Music Analysis
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Music: An Appreciation Part VIII: Jazz
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Jazz Styles, 1900 to 1950 • Blend elements of several cultures
– West African emphasis on improvisation, percussion, and call-and- response techniques
– American brass band influence on instrumentation – European harmonic and structural practice
• Blues and ragtime were immediate sources
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Elements of Jazz Tone color • Usually performed by combo of 3 to 8 players • Backbone is rhythm section • Main solo instruments: trumpet, trombone, saxophone,
clarinet, vibraphone, piano • “Bends,” “smears,” “shakes,” “scoops,” “falls”
Improvisation • Created and performed simultaneously • Usually in theme and variations form
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Rhythm, melody, and harmony • Syncopation and rhythmic swing are features
– Rhythmic accent on beats 2 and 4 – Syncopation often occurs when performer accents note between
the regular rhythmic accents – “Swing” results from uneven 8th notes (triplet feel)
• Melodies flexible in pitch • Chord progressions similar to tonal system
Elements of Jazz (continued)
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Ragtime • Dance hall and saloon music • Piano music with left hand, “oom-pah” part
– Usually in duple meter at moderate march tempo – Right hand part highly syncopated – Left hand keeps steady beat
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Blues • Vocal and instrumental form • 12 measure (bar) musical structure • 3-part vocal structure: a a’ b (statement, repeat of statement,
counterstatement)
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New Orleans Style • Also called Dixieland • Front line of horns supported by rhythm section • Songs frequently based on march or church melody, ragtime
piece, pop song, or blues
• Characteristics – Improvised arrangements – Multiple instruments improvising simultaneously – Scat singing – Theme and variation form predominates
• Many notable performers
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Neoclassicism • Flourished 1920 to 1950 • Based new compositions upon devices and forms of the
classical and baroque • Eschewed program music for absolute • Preferred to write for small ensembles • Sounded modern, not classical
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Expressionism • Attempts to explore inner feelings rather than depict outward
appearances • Used deliberate distortions
– To assault and shock the audience – To communicate tension and anguish
• Direct outgrowth of the work of Freud • Rejected “conventional prettiness” • Art also seen as a form of social protest
– Anguish of the poor – Bloodshed of war – Man’s inhumanity to man
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Swing • Popular 1935–45 (swing era)
– Written music – Primarily for dancing
• Large bands (usually 15 to 20 players) • Melody usually performed by groups of instruments rather
than by soloists • Theme-and-variations form common
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Bebop • 1940s and early 1950s • Meant for listening, not dancing • Combo was preferred ensemble • Melodic phrases varied in length • Chords built with 6 or 7 notes, not earlier 4 or 5 • Theme-and-variations form still dominant
– Melodies derived from pop songs or 12-bar blues – Initial melody by soloist or 2 soloists in unison
• Many notable performers including: – Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Thelonious Monk (piano) – Charlie Parker (alto sax): most famous/influential
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Jazz Styles since 1950 Cool jazz • 1950s • More calm and relaxed than bebop • Relied more upon arrangements
Free jazz • 1960s • Similar to chance music • Solo sections of indeterminate length • Improvisation by multiple players at once Jazz rock (fusion) • In the late 1960s, rock became potent influence • Style combined improvisation with rock rhythms • Combined acoustic and electric instruments