Dixieland & Ragtime
This is an excerpt from the paper...
Blues, work songs, ragtime, spirituals, and minstrel songs were, in their own ways, all part of the great "Africanization of American music" that was originated by enslaved Africans in the southern United States (Gioia 3). But the greatest of the musical forms developed in this process was jazz--one of the major American contributions to world culture. Each of these forms of music made essential contributions to the development of jazz itself but each, more or less, retained its own integrity and none could be said to have been transformed into jazz. Ragtime, for example, referred both to a specific type of musical composition and a specific style of instrumental performance and, even though there are strong connections between its forms and execution and those of early jazz, "it is inaccurate to call ragtime an early form of jazz" (Bolcom 23). The earliest form of African American music that can be called jazz is referred to either as Dixieland or New Orleans jazz. Dixieland was "the brash, marching style of jazz that emerged in New Orleans around the turn of the century" and it was "essentially a black jazz," although white musicians made many contributions in its early days (Gammond 157). Both ragtime and Dixieland made their first significant impact from 1890 to 1910. But ragtime was usually a written form of dance music (called the cakewalk) and, at a time when sheet music was the primary means of gaining attention for new styles, its suitability to piano perfor
. . .
ollision was the essence of the music (Bolcom 23). Jazz, on the other hand, is defined broadly as "a distinctive genre of music-making" that is characterized by its "propulsively moving rhythms, syncopated melodic nature, and improvisational (to varying degrees) nature" (Gammond 290). The fact that the definition of jazz is necessarily so much broader points up the limitations that were inherent in ragtime, especially after it became a more codified type of music, and the freedom with which jazz developed.
Around the turn of the century, however, "the line between a ragtime and a jazz performance was so fine that the two terms were often used interchangeably" (Gioia 21). The distinction also had what Schuller calls practical, social, and technical dimensions that demonstrate that the interchangeability was even more complex. The practical distinctions refer to the availability of instruments and the demands of employers. Upright pianos were associated with the brothels and gambling houses while instrumental ensembles were considered appropriate in, for example, a hotel dining room. The social distinction refers to the musicians being required to play not only what their employers wanted to hear but to play it "in the manne
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Buddy Bolden, Schuller Jazz, Latin American, Schuller Rags, Joplin Missouri, Duke Ellington, Dixieland Orleans, Leaf Rag, Civil War, United Gioia, ragtime jazz, orleans jazz, jazz ragtime, bolcom 23, schuller rags, gammond 292, 22 feb 2000, gospel blues, jazz spirituals, spirituals ragtime, blues jazz, ragtime york norton, jazz spirituals ragtime, york norton 1986, blues jazz spirituals,
Approximate Word count = 2360
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Dixieland & Ragtime
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
