Jazz History

Elements of Jazz

Timbre:
Big band = 10 - 15 musicians
Combo = 4 - 8 musicians
Rhythm section: Piano, plucked bass, drums (sometimes guitar/banjo)
Solo & ensemble instruments: cornet, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, piano, sax,

Rhythm:
Syncopation: when accents come on weak beats or in between beats
Rhythmic swing: steady beat combined with lilt
Notes often played unevenly which creates irregular and complex rhythms

Improvisation:
Spontaneous creativity in performance
Adds freshness to jazz ; no performance is alike
Adds embellishments, changes notes and/or rhythms of original melody
Creates new melody over a set harmonic progression
May be performed solo or collectively

Melody and harmony:

Flexibility of pitch
3rd, 5th, 7th notes often slightly flattened = blue, bent notes
Major, minor, modal systems all used
Chord extensions: chords with added 7ths, 9ths, 11ths

Earliest forms of Jazz

Field holler
●​ Solo, improvised work songs with free rhythm and emotional intensity,
influencing jazz’s blue notes and improvisation.
Spirituals:
●​ Religious folk songs with call-and-response singing, shaping jazz’s collective
improvisation and emotional depth.
Work Songs:
●​ Rhythmic, group-sung songs used to coordinate labor, contributing to jazz’s
strong sense of rhythm and swing feel.
Ragtime
Composed piano music **NOT IMPROVISED
Form of entertainment: originated from dance halls/saloons
Duple meter, march tempo
LH = steady beat (oom-pah harmonic bass) | RH = energetic, syncopated melody
(raggedy, not smooth)
Structure: AA BB CC DD EE
Eg. Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag

Dixieland / New Orleans (1900 -)

Combo = 5 - 8 musicians
Front line (provided solos or polyphonic melodies)
cornet/trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, trombone
Rhythm section (provides rhythm/harmony)
drums, piano, tuba/plucked bass
Break = unaccompanied solo ; Tag = coda
Walking bass = bass note played on every crochet beat
Collective improv
Eg. Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton

Swing (1920s - 1940s)

-​ Bigger bands needed to play bigger venues
-​ Dixieland became swing
-​ “Dance music”, not as entertainment
Big band = 15 - 20 musicians
3 Sections
​ Woodwinds: 2 alto, 2 tenor, 1 baritone sax
​ Brasses: 4 trumpets, 4 trombones
​ Rhythm: piano/guitar, bass, drums
Riff = short, repeated phrase
Background = 1 - 2 sections playing behind soloist
Vamp = repeated harmonic section
Shout / tutti = entire ensemble plays the same thing
Based of 12/32 bar blues with paraphrasing improvisation style
Eg. Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Millar, Benny Goodman
Bebop (1940s)
-​ Opposite of swing
-​ Most influential part of jazz
-​ Not singable/danceable
Small groups ; elite
Complex music = sophisticated rhythms & harmonies
-​ Very fast
-​ Intricate
-​ Predominantly improv
Linear style improvisation using upper structures
Contrafact = melody written on top of another song
Bass played bombs - irregular accents
Piano - complex, syncopated chords
Saxophone/trumpet solos
Eg. Charlie Parkers Koko

Cool Jazz (1940s - 1950s)

-​ Re-Popularized Jazz music
-​ Direct opposite of Bebop
-​ Reaction to bebop, calm and relaxed
Easy listening using classical characteristics such as baroque style counterpoint
Composed / arranged works
Sometimes used french horn, flue, cello
Eg. Miles Davis’ Boblicity, Dave Brubeck’s Unsquare Dance, Take Five

Free Jazz (1960s)

Breaking away from “normal” forms and harmonies
Collective free improvisations without set melody, rhythm, form or harmony
Start & end with main theme
Eg. John Coltrane & Ornette Coleman (created Harmolody)

Fusion / Jazz Rock (1960s, 1970s, 1980s)

Combination of jazz & rock
Instrumentation: acoustic, electronic, ethnic
Emphasis on group rather than individual
Eg. Miles Davis, Chick Corea

The Romantic Period (1820-1900)

Romanticism
• A cultural movement that stressed emotion, imagination, and
individualism.
• A reaction against the Classical Age of Reason in all art forms.
• Influenced by the Industrial and French Revolutions, reflecting social
turmoil.
• Artists, writers, and composers drew inspiration from the past, nature,
the supernatural, the exotic, and fantasy.
• Explored a wide range of emotions, especially love and longing.
• Rise of nationalism as people became more aware of their history and
cultural identity.

The Arts in the Romantic Period

General Themes
• Emotional subjectivity was central to Romantic art.
• "All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." -
William
Wordsworth
• Writers and poets infused their personal feelings, experiences, and
personalities
into their work.
• "I celebrate myself, and sing myself." - Walt Whitman
• Fascination with dreams, the unconscious, irrationality, and the
supernatural.

Visual Arts
• Dramatic, intense themes: nightmarish visions, suffering, extreme
violence, tragedy,
and man vs. nature.
 • Renewed enthusiasm for the Middle Ages, seen as a time of chivalry
and romance, not just the "Dark Ages."
• Example: Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831)
• Gothic Revival in architecture:
• Houses of Parliament (London), Trinity Church (New York)
• Nature as the ultimate inspiration in Romantic art.
• Nature was seen as a source of comfort, power, and a mirror of
human emotion. • Landscape painting flourished, capturing movement
(drifting clouds, flowing water, stormy seas).

Social Focus
• Interest in the struggles of the working class and the poor.
• Seen in literature (e.g., Charles Dickens) and paintings (e.g., Honoré
Daumier).

Music in the Romantic Period

Most Significant Composers
• Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Chopin, Liszt,
Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Smetana, Dvorák, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Verdi, Puccini,
Wagner.

1. Individuality of Style
• Emphasis on self-expression.
• Each composer sought a unique, personal sound.
• "There is not a bar which I have not truly felt..." - Tchaikovsky on his
Fourth Symphony.

2. Expressive Aims and Subjects

• Explored a wide range of emotions (flamboyance, intimacy, ​
unpredictability, melancholy, longing).
• Romantic love was a major theme in operas and songs.
• Fascination with the fantastic, the diabolical, nature, the Middle Ages,
and Shakespeare.

3. Nationalism and Exoticism

• Nationalism: Used folk songs, dances, legends, and history of their
​ homelands.
 • Exoticism: Composers used melodies and styles inspired by foreign
lands.
• Contrast with Classical music, which had a more universal character.
​
4. Program Music
• Instrumental music that tells a story or represents an idea.
• Examples:
• Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet
• Smetana's The Moldau
• Part of the Romantic concept of a "union of the arts".

5. Expressive Tone Colour

• Timbre (sound quality) was more important than ever before.
• The orchestra expanded to nearly 100 musicians.
• Brass, woodwind, and percussion sections grew.
• Brass: Valves allowed for more intricate melodies.
• Woodwinds: New instruments (contrabassoon, bass clarinet, English
horn, piccolo).
• New playing techniques:
• Flutes played with a breathy tone.
• Violins struck strings with the wood of their bows.
• Piano greatly improved (cast-iron frame, felt-covered hammers,
damper pedal).

6. Colourful Harmony
• New chords and harmonies created richer, more emotional sounds.
• Chromaticism (using notes outside the key) became more common.
• Dissonance (clashing harmonies) used to create tension and mystery.
• Rapid key changes blurred traditional tonality.

7. Expanded Range of Dynamics, Pitch, and Tempo

• Extreme dynamics (from ffff to pppp).
• Expanded pitch range (piccolo = higher notes, contrabassoon = lower
​ notes).
• Frequent tempo changes: accelerandos, ritardandos, subtle ​
​ variations.
• Rubato (flexible tempo) used to heighten emotional expression.
8. Forms: Miniature and Monumental
• Contradictions in size: composers wrote both short, intimate pieces
and large, grand works.
• Miniatures: For small settings (e.g., piano pieces by Chopin, songs by
​ Schubert).
• Monumental works: For large venues, lasting hours (e.g., Berlioz, ​
​ Wagner).
• Traditional forms (symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, concertos,
operas) expanded and became more complex.
• Unifying techniques:
• Thematic transformation: A theme changes throughout a piece.
• Movements linked together (Beethoven pioneered this).
Program Music

Program music - Instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea,

scene

Program symphony
●​ Many movements
●​ Each movement has a descriptive title
●​ Depict emotions, characters, events, sounds/motions of nature

Concert Overture
●​ One movement - usually in sonata form
●​ Modeled after opera overture
●​ Independent composition

Symphonic poem (tone poem)

●​ One movement - traditional (sonata, rondo, theme & variations) and
irregular forms
●​ Developed by Franz Liszt

Incidental music
●​ Music performed before & during a play
●​ Sets mood for certain scenes
●​ Includes interludes, background music, marches, dances
Berlioz
Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) was a pioneering French Romantic composer
known for his bold orchestration and emotional intensity. Initially studying
medicine in Paris, he abandoned it for music, influenced by Shakespeare and
his obsession with actress Harriet Smithson. His Symphonie fantastique
(1830) was groundbreaking in its autobiographical storytelling and orchestral
innovations. Despite struggles with the conservative Parisian music scene, he
became a renowned conductor across Europe. His later years were marked
by professional disappointments, and he composed little before his death.

Berlioz’s Songs & Works

Symphonie Fantastique, Fourth Movement: March to the Scaffold

●​ A dramatic march depicting the protagonist’s execution after murdering

his beloved.
●​ Begins with ominous orchestration (muted French horns, timpani,
pizzicato basses) creating a menacing atmosphere.
●​ Features two contrasting themes:
○​ First theme: "Somber and fierce" descending melody in
cellos/basses, later inverted.
○​ Second theme: "Brilliant and solemn" syncopated march tune in
brass/woodwinds.
●​ Ends with a clarinet solo (representing a fleeting thought of love) cut off
by a loud chord symbolizing the guillotine’s blade.

Symphonie Fantastique, Fifth Movement: Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath

●​ A grotesque vision of a demonic gathering celebrating the protagonist’s

death.
●​ Begins with eerie, fragmented sounds (tremolo strings, low
cellos/basses) evoking supernatural chaos.
●​ Transforms the idée fixe (melody representing the beloved) into a
mocking, grotesque dance.
●​ Incorporates the Dies irae chant (symbol of damnation), distorted and
played in different registers.
●​ Concludes with a frenzied witches’ dance, structured as a fugue,
intensifying to a terrifying climax.