skill 2: construct major scales, 40 seconds, stop after 7, bass clef, score 90 or higher Skill 3: construct key signatures, 25 seconds, stop after 8, treble clef, score 87 or higher Skill 4: construct key signatures, 25 seconds, stop after 8, bass clef, score 87 or higher Skill 5: ID key signature, 15 seconds, stop after 10, treble clef, score 90 or higher Skill 6: ID key signature, 15 seconds, stop after 10, bass clef, score 90 or higher
Bonus material from class Friday
Fats Domino recorded "Ain't That A Shame" in 1955. It was a hit, reaching #1 on the R&B chart, but peaked at #10 on the pop chart.
Fats Domino performing "Ain't That A Shame"
Note:
- variants on the standard 12-bar blues progression in the third phrase (mm. 9-12)
- "stop time" in bars 1-4, followed by a typical R&B back beat beginning in m. 4
- audience successfully locating beats 2 & 4 in the back beat section and clapping appropriately
Pat Boone covered the song, also in 1955, and his record went to #1 on the pop chart (#14 on R&B). Yet Boone's cover version also increased interest in Domino's original, which eventually sold a million copies.
Pat Boone performing "Ain't That A Shame" (excerpt)
Note Boone's uncertainty about where to snap following the stop-time section...followed by apparent relief when he settles on 1 & 3—failing to articulate the backbeat.Supposedly, when Boone, then still a college English major, was given this song to cover, he wanted to change the title to "Isn't That A Shame". Much as I would love to believe it, I suspect this is a legend invented to call attention to the "whiteness" of Boone's cover. But as Fats Waller (not to be confused with Domino) used to say (0:54 of the excerpt below, but the full clip is worth 5 minutes of your life) "One never knows, do one?" Note: This comes from the 1943 film "Stormy Weather" which, though it pioneered expanded roles for black performers, also exhibits dated minstrelsy stereotypes. (This number is also another 12-bar blues.)