History of American Music
UNIT ONE: 1900 - 1940
Unit One
 Ragtime
 Jazz
 Blues
 Swing
 Big Band
Ragtime
 Who made Ragtime music?

Scott Joplin, an African – American composer and pianist, was
the first composer in the early 1900’s to write ragtime music.

He used complex rhythms and syncopated melodies while other
compsers at the time were using.

This music flourished between the late 1890’s and 1920.
Ragtime music was most often played on the piano.

Some of the most popular ragtime musicians were Eubie Blake
and Jelly Roll Morton.
Ragtime
 “Maple Leaf Rag” – Scott Joplin
 Played on a player piano.
Ragtime
 Ragtime was the first type of “social” music forms to
hit America.
 There was a lot of people against Ragtime music
because it was not sacred music.
Ragtime
 Piano Rolls and Player Pianos


During this time – music was “punched” into long rolls of paper
that was spun through a special type of mechanical piano.
It would cost one quarter to play a song on a player piano in a
pub, store, or on the street.
End Week #1
Jazz
 Jazz music was born in the United States and is one
of the best representations of American music.
 The most important part of Jazz music is
improvisation.

Improvisation: the act of creating an immediate musical
composition and response to other musicians.
Jazz
 Improvisation is inventing something in the spur of
the moment in response to something else.
 There can be a different interpretation every time the
tune is played – so it may never sound the same
twice.
 Improvisation becomes its own musical dialogue
between musicians.
Jazz
 How are some ways you “improvise” in your day to
day life?
Jazz
 Listening Activity:

Number your paper one through six leaving room to write
between each.

Listen to the examples and write down what you hear during
each one.

Be ready to discuss each piece with a partner and chose your
“favorite”.
Jazz
 “Chameleon” – Herbie Hancock
 “How High the Moon” – Ella Fitzgerald
 “Lonely Woman” – Ornette Coleman
 “Main Stem” – Duke Ellington
 “Take Five” – The David Brubeck Quartet
 “The Entertainer” – John Arpin
Jazz - Improvisation
 Improvisation is jazz’s most essential ingredient.
 Improvisation is spontaneous composition that the
musician creates as he/she is playing.
 Jazz improvisation is very similar to a regular
conversation.
Jazz - Improvisation
 In order to improvise, a musician needs to:

Be able to technically play his/her instrument well.

Have an understanding of music theory (the way notes and
chords fit together)

Have the ability to play by “ear” - be able to create music just
by listening to something – not needing to look at music.

Have a musical vocabulary covering a wide variety of styles.
Jazz – Rhythm
 Rhythm – a regular pattern formed by a series of
notes of differing duration and stress.
 Rhythm is the part of the music which concerns how
long or short each note is played.
 It is the beat of the music. It often portrays a songs
genre or style.
Jazz - Syncopation
 Syncopation – the accenting of beats that are
normally not accented.
 Stressing the notes that are on the up beat – beats 2
& 4 rather than 1 & 3.
Jazz - Swing
 Swing is a difficult to define rhythmic concept – it is
easier heard than seen.
 It is the manner of playing a steady stream of notes
in a long-short-long pattern.
 Generally has a happy and upbeat feel to it.
Jazz – Emotional Expression
 Unlike classical musicians, jazz musicians usually
strive for sound that is more “vocal”.
 Jazz musicians will usually growl, whine, or bend
pitches. They can make their sound raunchy, dark,
light, airy, raspy, bluesy, throaty, or nasally – jazz
instruments can do anything the human voice can do
to express human emotion.
Jazz - The Instruments
 Voice/Vocals
 Trumpet
 Piano, Bass, and Drums
 Guitar
 Clarinet
 Trombone
 Flute
 Saxophone
Jazz – The Instruments
 The Horn Section– The saxophone, trumpet, and
trombone are responsible for playing melodies –
both written and improvised.
 The Rhythm Section – The piano, bass, and drums
make up the rhythm section. Their primary roles is
to provide support for the horn players as well as
each other.
Jazz – The Instruments
 Piano – the pianists primary job is to play the chords
that accompany the rhythm. Sometimes the piano
will improvise a melody during a piece.
 Bass – the bassists primary job is to keep a steady
tempo by determining the rhythm – or the pulse.
 Drums – the drummers primary job is to keep a
steady beat while also adding rhythmic and melodic
accents.
 Guitar – the guitar can work as a melodic instrument
or a support instrument.
Jazz – The Sound
 Each instrument has its own general tone color
(saxophones sound different from a flute) – and each
musician has his/her own particular sound on that
instrument.

One jazz trumpet player may have a different sound from a
different jazz trumpet player – much like we have different
sounds to our voices.
Jazz - Sound
 A jazz musicians particular sound is part of his/her
signature, part of what distinguishes them from
other jazz musicians.
 What attracts listeners to jazz music is WHAT a
particular jazz musician plays (improvisation) and
the WAY a particular jazz musician plays (sound).
Jazz – Listening
 1. A Night in Tunisia – Charlie Parker
 2. Giant Steps – John Coltrane
 3. St. Thomas – Sonny Rollins
 4. Take Five – The Dave Brubeck Quartet
End Week #2
Jazz – Where did it come from?
 Quickwrite: On a sheet of paper from your notebook
– please answer the following question.

How do you think jazz music has influenced the music you
listen to today? Think of specific music examples and
terminology we learned last week.
Jazz – Where did it come from?
 Jazz music in the early Americas was a mash up of
music from Africa and music from western Europe.
 Since early America was seen as a “melting pot” –
citizens took what they knew from their homelands
and made a new form of music.
Jazz – African Roots
 From 1619 well into the 1800’s, slaves were brought
to the Americas from Africa.
 In Africa – music then played a functional role. In
today’s society we are used to music playing an
artistic role in our lives.
Jazz – African Roots
 Functional music included work songs, spiritual
songs, healing songs, fertility songs, etc.
 Functional music was often learned aurally (by ear)
and passed down from generation to generation.
Jazz – African Roots
 Those who were involved with the slave trade tried to
take everything from their victims – freedom,
names, possessions, family, etc.
 One thing they could not take away from the was
their music.
 They believed that their music would keep them
“content” and were less likely to cause an uprising.
Jazz – African Roots
 “Deep River”
 “Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child”
 “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
Jazz – European Roots
 Early jazz musicians took traditional European
instruments and paired those instruments with
traditional African spirituals.
 This is how modern day jazz was invented. This later
evolved into the blues and Dixieland music.
Jazz – European Roots
 Piano
 Saxophone
 Trumpet
 Trombone
 Clarinet
 These were the European instruments that were used
to create Jazz music.
Jazz – European Roots
 Harmony was developed in western Europe during
the 1600’s – the Renaissance era - and was used to
create layers and depth in jazz music.
 There is usually harmony between the support
instruments and the main solo instrument.
Jazz – European Roots
 These are the main things European culture
contributed to early American music:

Instruments

Written musical notation

March – like rhythms

Standard European chord progressions
Jazz – African Roots
 These are the main things African culture
contributed to early American music:

The songs and melodies.

Advanced, syncopated rhythms.

Musical expression and emotion or “feel”

“Blues” quality – slow and melancholy
End Week #3
West Side Story Reflection Questions
 How have race relations and gang behaviors changed
over the years since the film was made?
 What does the absence of positive adult figures in
this film say about the society that it portrays?
 What does the following exchange between Tony and
Maria mean?


Tony: I'll be all right. I know it.
Maria: It is not us. It is everything around us.