Literary On-Demand Assessment— March 2019

Name__________________________________________ Class:_____________________________
March, 2019

Grade 7
Text #1
Title— Herbie Hancock: Possibilities (Excerpt 4: Playing with Mongo Santamaria)
by Herbie Hancock
 Lexile Level—930
 Word Count— 812

Text #2
Title— Herbie Hancock: Possibilities (Excerpt 5: Live at the Plugged Nickel)
by Herbie Hancock
 Lexile Level—940
 Word Count—840

7th Grade Literary On-Demand Assessment (March) / Music Go On 1

 Literary On-Demand Assessment— March 2019

SELECTION 1: Herbie Hancock: Possibilities by Herbie Hancock

Excerpt Four – Playing with Mongo Santamaria

In late 1962 I got my first gig working with a Latin group. The leader was a Cuban conga
player named Mongo Santamaria, and his piano player— who I found out many years later was
actually Chick Corea— had just left the band. Mongo needed a pianist for the weekend, so I
agreed to fill in. I had never played Latin music before, but Mongo told me he’d just teach me
some simple montunos, or Latin patterns, and that I’d get through it just fine.

We were playing at a supper club in the Bronx, not far from the apartment where Donald
and I were living, and on the third night Donald came by to see how it was going. He was like a
big brother to me by now, always checking in on me and making sure I was doing all right. That
night the atmosphere in the supper club was pretty dead. People were sitting at their tables,
talking and drinking, but the dance floor was empty. We made it through the first set, and
Donald strolled over to the bandstand to say hello.

During the intermission Donald and Mongo struck up a conversation. Donald was a real
student of music, and he loved to talk about music history and theory with anyone who was
interested. He and Mongo got into this deep conversation about Afro-Cuban music and African
American jazz. Mongo told Donald he’d been searching for a link between the two, but he’d
never quite found what he was looking for, though he was sure it was out there, that link from
the African diaspora.

I was only half listening, because this felt like a pretty heavy conversation to be having
during the intermission of a supper club show. Then Donald said, “Hey, Herbie— play
‘Watermelon Man’ for Mongo.” I wasn’t sure how my funky little jazz tune was relevant to the
conversation they were having, but I sat down at the piano and started to play.

Mongo started nodding his head and then said, “Keep playing!” He went up to his congas
and joined in with a Latin beat, something he called guajira— and it fit perfectly. The bass
player stole a look at my left hand to see what I was playing, and he picked up the bass line, and
pretty soon the whole band joined in, jamming to this new Latin-flavored version of
“Watermelon Man.”

Meanwhile, the people who’d been sitting in their chairs all night started getting up, two
by two, and heading for the dance floor. Within minutes the whole place was jumping, people
dancing and shrieking with joy. Mongo had a huge smile on his face, and all of us in the band
were looking at each other like What just happened here? We all started laughing, because this
song was so much fun to play. When we finished the tune, people were saying, “It’s a hit! It’s a
hit!” and slapping me on the back. Mongo said, “Can I record it?”

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“Please do!” I told him. I couldn’t even believe what had just taken place. I had never
imagined putting a Latin beat on “Watermelon Man,” but it brought the whole song to life in a
new way.

Mongo Santamaria released his version of “Watermelon Man” in early 1963, and it
became a huge hit, eventually reaching number 10 in Cash Box and number 11 on the Billboard
chart. I could walk down the street and hear it blasting out of people’s windows, hear it coming
out of people’s cars as they drove by. I was twenty-two years old, almost twenty-three, and I
had a big hit record! And, thanks to Donald’s advice about publishing, I would actually make
some money from it.

After the success of Mongo’s version of “Watermelon Man,” I hired the entertainment
lawyer Paul Marshall, who told me I needed to register with BMI as a publisher, not just a
writer, so they could track down any royalties I should be getting. I’d registered as a writer
when I first came to New York, but what I didn’t know was that if you register as a publisher or
writer with BMI when you have some degree of success, you can get an advance on future sales.
So when Marshall called BMI on my behalf, he told them he wanted a $ 30,000 advance for me.
And just like that, a courier delivered the check to me within an hour or so.

In the entire previous year, I had made only about $ 40,000. When I pulled that BMI
payment out of the envelope, it was the biggest check I’d ever seen, let alone held in my hand.
What in the world would I do with all this money? I gave it some thought, then made a decision.

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 Literary On-Demand Assessment— March 2019

RL.8. Short Response (RI.8.7)

Prompt: How does the author develop the central idea of the passage? List at least two
details in your response.

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Question #1 RI.1 Supporting Details


During the intermission, Donald and Mongo struck up a conversation. Donald was a real student of
music, and he loved to talk about music history and theory with anyone who was interested. He and
Mongo got into this deep conversation about Afro-Cuban music and African American jazz. Mongo
told Donald he’d been searching for a link between the two, but he’d never quite found what he was
looking for, though he was sure it was out there, that link from the African diaspora.

Which detail BEST supports the central idea of the passage above?

a. Never stop searching for what you want in life. 


b. There is a connection between music from Africa and that from the Caribbean and
the US. 


c. Studying music can happen anywhere, anytime. 


d. Music theory connect music from different genres and locations. 


Question #2 RI.2 Main Idea


Meanwhile, the people who’d been sitting in their chairs all night started getting up, two by two,
and heading for the dance floor. Within minutes the whole place was jumping, people dancing and
shrieking with joy. Mongo had a huge smile on his face, and all of us in the band were looking at
each other like What just happened here? We all started laughing, because this song was so much
fun to play. When we finished the tune, people were saying, “It’s a hit! It’s a hit!” and slapping me on
the back. Mongo said, “Can I record it?”

Which statement best supports the main idea of the passage above?

a. You should record music that is popular on a dance floor. 


b. Never give up and you will succeed. 


c. Musical styles can be combined to create new and exciting sounds. 


d. Mongo Santamaria was very happy that evening

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Question #3 RI.4 Context Clues


“…what I didn’t know was that if you register as a publisher or writer with BMI
when you have some degree of success, you can get an advance on future sales.”

Which definition BEST matches the meaning of “register” as it is used

in sentence above?
a. Detect and show automatically.

b. To express or convey an opinion or emotion.

c. Enter or record on an official list or directory.

d. Properly notice or become aware of something.

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 Literary On-Demand Assessment— March 2019

Herbie Hancock: Possibilities by Herbie Hancock

Excerpt Five – Live at the Plugged Nickel

In December of 1965 the quintet was flying to Chicago for a gig at the Plugged
Nickel nightclub. Miles had spent much of the summer and fall recovering from hip
surgery in April, then a broken leg in August, but by late fall we were back on track,
playing gigs in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., before heading to Chicago for the
holidays.

By now Miles, Ron, Tony, Wayne, and I had been performing in the quintet for
more than a year, and we’d gotten so cohesive as a band that it had become easy to play
together. We had figured out a formula for making it work, but of course playing by
formula was exactly the opposite of what we wanted to do. We needed to put the
challenge back in, to figure out ways to take more risks. I had noticed that our playing
had gotten a little too comfortable, but on the flight to Chicago it was Tony who started
the conversation.

“I’ve got an idea,” he said. “Let’s play some anti-music.” He wanted us to promise
that during our sets at the Plugged Nickel, whatever anybody in the band expected us to
play, we would play the opposite. Some people have suggested that Tony was trying to
sabotage the band by doing this, but really he was only trying to sabotage our comfort
level, to break us open again. It was just another step in trying to push our boundaries
as musicians and as a band.

When we walked into the club, I saw that they were set up to record us. “Oh,
man,” I said to Tony. “Should we really do this now?” We hadn’t said anything to Miles
about our experiment, and I was worried we weren’t going to sound very good. But
Tony, always fearless, said, “Heck yes. Let’s do it.”

Just before the first set, we told Ron and Wayne— but not Miles— what we were
up to. They were both down with it, so from the moment Miles counted off the first
song, I started focusing on how I could play against expectation. Whenever a song
would build up, getting to a natural peak, the natural inclination would be to push it
over the top— but instead I would suddenly bring it down with one quiet note. Tony
did the same, building up his playing in volume and intensity, and then, instead of
hitting the bass drum, he’d gently tap the cymbal. We did the opposite, too, suddenly
ratcheting up the intensity just as a tune was winding down. I couldn’t imagine that it
sounded very good, but it certainly made us challenge our thinking and our choices.

We knew we were using the audience as guinea pigs for our experiment, but this
was a way to break the habits we had formed— by destroying the structure, then
picking up the pieces and building something new. Whenever I glanced out into the

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audience, I saw what looked like confusion on people’s faces. They knew something
was happening, but they weren’t sure what. So they just kept on drinking cocktails and
smoking cigarettes, and we kept on playing as the recorders rolled.

And you know, Miles never said a word about it. He knew better than anyone
that something strange was going on, but he never asked us, and we never told him. He
just went with it. And he was brilliant! Wayne was, too. I actually felt as if I were fishing
throughout those sets— I had some moments here and there, but I didn’t shine the way
Miles and Wayne did. In fact, at the end of the first night, when the soundman asked us
if we wanted to listen, I said, “No way!” I thought it would sound like a disaster. I
figured, we’d done it, we’d carved out some new territory, and now it was time to move
on.
Seventeen years later, when Columbia released some of the recordings as Live at
the Plugged Nickel, a friend called me to ask if I’d heard it. “No,” I said. “And I don’t
think I want to hear it.” He told me I should, because there was some good stuff on
there. But I still resisted.

Finally, a couple of weeks after the record came out, I mustered up the courage to
give it a listen. There was so much going on, and it sounded so little like what I
remembered, that I was shocked. I really liked it, but I’m not even sure I could explain
why. I would call it profound, except that the word “profound,” to me, implies
something that’s deep and elegant. This was not elegant. This was naked and had guts.
It was raw. To this day, when I hear recordings from the Plugged Nickel, I’m knocked
out by their sheer raw intensity and honesty.

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Question #4 RI.1 Supporting Details


Which line BEST supports the purpose of the “anti-music” experiment proposed in
paragraph 3?

a. To upset the audience.

b. To form a new band together.


c. To push the musicians to grow.

d. To compose new songs for performances.

Question #5 RI.2 Main Idea
 Which of the following BEST describes the main idea of
the last paragraph?

a. The music was ahead of its time and the world had to catch up.

b.The music was powerful but it took time before Hancock was able to realize it. 


c. The “anti-music” experiment was a failure despite the band’s efforts. 


d.Tony Williams knew the outcome would be good when he proposed the “anti-music”
experiment.

Question #6 RI.4 Context Clues.

“We did the opposite, too, suddenly ratcheting up the intensity just as a tune was
winding down.”

Which definition BEST matches the meaning of “racheting” as it is used in sentence

above?

a. To reduce by a degree.

b. To halt or eliminate something.

c. To decide or plan something.

d. To cause something to rise.

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 Literary On-Demand Assessment— March 2019

Short Response (RI.8.2)

Prompt: What is the central idea of this text? List at least two details in your
response.

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Short Response
CCSS
Alignment
1st RL.8.
2nd RL.8.

Rubric
Score Response Features
2 Point The features of a 2-point response are
 Valid inferences and/or claims from the text where required by the
Prompt
 Evidence of analysis of the text where required by the prompt
 Relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information
from the text to develop response according to the requirements of
the prompt
 Sufficient number of facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other
information from the text as required by the prompt
 Complete sentences where errors do not impact readability
1 Point The features of a 1-point response are
 A mostly literal recounting of events or details from the text as required
by the prompt
 Some relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other
information from the text to develop response according to the
requirements of the prompt
 Incomplete sentences or bullets
0 Point The features of a 0-point response are
 A response that does not address any of the requirements of the prompt
or is totally inaccurate
 No response (blank answer)
 A response that is not written in English
 A response that is unintelligible or indecipherable

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