National 4 Music – 20th Century Music

National 4 Concepts

• Ragtime• Swing• Syncopation• Scat Singing

Ragtime

• A style of dance music which became popular at the end of the 19th century and which helped to influence jazz.

• It features a strongly syncopated melody (meaning the notes don’t always fall on the beat) against a steady, simple accompaniment played as a vamp, often played on piano, eg Scott Joplin rags.

The Entertainer (1902) Maple Leaf Rag

Ragtime

Vamp. Note-Chord, Note-Chord, Note-Chord, etc

Vamp

• Note-chord-note-chord in left hand. • A rhythmic accompaniment with a bass note

played on the beat and a chord off the beat. Usually played on piano or guitar

The Elephant Take Five The Entertainer

Syncopation• Strongly accented notes playing off or against the beat.

Syncopation occurs in all kinds of music.

• In the first example (see notation), the notes are played at the same time as each beat.

• In the second example (see notation), most of the notes fall in between the beats, and this creates syncopation

Swing• A jazz style which started in the 1930s and was

performed by a big band. The numbers and types of instruments in the big bands increased during this period, through the influence of swing.

• Glenn Miller was one of the leading figures in swing music.

Count Bassie Louis ArmstrongBenny Goodman Woody HermanDuke Ellington Glenn Miller

Scat Singing

• Style of singing where the voice tries to imitate an instrument using nonsense words and other sounds.

• Doo-ba-bee-bop-ba-woaw-woaw-woaw…• Nonsense words, syllables and sounds are

improvised (made up) by the singer. Sometimes the singer is imitating the sounds of instruments. Used mainly in jazz singing.

One note samba Sesame Street SCATMAN!!!

National 4 20th Century Music Quiz