Prepared by:• Syahidatul Akmal Mustaffar Kamal• Raudhah Ramlan• Siti Hawa Zainoddin

JAZZ

Table of content

• Definition• History• Features• Forms• How to use in classroom• Examples

Definition of jazz

Merriam-Webster: A type of American music with lively rhythms and melodies that are often made up by musicians as they play.

Free dictionary:A style of music, native to America, characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns and, more recently, a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom.

Travis Jackson:Music that includes qualities such as swing, improvising, group interaction, developing an 'individual voice', and being open to different musical possibilities.

Wynton Marsalis (1961) - jazz is music that swings.

History / origin of jazz

Where did jazz come from?

• Jazz was born in New Orleans about 100 years ago (early 20th century), but its roots can be found in the musical traditions of both Africa and Europe. In fact, some people say that jazz is a union of African and European music.

From African music, jazz got its:• rhythm and "feel"• "blues" quality• tradition of playing an instrument in your own

expressive way, making it an "extension" of your own human voice

From European music, jazz got its:• harmony - that is, the chords that accompany the

tunes (the chords played on the piano); jazz harmony is similar to classical music's harmony

• instruments - most of the instruments used in jazz originated in Europe (saxophone, trumpet, piano, etc.)

• Black music came over to America with the African slaves. African music combined with the music of the white European settlers to produce new styles of music including blues and ragtime.

• Towards the end of the nineteenth century marching bands were popular in America. Black musicians began to jazz up the marches, adding syncopated rhythms, 'bending' notes and improvising on the melodies.

• Trad (traditional) jazz emerged in the early twentieth century in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans.

• Jazz soon spread away from its origins in the deep South, and Jazz bands in different American cities developed distinctive local styles.

• In the 'New Orleans style' a single instrument plays the main tune while the other instruments (typically string bass, banjo, clarinet, trumpet and drums) improvise around it. The sound is very polyphonic and unique to New Orleans.

The features and forms of

jazz song

Form • Like African music, jazz form is cyclic, each cycle being

defined rhythmically and harmonically. Each cycle is called a chorus.

Type of song form:AABA, this type of song has an opening section (A), a bridge (B) before transitioning to the final A section. This song form is used in a variety of music genres including pop, gospel and jazz.

The classic AABA song form can be illustrated as such:A: 8 barsA: 8 barsB: 8 barsA: 8 bars

1

“Longer” by Dan Fogelberg

• Longer than there've been fishes in the oceanHigher than any bird ever flewLonger than there've been stars up in the heavensI've been in love with you.

Stronger than any mountain cathedralTruer than any tree ever grewDeeper than any forest primevalI am in love with you.

I'll bring fire in the winters

• A-A-B-A-B-A• The second bridge may either be lyrically the

same or different than the first bridge, at times it can also be an instrumental part.

• The last A section may also be a repeat of an earlier verse or an entirely new verse that gives the song a sense of completion.

• AABABA song form: “Longer”• First A: Longer than there’ve been fishes in the

ocean• Second A: Stronger than any mountain

cathedral.• B Section: I’ll bring fires in the winters• Third A: Through the years as the fire starts to

mellow.• B Section: Instrumental• Final A: Longer than there’ve been fishes in

the ocean (repeats the first A section)

Blues form • Poetic form: three-line asymmetric stanza (AAB) with each line

consisting of two vocal measures (call) followed by two instrumental measures (response), to make a twelve measure chorus.

2

Blues form also have an emotional impact on the tune which it can be played in different rhythmic grooves and tempos.

The example of fast blues are “ It’s All Right, Baby” and “Big Joe” by Turner and Pete Johnson).

An example of modern jazz blues is “Now’s the Time” (by Charlie Parker).

• Well, I got a gal, she lives up on the hillWell, I got a gal, she lives up on the hillWell, this woman's tryin' to quit me, Lord, but I love her still

• She's got eyes like diamonds, they shine like Klondike goldShe's got eyes like diamonds, they shine like Klondike goldEvery time she loves me, she sends my mellow soul

• Well, you're so beautiful, you've got to die somedayWell, you're so beautiful, you've got to die somedayAll I want's a little loving, just before you pass away

• Pretty baby, I'm goin' away and leave you by yourselfPretty baby, I'm goin' away and leave you by yourselfYou've mistreated me, now you can mistreat somebody else.

"Roll 'Em Pete" was written by Johnson, Pete K. H. / Turner, Joe.

• Verse I-------

Come reminisce with me and think about the Bird.

Remember everything he did and all the things you heard.

Now, don't it just amaze ya, get ya down inside...

To think of how he had to live and then the way he died.

Life was so unkind, 'cause now would have been his time....now was his time.

Verse II-------

I never thought he'd be so awfully close to me.

Until I heard his message and it helped to set me free.

It made me want to linger, want to hang around.

For a better understanding of his different kind of sound.

Back in '42, Bird came to New York and he blew, my but he blew...

“Now’s the Time” by Charlie Parker

Syncopation 3

• Syncopation : to feel syncopation say “ one-and two-and three-and four-and” clapping on each number.

• Then say it again and clap on the “and”. Do you notice how the beats feel different?

Improvisation 4

• When the chord pattern and other essential points are written down in advance which the players improvise, this is called a head arrangement.

Breaks are improvised solo improvisations. Every instrumentalist gets a turn at playing a break.

Eg: Check out the drums in particular in Dave Brubeck’s Take Five (MIDI)

Jazz instruments

5

• Piano, drums, clarinet, trumpet and double bass are the standard instruments in a Jazz combo.

• The bass is plucked instead of bowed, the cymbals are tickled with brushes and the trumpet is blown very hard.

• Jazz performers also very achieve distinctive sound by bending the pitch into a note, sliding from one pitch to another, letting the pitch fall off at its release.

• They also use different types of vibrato which they add an ornamental ending over a long note at the end of a piece.

Clarinet

Double bass Piano

Drum

Trumpet

Texture

6

i) Refers to the way melody and harmony are balanced.

ii) There are three types of textureiii) The homophonic texture: usually melody and

harmony are in separate layers. Sometimes in a single layer: block harmony occurs when two or more instruments play the same phrase with the same rhythm but with different pitches filling out the harmony often in the context of solo.

Texture

6

iv) Monophonic texture: rare in jazz but found in early jazz “breaks”, where a musician plays while the rest of the band is silent (usually two bars) or can be used to begin or end a piece.

v) Polyphonic texture: two or more simultaneous melodies of equal interest, heard in New Orleans jazz.

Eg: big bands, avant-garde jazz

EXAMPLES

• Somewhere Over The Rainbow• I Got Rhythm• Soul Bossa Nova• Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday

Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Strange Fruit: A protest song with enduring relevance

First recorded in 1939, the protest song Strange Fruit came to symbolise the brutality and racism of the practice of lynching in America's South. Now, more than seventy years later, such is the song's enduring power that rapper Kanye West sampled the track on his latest album Yeezus.

The photograph that was cited

by the songwriter as the inspiration for the song: 

Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith,

August 7, 1930.

How to use Jazz in a lesson

Techniques for Using Music with L2 Learners

Techniques

introduce a new theme or topic

(Christmas/colours/feelings)

Ice-breaking

change the mood (liven things up or calm things

down)

teach and build vocabulary and

idioms

review material (backgro

und music

improves memory)

Techniques for Using Music with L2 Learners

Techniques

teach pronunciation

and intonation

teach reading

comprehension

inspire a class discussion

teach listening for details and

gist

teach songs and rhymes

about difficult

grammar and spelling rules that need to be

memorized ("i before

e", irregular verbs, phrasal verbs)

Suggested Activities

Activities

Use background

music to inspire

creativityTeach a

song that uses slang expression

sTeach a song that uses a

new tense you have

introduced

Write or choose a classroom theme

song

Add variety to your reading

comprehension lesson. Students can read lyrics and search for main idea,

theme, details.

Suggested Activities

Activities

Create (or use already prepared

lessons) cloze exercises using

popular song lyrics

Have "lyp sync"

contests. Allow

students to choose their own songs. A

little competition goes a long way in the classroom.

Have groups explain the

lyrics of their song before or after they

perform.

Create variations to familiar songs by making them

personal for your

class members or your lesson

Examples of jazz song been used in classroom

1) This Jazz man2) Children's Color Movie-Jazz

Baby Jazz RED3) Cool Cat - jazz song for children

by Paul Borgese and The Strawberry Traffic Jam

• Paul Borgese and The Strawberry Traffic Jam with "Cool Cat" from their children's CD "Even the Monkeys Fall Out of the Trees"

This Jazz man

• In this toe-tapping jazz tribute, the traditional "This Old Man" gets a swinging makeover, and some of the era's best musicians take center stage. The tuneful text and vibrant illustrations bop, slide, and shimmy across the page as Satchmo plays one, Bojangles plays two . . . right on down the line to Charles Mingus, who plays nine, plucking strings that sound "divine."

This Jazz man

• Easy on the ear and the eye, this playful introduction to nine jazz giants will teach children to count--and will give them every reason to get up and dance!