Transcript Early Jazz - Colyton High School

History of Jazz
 Characteristics
 Different Styles of Jazz
oRagtime
oBebop
oBlues
oCool Jazz
oNew Orleans Jazz oFree Jazz
oSwing
oJazz Rock

12 Bar Blues progression
 Improvisation in Jazz

Early jazz was neither notated or
recorded as it was improvised and only
existed in performance
 Music originated from New Orleans in
America.
 Jazz was created by African Americans.
 Jazz has been influenced from African
and European music


African music:
› African music involves everyone
› They have halls in Africa, although they
do not sit around and listen to music European influence
› Songs were passed down by singers
known as Griots (“gree-ohs“) who
memorised and repeated the songs
about their people and history.
 African
Music Characteristics
› Polyrhythm
 Call
and response
› Repetition of rhythms (rhythmic ostinato)
› Harmony occurs when two or more
melodies are played together
› Scales were used ( pentatonic and seven
note scales)
Ragtime gets it name from ragged or
syncopated rhythms in the music
 Ragtime was not polyrhythmic, but it
uses a lot of syncopation which was
influenced from African music
 The structure of ragtime is formal (binary,
ternary, rondo)
 Piano rags were popular in homes,
riverboats and nightclubs


Listening:
 Duple Meter 2/4
 Moderato tempo
 Right hand on the piano plays
syncopated melody
 Left hand on the piano maintains the
beat with an “oom-pah”
accompaniment
Originated from the African American
slaves in America working to rhythmic
songs in the fields.
 Country blues is the earliest form of blues
- vocals accompanied by guitar.
 By 1900 the blues had developed into a
highly structured style with distinct forms
for lyrics and melodies


Lyrics followed the form of AAB when it
consisted of two rhyming lines and the
first line is repeated as shown below
a : Now listen baby, you so good and sweet
a’: Now listen baby, you so good and sweet
b : I want to stay ‘round you, if I have to beg in
the street

12 Bar Blue Progression
Section a
a’
b
Bar
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Chord I
IV
I
V
I
Eg C major key: I - Cmaj, IV – Fmaj, V – Gmaj

Vocalists and instrumentalists use “bent”
notes and vocal scoops and slides

Use the Blues Scale
› Lowering the the 3rd, 5th and 7th notes

Rhythm is very flexible.
› Vocalists and instrumentalists play “around”
the beat, either just before or just after the
beat.

Listening:
› Blues characteristics
› Tone colour of the voice and cornet
› Pitch of the vocals
› Expressive techniques used on the vocals