Jazz

Jazz started at the end of the 19th century in the USA, after slavery was ended. Slavery was ended, and everyone headed for the city to find work. Here they were exposed to the music and instruments of white people. These were often military band instruments and could be purchased cheaply. And this is how the first marching bands originated – musicians would walk through the streets playing a mixture of Negro Spirituals, blues and ‘white’ music. New Orleans became the centre of early jazz music and is often called the cradle of jazz.

It is common for a marching band to accompany a funeral procession – the marching band will follow the coffin and be followed by people dancing merrily. This is done because the person who died goes to heaven with music and is delivered from all earthly sorrows and suffering.

By the beginning of the 20th century, white musicians started to imitate the music of black people, and many different styles of jazz developed: New Orleans jazz; Dixieland; Swing; Free jazz; Bebop; Cool jazz; Hard bop; Jazz-rock; Fusion.

Sometimes one person will improvise whilst the rest of the band accompanies them. Still, often more than one person improvises at the same time. The given melody may be changed rhythmically, harmonically or melodically.

Have you heard of some of these famous jazz musicians? If you still need to, why not Google them to learn more?

Louis Armstrong (1900 – 1971)

Charlie Parker (1925 – 2007)

Benny Goodman (1909 – 1986)

Keith Jarrett ( * – 1945)

One of the earliest forms of jazz is ragtime [broken beat.]  Ragtime is a style of piano music which developed roundabout 1880 in the Midwest USA as an imitation of the rhythm of banjo music. It combines European and African-American music. Scott Joplin (1868 – 1917) is one of the most famous ragtime composers. Have you heard of The Entertainer before? If you have, you know that ragtime has a lot of syncopation in the melody, and the accompaniment constantly alternates between a bass note and a chord.

Bibliography:

Heumann, M., Heumann, H., Schürmann, A. and Smit, M. (2012). Music encyclopaedia for children. Pretoria: Protea.