American Jazz in the 19th Century (Coursework Sample)

American Jazz in the 19th Century
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American Jazz in the 19th Century
Jazz music is one of the song genres that made American history during the 1960s. Several scholars have described the nature of this type of song in various ways, and it is evident that it is one of the unique genres in American culture. In today’s music world, the descriptions given to jazz music are aimed at differentiating it from other forms of music that may employ similar ways of composition such as improvisation. However, it is arguable that jazz music still stands out as one of the unique expressions of American culture, and continues to have notable contributions in American music industry.
Musicology
One of the distinctive characteristics that distinguish jazz music from other forms of music genres is syncopation. Jazz is often offbeat, though many writers see this as an oversimplification of what jazz is. They argue that what is often seen as syncopation is actually some form of two rhythmic practices, i.e. polyrhythm as well as multimetre. These two qualities are always seen as syncopation. Another distinctive quality is improvisation (polyphony). This quality differentiates jazz from other songs, though the music seems to have particular structure. The process of improvisation involves one or different sections of the composers or the band improvising the melodies or chord, then combining these to the other section’s compositions by making important changes or adding new elements CITATION Mer02 \l 1033 (Cooke & Horn, 2002). This kind of music IS atonal, i.e. it Is not based on distinctive notes or chords. It had varying pitch, which was majorly determined by human feelings during the time of performance, rhythms, and contexts. Intonation was majorly determined by the context or expression. Moreover, rhythm was varied, and it had no steady pulse during most of the performances. Mostly, rhythmic patterns were determined by melodies CITATION Cha151 \l 1033 (Hoffer & Bailey, 2015).
Another characteristic of Jazz music is how the composers have approached the use of harmony. Jazz music portrays use of harmonies that have different pitches, i.e. use of the sixth and the seventh chords and their different extensions. This kind of genre however does not use triads as the main elements of harmonies. Jazz music also exhibits elements of timbre variation, where timbre is varied for the purposes of expression. Timbre (tonal colors) is also unique in this genre. Certain instruments used in this genre often produce unique and distinct timbre, which is only characteristic of Jazz. Example of such instruments is the saxophone. The genre has no distinctive form that can apply to all the styles it has. The form is composed of changes that follow a certain harmonic pattern. Moreover, Jazz uses some African musical characteristics such as the blue note, which is always at a different pitch than the normal or the standardized one. The pentatonic scale, which is majorly used in other genres such as rock, is not widely used in Jazz. When they are used, they only appear on Jazz-blues and is mostly applied during improvisation. With Jazz guitarists, vibrato is not commonly in use as most of them use heavy strings (Recker, 2008).
History
Jazz is one of the music genres that have undergone many changes over the past few years. Jazz has exhibited the use of creativity in many different ways. It has gone many transformations, as several of its features that were used in the past are no longer in use, while the new ones have been adopted. Its composers and listeners have also changed, and use of certain features was adopted when free Jazz came into being. Though Jazz has changed and reshaped the music industry in America, its social history reveals so much about American culture. Jazz in the 1960s brought together so many actors and encompassed so many aspects of American heritage. Some scholars have since argued that the history of Jazz highlights some of the most important characteristics of American problems and the conflicts that it experienced during this era (Lopes, 2002).
The 19th century Jazz portrayed the American views about this time. It was seen as a way through which they confronted or shown their discontent with some of the existent cultural orthodoxy. The rise of this genre came because of the struggle against some form of subordination that was embedded in American politics, social and cultural realms. One of the struggles of Americans during this time was racial segregation. Therefore, the black Americans who adopted this kind of music used it as a way of expressing their thoughts about the problems they faced. The main aim was to highlight and transform these challenges (Lopes, 2002).
Rebellion was one of the things that characterized American life, therefore Jazz music had many themes that touched on this as the songs signified the kind of racial struggle that marred the lives of black Americans. Most popular musicians of this era reflected on the subordination of the black communities, and they were among the bearers of the hopes of African Americans as they yearned for liberation. This is what exists in the current black American community as Jazz music still reflects on the plights of this community as well as their heritage. Since the subordination of the American black communities formed the basis for the rise of this genre, it is arguable that the history of American music industry would have taken a different turn. For example, the major themes that characterized these songs would be different CITATION Ell05 \l 1033 (Koskoff, 2005).
Comparison
When compared to American rock music, Jazz still portrays some characteristics that make it a unique genre. Rock music is characterized by strong beats, which often acts as one of its distinctive features. The song is mostly composed of backbeats, which is always what the audiences can use to participate in the song through clapping. These features are very different from the features of Jazz, as the Jazz genre is always characterized by syncopation (offbeat). The melodies of rock are always a characteristic of folk music. Rock music is always written in a way that characterizes the folk heritage as opposed to Jazz. This also has its roots in the white population as opposed to Jazz that heavily borrows from African-American heritage. Moreover, hard rock is sung in a very loud way. It has a distorted texture that interferes with its timbre as opposed to Jazz CITATION Cha151 \l 1033 (Hoffer & Bailey, 2015).
American blues is another genre with some elements that differ from those of Jazz. For example, the songs have a call-response arrangement, and often use blue notes. The songs had lyrics that had elements of a loose narrative. Mostly, the composers reflected on personal lives especially experiences that signified some form of suffering or harsh conditions. As opposed to Jazz that majorly reflected on the woes that the African-American communities faced due to insubordination of their communities, Blues majorly reflected on personal lives. In terms of melodies, Blues use bent notes, sliding, and crashing. It is known that blues originated from the African-Americans. Others argue that the songs could have reflected freedom after long years of slavery. Another popular gen...