Jazz Music, Modern Drama

1
Jazz Music, Modern Drama Dance
2
Jazz Music
3
Jazz

• Jazz music rooted in improvisation and
  characterized by syncopated rhythm, a steady
  beat, and distinctive tone colors and performance
  techniques developed in the U.S. predominantly
  by African American musicians and gained
  popularity in the early 20th century

4
Jazz (contd)

• call and response in jazz, a pattern in which
  one voice or instrument is answered by another
  voice, instrument, or group of instruments
• bar another term for measure, often used in
  jazz
• chorus in jazz, a statement of the basic
  harmonic pattern or melody

5
Jazz (contd)

• rhythm section instruments in a jazz ensemble
  which maintain the beat, add rhythmic interest,
  and provide supporting harmonies piano, plucked
  double bass, percussion, and sometimes banjo or
  guitar

6
Ragtime

• Ragtime style of composed piano music, in which
  the pianists right hand plays a highly
  syncopated melody while the left hand maintains
  the beat with an oom-pah accompaniment
  developed primarily by African American pianists
  and flourished from the 1890s to about 1915

7
Ragtime (contd)

• Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
• king of ragtime
• Composer and pianist
• Father was a slave
• In addition to composing many rags he also
  wrote a ballet and two operas

8
Blues

• Blues term referring both to a style of
  performance and to a form an early source of
  jazz, characterized by flatted, or blue notes

9
Blues (contd)

• Bessie Smith (1894-1937)
• empress of the blues
• Most famous blues singer of the 1920s

10
New Orleans Style

• New Orleans Style (Dixieland) jazz style in
  which the front line (melodic instruments)
  improvise several contrasting melodic lines at
  once, supported by a rhythm section that clearly
  marks the beat and provides a background of chords

11
New Orleans Style (contd)

• Louis Satchmo Armstrong (1901-1971)
• One of the greatest jazz improvisers
• Popularized scat singing
• Scat singing vocalization of a melodic line
  with nonsense syllables, used in jazz

12
Swing

• Swing jazz style that was developed in the
  1920s and flourished between 1935 and 1945,
  played mainly by big bands
• Swing band typically, a large band made of
  fourteen or fifteen musicians grouped in three
  sections saxophones, brasses, and rhythm

13
Swing (contd)

• Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
• American jazz musician and composer
• Formed a band and became one of the most famous
  figures in American jazz
• His orchestra played his own compositions and
  achieved a refined unity of style and made many
  innovations in jazz

14
Duke Ellington
15
Bebop

• Bebop (bop) complex jazz style, usually for
  small groups, developed in the 1940s and meant
  for attentive listening rather than dancing

16
Bebop (contd)

• Charlie Bird Parker (1920-1955)
• Alto saxophonist
• Great jazz improviser

17
Cool Jazz

• Cool Jazz jazz style related to bebop, but more
  relaxed in character and relying more heavily on
  arrangements developed around 1950

18
Free Jazz

• Free Jazz jazz style which departs from
  traditional jazz in not being based on regular
  forms and established chord patterns developed
  during the 1960s

19
Jazz Rock

• Jazz Rock (Fusion) style which combines the
  jazz musicians improvisatory approach with rock
  rhythms and tone colors developed in the 1960s

20
Modern Drama
21
Tennessee Williams

• A notable American playwright
• His plays reflect stories from his own life
  through very colorful and memorable characters

22
Tennessee Williams (contd)

• The Glass Menagerie is full of symbolism and he
  utilized film techniques in this play to enhance
  the viewing pleasure of the theatre audience
• A Streetcar Named Desire won a Pulitzer Prize and
  was also adapted for film

23
Arthur Miller

• A prominent playwright in American culture who
  wrote plays full of allegory, expressionism and
  realism
• Death of a Salesman and The Crucible were two of
  his most famous works

24
Modern Dance
25
Balanchine

• A Russian choreographer
• Bridge between classical and modern ballet
• He made ballet less courtly and more athletic

26
Fokine

• Russian choreographer and dancer who wanted the
  dancer to feel the music and believed that ballet
  was more than just tricks and formulated dance
• He etched a place for male dancers on the ballet
  stage

27
Fokine (contd)
28
Baryshnikov

• Often called the worlds greatest living male
  ballet dancer
• He danced for the New York City Ballet and the
  American Ballet theatre
• He also created exceptional modern dances and
  became involved with contemporary choreography
  after his retirement

29
Baryshnikov (contd)
30
Martha Graham

• She revolutionized modern dance by making social
  and political statements through dance
• Considered the pioneer of modern dance in America
• She made dancing a more athletic art
• Womens issues were at the heart of Grahams
  dances

31
Martha Graham (contd)
32
Alvin Ailey

• His work is the epitome of dance in the modern
  and contemporary era
• His choreography intentionally included movements
  from African dance
• Opened his own dance company and dance school
  (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre AAADT)

33
Alvin Ailey (contd)