Transcript Jazz Music, Modern Drama & Dance

Jazz Music,
Modern Drama
& Dance
Jazz Music
Jazz
• Jazz – music rooted in improvisation
and characterized by syncopated
rhythm, a steady beat, and distinctive
tone colors and performance
techniques; developed in the U.S.
predominantly by African American
musicians and gained popularity in
the early 20th century
Jazz (cont’d)
• call and response – in jazz, a pattern
in which one voice or instrument is
answered by another voice,
instrument, or group of instruments
• bar – another term for measure, often
used in jazz
• chorus – in jazz, a statement of the
basic harmonic pattern or melody
Jazz (cont’d)
• rhythm section – instruments in a
jazz ensemble which maintain the
beat, add rhythmic interest, and
provide supporting harmonies; piano,
plucked double bass, percussion, and
sometimes banjo or guitar
Ragtime
• Ragtime – style of composed piano
music, in which the pianist’s right
hand plays a highly syncopated
melody while the left hand maintains
the beat with an “oom-pah”
accompaniment; developed primarily
by African American pianists and
flourished from the 1890s to about
1915
Ragtime (cont’d)
• Scott Joplin (18681917)
–“king of ragtime”
–Composer and pianist
–Father was a slave
–In addition to
composing many
“rags” he also wrote a
ballet and two operas
Blues
• Blues – term referring both to a style
of performance and to a form; an
early source of jazz, characterized by
flatted, or “blue” notes
Blues (cont’d)
• Bessie Smith
(1894-1937)
–“empress of the
blues”
–Most famous
blues singer of
the 1920s
New Orleans Style
• New Orleans Style (Dixieland) – jazz
style in which the front line (melodic
instruments) improvise several
contrasting melodic lines at once,
supported by a rhythm section that
clearly marks the beat and provides a
background of chords
New Orleans Style (cont’d)
• Louis “Satchmo”
Armstrong (1901-1971)
–One of the greatest jazz
improvisers
–Popularized scat singing
–Scat singing –
vocalization of a
melodic line with
nonsense syllables, used
in jazz
Swing
• Swing – jazz style that was
developed in the 1920s and
flourished between 1935 and 1945,
played mainly by “big bands”
• Swing band – typically, a large band
made of fourteen or fifteen musicians
grouped in three sections:
saxophones, brasses, and rhythm
Swing (cont’d)
• Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
–American jazz musician and composer
–Formed a band and became one of the
most famous figures in American jazz
–His orchestra played his own
compositions and achieved a refined
unity of style and made many
innovations in jazz
Duke Ellington
Bebop
• Bebop (bop) – complex jazz style,
usually for small groups, developed
in the 1940s and meant for attentive
listening rather than dancing
Bebop (cont’d)
• Charlie “Bird”
Parker (19201955)
–Alto saxophonist
–Great jazz
improviser
Cool Jazz
• Cool Jazz – jazz style related to
bebop, but more relaxed in character
and relying more heavily on
arrangements; developed around
1950
Free Jazz
• Free Jazz – jazz style which departs
from traditional jazz in not being
based on regular forms and
established chord patterns; developed
during the 1960s
Jazz Rock
• Jazz Rock (Fusion) – style which
combines the jazz musician’s
improvisatory approach with rock
rhythms and tone colors; developed
in the 1960s
Modern Drama
Tennessee Williams
• A notable American
playwright
• His plays reflect
stories from his
own life through
very colorful and
memorable
characters
Tennessee Williams (cont’d)
• The Glass Menagerie is full of
symbolism and he utilized film
techniques in this play to enhance the
viewing pleasure of the theatre
audience
• A Streetcar Named Desire won a
Pulitzer Prize and was also adapted
for film
Arthur Miller
• A prominent
playwright in American
culture who wrote
plays full of allegory,
expressionism and
realism
• Death of a Salesman
and The Crucible were
two of his most famous
works
Modern Dance
Balanchine
• A Russian
choreographer
• Bridge between
classical and
modern ballet
• He made ballet less
courtly and more
athletic
Fokine
• Russian choreographer and dancer
who wanted the dancer to feel the
music and believed that ballet was
more than just tricks and formulated
dance
• He etched a place for male dancers
on the ballet stage
Fokine (cont’d)
Baryshnikov
• Often called the world’s greatest
living male ballet dancer
• He danced for the New York City
Ballet and the American Ballet
theatre
• He also created exceptional modern
dances and became involved with
contemporary choreography after his
retirement
Baryshnikov (cont’d)
Martha Graham
• She revolutionized modern dance by
making social and political
statements through dance
• Considered the pioneer of modern
dance in America
• She made dancing a more athletic art
• Women’s issues were at the heart of
Graham’s dances
Martha Graham (cont’d)
Alvin Ailey
• His work is the epitome of dance in
the modern and contemporary era
• His choreography intentionally
included movements from African
dance
• Opened his own dance company and
dance school (Alvin Ailey American
Dance Theatre – AAADT)
Alvin Ailey (cont’d)