Midterm 1 Flashcards
The simultaneous use of contrasting rhythms; also known as rhythmic contrast.
Polyrhythm
The quality of sound, as a distinct pitch; also known as tone color.
Timbre
Continuous, unchanging patterns whose very repetition provides a framework for a musical piece.
Foundation Layers
Contrasting parts played above the foundation layers in a piece.
Variable Layers
- Jazz from the period 1935-1945, usually known as the Swing Era; 2. 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.)
Swing
A general term for the overall rhythmic framework of a performance. Includes swing, funk, ballad, and Latin.
Groove
The organization of recurring pulses into patterns. Duple 1-2, triple 1-2-3, irregular 1-2-3/1-2
Meters
The speed of a piece of music.
Tempo
The preconceived structures that govern improvisation in jazz. These may include cycles of various kinds, popular song (like AABA), or compositional forms such as march/ragtime.
Form
Wind instruments, some of which are made of brass, use a cup-like mouthpiece to create the sound.
Brass instruments
Wind instruments whose mouthpieces are inserted between the lips, blowing air through a thin passage way with a limber reed.
Reed instruments
Instruments that provide accompaniment for jazz soloing: harmony instruments such as piano, guitar, bass, tuba, or percussion.
Rhythm section
A texture featuring one melody supported by harmonic accompaniment.
Homophonic texture
A texture in which two or more melodies of equal interest are played at the same time.
Polyphonic Texture
A texture featuring one melody with no accompaniment. Uses of break and stop-time.
Monophonic Texture
A composed section of music that frames a small-combo performance, appearing at the beginning and again at the end.
Head
1) A single statement of the harmonic and rhythmic jazz cycle defined by the musical form (12 bar blues, 32 bar popular song); 2) The repeated portion of a popular song, often introduced by its verse.
Chorus
A standard song form, usually divided into shorter sections, such as AABA (each section 8 bars long) or AA (each section 16 bars long).
32 Bar Song Form
A twelve bar cycle used as a framework for improvisation by jazz musicians.
12 Bar Blues Form
The most common 32 bar popular song form, referring to melody and harmonic progression (but not text).
Each portion is 8 bars long, with B, the bridge, serving as the point of contrast.
A = statement, A = repetition, B = contrast, A = return.
AABA Form
Second most common 32 bar popular song form, referring to melody and harmonic progression. Each portion 8 bars long, with the A section returning in the songs middle. Can also be considered AA’ form.
ABAC
A short, catchy, and repeated melodic phrase.
Riffs
A short melodic or rhythmic idea.
Motives
A musical utterance that’s analogous to a sentence in speech.
Phrases
Short melodic ideas that form a shared basic vocabulary for jazz improvisers.
Licks
A preexisting melody used as the basis for improvisation.
Melodic Paraphrase
A new melodic line created with notes drawn from the underlying harmonic progression; also known as running the changes.
Harmonic Improvisation
The process of using a scale as the basis for improvisation.
Modal Improvisation
A slow romantic popular song;
A long, early type of folk song that narrated a bit of history.
Ballad
An unaccompanied, rhythmically loose vocal line sung by a field worker.
Field Holler
African American religious song
Spirituals
An early style of blues, first recorded in the 1920’s featuring itinerant male singers accompanying themselves on guitar.
Country Blues
An early theatrical form of the blues featuring female singers, accompanied by a small band; also known as classic blues.
Vaudeville Blues
A style of popular music in the early twentieth 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.
Ragtime
A musical form exemplified by composers like John Philip Sousa, consisting of a series of sixteen-bar strains, usually repeated once and not brought back.
March Form
The earliest jazz style, developed early in the twentieth century and popularized after 1917 in New York and Chicago; native to New Orleans, it features collective improvisation.
New Orleans Style
Method of improvisation found in New Orleans Jazz in which several instruments in the front line improvise simultaneously in a dense, polyphonic texture.
Collective Improvisation
Texture in which two or more melodies of equal interest are played at the same time.
Polyphony
In New Orleans Jazz, the melody instruments: trumpet, trombone, and clarinet.
Front Line
A form of jazz popular in the 1920’s that attempted to elevate the music through symphonic arrangements.
Symphonic Jazz
A style of jazz piano relying on a left-hand accompaniment that alternates low bass notes with higher chords.
Stride Piano Style
A style of jazz in the 1920’s that imitated the New Orleans style, combining expansive solos with polyphonic theme statements.
Chicago Style
In the 1920’s and early 1930’s, dance bands that serviced an area defined by a days drive from an urban center.
Territory bands
A blues piano style in which the left hand plays a rhythmic ostinato of eight beats to the bar.
Boogie-Woogie piano
Empress of the blues. Most popular blues artist of the era. Helped bring 12 bar structure to popularity in jazz.
Bessie Smith
Most prolific ragtime composer. Ice cream truck tune.
Scott Joplin
