Jazz Music, Modern Drama

& Dance

Jazz Music

Jazz

• Jazz – music rooted in improvisation and characterized by syncopated rhythm, a steady beat, and distinctive tone colors and performance techniques; developed in the U.S. predominantly by African American musicians and gained popularity in the early 20th century

Jazz (cont’d)

• call and response – in jazz, a pattern in which one voice or instrument is answered by another voice, instrument, or group of instruments

• bar – another term for measure, often used in jazz

• chorus – in jazz, a statement of the basic harmonic pattern or melody

Jazz (cont’d)

• rhythm section – instruments in a jazz ensemble which maintain the beat, add rhythmic interest, and provide supporting harmonies; piano, plucked double bass, percussion, and sometimes banjo or guitar

Ragtime• Ragtime – style of composed piano

music, in which the pianist’s right hand plays a highly syncopated melody while the left hand maintains the beat with an “oom-pah” accompaniment; developed primarily by African American pianists and flourished from the 1890s to about 1915

Ragtime (cont’d)• Scott Joplin (1868-

1917)

–“king of ragtime”

–Composer and pianist

–Father was a slave

–In addition to composing many “rags” he also wrote a ballet and two operas

Blues

• Blues – term referring both to a style of performance and to a form; an early source of jazz, characterized by flatted, or “blue” notes

Blues (cont’d)

• Bessie Smith (1894-1937)–“empress of the

blues”

–Most famous blues singer of the 1920s

New Orleans Style

• New Orleans Style (Dixieland) – jazz style in which the front line (melodic instruments) improvise several contrasting melodic lines at once, supported by a rhythm section that clearly marks the beat and provides a background of chords

New Orleans Style (cont’d)• Louis “Satchmo”

Armstrong (1901-1971)–One of the greatest jazz

improvisers

–Popularized scat singing

–Scat singing – vocalization of a melodic line with nonsense syllables, used in jazz

Swing

• Swing – jazz style that was developed in the 1920s and flourished between 1935 and 1945, played mainly by “big bands”

• Swing band – typically, a large band made of fourteen or fifteen musicians grouped in three sections: saxophones, brasses, and rhythm

Swing (cont’d)

• Duke Ellington (1899-1974)–American jazz musician and composer

–Formed a band and became one of the most famous figures in American jazz

–His orchestra played his own compositions and achieved a refined unity of style and made many innovations in jazz

Duke Ellington

Bebop

• Bebop (bop) – complex jazz style, usually for small groups, developed in the 1940s and meant for attentive listening rather than dancing

Bebop (cont’d)

• Charlie “Bird” Parker (1920-1955)–Alto saxophonist

–Great jazz improviser

Cool Jazz

• Cool Jazz – jazz style related to bebop, but more relaxed in character and relying more heavily on arrangements; developed around 1950

Free Jazz

• Free Jazz – jazz style which departs from traditional jazz in not being based on regular forms and established chord patterns; developed during the 1960s

Jazz Rock

• Jazz Rock (Fusion) – style which combines the jazz musician’s improvisatory approach with rock rhythms and tone colors; developed in the 1960s

Modern Drama

Tennessee Williams

• A notable American playwright

• His plays reflect stories from his own life through very colorful and memorable characters

Tennessee Williams (cont’d)

• The Glass Menagerie is full of symbolism and he utilized film techniques in this play to enhance the viewing pleasure of the theatre audience

• A Streetcar Named Desire won a Pulitzer Prize and was also adapted for film

Arthur Miller• A prominent playwright

in American culture who wrote plays full of allegory, expressionism and realism

• Death of a Salesman and The Crucible were two of his most famous works

Modern Dance

Balanchine

• A Russian choreographer

• Bridge between classical and modern ballet

• He made ballet less courtly and more athletic

Fokine

• Russian choreographer and dancer who wanted the dancer to feel the music and believed that ballet was more than just tricks and formulated dance

• He etched a place for male dancers on the ballet stage

Fokine (cont’d)

Baryshnikov• Often called the world’s greatest living

male ballet dancer

• He danced for the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet theatre

• He also created exceptional modern dances and became involved with contemporary choreography after his retirement

Baryshnikov (cont’d)

Martha Graham

• She revolutionized modern dance by making social and political statements through dance

• Considered the pioneer of modern dance in America

• She made dancing a more athletic art

• Women’s issues were at the heart of Graham’s dances

Martha Graham (cont’d)

Alvin Ailey

• His work is the epitome of dance in the modern and contemporary era

• His choreography intentionally included movements from African dance

• Opened his own dance company and dance school (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre – AAADT)

Alvin Ailey (cont’d)