EXAM 1 Flashcards
TIMBRE
The sound quality or tone color of an instrument.
mutes
physical devices inserted into the bell of brass instruments to distort the timbre of the sounds coming out
timber variation
achieved by changing sound of instrument, the use of wide range timbres for expressive purposes
vibrato
A slight wobble in pitch produced naturally by the singing voice, often imitated by wind and string instruments
half valving
Depressing one or more of the valves of a brass instrument only halfway, producing an uncertain pitch with a nasal sound
shake
for brass instruments a quick trill between notes that mimics a wide vibrato, often performed at the end of a musical passage.
cup mute
an orchestral mute with an extensive that more or less covers the bell of a brass instrument
straight mutes
a standard orchestral mute that dampens the sound of a brass instrument
harmon mute
a hollow mute originally with a short extension but usually played without it = leaving a hole in the center and creating a highly concentrated sound
plunger mute
the bottom end of a sink plunger used as a mute for a brass instrument
glissando
a continuous slide upward or downward between two notes.
sections of ensemble
wind (horns) and rhythm
wind section
includes brass and single reed instruments
brass instruments
trumpet, cornet, trombone
single reed instruments
clarinet and saxophone
rhythm and harmony instruments
vibraphone, organ, synthesizer, electric piano, guitar, banjo, piano
bass instruments
string bass
pizzicato
Technique of playing a string instrument by plucking the strings with the fingers, usually preferred method in jazz for string instruments
bowing
Technique of playing a string instrument by using a bow and sliding it across the strings
percussion instruments
drum kit/drum set/trap set, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, congas, bongos, timbales, maracas, guiro
rhythm
music’s pattern in time
meter
pulses grouped into patterns constitute a meter
tempo
speed
pulse rhythm
In music theory, the pulse is a series of uniformly spaced beats—either audible or implied that sets the tempo and is the scaffolding for the rhythm.
free rhythm
“Breath rhythm” is more elusive. Although we breathe continuously, we can speed it up or slow it down, or even (for a time) stop it altogether. In music, this can be called rubato, or free rhythm
polyrhythm
simultaneous use of contrasting rhythms, aka rhythmic contrast
call and response
a pervasive principle of interaction of conversation in jazz: a statement by one musician or group of musicians is immediately answered by another musician or group.
syncopation
an occasional rhythmic disruption, contradicting the basic meter.
backbeat
a simple polyrhythm emphasizing beats 2 and 4 of a 4/4 measure rather than 1 and 3.
downbeat
the first beat of a measure or bar.
groove
a general term for the overall rhythmic framework of a performance. Grooves include swing, funk, ballad, and Latin
swing
(1935-45) a jazz specific feeling created by rhythmic contrast within a particular rhythmic framework( usually involving a walking bass and a steady rhythm on the drummer’s ride cymbal.
melody
Melody is a succession of pitches in rhythm. The melody is usually the most memorable aspect of a song, the one the listener remembers and is able to perform
scale
basic unit of melody, pitches that fall within the octave
chromatic scale
the 12 notes in an octave
half-step
interval separating each note in an octave
major mode
pitches from c to c, white keys on a piano, do re mi scale aka mode
degree
each note is a degree in the scale
tonic
the first degree note (c in c major scale)
tonal music
music that insists on returning to the tonic/first degree (happy bday to you)
whole step
white key to white key
mode
aka scale
minor mode
different whole/half step pattern. sounds sad, moody, angry, tragic WHWWHWW
whole tone scale
a six-note scale made up entirely of whole steps; because it avoids the intervals of a perfect fourth or fifth.
major scale
WWHWWWH
pentatonic scale
a scale of five notes; for example, CDEGA
blue notes
notes that would fall between the cracks on the piano
motives
a short melodic or rhythmic idea
riffs
a short catch and repeatable melodic phrase
chords
If you play two or more notes at the same time, you get a chord, the basis of harmony
Harmonic progression
Jazz musicians improvise over a harmonic progression, also known as the changes—a series of chords played in a strict rhythmic sequence. As the term “progression” suggests, the movement from chord to chord conveys a feeling of moving forward:
Consonant harmony
stable chords
Dissonant harmony
unstable or jarring chords
cadence
the end of a phrase where a chord progression comes to rest
harmonic substitutions
chord substitution or the substitution of one chord or a series of chords for harmonies in progression.
Chromatic harmony
Complex harmony based on the chromatic scale
texture
The balance between melody and harmony.
Homophony
melody is supported by harmonic accompaniment
monophony
melody exists on its own
polyphony
2 or more melodies of equal interest are played at the same time
breaks
when the rest of the band stops to allow a musician to solo
stop-time
monophonic texture when ensemble plays a short chord at brief intervals while soloist improvises
counterpoint
is the relationship between voices that are interdependent harmonically (polyphony) yet independent in rhythm and contour.
licks
melodic phrases
jazz forms are derived from?
african music
improv happens within?
cycle or chorus
rhythmic contrast is used for?
prevent boring repetition
blues form has its origins in?
african american folk poetry
blues form known as?
12 bar blues
what is known as chord progression?
I, V, IV, V
I means?
a chord built on the first note of a particular scale
IV means?
IV means a chord built on the fourth note of a particular scale
I is known as?
the tonic
V is known as?
the dominant
variety can be added through?
harmonic variations
what is a head?
first and last chorus may consist of the straight tune with no improv
what form is “west end blues”?
12 bar blues
what form is “now’s the time”?
12-bar blues
what the the refrain?
the 32 bar section
what is AABA?
4 x 8 bars making up 32 bar section. 3xA and 1xB
form of “a sailboat in the moonlight”?
32 bar AABA
what did jazz musicians like about “I got rhythm”?
the harmonic progression
song in AABA form?
so what
song in ABAC form?
singing the blues
walking bass
a bass line featuring four equal beats per bar, usually used as a rhythmic foundation in jazz.
chart
the musical score that serves as the basis for jazz performance
comping
plays chords in a rhythmically unpredictable manner, known as comping (jazz slang for “accompanying”).
pedal point
Spaar suddenly restricts the bass line to a single repeated note,
ride pattern dropping bombs
The drummer plays a more or less constant pattern with his right hand, while accenting the backbeat on the high-hat cymbal with his left foot. The right foot controlling the bass drum pedal, plays thunderous accents while the left hand swoops over the rest of the drum kit adding sharp responses on the snare drum, tom-tom, or crash cymbal.
fill
an improvised passage by the drummer
melodic paraphrase
The simplest method of improvisation takes a preexisting melody—a song known by millions or an original composition by a member of the band—and varies it
big bands
large jazz orchestras featuring sections of saxophones, trumpets, and trombones, prominent during the swing era
small combos
Jazz is usually played by small groups: a few horns plus rhythm section.
trading fours
trading short solos back and forth between the drums and the soloists, or between soloists.
jazz sometimes called?
america’s classical music
jazz is x and x music
popular and folk
jazz can be traced to?
africa
african music characterized by?
polyrhythm, call and response, blue notes, timber variation, combined ideas
ballad?
retelling of local history through lengthy ballads
work songs
These thrived on the railway, levee, or wherever else music was needed to pace manual labor.
spirituals
which transformed call-and-response songs into religious poetry.
field hollers
a rhythmically loose vocal line that expressed his or her lonesome individuality.
blues
a new poetic genre marked by its unusual three-line stanza.
country blues
an early style of blues, first recorded in the 1920s featuring itinerant male male singers accompanying themselves on guitar
vaudeville/classic blues
in which female singers were accompanied by a small band on the stages of black theater circuits in the 1910s and 1920s.
bessie smith
empress of the blues
buzzard lope
Cyclic form, African American Folk style, Bessie Jones is the song leader, Chorus is sung by Joe Armstrong, Jerome Davis, John Davis, Peter David, Henry Morrison, Willis Proctor
reckless blues
Singer: Bessie Smith
Trumpet: Louis Armstrong
Reed Organ: Fred Longshaw
1924-25
Form: 12-bar blues
Style: vaudeville blues
How did Dance Music influence jazz?
Dancing started to be more common and ragtime became a popular form. Dance music influenced the small combo and big bands. Big bands were for swing and combo for New Orleans Jazz.
charleston
the charleston rhythm was a dance rhythm from the 1920s consisting of two emphatic beats followed by a rest
ragtime
A style of popular music in the early 20th century that conveyed african american polyrhythm in notated form, includes popular song and dance, although it’s primarily known today through compositions written for the piano.
john philip sousa
Took over the US marine Band in 1880
-The US marine band performed ambitious programs that featured European music as well as his own concert marches.
-1982 he formed his first ensemble
-His band toured all over the world and had the highest level of virtuosity and precision in performance.
brass bands
Originally a military institution that in peacetime became a local peoples orchestra.
march form
(AABBCCDD or AABBACCDD)
scott joplin
He believed in power of literacy to lift black people out of poverty.
-Joplin left home as a teenager to become a professional pianist.
-He organized a black brass band
-He began composing and composed the Maple Leaf Rag.
-He insisted on royalty payments for the piece rather than the usual flat fee.
-Best known for composing the entertainer
wilbur sweatman
-Known for dixieland jazz and ragtime.
-First black composer to develop a national fan base.
“Down Home Rag”
By Wilbur Sweatman (clarinet)
style: ragtime/early jazz
form: march/ragtime
new orleans
-It transformed jazz though a highly unusual polyphonic texture known as collective improvisation.
-Influenced jazz my mixing the black and creole populations thus mixing african and european styles together.
congo square
It was a music and dance square that in 1817 allowed slaves and free blacks to congregate there to dance and play music on sunday afternoons. Whites were shocked with what they saw. Intricate vocal choirs, massed groups of musicians playing drums, stringed gourds, homemade instruments.
Manuel Perez
- was a band leader
-He led the Onward Brass Band
-Led small groups that played on river boats
-Lots of musicians came under his influence
-Outstanding Cornet and trumpet player
-He strictly played ragtime with no improvisation
-He realized he needed this and hired King Oliver as his bands improvisor.
buddy bolden
-He is recognized as the first important musician in Jazz
-He is known for his loudness in playing and the snake charmer seductiveness of his approach to slow blues. He attracted audiences that preferred his livelier, raunchier brand of music.
-His individuality was a decisive element. He thought how you did it was more important than what you did.
- style: loud, lively, raunchy
new orleans style
first method of groups jazz improvisation.
collective improv
-Most distinctive feature of new orleans jazz and it is where each instrument occupies its own musical space, rhythm, and timbre.
great migration
During the war a large migration happened from the south to the north.
freddie keppard
was one that escaped the south. He was the star attraction of the creole jazz band that played in LA, NY, Chicago, and places in between. He brought new orleans jazz to the rest of the country. He played with a handkerchief over his hands so others couldn’t see what he was playing and refused an opportunity to record. So the first jazz record went to the ODJB.
Jelly Roll Morton
-He was a vordello pianist, pimp, pool hall hustler and comedian.
-He claimed he had invented Jazz.
-If he didn’t invent jazz he sure defined it
-He studied guitar and trombone before focusing on piano and got disowned because he liked sneaking out to hear new vibrant music.
-He was 32 when he settled in Chicago
-He made his first records a year later and they were overwhelmed by loud woodblocks. He spent a few afternoons recording with a white band and this was the first significant integrated recording session in jazz history.
Red Hot Peppers
-It was Jelly Roll Mortons group
-Had 7 to 8 players.
-Was advertised as the number 1 hot band.
-Ideal balance between composition and improvisation.
dead man blues
-Morton: Piano
-George Mitchell: Cornet
-Kid Ory: Trombone
-Omer Simeon, Barney Bigard, Darnell Howard: Clarinets
-Johnny St Cyr: Banjo
John Lindsay: Bass
Andrew Hilaire: Drums
Form: 12 bar blues
Style: New Orleans
doctor jazz
George Mitchell: Trumpet
Kid Ory: Trombone
Omer Simeon: Clarinet
Morton: Piano
John St Cyr: Guitar
John Lindsay: Bass
Andrew Hilaire: Drums
Form: 32 bar popular song (ABAC)
Style: New Orleans Jazz
king oliver
-Brought New Orleans jazz to an enduring plateau
-Moved to Orleans as a young boy
-Played leaning against a wall
-He did all sorts of things with mutes
creole jazz band
was King Oliver’s band who played and attracted black and white musicians alike. His band played for audiences many of which liked him and had moved to chicago from the south.
first recording in 1923
sidney bechet
Jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer. First important soloist in jazz. First notable jazz saxophonist.
Forceful delivery, well-constructed improvisation, distinctive vibrato.
bad temper hampered career.
sidney bechet ability
His ability to improvise, perhaps the first great improviser in jazz history.
“Changes”
“scat break (wordless vocalizing)”
Director: Paul Whiteman
Trumpets: Henry Busse, Charlie margulis
Cornet: Bix Beiderbecke
Style: early new york big band
Form: 32 bar popular song (ABCA) with interlude and versus.
Fletcher Henderson
-Grew up in a middle class home with parents who disdained jazz
-Graduated in Chemistry but then continued his education in music and learned piano well enough to play with Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith. From there he went on to organize dance bands for night clubs and ballrooms.
-He worked at the luxurious roseland ballroom so he offered polished and conventional dance music.
-He also however had access to the best musicians.
-He hired Coleman Hawkins a young saxophonist.
-In 1926 his jazz orchestra was known as the best jazz orchestra anywhere.
Who is Fletcher Henderson? Who is the trumpet player he hired in 1924?
louis armstrong
“Copenhagen”
1924
composed by Charlie Davis
Recorded by Wolverine Orchestra in a foxtrot tempo
cornet: Bix Beiderbecke
obbligato
is an independent countermelody, less important than the main melody
Black-chord harmonies
are two or more instruments playing the same phrase and rhythm in harmony.
Tin pan Alley
-A song writing factory. It was a place where most of the music publishers had their offices.
harlem renaissance
-It was a book of essays called the new negro but it argued that African American artists represented a political and cultural force in literature, art, dance, theater, and music.
stride piano
- was an exciting, virtuoso way of playing piano that was impetuous, flashy, and loud. It was open to anything.
Who is James P. Johnson?
-The father of stride piano
-credited the ring shout dances
-Wrote a song for a broadway musical
“You’ve got to be Modernistic”
1923
style: harlem stride
form: march/ragtime form
piano: james P johnson
Duke Ellington
-His music is more widely played than any other jazz musician
-He wrote all different styles of songs
-He played many different roles
-1. he clarified the nature of big-band jazz, demonstrating potential beyond whiteman’s imagination or henderson’s achievement. 2 He solidified the influence of stride piano as a jazz factor, employing it not only as a pianist himself but as a foundation in orchestrations. 3. He proved that the most individual and adventurous of jazz writing could also be applied to popular songs.
Cotton Club
- The club that Duke Ellington opened at. The band stand looked like a southern plantation and exploited minstrel cliches.
What is programmatic music?
attempting to describe specific places, people, or events.
Who’s music was often programmatic?
Duke Ellington
Black and Tan Fantasy”
1927
composed by Duke Ellington
style: early New York big band
form: 12-bar blues (contrasting 16 bar)
piano: Duke Ellington
louis armstrong
nickname satchmo
played trumpet, sang
influential figure in jaz
hot five
Band led by Louis Armstrong
style: New Orleans jazz that relied heavily on collective improvisation
louis armstrong 5 influences:
blues, improv, singing, repertory, rhythm
louis armstrong and blues
established the blues scale and blues feeling as jazz’s harmonic foundation
louis armstrong and improv
established jazz as music that prizes individual expression
louis a and singing
scat singing
louis a and repertory
created masterworks based on Tin Pan Alley songs, showing that pop music could broaden jazz’s potential both musically and commercially
louis a and rhythm
teach the world to swing
earl hines
a piano player who played like louis a played the trumpet
weather bird
trumpet: Louis Armstrong
Piano: Earl Hines
chicago style jazz
which began by imitating New Orleans bands and evolved into a more slapdash, aggressively rhythmic school that combined expansive solos with polyphonic theme statements.
bix beiderbecke
-Originally started as a musician with the piano, and taught himself the cornet.
-Was 14 when he was with the ODJB and issued its first record, and died at 28 due to alcoholism.
austin high gang
-Bix along with Trumbauer become known as the Austin High Gang, after those white musicians who attended Chicago’s Austin High School along with other musicians who had grown up in Chicago.
-Created Chicago Style.
frankie trumbauer
“Tram” was described as one of the most influential and important jazz saxophonists of the 1920s and 1930s,
coleman hawkins
-Tenor Saxophonist, who established the instrument (tenor sax) as the most iconic instrument in jazz
-Known for his powerful timbre and rhapsodic improvisational style
