VI. Reading Comprehension
American jazz is a conglomeration of sounds borrowed from such
varied sources as American and African folk music, European classical
music, and Christian gospel songs. One of the recognizable
characteristics of jazz is its use of improvisation: certain parts of the
music are written out and played the same way by various performers,
and other improvised parts are created spontaneously during a
performance and vary widely from performer to performer.
The earliest form of jazz was ragtime, lively songs or rags
performed on the piano, and the best-known of the ragtime performers
and composers was Scott Joplin. Born in 1868 to former slaves, Scott
Joplin earned his living from a very early age playing the piano in bars
along the Mississippi. One of his regular jobs was in the Maple Leaf
Club in Sedalia, Missouri. It was there that he began writing the more
than 500 compositions that he was to produce, the most famous of
which was “The Maple Leaf Rag.”
【題組】45. In line 4, the word “improvisation” involves which of the
following ____.
(A) Playing the written parts of the music
(B) Performing similarly to other musicians
(C) Making up music while playing
(D) Playing a varied selection of musical compositions