History of Jazz - Midterm 1
Terms
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- chromatic scale
- the scale containing twelve equally spaced notes within the octave, corresponding to all the keys (black and white) on the piano
- Dorian scale
- A scale that falls halfway between the major scale and the minor scale.
- Scott Joplin
- famous ragtime composer; published "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer"
- atonal music
- Music that doesn't have a tonic, or tonal center (also known in jazz as "playing outside")
- The Castles
- Modern Dance 1910's, popularized dances from black culture
- motive
- a short melodic or rhythmic idea used self-consciously by a musician in the course of a solo.
- cadenza
- a virtuoso passage for a single instrument, usually monophonic
- Cotton Club
- Harlem, gangster run, black shows for "whites only."
- funk
- a type of groove with a highly syncopated bass line and various rhythmic layers, favored by jazz musicians after about 1970.
- cakewalk
- slave dance. parody of white masters. dance craze in 1890.
- multiphonics
- by heavy overblowing, musicians playing the saxophone can create several pitches at once.
- blues notes
- notes using variable intonation, "bending" the pitch expressively through microtones
- block-chord texture
- a subset of homophonic texture in which the pitches of the accompanying harmony move in exactly the same rhythm as the main melody. Typically found in big-band jazz.
- backbeat
- A consistent accent on beats 2 and 4 of a measure. Produces a rhythmic layer that contrasts with the usual accenting of beat 1 (the downbeat) and beat 3 in the underlying meter
- chord substitutions
- substituting one chord, or a series of chords, for harmonies in a harmonic progression.
- degree
- individual notes in a scale. If a major scale is defined by "do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do," do is the first degree, re is the second degree, and so on.
- dissonance
- harmonies that are unstable within an overall harmonic context. Dissonant harmonies build tension that is revolved through movement toward consonant harmonies.
- glissando
- to slide seamlessly from one note to the next. Most easily achieved with the voice or on the trombone (with its slide).
- extended chords (extensions)
- chords to which additional pitches, or extensions (sixths, ninths, sevenths, thirteenths) have been added beyond the basic triad.
- lick
- a short melodic phrase learned by jazz musicians and used in their improvisations.
- "coon songs"
- ragtime songs with racist stereotypes
- embouchure
- the position of the lips, facial muscles, and jaw necessary to play a wind instrument
- groove
- A general name for the overall framework that makes rhythmic contrast possible. Includes the jazz-specific concept of swing.
- ragtime piano
- rhythmic contrast: left hand (foundation layer), and right hand (variable layer)
- march form (also known as march/ragtime form)
- composed in 16 bar sections (strains). each strain brings a new melody and new harmonic progression.
- James Reese Europe
- black participation in dance music, performed in Carnegie Hall
- boogie-woogie
- a blues piano style in which the left hand plays a rhythmic ostinato (repeated pattern) of eight beats to the bar.
- classic or "vaudville" blues
- female singer on-stage with small jazz band
- break
- a brief passage (usually 2 to 4 bars) in which the prevailing texture (whether homophonic or polyphonic) is interrupted by monophonic texture)
- Bix Beiderbecke
- German American middle class, played the trumpet
- monophonic texture (monophony)
- a musical texture characterized by a single melody with no pitched accompaniment
- race records
- recordings for new urban market
- Louis Armstrong
- The "first soloist in jazz", mentored by Joe Oliver on the cornet, married Lil Harden, first played with King Oliver's band but then in 1924 switched to Fletcher Henderson's to be a "hot jazz soloist"). Became a hero of the great migration representing both Northern, urbane sophistication and Southern "downhome" authenticity. First began recording with group called "Hot Five."
- clave
- a time-lined pattern in Latin music.
- Fletcher Henderson
- Began in Roseland Ballroom in 1924. "Black Paul Whiteman." Songs arranged by his saxaphonist, Don Redman.
- dropping bombs
- a technique in which a drummer plays unpredictable rhythmic accents.
- free rhythm
- music that flows through time without regularly occurring pulses ("breath rhythm")
- consonance
- harmonies that are stable (i.e., that do not need to resolve to another harmony).
- Joe "King" Oliver
- cornet player, used mutes, Louis Armstrong's mentor, formed the King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in 1923
- fake books
- a collection of lead sheets used by jazz musicians
- Earl Hines
- Stride Pianist from Pittsburgh, very experimental.
- half cadences
- cadences that end with the dominant (V) chord.
- cup mute
- an orchestral mute with an extension that more or less covers the bell of the trumpet.
- duple meter
- a kind of meter in which the bar is divided into groups of two. (i.e., "1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2..." or "1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4...")
- bar (measure)
- a rhythmic unit, lasting from one downbeat to the next.
- harmonic improvisation
- creating a new melodic line by drawing on the notes from each chord as it goes by in the harmonic progression. Also known in jazz as "running the changes"
- Duke Ellington
- Born in Chicago middle class. moved to Harlem in 1923 and began playing at the cotton club
- harmonic progression
- a series of chords used as the basis for improvisation, also known as chord changes.
- microtones
- melodic intervals smaller than a half-step, used expressively in jazz as part of blues notes.
- chart
- a shorthand musical score that serves as a point of reference for a jazz performance. Often, only the harmonic progression is specified. Also known as a lead sheet.
- changes
- jazz slang for harmonic progression.
- Sidney Bechet
- popularized the soprano saxophone, also played clarinet. jazz virtuoso soloist.
- melodic paraphrase
- uses a pre-existing melody as the basis for improvisation.
- downbeat
- the first beat of a measure or bar.
- homophonic texture (homophony)
- a musical texture characterized by one main melody with a clearly subordinate pitch accompaniment.
- minor scale (or mode)
- one of the most common of the seven-note scales in Western music culture. Often associated with different emotional responses than major scale (e.g. sadness)
- Jelly Roll Morton
- Creole pianist, composer, songwriter, and hustler from New Orleans. "First Jazz Composer." Recorded with the "Red Hot Peppers" in the mid 1920's.
- cyclic form
- the tendency to base the overall structure of a musical performance on repeated cycles.
- Harmon mute
- a hollow mute made by the Harmon company.
- free improvisation
- improvising without reference to harmony, often in an atonal context. Usually the focus shifts to areas that can be masked in harmonic improvisation: timbre, melodic intervals, rhythm, and constant interactions among musicians.
- AABA Form
- The Standard 32-bar form for many popular songs. AABA refers to the melody and harmonic progression (not the lyrics). Each portion of the form is 8 bars long, with the bridge serving as a point of contrast. A = Statement; A= Repetition; B= Contrast; A = return
- interval
- the distance between two different pitches in a scale.
- mouthpiece
- the portion of a wind instrument into which a musician blows.
- dominant
- the chord built on the fifth degree of the scale, represented by the Roman numeral V
- head
- a composed section, typically performed in unison, that frames a small-combo jazz performance by appearing at the beginning and again at the end.
- dynamics
- refers to volume, or loudness
- Storyville
- Bars, Prostitutes, Jazz (1897-1917)
- keeping time
- jazz slang for the process of maintaining a steady, unchanging rhythmic foundation
- cadence
- stopping places that divide a harmonic progression into comprehensible phrases.
- Coleman Hawkins
- Tenor Sax Soloist
- horn
- jazz slang for any wind instrument
- comping
- playing chords in a rhythmically unpredictable fashion as accompaniment for an improvising soloist. Comping is an important way for the harmony instruments in the rhythm section (e.g. piano, guitar) to add a contrasting rhythmic layer.
- bridge
- the middle part of an AABA form - i.e., the "B" part. Serves as contrast, and typically ends with a half cadence.
- full cadences
- cadences that end with the tonic (I) chord
- harmonic substitution
- a technique by which a jazz musician may bypass certain chords in a harmonic progression in favor of other, "substitute" harmonies.
- blues form
- A twelve-bar cycle used as a framework for improvisation by jazz musicians. I:I:I:I:IV:IV:I:I:V:V:I:I
- Ma Rainey
- Blues Diva in early 1900's
- Brass Bands
- dominant "light classical" music in America, originally military
- head arrangement
- an arrangement for big band that is collectively created by the band and not written down. Typically consists of block-chord riffs and a set order of solos.
- Paul Whiteman
- played jazz as dance music, "symphonic jazz" in the 1920's. Famous NY Concert in 1924, Experiments in Modern Music (played Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue). Brought in Bing Crosby on vocals.
- cycle
- a fixed unit of time, repeated in a potentially endless progression, used as a musical framework. In Jazz, a cycle (also known as a chorus) usually involves a fixed unit of time and a harmonic progression)
- double-time
- a technique in which members of the jazz ensemble, especially the rhythm section, play twice as fast while maintaining the overall cycle (or chorus)
- John Philip Sousa
- Leader of large professional brass bands. wrote "Stars and Stripes" forever
- minstrel shows
- 19th century dominant theatrical entertainment stereotyping blacks (often performed in blackface)
- Why New Orleans?
- only large city in the south, river port (gateway to caribbean), African retentions, migration from rural south, intermediate caste of blacks (creoles, mulattos)
- counterpoint
- two or more melodic lines of equal importance (i.e., polyphonic texture), especially when composed.)
- inversion
- a triad whose lowest note is not the root, but another note in the chord
- chorus
- a single statement of the harmonic/rhythmic cycle defined by musical form (e.g., 12 -bar blues, or 32-bar popular song form).
- half valving
- Creating sounds with an unusual timbre by squeezing the valves of the trumpet only halfway.
- irregular meter
- a meter featuring beats of unequal size (i.e., meter of 5 or meter of 7)
- Buddy Bolden
- Cornet player, first jazz celebrity. Played the blues and church music.
- Congo Square
- African Folk traditions (call & response, rhythmic contrast, variable intonation, improvisation)
- ballad
- a slow, romantic popular song
- major scale (or mode)
- the most common of the seven-note scales commonly used in Western musical culture.
- mute
- a device that can be used to alter the sound, or timber, of an instrument.
- modal improvisation
- using a single scale as the basis for improvisation, rather than harmonic improvisation, which uses the constantly shifting chord progression.
- countermelody (aka obbligato)
- In a piece whose texture consists clearly of a melody with accompaniment (i.e., a homophonic texture): a countermelody is an accompanying part with distinct, though subordinate, melodic interest.
- Stride Piano
- Ragtime Piano but faster and more technical in NY style. stride = left hand w/ large tenths.
- modulation
- a change of key - i.e., changing the note that serves as the tonic.
- diatonic scale
- the seven-note scales commonly used in Western music. (most common is the major scale)
- growling
- creating an unusual timbre on a wind instrument by growling in the throat while playing.
- meter
- the organization of regular pulsations into a pattern. Most jazz uses duple meter, or music organized by 2's. More rarely, jazz musicians use triple meter, or irregular meter.
- Tin Pan Alley
- Heart of Pop song industry
- Bessie Smith
- Powerful, influential blues singer in the 1920's, "Empress of Blues"
- double
- to play more than one instrument. E.G., tenor saxophonists often double on the soprano sax.
- James P. Johnson
- The Father of Stride Piano (wrote "You've Got to be Modernistic").
- Original Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB)
- Popularized the New Orleans Style in the 1910's/20's.
- chromatic harmony
- harmony that draws upon the 12-note chromatic scale, as opposed to the more "normal" 7-note diatonic scales (major or minor)
- W.C. Handy
- "Father of the Blues" played trumpet in 1910's
- jam session
- an informal gathering at which musicians perform jazz for their own enjoyment.
- brass instruments
- wind instruments played with a cup-shaped mouthpiece: trumpet, cornet, trombone, tuba etc.