M.Socrative.com Room Question: 1. Name the THREE events that we
talked about yesterday, that will directly affect visual art,
music, dance, and drama this period. Im going to call people up to
my desk that are taking their test today. You can sit at your seats
in here and take it please put it on my desk when youre done. Jazz
and the Rest Undoubtedly the most significant African American
contribution to American music (and a unique American contribution
to the world) is jazz Jazz began near the turn of the century and
from there went through many changes and forms Jazz includes many
sophisticated and complicated styles, but all of them feature
improvisation Jazz harmonies are very different from anything weve
heard before. Even now, jazz harmonies are very identifiable. They
were influenced by the harmonies of Impressionist music dissonant,
but not tense Debussy like somewhat relaxing (blues) Stravinsky
influences will come in a later style called free jazz. Key element
of jazz - improvisation Where earlier music was the composers
medium where the performers primary goal was to play a composition
as it was written, jazz is characterized as a product of group
creativity, interaction, and collaboration. The performer
interprets a tune in an individual way compositions are never
performed the same way twice. The origins of jazz are poorly
documented The blues started around 1890, but was poorly documented
due in part to racial discrimination with the American society
Civil Rights movements dont come until the 60s Newspapers and
magazines began to report about blues music in the Deep South at
the start of the 20 th century The word jazz first appeared in 1915
in the Chicago Daily Tribune Considered to come from Impressionist
Music (harmonies only) Slave Songs Church Hymns African Influences
(rhythm) Jazz is mostly an African American form of music, but
white musicians were intrigued. The first white jazz musicians
appear in the early 1920s in the Midwestern US. Blues jazzs
earliest form Went back to the rhythmic music of the slaves Started
in the deep south Consisted of a repeated line, with a second
concluding line (AAB) Its music of oppression, feeling blue The
singer improvised freely, with limited melodic range (sounded like
a holler in a field) Slurred between major and minor (mostly
dissonant) The 12-Bar Blues Twelve measure progression of chords
(repeated over and over in a blues tune) Evident in almost EVERY
blues song that exist! The term the blues refers to melancholy and
sadness Hart Wands Dallas Blues became the first copyrighted blues
composition (1912) Early blues frequently took the form of a loose
narrative The singer voiced his/her personal woes in a world of
harsh reality There are few characteristics common to all blues
music because the genre took shape from its individuals Lyrics
would often relate to troubles experienced within African American
society. Blind Lemon Jeffersons Rising High Water Blues (1927)
tells about the Great Mississippi Flood Blind Lemon Jeffersons
Rising High Water Blues Backwater rising, southern peoples cant
make no time. I said, backwater rising, southern peoples cant make
no time. And I cant get no hearing from that Memphis girl of mine.
Lyrics could also, though less often, be humorous and raunchy as
well. Big Joe Turners Rebecca Big Joe Turners Rebecca Rebecca,
Rebecca, get your big legs off of me. Rebecca, Rebecca, get your
big legs off of me. It may be sending you baby, but its worrying
the hell out of me. , born in Chattanooga TN Evoked an emotional
quality that instruments tried to imitate Nicknamed the Empress of
the Blues, and was a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists
By age 9, Bessie lost both her mother and father, and was under the
care of her older sister. To earn money, her and her brother would
perform on the streets she sang and danced while her brother played
guitar She eventually started singing in chorus lines, and took on
a recording career in Philadelphia She was the highest paid black
entertainer of the time In 1923, she was signed by Columbia Records
She made 160 different recordings for Columbia, accompanied by the
finest musicians of the time Her career was cut short due to the
depression it nearly put the recording industry out of business
Bessie Smith Downhearted Blues Bessie Smith Downhearted Blues
Bessie Smith (Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out, 1929) Jazz
Legend - YouTube Bessie Smith (Nobody Knows You When You're Down
And Out, 1929) Jazz Legend - YouTube At approximately the same time
came ragtime a piano style with a strict two-part form The
abolition of slavery led to new opportunities for the education of
freed African Americans Segregation limited employment
opportunities, so several found employment in the entertainment
industry Black pianists played in bars, clubs, and brothels as
ragtime developed Began as dance music in the red-light districts
of African American communities in St. Louis and New Orleans years
before getting published It was a modification of the march simply
with additional polyrhythms (from African music) Very syncopated
Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime Most popular hits: Maple Leaf Rag
& The Entertainer Maple Leaf Rag Played by Scott Joplin YouTube
Maple Leaf Rag Played by Scott Joplin YouTube Ragtime Piano : SCOTT
JOPLIN. " The Entertainer " (1902) - YouTube Ragtime Piano : SCOTT
JOPLIN. " The Entertainer " (1902) - YouTube Scott Joplin got the
Maple Leaf Rag published in Ragtime fell out of popularity around
1917 (bigger bands took over) In the 40s, big bands brought ragtime
back The music of New Orleans had a huge effect on early jazz New
Orleans Early Jazz = Dixieland Many jazz performers were regulars
in the red-light district known as Storyville Performing in
brothels and bars The style combined brass band marches, ragtimes,
and blues, with polyphonic improvisation The Dixieland sound is
created when one instrument (usually trumpet) plays the melody, and
the other lead instruments improvise around it The basic
instruments of jazz originally came from the marching bands
performing at various events around town: brass and reeds Trumpet,
trombone, clarinet, and a rhythm section (guitar/banjo, string bass
or tuba, piano, and drums) No saxophone yet Small bands that mixed
self-taught and well educated African American musicians Groups
traveled across the Deep South as parts of traveling shows (took
jazz to the Western and northern cities) One performer who toured
with these groups was Jelly Roll Morton From Storyville started
touring in 1904 Travelled to Chicago and New York Jelly Roll
Mortons Jelly Roll Blues, which he composed in 1905, was the first
jazz arrangement (jazz piece for full jazz band) published in 1915
Introduced more musicians to this style Original Jelly Roll Blues
by Jelly Roll Morton Original Jelly Roll Blues by Jelly Roll Morton
Swing, invented by Jelly Roll Morton, was the most important, and
enduring African-based rhythmic technique used in jazz. Swing your
8 th eighth notes (Long-short, instead of even) You have to feel
it; abandoned the stiffness of ragtime The Original Dixieland Jazz
Band made the musics first recordings in 1917 Their Livery Stable
Blues became the earliest released jazz record
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WojNaU4-kI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WojNaU4-kI In 1918, James Reese
Europes Hellfighters infantry band took ragtime and Dixieland to
jazz to Europe during World War I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMHJ8PgVatk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMHJ8PgVatk Jazz in New Orleans
helped black children escape poverty. Jazz musicians would teach
younger children how to play 10 minutes short