Overview
This section will introduce you to the musical elements that are common to much of the music we call jazz. We will look at jazz from a theoretical perspective and examine three essential features of the music to see how they contribute to this remarkable art form. In addition, we will look at how the unique swing feeling of jazz is achieved.
We will also get a first glimpse at the blues. To appreciate jazz and blues more fully, it’s good to know how the unique sounds of blues originated, and how those sounds were absorbed into jazz. This section also covers some of the defining characteristics of blues music, and some of the differences between blues and jazz.
Objectives
Upon completion of this part of the lesson, you will be able to do the following:
- Identify three essential features of jazz
- Define improvisation
- Describe the swing feeling of jazz
- Identify the musical components that create a swing feeling in jazz
- Define swing eighth-note
- Define syncopation
- Define polyrhythm
- Identify how African Americans contributed to the development of jazz
- Describe the blue note
- Describe pitch bending
- Define harmony
- Define chord
- Define chorus
- Describe how tonality is relevant to jazz
Swing Feeling
The swing feelingA term used to describe the groove or rhythm of jazz music.
in jazz may be achieved by one or more of the following:
- Using swing eighth notesAn eighth note with a duration that is greater or smaller than half the duration of a quarter note..
- Using an abundance of syncopationAn accent on a note somewhere unexpected, off the main beats..
- Using frequent polyrhythmsA combination of two or more rhythms sounding simultaneously..
Swing Eighth Notes
A quarter note is ordinarily divided into two equal eighth notes, what jazz musicians refer to as "straight eighth notes," or "straight eighths."
With swing eighth notesAn eighth note with a duration that is greater or smaller than half the duration of a quarter note., the quarter note is divided into two unequal eighth notes. The first eighth note receives slightly more than half of the beat; the second eighth note, the remainder.
Swing Straight Eighths
Syncopation
The second component of the swing feeling is an abundance of syncopation.
A syncopationAn accent on a note somewhere unexpected, off the main beats. (as you have already learned in Lesson 1) is an accent on a note somewhere unexpected, off the main beats; for example, in 4/4 meter, somewhere other than on beat one or beat three. This has the effect of strengthening the weaker beats and undermining the strong beats. Since much of the music we listen to in Western culture emphasizes the metrical placement of the beat, the frequent use of syncopation is an aspect that instantly identifies jazz sound.
Syncopation using swing eighth-notes provide still more rhythmic drive.
Swing Syncopation
Polyrhythms
The third component of the swing feeling is frequent polyrhythms. A polyrhythmA combination of two or more rhythms sounding simultaneously. is a combination of two or more rhythms sounding simultaneously.
It is not uncommon to encounter polyrhythms consisting of three, four, or even more rhythms within a single jazz piece. With one instrument sounding one rhythm, and another instrument a second, and yet another sounding a third, the rhythmic complexity produces excitement and intensity.
Jazz tends to breathe, much like inhaling and exhaling (except the "breaths" are longer). This alternation of tension and relaxation in a jazz piece may be attributed to the various increases and decreases in rhythmic complexity.
This short film St. Louis Blues (1929) starring Bessie Smith--and based on W.C. Handy's song of the same title--is the only known footage of her in existence.
