Chapter 5 - Swing Flashcards
Generally, what makes swing different from jazz?
it has a looser, less stiff rhythmic feeling, and developed in the 1920s.
Is it true that most jazz from the mid 1930s to 1940s was called swing music?
True
How many musicians were usually in a swing band, and what was this era was this music considered to be a part of?
Usually 10 or more musicians in a band, and the music was considered as part of the “big band era”
What was the most popular style in jazz history?
Swing, and it attracted millions of dancers.
Why were several of the big dance bands were important in jazz?
because of their soloists and the ways the bands combined written with improvised parts
How does swing differ from early jazz?
- the preferred instrumentation for swing was big band rather than combo. this made for greater reliance on written arrangement during the swing era.
- Saxophones were more common in swing
- Bass viol appeared more often in swing
- high-hat cymbals were used more
- Collective improvisation was rare in swing
- Overall rhythmic feeling was smoother
- Swing musicians usually showed a higher level of instrumental proficiency in terms of speed,agility, tone control, and playing in tune
How many musicians were in big bands and what categories did their instruments fall into?
10 or more.
Brass, saxophone, and rhythm.
Are saxophones brass or woodwinds?
they are made of brass by technically called woodwinds because they originated from instruments traditionally made of wood (clarinet, flute, and oboe). They are also played in the manner of traditional wooden instruments
What was the sax section often called and why?
Reed section, because most sax players also played clarinet and both instruments have cane reeds attached to their mouthpiece
What are the two most frequently used saxes?
alto and tenor
How large was the sax section?
three to five musicians
What instruments could saxophonists play?
clarinet, alto, and baritone
What was the size of the trumpet section?
two to five, most had three
What was the organization of the trumpet and trombone sections section?
Lead trumpeteer in the middle, and lead trombonist in the middle
What was the size of the trombone section?
one to five
Tell me about how written music stemmed?
As bands began getting larger, improvising became more and more difficult to produce a respectable performance, although some did succeed in playing without written arrangements. eventually musicians had to learn to read and write arrangements to have a big enough repertory on hand. this made it easier for newcomers to learn the music
Who played the melody?
the entire band in unison or in harmony
What followed the melody?
jazz improvisation, accompanied both by the rhythm section and by figures scored for other members of the group
What are riffs?
Short, simple phrases of figures
How were the meodies and accompanying figures taken up ?
In turn by one section of the band and then another
what is call and response?
a compositional technique in which one section states a theme as a question and another section states another theme as an answer to it
What is the rhythm section comprised of ?
piano, guitar, bass, and drums
what is a rhythm guitar?
guitarist strumming one chord on each beat
Which instruments were dropped from big band rhythm sections?
rhythm guitar, tuba.
Before the guitar and string bass became firmly established, guitarists often alternated between?
guitar and banjo
What did bassists alternate between?
tuba (brass bass) and string bass
During the swing era, did the pianist just play chords and embellishments? Also, what style did they play?
no they also played the rhythm section. They used stride style or played a chord on every beat or every other beat
During the swing era, was comping the common accompaniment style ?
No, but Count Basie used it
