Jazz
Listening
• Take The A Train CD2 Tracks 40-41
• Duke Ellington, composer / performer
• AABA form in the opening “head”
• AABA form in each of the solos
• AABA form in the closing “head”
Listening to jazz
• Know the tune (head)
• The Head is heard in the beginning
(sing along !)
• Solos follow the form of the tune (can
you still sing the head?)
• The Head is heard again at the end.
• The tune is over
• Jazz
• Purely American art music
• Musical features: Syncopation and
Improvisation
• Syncopation - an accent (emphasis) placed
on a beat that is normally not accented.
• In Jazz, this is further subdivided to an accent
placed in between the beats, and this is
called "swing". How hard something swings
depends on where the accent is placed in
between the beat.
• Swing - syncopation between the beats.
• Improvisation - a spontaneous reaction
to the musical environment. Occurs
most often in jazz solos. Is NOT simply
"making it up as you go along".
Jazz
• Background: Ragtime and Blues
• Ragtime - piano style. Left hand steady
beat and straight rhythm, right hand
syncopation. Composed. NO
IMPROVISATION (Scott Joplin)
• Blues - usually guitar and voice.
Improvised over fairly loose framework.
Jazz Terms
• Head - the main part of the song form that
includes the melody. Heard at the beginning
and end of a jazz tune.
• Solo - an improvised melody that goes along
with the song form structure (in the middle of
the jazz tune).
• Chorus - one time through the song form
structure.
• Form - the framework of a song or work.
Many jazz tunes are AABA form.
• AABA - 32 bar (measure) form where
section A is 8 measures and repeated,
followed by a contrasting B section for 8
measures, then the A section (8
measures) returns for one time.
• Standard - a song that has made its
way into the standard repertoire. Often
songs from the "Great American
Songbook". Everyone performs
standards, and usually none are
remarkable...
• Cover - A remake of a particular song by
a particular artist. Often the remake is
done in a strategic way to outsell the
original (or at least that's the plan!).
MIDI
• Musical Instrument Digital Interface
• A language that was designed so that
musical instruments could be
compatible with each other.
MIDI
• Musical Instrument Digital Interface
• In addition to it being a language, it is
also the type of computer file that is
created with MIDI instruments.
MIDI
• Musical Instrument Digital Interface
• This type of file is used for cell phone
ring tones!