Could someone please explain why the answer is D?
Is the reason why the answer is "spirituals" vs. "symphonic music" because he states that he "completed his first large scale work, the blues and jazz", "johnson's own popular songs" (which implies he created it) and "demonstrated vividly the possibility of assimilating contemporary popular music into the symphonic tradition"?
Reading the passage, the line "In 1927 he completed his first large-scale work....popular songs" indicates it should be jazz, blues, popular songs and spirituals, no?
Music critics have consistently defined James P. Johnson as a great early jazz pianist, originator of the 1920s Harlem "stride" style, and an important blues and jazz composer. In addition, however, Johnson was an innovator in classical music, composing symphonic music that incorporated American, and especially African American, traditions.
Such a blend of musical elements was not entirely new: by 1924 both Milhaud and Gershwin had composed classical works that incorporated elements of jazz Johnson, a serious musician more experienced than most classical composers with jazz, blues, spirituals, and popular music, was particularly suited to expand Milhaud's and Gershwin's experiments. In 1927 he completed his first large-scale work, the blues- and jazz-inspired Yamekraw, which included borrowings from spirituals and Johnson's own popular songs. Yamekraw, premiered successfully in Carnegie Hall, was a major achievement for Johnson, becoming his most frequently performed extended work. It demonstrated vividly the possibility of assimilating contemporary popular music into the symphonic tradition.
The passage states that Johnson composed all of the following EXCEPT
A) jazz works
B) popular songs
C) symphonic music
D) spirituals
E) blues pieces
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Re: GRE ETS PP2 Music critics have consistently defined James P. Johnson
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25 Jul 2023, 11:32
When you read the borrowings from Spirituals-you simply can observe that Spirituals wasn't part of his populars. Hence D.