Jazz:

● Complex harmony, syncopated rhythms, and a heavy emphasis on improvisation

● Forward momentum called "swing," and uses "bent" or "blue" notes
● Combination of African and European influences
○ African culture contributed “blue notes”, mentioned later
○ Attempt to imitate the human voice with their instruments
○ Also made polyrhythm
■ One pattern of beats on top of another with each having equal importance
○ European culture contributed the instruments used to play jazz
■ Trumpets and trombones, but more importantly saxophone
○ The harmonic structures, many of the forms used in European music, and dance
rhythms
○ Marching bands were very important in New Orleans, because their music
inspired ragtime, mentioned later
Ragtime:
● For solo piano
● Inspired by European musical forms like polka and march
● Also inspired by 1890 dance music and its “oom-pah” bass figure
● Very popular in late 19th and early 20th century
● Combination of European classical music and African syncopation
● Left hand plays in a march-like style, alternating bass notes and chords in a steady
rhythm
○ Wide, continuous leaps in the left hand
● Right hand plays all of the syncopation, with a syncopated melody in a “ragged” style
● Accomplished with accents placed on notes in a certain rhythm
○ The accentuation of notes in a rhythm prompt the listener to move to the music
● Rhythm is mixed up, distinguishing each ragtime from the others
● Wasn’t quite considered jazz, because of lack of improvisation
Blues:
● Greatly influenced jazz; considered the basis of jazz
● First music to emphasize improvisation
● Pentatonic scales with characteristic tunings
● Conversational elements (such as call-and-response)
● Complex polyrhythms
● Defined with “blue notes” (flatted thirds, fifths, and sevenths) and traditional twelve-bar
○ “Blue” notes — notes which fall somewhere between two notes