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Folk Songs, Spirituals, Blues

Total questions: 21

Worksheet time: 4mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

How are folk songs passed down

a)

Oral tradition

b)

Reading music

c)

By phone

2.

What are some functions/topcis of folk songs?

(a)  

3.

Name some characterstics of folk songs

a)

Passed down orally

b)

Vary/change over time

c)

Include improv

d)

Complicated to sing

4.

True or false: only rich, high class people are allowed to write and sing folk music

(a)  

5.

Who originated African American spirituals?

a)

White enslavers

b)

Classical musicians

c)

Enslaved people

d)

Preachers

6.

Which is NOT a characterstic/function of spirituals?

a)

Sacred (Christian) text/topics

b)

Originally taught in school

c)

Sung in code

d)

Sung for worship

7.

What was the secret route that helped enslabed people escape to freedom in the north?

a)

Secret Stations

b)

Nile River

c)

Underground Railraod

8.

What was the coded meaning for "heaven" or "home" in spirituals?

a)

Railraod

b)

Freedom

c)

River

d)

North

9.

True or false: A "chariot" like "swing low sweet chariot" was code for the underground railroad.

(a)  

10.

What words were used as code in the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd"?

(a)  

11.

Who was considered the "Moses" of her people?

a)

Harriet Beecher Stowe

b)

Harriet Tubman

c)

Rosa Parks

d)

Araminta "Minty" Ross

12.

How many trips did Tubman make returning into the dangerous south to help others escape bondage?

a)

19

b)

18

c)

20

d)

5

13.

Select the musical features/instruments found in Blues music

a)

Hard Life

b)

Call & Response

c)

Improv

d)

AAB

14.

True or False: Blues has NOT directly influence other genres of music

(a)  

15.

The blues chord sequence or structure is known as the .......... bar blues

a)

10

b)

8

c)

7

d)

12

16.

What does improvisation or "improv" mean?

4 lines
17.

Robert Johnson is famous for apparently doing this (at the crossroads) ...

a)

Borrowing money without returning it

b)

Being the best guitarist

c)

Selling is soul to the devil

d)

Creating blues music

18.

In what area did the blues originate?

a)

American South

b)

Mississippi Delta

c)

Chicago

d)

New York

19.

What northern city did Black blues musicians flee to from the south where they continued developing blues?

4 lines
20.

Why did blues musicians and other Black Americans leave the south?

a)

To make it in Hollywood

b)

To eat better food

c)

To escape Jim Crow laws

d)

To escape racism

21.

What does AAB refer to in the blues structure?

a)

Repeating styles

b)

Repeating rhythms

c)

Repeating lyrics

d)

Repeating pitches