History Of Jazz Test 1 Notecards

Front 1

a unit of pulse

Back 1

beat

Front 2

the speed or rate at which beats pass

Back 2

tempo

Front 3

a grouping of beats (often indicated by a time signature)

Back 3

meter

Front 4

the arrangement of sounds in time (using divisions of the beat, silences, sustained sounds, etc.)

Back 4

rhythm

Front 5

several dissimilar rhythms performed simultaneously (2 beats within 4 beats)

Back 5

polyrhythm

Front 6

an accent on either the weak beat or between beats

Back 6

syncopation

Front 7

long and connected

Back 7

legato

Front 8

short, abruptly separted

Back 8

staccato

Front 9

robbed time (free of steady tempo)

Back 9

rubato

Front 10

the central pitch around which the melody and harmony gravitate

Back 10

tonic

Front 11

an arrangement of pitches that ascends and descends in fixed and unvarying pattern

Back 11

scale

Front 12

the organization of music around a central tone (the tonic) and the scale built on that tone

Back 12

tonality/key

Front 13

the division of the octave into twelve equal pitches called semi tones (or half-steps)

Back 13

equal temperament

Front 14

the scale created by the semi tones of equal temperament. Anoter name for equal temperament.

Back 14

chrmoatic scale

Front 15

a coherent succession of single pitches, a linear concept

Back 15

melody

Front 16

using the major scale for construction

Back 16

diatonic

Front 17

using the notes of the chromatic scale

Back 17

chromatic

Front 18

a note that does not fit in the major scale. A dissonant note that does not fit in the harmony and sounds "bluesy" (a direct link to African culture)

Back 18

blue note

Front 19

the movement and relationship of intervals and chords, a vertical concept (Accompaniment)

Back 19

harmony

Front 20

three or more notes played simultaneously

Back 20

chord

Front 21

the successive movement of one chord to the next

Back 21

chord progression

Front 22

a repositioning or restructuring of the notes of a chord. Notes could be added and or omitted

Back 22

chord voicing

Front 23

1. a single playing through of the structure being used to organize the music in an imporvisation
2. a jazz solo, regardless of its length
3. the part of a pop tune performed in constant tempo and repeated several times after the verse has been played, ususally the only portion of a tune's original form used by the jazz musician

Back 23

chorus

Front 24

the melody or prewritten theme for a piece

Back 24

head

Front 25

the B part of an A-A-B-A compostion: also known as the channel, the release, or the inside

Back 25

bridge

Front 26

french- or spanish-speaking individual born in the New World

Back 26

creole

Front 27

a person who has mixed French and African ancestry and was born in the New World

Back 27

creole of color

Front 28

a short progression within a chord progression that occurs just prior to the point at which the player must "turn around" to begin another repition of the larger progression

Back 28

turnaround (turnback, turnabout)

Front 29

a rhythm section style which emphasizes the first and third beats of each four-beat measure, often leaving the second and fourth beats silent in the bass; sometims called boom-chick style

Back 29

two-beat style (in two)

Front 30

1. a word denoting approval- "it swings" can mean it pleases me; "to swing" can mean to enjoy oneself; "he's a swinging guy" can mean he is an enjoyable person

Back 30

swing

Front 31

2. the noun indciating the feeling projected by an uplifting performance of any kind of music, especially that which employs constant temp

Back 31

swing

Front 32

3. the feeling projected by a jazz performance which successfully combines constant tempo, syncopation, swing eighth notes, rhythmic lift, liveliness and rhythmically cohesive group playing

Back 32

swing

Front 33

4. the jazz style associate with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Goodman, Art Tatum, Roy Eldridge, and Coleman Hawkins, as in the "swing era"

Back 33

swing

Front 34

a short chord progression (usually only one, two, or four measures long) which is repeated many times in sequence. Often used for introductions and endings. Much jazz and pop music of the 60s and 70s used these instead of more involved chord progression as accompaniment for melody and improvisation.

Back 34

vamp

Front 35

the characterist of sound which enables the listener to differentiate one instrument from another, and, in many cases, one player from another

Back 35

timbre (tone color, tone quality)

Front 36

an attachment which reduces an instrument's loudnes and alters its tone color

Back 36

mute

Front 37

1. a popular turn-of-the-century style of written piano music involving pronounced syncopation
2. a label often applied to much pre-1920 jazz and pop music, unaccompanied solo piano style as well as band styles, improvised as well as written musci
3. the style of music associated with composers Scott Joplin and Tom Turpin

Back 37

ragtime

Front 38

a style of bass line in which each beat of each measure receives a separate tone, thus creating a moving sequence of quarter notes in the bass range

Back 38

walking bass

Front 39

the pattern a drummer plays on the ride cymbal to keep time, the most common being ding-dick-a-ding-dick-a

Back 39

ride rhythm

Front 40

the group of players whose band function is accompanying. This role is particularly common for pianists, bassists, and drummers, but it is not exclusive to them

Back 40

rhythm section

Front 41

an instrument in the drum set which brings two cymbals together by means of a foot pedal

Back 41

high-hat (sock cymbal)

Front 42

syncopated chording which provides improvised accompaniment for simultaneously improvised solos, flexibly complementing the rhythms and implied harmonies of the solo line

Back 42

comping

Front 43

jazz musicians make up their music as they go along. Much of their music is spontaneous. It is not written down or rehearsed beforehand

Back 43

improvisation

Front 44

famous prostitution districk known as

Back 44

storyville

Front 45

1. musicians would use syncopation on all kinds of different tunes and say they were
2. giving the rhythms in a piece of music distinctly syncopated feeling

Back 45

ragging

Front 46

1. a simple, funky style of black music separate from but coexistent with jazz; beginning at least as early as the turn of the century, probably much earlier; exemplified by such performers as Blind Melon Jefferson, Leadbelly, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, and Robert Johnson. It has been and continues to be an influence on jazz and rock. The majority of blues compostions employ the I-IV-I-V-I chord progression or variation of it

Back 46

blues

Front 47

a piece characterized by any one or any combination of the following:
- the I-IV-I-V-I chord progression or some variation of it in a twelve-measure package
-a sad feeling
-a slow pace
- poetry in the form of paired couplets in iambic pentameter
- many lowered third, fifth, or seventh intervals

Back 47

blues

Front 48

orchestra that accompany dances; consists of violin, guitar, base vio, and one or two wind instruments. To satisfy the demands of dancers, these musicians often combined music from different sources

Back 48

strings

Front 49

-traditionally differs from the chorus in tempo, mood, and harmony.
-often performed freely
-might as feel as though it is leading up to something
-usually only played once

Back 49

verse

Front 50

divsion of something previously divided

Back 50

subdivision

Front 51

AABA or ABAC and many others

Back 51

form

Front 52

reapeating the last few measures of a song

Back 52

tag

Front 53

loud or soft

Back 53

dynamics

Front 54

hear with drummers; drummers share solo with another insturment: 4 bars of drums and 4 bars of another instrument

Back 54

trading fours/eights

Front 55

changing the time in the middle of the tune (change the speed-double it)

Back 55

doublet/ half timing

Front 56

everyone stops, but the time still cotinuees, one player plays completely solo

Back 56

stop time/ break

Front 57

quote another person's musical idea in the solo

Back 57

quoting

Front 58

the art of composing, orchestrating, or arranging works for an instrumental ensemble

Back 58

instrumentation

Front 59

cornet, trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone

Back 59

brass

Front 60

clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax, tenner sax, baritone sax, flue

Back 60

woodwinds

Front 61

play repetitive base line; usually in funk or rock

Back 61

ostinato

Front 62

rhythm guitar style- play a chord on each beat

Back 62

flat four

Front 63

swing, rock, funk, groove, etc.

Back 63

rythmic style

Front 64

someone sings and someone answers back

Back 64

call and response

Front 65

a religous folk song of African-American origin

Back 65

spirituals

Front 66

pick up stuff from church, sing the fields

Back 66

field hollers

Front 67

an usually rhythmical song sang to accompany repitious work

Back 67

work songs

Front 68

New Orleans

Back 68

congo square

Front 69

an art of arranging sounds in time so as to priduce a continuous, unified and erocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre.

Back 69

music