Some time before the founding of New China, due to the great influence of the Soviet Union on China's music culture and the country's "closed door" policy for a period of time, the "Left" thought was very serious, so the western culture was regarded as decadent and decadent, and no study and research were conducted. Based on this situation, some people published articles in newspapers and magazines, many of which were aimed at western jazz and pop music, saying that they were yellow music and regarded them as scourges. Today, people feel that they are ignorant and ridiculous.
We often flaunt how much China attaches importance to folk music, but forget that other countries also have their own folk music, and their countries and people also respect their own national music culture. The rich folk music of various countries can be said to be a common musical treasure of mankind. Jazz is the most representative folk music in America.
We know that. The ancestors of black Americans are in Africa. 17-18th century, western colonists sold a large number of African blacks to America and became slaves of white people there. They were forced to work and suffered great pain. In the field, slaves miss their hometown and relatives after work, and often sing a sad song to express their painful feelings. This kind of music also permeates some religious songs. Because blue is regarded as a melancholy color among the American people, this sad song is also called blues. China transliterated it as "Bruce". We often find songs with blues in American music works, such as rhapsody in blue, Blue Tango and Blue Love. Their more accurate translations should be Melancholy Fantasy, Melancholy Tango and Melancholy Love.
What are the characteristics of blues music?
(1) In terms of major scales, the third (Mi) and seventh (Si) tones are often low (usually one semitone, but actually less than one semitone). Sometimes the fifth (Sol) will drop by a semitone. These falling notes are often supplemented by sliding notes and vibrato, thus strengthening the melancholy and sad colors of songs; Because of these characteristics, the scale formed in this way is called "blues scale".
(2) syncopation rhythm is often used in melody, resulting in the inversion of light and heavy notes;
(3) The rhythm is mostly double beat, usually 4/4 beat, and some are 2/4 beat;
(4) In terms of lyrics and melody structure, Bruce mostly uses two lines of symmetrical rhyming words. Repeat the first sentence. Each piece has 12 bars, and each sentence has 4 bars, thus forming a stable musical structure: ‖: A: ‖+B.
(5) Chords generally use the main chord (Ⅰ), minor chord (ⅴ) and minor chord. (iv) Therefore, harmony sounds harmonious and simple.
When Bruce first appeared, it was just for singing. Later, it was also used for instrumental performance. At first, it was limited to some plucked instruments, such as guitar and turtledove piano. 65438+ In the 1960s and 1970s, after the American Civil War, some wind instruments left by the army were sold in some thrift stores in New Orleans. At that time, every holiday night, blacks often came to Congo Square in New Orleans to sing and dance. They found these cheap wind instruments and bought them to learn to play. Since then, black has brought wind instruments.
Another source of jazz is a kind of piano music called ragtime. "Ragtime" is a transliteration of the word Ragtime. This word means "uneven beat". So it is also called "Sanpai Music". It is also developed from African folk music. At the end of 19, a black pianist named scott Jopling (1869- 19 17) created a new piano music style: the right-handed tenor played the main theme or arpeggio with a special syncopation rhythm. Generally speaking, 4/4 beat of music, 1/3 beat is strong beat, 2/4 beat is weak beat. But when he beats three octaves every half, he has a strong voice, and his left hand regularly plays the rhythm composed of the light and heavy notes of the quarter notes. One or three beats are bass beats, and two or four beats are chord beats. In this way, the left and right hands form staggered beats, which makes the music humorous, joyful and lively. Because of this creation, Joplin is called "King of Ragtime".
Maybe it's because I'm young. I checked the CD, but I couldn't find it. Only one commemorative stamp left some memories for the legend.
Black people have their own pianists and bands, and they began to dance cake dance at parties (an ancient American folk dance with cakes as prizes). Later I went to some low-end cafes and bars to play. As a result, this kind of music with special charm and rhythm spread rapidly. At that time, some white bands in nightclubs and hotels played classical music, and business was not good. Once, a white trumpeter named Nick heard that a new kind of music was very popular in black bars, so he went with curiosity. He was very excited after listening to it. He adapted the new genre music he heard into music and let the five-member white band he led play in the Grand Hotel. As expected, this new music is very popular and the hotel business is booming. As a result, many leucorrhea have followed suit. Jazz became the most fashionable and popular music at that time. People call the new style music played by Nick and other bands "Dixland Jazz", which means "American Southern Jazz" and is known as "Golden Age Music" and "New Orleans Jazz". There is a proverb in early jazz: "Fan's Jusf".
65438+In the 1990s, Chicago and St. Louis successively hosted the World Expo. Black jazz pianists and bands from New Orleans and St. Louis have come to these two cities to "seek gold". The jazz they played attracted a large number of guests. From here, jazz spread to England and France, where it also spread. After listening to jazz, Debussy, a French impressionist musician, wrote a jazz piano ditty "Puppet's Gait Dance" with ragtime rhythm in 1905. Become a world famous song.
How did the name "Jazz" come from? There are also various statements:
Some people say that the word Jazz evolved from the African dialect Jaiza. The original meaning of this word is "to speed up drumming"; Another way of saying it is: In the early years, there was a musician named Jasper in New Orleans. Everyone used to call him Jas, but later he passed it around and became Jazz. It is also said that the word Jazz evolved from the word Chaz. And this Chaz is the name of a drummer named Charlie Washington in a dance band in Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA in the early 20th century. The drummer was famous for his performance at that time. Whenever he plays well, people cheer for him: "Now, Chaz! Chaz！” . Besides, there are other legends.
The earliest and most influential jazz band was formed by Buddy Burton. He used to be a barber in New Orleans. During the period of 1895- 1896, his music was often performed in the open air in the park and was deeply loved by people. At that time, it was known as "the king of music". After him was Joseph King Olver, born in 1885, who was a fellow countryman of Bolton. Enjoy the reputation of "king of trumpet"; Merton and Ellington are both famous jazz pianists; Edward Ollie is a famous jazz trombone; Johnny Days is a famous jazz clarinet player.
But in the early days, no one was more famous than louis armstrong (1900- 197 1). He was born in the slums of New Orleans. I sold newspapers as a child and worked as a coolie in the street. Because of poverty, he didn't have a chance to receive formal education, but jazz with piano players from the streets, parks and restaurants attracted him greatly, and he taught himself to play the trumpet. 1922, he joined King Oliver. Often perform trumpet duets with Oliver. Armstrong's unique artistic style and superb trumpet playing skills conquered many audiences. Later, he formed the Heat Band and performed in Chicago and new york. Be warmly welcomed. Some record companies invited him to make jazz records. It also helped him improve his popularity. Armstrong not only plays the trumpet well, but also plays strange sounds that others can't. Besides, he is good at singing. The performance is full of passion, which often gives people a sense of comedy and humor, thus forming his unique style and being deeply loved by people. In 1930s, Armstrong was invited to the Hollywood Film Studio to make films. Because of the spread of this film, Armstrong became famous at home and abroad and was invited to perform in European countries. Even the Queen of England listened to him and met him. Armstrong also performed in some African countries. 197 1 On July 6, 2000, after Armstrong died of illness, thousands of people spontaneously attended his funeral, which shows his position in people's hearts.
Most of the early black jazz musicians didn't understand music, but they were free to change familiar tunes by inspiration when playing. So it has a strong improvisation. Due to the small number of musicians, three or five musicians often work together, and after a long time, they naturally form a tacit understanding. However, when Ellington appeared, this situation began to change.
Duke Ellington (1898- 1974) is a key figure leading jazz music to swing music. Ellington's father is a black chef in the White House. Both parents love music. Under their training, Ellington became a jazz pianist. He made his debut at the age of seventeen and led the band to create a rough "jungle style". He was the first person to adopt wind music and mute technology. This creation adds a variety of timbres to wind instruments (such as Mimi, Wow, Wow, etc. ), people feel that they are in the natural forest of Africa, so people call it "jungle jazz".
Ellington was not satisfied with only a few people playing there. He made the band bigger and bigger. Saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, trombone and other musical instruments, where playing is no longer a single instrument, but formed a musical instrument group. Together with many violins and other musical instruments, they formed a huge dance band. Its voice is louder, its timbre is more beautiful and its expressive force is more abundant. Therefore, it attracted many performers and composers with formal music education to join his band. As a result, jazz music developed from simple dance music to serious music for people to calm down and enjoy, and even entered the concert hall.
This change and development of jazz has aroused the interest of people from all walks of life in America. /kloc-in the winter of 0/923, paul whiteman, the head waiter of new york's "Palace Band", approached Gershwin, the composer, and said that he wanted to hold an ingenious concert. One of the finale programs that will surprise the audience is mixed jazz and symphony. Please ask Gershwin to help him finish this project. Gershwin, a music innovator, is very interested in this project. He started writing in 1924 1 month, and finished it in only one week. Because it mainly uses the blues scale and the seventh chord composed of minor, pure fifth and minor sixth, it was named rhapsody in blue and translated into rhapsody in blue in China. The performance was a great success. Since then, jazz has been reinterpreted by serious musicians and intellectuals, and many composers have followed suit and created many jazz-style music works, such as some American musicals, Hindemity's dance suite, Stravinsky's black concerto and so on. , all use the material and rhythm of jazz music.
Because of Ellington's reform and great contribution to jazz music, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Yale University and Howard University. He also won many other gold medals, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded by Nixon and Johnson. The Queen of England has received him more than once. There are 18 cities in the world that have awarded him the golden key and the title of "honorary citizen", and a school in Washington is named after him. It was also because of Ellington's reform of jazz bands that swing music in the 1930s was born.