Music Information |
|
Jazz: What In The Heck Is It?
All of us know what jazz is when we hear it, but trying to define it is a different matter. With so many variant styles, coming up with an accurate definition of jazz is difficult if not impossible. But I suppose that an article on jazz really ought to attempt to define the term "jazz." My Thorndike-Barnhart Dictionary defines jazz like this: *jazz (jaz), noun. 1. American music with the accents falling at unusual places; syncopated music. 2. Slang, liveliness - adj. of or like jazz: a jazz band. Besides not telling us very much, it is also obviously false. I think immediately of ballads played by jazz musicians, such as Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight and Bill Evan's Peace Piece, and countless other examples. They are based on neither syncopation nor liveliness; they are slow, extremely thoughtful, and the antithesis of "jazzy." Yet they are considered by both jazz musicians and jazz critics alike to be well within the mainstream of jazz. Let's try A New Dictionary of Music and see if we can get closer to the essence of jazz: *jazz, a term used at least from 1914 for a type of American popular music originating among blacks of New Orleans and taken over also by whites; also used generally for various types of dance music indebted to this (though purists reserve the term for such music as retains the original flavor and the original basis of improvisation.) The jazz idiom, characterized by certain syncopations over strongly reiterated rhythms, has influenced e.g. Lambert, Stravinsky, and Milhaud, as well as many American composers. That's better than the Thorndike-Barnhart definition, but it still leans heavily toward defining jazz in terms of rhythm alone: "characterized by certain syncopations over strongly reiterated rhythms." I think again of ballads, but also of much contemporary jazz which is not characterized by "certain syncopations,: such as the work of pianists Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. What then is jazz? If the general dictionaries and musical dictionaries can't satisfactorily answer the question, what hope is there for us? Ask a hundred jazz musicians what jazz is, and you'll get a hundred different answers (I know - I've asked at least a dozen and gotten as many different responses.) I would like to suggest that the answer may lie, not in music, but in semantics. I think it is entirely possible that we are lumping together widely disparate types of music, and labeling them all with the term "jazz," then wondering why we can't come up with a lexical definition of the term. Maybe we should abandon the word "jazz," and use terms such as "improvised fast syncopated music," or "improvised slow non-syncopated music." Maybe we should, but we won't. So we are stuck with the non-definable term "jazz." So let's not define jazz. We all know what it is, more or less. We would disagree mainly in the "grey" areas, such as ballads, some contemporary works, and so forth. But let's agree not to disagree, and just enjoy it. The following articles in this series will deal with the various styles we find in jazz, from ragtime to fusion. So stay tuned. Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and music educational materials such as DVD's, CD's, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. His course on blues and jazz improvisation titled "How To Make Up Music As You Go Along: Improvising On The Piano!" is being used by musicians and pianists around the world. He holds advanced degrees from Southern Oregon University and was the founder of Piano University in Southern Oregon. He is the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions! with over 57,400 current subscribers.
MORE RESOURCES: The Retro Music Genre That Will Change Your Life The New York Times Russian Music Goes East The Moscow Times Tzippori Festival to mark stream restoration with music and more The Times of Israel What Is Music? Forbes Billboard Hot 100™ Billboard Beyoncé Shifts into Country Music – The Dickinsonian The Dickinsonian Biden's NYC fundraiser with Obama and Clinton raised $25M, campaign says The Associated Press I³R Launches Music Competition to Capture the Spirit of Innovation - University of Arkansas Newswire I³R Launches Music Competition to Capture the Spirit of Innovation University of Arkansas Newswire Opinion | See music heroes before they die - The Washington Post The Washington Post Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters denounce Biden as 'war criminal' outside star-studded, $25M Radio City fundraiser New York Post Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' reinforces her dedication to Black reclamation — and country music The Associated Press Spotify to Add New Features for Universal Music Artists The Wall Street Journal Calvin Harris Defends His Ultra Music Festival 2024 Set: ‘Whatever I Do Is Gonna Piss You Off’ Rolling Stone Regina Carter to Bring the Music and Culture of Lost Neighborhoods to UCLA Students UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Q&A — Slow Joy Talks Trusting Your Instincts and Playing Loud Rock Music Ahead of Black Buzzard Show 303 Magazine The Music That Made Us The New York Times Fauré: Complete Piano Music album review – fresh and revealing insights into a quiet radical The Guardian Laurie Anderson Q&A: Candid Reflections From the Music Pioneer on Releasing Rage, Yoko Ono, and Amelia ... The Stranger Musical Bingo Supports Community Music In the Twin Ports FOX 21 Online Sounds of Music, Etc. National Review Out Now: Lillian Werbin The Bluegrass Situation Metro Boomin Is Headed to No. 1 (Again). Here's a Guide to His Music. The New York Times 'The whole world comes to us': Georgia's largest music festival returns to Hostess City WJCL News Savannah Enoch's Pub added to Northeast Louisiana Music Trail The News Star Hipgnosis Songs Fund Overstated Revenue, Earnings & Its Stakes in Music Catalogs, Says New Report Billboard The Jacobs School of Music starts a new chapter with 'Star on the Rise: La Bayadère... Reimagined!' Indiana Daily Student Behind the music: Christian Sanchez, manager of Vanguard tulsapeople.com Mesa Music Festival returns to downtown in April | Mesa Independent Daily Independent Talkin' Music: Handmade Moments - Paonia KVNF Public Radio 2024 CMT Music Awards: Little Big Town and Sugarland to Perform Together Entertainment Tonight Chattanooga Live Music Upcoming Events The Chattanoogan A Ukrainian classical music editor goes to war VAN Magazine SFSU alum dips into music, writing, community – Golden Gate Xpress Golden Gate Xpress Rock star blames ‘huge prejudice’ toward genre of music for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame exclusion cleveland.com Stephen Adams, Who Made Yale Music School Tuition-Free, Dies at 86 The New York Times BMI Honors Gospel Stars at 2024 Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards Music Connection Magazine What the Diddy raid reveals about the music industry FOX 11 Los Angeles Community events in San Diego County: From Tequila and Taco Music Festival to Spring Fling Street Fair The San Diego Union-Tribune A Guide to Live Music Spots in Montclair + Essex County The Montclair Girl 5 Classical Music Albums You Can Listen to Right Now The New York Times On The Steel Woods Deciding to Cease Touring - Saving Country Music Strings Music Festival captures student lives, perspectives in school-based songwriting program Steamboat Pilot & Today THSO performs "Music of the Heavens" on April 6 Terre Haute Tribune Star Telling the story: Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum unveils Garcia exhibition messenger-inquirer Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Is Here The New York Times Free summer program helping NYC high school students start music career PIX11 New York News The Flaming Lips to headline Bellevue's Outlandia Music Festival in August Omaha World-Herald |
RELATED ARTICLES
Music, the Spiritual Connection All through the age's music and spirituality as served hand in hand. As for instruments, the earliest is presumed to be, percussions from noisemakers to drums. Guitarists...Are You A Victim and A Loser? I was thinking today about THE most dangerous enemy of musical progress?the victim mentality. What do I mean by this?Often we can let our personal circumstances dictate our progress. Make Money with Your Music - the Top 5 Ways Songwriters dream of making their living by writing, and sometimes performing, their songs. But until that day comes they've got to make a living somehow! Sound familiar?With a little imagination, you can probably find a way to convert your love for music and songwriting into a means of making money. RIAA Files Second Wave of Lawsuits The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has launched a second wave of lawsuits against users of internet2 (a specialized high speed version of the internet that makes it ideal for file sharing). By adding 20 new schools to the list, RIAA has greatly expanded the number of students involved in the case. Piano Lessons and Perfectionism Are you a perfectionist? Does every note have to sound right before it comes out of your piano? If so, you might be cheating yourself out of the joy of music making. Most of us learned how to be perfectionists as children, trying to please Mommy or Daddy. Throat Singing In Inuit Culture Originally, Inuit throat singing was a form of entertainment among Inuit women while the men were away on hunting trips. It was an activity that was primarily done by Inuit women although there have been some men doing it as well. Play The Piano Like A Pro Meet the 12 Major Notes:1. C (do)2. How To Find The Right Guitar Teacher Finding a good teacher is not always easy, at any level. At the beginner level it is important to get on the right foot and as an intermediate player you need to know that your teacher really knows his or her stuff if you want to move forward. How to Buy an Electric Guitar For most of us, making any major purchase, such as a new refrigerator, or a new car, is a cacophony of options and confusion; do we want the silver one or the black one? How much can we afford to spend? Will it last over time? If nothing else, we at least know what we need these appliances to do: the microwave needs to make the food hot quickly, the car needs to get us from one place to the other without breaking down. When confronted with the purchase of a new guitar, even experienced guitarists can have trouble deciding what exactly they want and need. Guitar Practice (Part 2) - Does Practice Make Perfect? You've probably heard the saying "practice makes perfect" and it sounds true enough, but is t really? We all know the importance of practicing a new skill in order to become proficient at it. This is especially true when it comes to playing the guitar, or any other musical instrument for that matter. Does Your CD Cover $ell (Or Suck)? Oh, I know the last part of the title (Suck) isn't a very pleasant description to apply to anyone's CD cover. But, in the interest of plain old honesty, and to face our demons head on, I wanted to (again) utilize a worst case scenario that we can only improve from. Avoiding Injuries When Playing Guitar To avoid any sort of injuries when playing guitar a common sense approach is recommended. Just what do I mean by that?Well, there are many simple and obvious precautions you can take that will prevent most injuries. How Piano Lessons Benefit Young Children Piano lessons provide a wide range of benefits to young children. Here are my "Top Five. The Revolution has begun - and it will not be Televised The new Artist Development Paradigm In reflecting on the world of the Music Business in 2004, there were some very profound and dramatic changes that changed the nature of the Music Business itself. 2004 will always be remembered as the year the 'Big Five' became the 'Big Four' and don't be surprised if you're reading at this time next year and we're telling you about the 'Big Three'! Beside the Sony/BMG merger, 2004 will also be remembered as the year labels utilized aggressively utilized video games as a marketing vehicle for the launching of many of their artists. Music Mini Course: Learn The Basics Of Reading Music On A Keyboard Instrument Welcome to the wonderful world of music. As you begin reading this Music Mini Course it is fun to realize that you are also participating in a very important cultural aspect from around the world which has been going on for centuries. The Top 10 Reasons Why You Suck At Playing Guitar You don't 'need' to play guitar enough.If you desire to become a great guitarist, you have to want it badly enough to sacrifice other parts of your life to devote to practice. How to Use the Entire Piano Keyboard There are 88 keys on the piano keyboard. Most pianists use about 1/3 of this number most of the time. Do You Know What a Didgeridoo Is? Do you know what a didgeridoo is? There are so many things in this life that are unknown to us. I bet you could find out about something outside your normal sphere of vision and experience everyday for the rest of your life and still not get close to knowing about everything out there. How to Construct Chords and Improvise How To Construct Basic Chords on the PianoThe easiest way to start learning how to build chords is to practice their constructions in the key of C Major. You're just playing all white keys. Arranging for New Age Piano A while back, I wrote an article that compared flower arranging to music arranging. While this may seem a world apart, it really isn't. |
home | site map |
© 2006 |