Quarter 2- Module 2: Lesson 3-4: Jazz and Popular Music

What is Jazz Music?

Jazz Music is an American music developed especially from ragtime and blues which originated in the African-American Community.

Characteristics of Jazz Music:

a. syncopated rhythms (making part of music off-beat)

  • Jazz musicians like to emphasize the notes that they play on the "upbeats". Syncopation may be affected by affecting normally weak beats in a measure, by resting on a normal accented beat, or by tying over a note to the next measure

b. Polyphonic (producing many sounds simultaneously)

c. Improvisation (creative activity of immediate musical composition)

d. distortion of pitch and timbre (often utilize complex sounds)

Different Forms of Jazz:

  1. Ragtime - an American popular musical style mainly for piano, originating in the Afro-American communities in St. Louis and New Orleans. Its style was said to be a variation of the "marching mode", where the effect is generated by an internally syncopated melodic line pitted against a rhythmically straightforward bass line. Foremost exponents of ragtime were Jelly Roll Morton who was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist and who composed Frog I More Rag. Scott Joplin composed the popular Maple Leaf Rag, Solace, and The Entertainer. Joplin is also known as the "King of Ragtime."

  2. Big Band - refers to a large ensemble form originating in the United States in the mid 1920's closely associated with the Swing Era with jazz elements relying heavily on percussion, wind, rhythm section, and brass instruments with a lyrical string section to accompany a lyrical melody.

  3. Bebop - a musical style of modern jazz which is characterized by a fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation that emerged during World War II. The speed of the harmony, melody, and rhythm resulted in a heavy performance where the instrumental sound became more tense and free.

  4. Jazz Rock - a music of the 1960's and 1970's bands that inserted jazz elements into rock music. Jazz rock is a mix of funk and R&B which stands for "rhythm and blues", where the music used amplification and electronic effects, complex time signatures, and extended instrumental compositions with lengthy improvisations in the jazz style.