jazz - multigenre project
DESCRIPTION
Project for English IV HonorsTRANSCRIPT
Introduction
For this multigenre project, I worked to explore the vast world of jazz music. I delved
into the culture and history of this incredible music form, and tried to capture some of the
wonderful beauty of jazz in the following pages. I began with a howtodoit article titled “Jazz
Development”, which examines some of the steps that jazz followed as it developed and
transformed through history. This includes the mingling of different music styles and the
pioneering innovation of incredible solo artists. The next work in the project is a magazine article
called “Jazz and African American Musicians”. I wanted to explore what jazz was able to do for
the black community, especially earlier on in its history, such as during the time period of
ragtime, or even the Jazz Age and the Roaring 20’s. Jazz and African American culture are so
intertwined that I felt that I must examine their relationship further. The third piece is a review of
Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. I wanted to learn more than just the broad overarching themes
of jazz, so I went deeper and examined specific artists. I researched what they were famous for,
especially when improvising jazz solos. My fourth writing is a definition and explanation titled
“Speakeasies in the Prohibition Era”. I wanted to use this to further explore the glorious Jazz
Age of Louis Armstrong, and the influence of Prohibition and speakeasies on the development of
jazz music as a whole. I end with an explanation of jazz improvisation. Obviously, I did not learn
everything there is to know about improv, but I tried to include some of the basics of what many
musicians use when they improvise solos. Jazz has such a rich and fascinating history, and I am
excited to share my multigenre project on it.
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Table of Contents
Five Genres
Jazz Development
(Howtodoit Article)
Jazz and African American Musicians (Magazine Article)
Charlie Parker and John Coltrane
(Review)
Speakeasies in the Prohibition Era (Definition and Explanation)
Jazz Improvisation
(Explanation)
Reflection Page
Bibliography
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“Jazz Development”
Howtodoit Article
1. Transport African drumming and rhythmic music to America. 2. Allow it to flourish in New Orleans. 3. Bring European hymns and other church music to America as well. 4. Blend the African music with the European hymns. 5. Have Cuban and other Caribbean migrants bring their music with them, and combine it
with the AfricanEuropean blend. 6. Abolish slavery in America, and have ragtime develop.
a. Ragtime music which includes syncopation, often in a march style, started as dance music before being written for piano
7. Develop blues music in the American South with chants and spirituals. a. Blues is based heavily on the pentatonic scale, used commonly in world music.
8. Have artists, such as Louis Armstrong, incorporate “swing” rhythms instead of strict
ragtime rhythms. 9. Ban alcohol in America (Prohibition) to lead to the development of “speakeasies”. These
clubs will foster the development of jazz music, leading to the Jazz Age of the Roaring 20’s.
10. Develop bebop, with more of a focus of the artistry and musicianship, and less of a focus on the popularity/dance style.
11. Increase the influence of Latin music on jazz, creating Latin jazz and AfroCuban jazz. 12. Have jazz combine with pop music, forming “pop fusion” and smooth jazz.
ST. LOUIS, 1903 ANNOUNCEMENT: Come witness the “King of Ragtime Writers”, Scott Joplin, performing famous pieces such as “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer”! Hear the unique syncopated rhythms of ragtime music from one of St. Louis’s own.
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“Jazz and African American Musicians”
Magazine Article
As jazz developed, starting during the preCivil War
era, it provided important opportunities for black musicians
and artists. By combining African American drumming
patterns with European church
music, American slaves
created a music genre which
was distinctly theirs. Even though the Black Codes outlawed
drumming by slaves, African Americans maintained their
musical style. Once slavery was abolished, jazz music and jazz
clubs became important to black musicians. Ragtime was
developed, and provided entertainment opportunities for the
newly freed slaves.
The Prohibition Era was an influential part in jazz’s
history. It led to the development of “speakeasies”, which
were popular venues for jazz music. This fostered the “Jazz Age”. Jazz during this time was led
by many influential black artists, such as Louis Armstrong. As both the blues and bebop
developed, they drew heavily on African musical and harmonic influences.
Even as the influence of jazz spread far beyond just African American communities, and
even far beyond America itself, jazz remained important for black artists and musicians. It is still
predominantly performed by black musicians today, and continues to provide important
opportunities for African American artists.
ENGLAND, 1933 Duke Ellington, the American swing bandleader, will be touring with his orchestra here in Europe! Come see the man famous for “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)”! He has very few performances overseas, so make sure to see his band while you have the chance.
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“Charlie Parker and John Coltrane”
Review
Charlie Parker, a saxaphone player and composer,
revolutionized jazz music harmony and progressions. He was known to use contrafact on his recordings. Contrafact is when an existing harmonic progression is used with a new, unique jazz melody over it. This allowed artists to avoid copyright infringement since you cannot copyright the harmonic progression. Contrafact became an important part of the development of bebop music. Parker used the traditional 12 bar blues progression for some of his works, but he also developed a set of changes to it which he used in some other pieces, which were called “Bird Changes”. Parker’s solos and compositions both used complex melodies and very little repetition.
Parker was very influential for his developments in the area of jazz solo performance. He often relied heavily on passing tones to lead to chord tones, which
were not used as much before his time. His solos were unique from other artists’ performances, and led to revolutions in how jazz solos were improvised and performed. Parker’s influence on jazz lives on to this day, and is an essential part of jazz music.
John Coltrane was another pioneer of jazz music and composition. Also a saxaphone player, Coltrane developed his own set of “Coltrane Changes”, which were chord progressions used in many of his compositions.
He was involved in many different jazz groups throughout his life. But, even though he would eventually become one of, if not the most, famous jazz musician of the modern era, some of his groups still received criticism. One of his groups was accused of being too avantgarde, and of playing “AntiJazz”. Coltrane used this criticism as he continued as a jazz musician, and it helped shape how he played.
NEW YORK CITY, 1946 See the famous saxophonist “Bird” Charlie Parker! One of the most influential and impressive jazz soloists of our time, Parker is a leader of the bebop style of jazz.
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“Speakeasies in the Prohibition Era”
Definition and Explanation
speak ∙ eas ∙ y (noun):
1. an illegal nightclub or bar developed during the Prohibition Era 2. an important venue for jazz musicians during the 1920’s in America
Once Prohibition was passed, “speakeasies” began to appear all over America. These
clubs offered the alcohol and entertainment that many
people were craving during the Roaring 20’s, and helping
lead America into the Jazz Age. Many jazz musicians were
employed to play at these speakeasies, and this helped to
expand jazz and provide many opportunities for new artists
and more developments in different types of jazz music.
Louis Armstrong was a very important musician during this
time period. He played in many different bands, and helped increase the popularity of jazz music.
Jazz music was often used as dance music during this time period, which helped it expand its
influence and reach more diverse listeners.
Speakeasies drew a variety of different people together, all looking for the same thing: a
place to escape from the world of Prohibition to a world of freeflowing alcohol and
entertainment. This desire fueled the careers of many jazz musicians, as they fed on the people’s
need for entertainment. The Roaring 20’s just reinforced this need, as everyone required more
lavish and luxurious lifestyles. The rich got richer, and they wanted more.
NEWPORT, 1955 The great trumpet player Miles Davis will be performing at the Newport Jazz Festival. An important contributor to the new jazz genre of “hard bop”, Hard bop includes slower tempos than the previous bebop style of jazz, and is heavily influenced by the blues. Davis will be playing the song “Round Midnight”, along with many others.
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“Jazz Improvisation”
Explanation
Jazz improvisation is constantly changing, as the genre of jazz continues to evolve. Jazz
improv includes many different components: Modes are similar to scales, and are commonly used when improvising. The are usually used when specific chords are played, and they give direction to the improviser as to which notes are recommended to be played over that chord. Passing tones, whose presence in jazz improv were increased by Charlie Parker, are also used in many jazz solos. These notes help lead from one chord tone to another. Targeting is another method used to land on chord tones, where these specific notes are approached chromatically from either direction.
Examples of Passing Tones
Pentatonic scales are present in many different jazz solos. Pentatonic scales are used widely in different types of world music, and were incorporated into jazz performance and into blues music. Pentatonic scales were often used by Coltrane in his improvisations.
C Major Scale versus the C Major Pentatonic Scale
Licks are small melodies used repeatedly by an artist during an improvisation. These musical ideas are often developed before the performance, and can be adapted to be used in many different types of jazz solos. Improv gives musicians the opportunity to explore their musical expression and creative ability within the context of jazz. Improvisation allows for more freedom of rhythm, pitch, and tonal center, and provides opportunities for artists to explore more progressive and avantgarde harmonic styles and melodic progressions.
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Reflection Page
What surprised you by the process of writing this Multigenre Paper? I was surprised at how much freedom we were given with this project. We had the ability to pick pretty much any topic possible, and then write in any format that we wanted. I loved the freedom we have to explore our creativity with the project, and find things that would help me most accurately convey what I wanted to about my topic. Normally school projects are very structured with a given set of specific requirements, but this project was much more broad and open to interpretation. Tell what was hard about writing this paper and explain why. It was difficult to narrow down exactly what I wanted my genres to be from all of the many possibilities. Since there are so many different types of writing, choosing the five that I would be able to do best and that would be best for my project was a daunting task. Filling out the FactQuestionGenre sheet helped with this task. What did you enjoy from doing this Multigenre Paper? I enjoyed being able to explore a topic I was interested in in more depth. On my own, I would not have done all of this research and learned so much about jazz music and its origins, but this project pushed me to discover more about it. Because there was so much freedom with the format, it made researching the topic much more fun. What could you have done to make your work more efficient/productive? I thought that I worked very efficiently during this project, but I could have planned out my repetends earlier, so that I could’ve worked on them while I was researching for my five genres. This would have made it easier to write them since I would have the information right in front of me. It would also help because I wouldn’t need to spend a whole class brainstorming the repetends and planning them out. Also, I should’ve started writing and doing more serious research earlier on instead of waiting a couple class periods to start really putting in work on my genres. What is your advice to future students who embark on creating a Multigenre Paper? My advice would be to pick something that you find genuinely interesting, but perhaps don’t know very much about. You can use this project to really learn about pretty much anything, so don’t limit yourself. Also, pick genre types that you will enjoy writing. Since there are so many possibilities, anyone should be able to find a type of writing that they will have fun creating. This makes it much easier to work on the multigenre project for a long time, because you are doing something that is interesting.
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Bibliography
"15 Most Influential Jazz Artists." Listverse. Listverse, LTD, 26 Feb. 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.
<http://listverse.com/2010/02/27/15mostinfluentialjazzartists/>.
"Charlie Parker." PBS. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_parker_charlie.htm>.
"Charlie Parker Biography." Bio.com . A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.biography.com/people/charlieparker9433413>.
"Jazz Milestones." APassionForJazz.com . A Passion For Jazz, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <www.apassion4jazz.net/milestones.html>.
"John Coltrane". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia
Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/126870/JohnColtrane>.
"John Coltrane Biography." JohnColtrane.com . John Coltrane The Official Site, n.d. Web. 17
Apr. 2015. <http://www.johncoltrane.com/biography.html>. Sabatella, Marc. "Jazz Improvisation Primer." The Outside Shore. N.p., 1992. Web. 17 Apr.
2015. <http://www.outsideshore.com/music/ajazzimprovisationprimer/>. SchmidtJones, Catherine. "Ragtime." OpenStax CNX. Rice University, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.
<http://cnx.org/contents/c07e36c1e42e40ccbe0eb4acd8cd459e@12/Ragtime>. Starr, Larry, and Christopher Waterman. "Popular Jazz and Swing: America’s Original Art
Form." IIP Digital U.S. Embassy. U.S. Department of State, 26 July 2008. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/publication/2008/08/20080812212457eaifas0. 7410852.html#axzz3QeZKNVtc>.
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