ipl-logo

An Explanation Of Swing

469 Words2 Pages
“Swing” as a rhythmic phenomenon refers to the groove that is central to jazz. This groove is formed by a four-beat rhythm with a contrasting backbeat. According to J. Bradford Robinson of Oxford Music Online, swing comes from the abilities of the jazz musicians to manipulate the backbeat to contrast with the main four-beat pulse, though it has to be done just right, because simple rhythmic conflicts don’t always cause the music to swing. These can be made of changes in timbre and intonation, all the way down to the decisions the musicians make about where to play notes in a way that rhythmically makes sense. Robinson also notes that different levels and variations of swing can also be applied, and all the different factors that go into it
Show More
Related
452 Words | 2 Pages

From 1937 to '44, Gillespie performed with important swing bands, including those of Benny Carter and Charlie Barnet. He also began working with musical greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Earl Hines, Jimmy Dorsey and Charlie Parker around this time. Working as a bandleader, often with Parker on saxophone, Gillespie developed the musical genre known as "bebop. "A reaction to swing, clear for off-key harmonies and polyrhythms. "The music of Charlie Parker and me laid a foundation for all the music that is being played now," Gillespie said years later.

Read More
1230 Words | 5 Pages

The aesthetics of jazz dance have forever made an impact on the dance world. Jazz is so much more than sleek finger snaps, sharp hips, and jazz hands. It is a confident, demanding presence that hypnotizes audiences and allows them to be their purest self. One of the greats who made this impact possible is Rob Marshall. Rob Marshall single handedly revived Broadway musicals on film.

Read More
585 Words | 3 Pages

Playing to audiences of all races. During the depression, big jazz bands gave an upbeat and lively beat for dancing. People often danced to it to forget the

Read More
419 Words | 2 Pages

Jazz can be characterized by swing, blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and lastly improvisation. Louis Armstrong would be considered a father of the American jazz genre. He was also considered one of the central musicians in jazz for his contributions as a trumpet player, composer and singer. Although jazz in deeply rooted in the black community, a variety of other cultures have shared their own experience, style and art to

Read More
1157 Words | 5 Pages

Jazz is most often thought to have been started in the 1920s as this explosive movement, but that is in fact not the case. Starting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century many African American musicians have started to explore their taste in improvising, and where better to do that than New Orleans (Anderson). Before the 1920s these jazz musicians have already been going around sharing the unique sound, but up until then, jazz had remained majorly in New Orleans. Interestingly during this period, a common jazz band would consist of a cornet, a clarinet, a trombone, and a rhythm section when at this period of time the clarinet is not commonly associated with being a jazz instrument, it moved into being the saxophone rather. A big

Read More
323 Words | 2 Pages

Then hip hop came and it had a faster more set beat but still with a swing

Read More
2007 Words | 9 Pages

In a blog post titled “The Antecedents of 1950s Rock and Roll,” the author characterizes western swing as “the sub-genre of jazz” and that it is “dance music performed by a band” ("The Antecedents of 1950s Rock and Roll" 2013). He even goes as far as saying that western swing is the reason that rock and roll was born. The author explains that western string was one of the first genres to make music easier to access to the public. It helped create the idea of bands thus adding a new aspect to the music industry. Not only did western swing just shape rock and roll industrially, but also stylistically.

Read More
782 Words | 4 Pages

People would come together to hear this music and dance their hearts away. Swing music was important in the aspect of bringing people together based on race and also for people to just “hang

Read More
695 Words | 3 Pages

Beginning in the early twentieth century, jazz spread quickly amongst clubs and bars across the poorer urban areas such as cities like New Orleans. Due to jazz artist’s unique musical swing, jazz quickly became recognized all around the world. Throughout history, many jazz artists have made their unique sound known. Three artists, in particular, that enlightened others by their outstanding talent include Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, and Billie Holiday. Each of these artists have their own method of performing jazz in an inimitable manner which no one can deny.

Read More
1509 Words | 7 Pages

Many new dances have been created as a result of the new era of jazz music. Some of these new moves include the charleston and the black bottom. These dances spread excitement and bring people together. Much of the jazz music that played was instrumental, but not all. Each song included many different instruments.

Read More
1356 Words | 6 Pages

This is when two rhythms are played against each other and that’s how jazz gets its swing and like Duke Ellington says in his song "It don 't mean a thing if it ain 't got that swing. " Also in jazz blue notes take place when a musician plays through a scale and exaggerates some of the notes. While I’ve been listening to both albums it seems that her first one is more jazz while her second has more guitar in it. I personally believe this could be because Amy wanted to experiment with other styles such as soul, pop and reggae.

Read More
871 Words | 4 Pages

Beboppers ‘spoke’ at whirlwind speed, almost as if to say ‘you can’t catch me’ to their white counterparts. Although some elements of the music carried on from the Swing Era, such as the 32 bar song form and the 12 bar blues foundations, the harmonic and rhythmic complexity was stretching the boundaries further and further from the mainstream popular swing style. Heavy use of flattened ninths, sharpened elevenths and other altered intervals in solos and the speed at which they were used as well as the phrasing of these notes gave the music an off balance quality. Dizzy Gillespie’s tendency towards desceding whole or halfstep patterns such as in “Con Alma” and “A Night in Tunisia”, Charlie Parker’s favoured ii-V substitutions in the famous bridge to “Ko Ko” and “Confirmation” and the mastery of dissonance by Thelonious Monk shows the boppers preoccupation with developing their sound, making statements through their music. (Gioia

Read More
778 Words | 4 Pages

Jazz, in nature contains many characteristics of black people because its origin was from an African music. When we talk about jazz as a black music, the black here refer to African-American. African music is characterized by collective performance as a musical element. Several people played together and danced and enjoyed music. That's why rhythm play was more important than melody in Jazz eventually in Hancock’s music.

Read More
2096 Words | 9 Pages

Early Jazz bands consisted of cornets, clarinets, trombones, drums, and sometimes banjos, violins, and pianos. (Drowne 200) Jazz was similar to its precursor, Ragtime, because of its syncopated, accented, off-beat rhythms, but the two are also different. While Ragtime

Read More
969 Words | 4 Pages

Jazz was so popular during this time it was called “The Jazz

Read More

More about An Explanation Of Swing

Related Topics

Open Document