Order 2057098: Read Instructions

1. Artie Shaw “Concerto for Clarinet” (from 1940 film ‘Second Chorus’

Arthur Jacob Arshawsky was a fantastic clarinettist of his time, he was a visionary who experimented with strings and hired unconventional players in the 1940s: focus often innovative. Artie was one of the first big band leaders to play Bebop when swing was still ‘king’. Artie was also an integrator of styles seen in this piece ‘the Concerto for Clarinet’ through the use of ‘symphonic’ jazz. Artie also stood out in his humanistic endeavours being an advocate against racism seen through his southern tour with Billie Holiday. The critical perspective that I have gained from listening to this track is a pastiche thrown together out of some boogie-woogie blues, clarinet over tom-tom interludes, a commonplace riff build-up towards the end, all encased in opening and closing virtuoso cadenzas for the leader's clarinet. I believe that this piece of music properly represents the swing era with all its musical characteristics, although the dynamic effect and driving force that is the swing genre doesn’t start only after Artie Shaw’s first excerpt, the concerto for Clarinet depicts the technical swing that Artie is known for. The idea of the symphonic technical swing is seen at the beginning with his introduction with the strings.

1. Scott Joplin “Maple Leaf Rag”

Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” is in the style of ragtime. Scott Joplin played a significant role in Jazz and the development of the style that is ragtime. Joplin, initially a cornet player composed one of the biggest ragtime hits of all time, he also wrote fifty piano rags of his own. Joplin believed ragtime to be a ‘serious’ adaptation of other music forms in contrast to ‘rinky-tink’ music. His opera Treemonisha produced in Atlanta, Georgia 1973 won a Pulitzer award. I believe that Scott Joplin was a great artist that helped define ragtime to what it is known today, this is seen through his piece ‘Maple Leaf Rag’. Scott utilizes a specific type of syncopation in which melodic accents fall between metrical beats. This results in a melody that seems to be avoiding some metrical beats of the accompaniment by emphasizing notes that either anticipate or follow the beat.