Midterm Flashcards
Techniques jazz performers use to modify timbre
-Quality of sound/ tone color.
-Mutes (distort sound from instrument)
-Find their own sound: Distinguished from other instruments/ performers.
(Timbre is also known as tone quality, tone color, or voice. Some of the many words used to describe the timbre of instruments include rich, bright, mellow, dark, buzzy, and warm.)
Standard instruments used by soloists
-Clarinet
-Alto and/or tenor saxophone
-Trumpet and/or cornet
-Trombone
Blue notes
-Frequencies that fall in between the standard pitches of the major and minor scales.
-May occur on the 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes of the major scale, lower pitches but not low enough to be found in the minor scale.
Triads
-The basic chord of European and American harmony.
-Consists of 3 pitches, separated by the interval of a third.
-May either be consonant or dissonant
Extended chords
-Triads with extra thirds added
-(triads to which additional pitches, or extensions have been added)
-Commonly used in Jazz
Meter
-The organization of stressed and unstressed beats into regular, recurring patterns.
-The most commonly used meter groups the beats into sets of 2 or 4; both of these are called duple meters.
Syncopation
- Accenting the weak beats (i.e., 2 and 4)
- Placing rhythms in between beats
(the practice of displacing the beats or accents in music or a rhythm so that strong beats become weak and vice versa)
Polyrhythm
-Layering multiple, independent rhythmic patterns on top of each other
- The superimposition of one rhythmic pattern on top of at least one other
- A fundamental attribute of music of African, which is organized into distinct rhythmic layers
Principal/characteristic rhythmic traits of jazz
- Syncopation*
- Polyrhythm*
- Rhythmic repetition*
- Swing style or groove
*(trait derives from African practice)
Call and response
Dialogue between:
1. A leader and a follower (1 instrument answered by another)
2. A leader and a group of followers (1 instrument answered by the rest of the band)
3. A group of leaders followed by a group of followers (trumpets answered by trombones)
Chorus
-A repeating structural unit basic to form in Jazz
-Equates to a single statement of a repeating harmonic and rhythmic pattern, usually consisting of 12-32 statements of the meter.
-Repetition of the chorus serves as the basis for improvisation in Jazz
(In a jazz performance, the form of a tune, i.e., all the chords of the tune in a predetermined sequence (such as AAB, AABA, ABAC, etc.), will be repeated over and over; each time through is called a chorus.)
32-bar popular song form
-Consists of 4 musical phrases, each made up of 8 “bars” (complete statements of the meter)
1. AABA
2. ABAC
3. AABA’
Melodic paraphrase
-Varying a known melody by
1. adding notes
2. altering the rhythms, especially in a manner that makes the melody swing.
-The melody should be recognizable because
1. soloist retains characteristic fragments of the melody
2. entire ensemble retains the basic harmonic structure
Harmonic improvisation
-Relies upon a harmonic progression rather than a melody
- Performers either play the notes in the chord, or non-chord tones consonant with the pitches of the chord (thereby creating extended chords)
(to make melodic decisions based on chords changes)
Licks
-A short recognizable melodic motif, formula, or phrase used in improvisation (often involving stringing a set of licks together)
-May be devised by the performer himself
Minstrelsy
-19th century America’s most popular form of entertainment
- Initially featured white entertainers pretending to be of African descent (blackface, African-American influences in song, dance, and humor, imitation of African-American styles of talk, movement and dance).
-Racist and exploitative
-Brought fame to African styles and ultimately created a social/economic niche for African-American musicians (with black troupes appearing by the Civil War)
