Crescendos In The Firebird Suite

The relation between Blues and Jazz music can be discovered if we look closely and scrutinize the origins of both the music genres. How one developed can be found out from the roots of the other as both the separate genres use similar sound patterns. Both of these genres belong to a different decade/era however, are closely linked to one another. In this essay I will deliver a brief history of both Blues and Jazz, their similarities, and also discuss how the advancement of technology has affected the way we hear both these genres of music.

In addition to asymmetrical rhythms the use of polytonality is vibrant throughout the piece especially in the introduction which begins with different clarinets playing polytonal. Stravinsky structured The Rite very differently, melody was not the only dominant feature of the piece, other features such as the fore mentioned polytonality and asymmetrical rhythms were also at the dominant features of the piece. By breaking from many common practices of his own and of the time, Stravinsky created a piece slated in modernism's history.

The reason I decided to prepared my paper on Maurice White, the founder of Earth Wind and Fire is because of the fond memories that I have listening to my parents music. Music from the parents era is very different from the music of today. Music from that era was more love oriented, rhythmic and rich in science of music and musical arrangements. Artists my parents are fond of consists of music from such groups as the Four Tops, the Dells, the Dramatics, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, the Chi-Lites and Stylistics. They also list Junior Walker and the All-stars, Al Jaureau, and Ronnie Laws, among others, as jazz groups. However, Earth Wind and Fire’s sound is unique and quite different from all other groups of that era.

The slave era brought together many African Americans who were from all different backgrounds and spoke different languages so when they were forced to work together in the plantations it was as if, they had a common communication by singing the slave shouts together. Slaves were not always allowed to speak however, they could sing and together this was harmony that is found in jazz and Spirituals. The oppression from the slave shouts transferred over to the early blues and Spirituals. The rhythm is also heard from early on in the slave shouts. In the slave era when they were slave shouting or ring shouts singing together there was a rhythm they had going or a pulse you could hear with their signing. It was an amazing way of communication

On the other hand, Blues were basically from work songs of African Americans slaves at the time. “It is a native American music, the product of the black man in this country, or, to put it more exactly the way I have come to think about it, blues could not exist if the African captives had not become American captives”(pp.17), said Jones and Baraka. In Jazz – A History, Frank Tirro wisely analyzes and explains the relationship between the unique background and

o compose music is to place each tone into a time of rhythmical relationship with every other tone. William Grant Still’s African American Symphony combines a symphony with blues and is a symphonic piece for full orchestra. This piece tells more of a story than you might think. His childhood is involved because he was taught at a young age about blues and he also was exposed to different musical types at a young age, which led to him creating this piece of music.

Rhythm and blues, also known today as “R & B”, has been one of the most influential genres of music within the African American Culture, and has evolved over many decades in style and sound. Emerging in the late 1940's rhythm and blues, sometimes called jump blues, became dominant black popular music during and after WWII. Rhythm and blues artists often sung about love, relationships, life troubles, and sometimes focused on segregation and race struggles. Rhythm and blues helped embody what was unique about black American culture and validate it as something distinctive and valuable.

However, this piece was not devoid of many key characteristics of West African musical tradition. Ortiz Walton authored a piece of writing entitled, “Music - Black, White, and Blue: A

Nowadays the blues revolve around the meaning of sadness but doesn’t have a true message of fighting for survival or deprivation of freedom. In the process of searching for the modern day blues, it was discovered that the music is compiled by mostly Caucasian artist compared to the past where it was conceived by blacks to prompt their practices and beliefs.

Compare and contrast two works from the same genre which were written at least a generation or half a century apart. Consider and explain similarities and differences with regard to musical style and historical context.

During the 20th Century, tone color became more important than ever before. Many techniques that were considered uncommon before were being used during this time. Composers used noise like and percussive instruments. The percussion instruments became a major part of 20th century music. They helped give a variety of rhythm and tone colors. The music did not blend as well as it did during the Romantic times because they often wrote for each different section of the orchestra to have a different tone color. Dissonant chords were becoming just as common as consonant chords. The composer was no longer tied to using traditional chords; what they did was up to them and what sound they wanted. Another key element was the sway from the traditional

2.      The blues first emerged as a distinct type of music in the late-1800s. Spirituals, work songs, seculars, field hollers and arhoolies all had some form of influence on the blues. Early blues were a curious mixture of African cross-rhythms and vocal techniques, Anglo-American melodies and thematic material from fables and folktales, and tales of personal experience on

Tone colour is distinctly secondary to other musical elements. Greater variety of tone colour and more rapid changes of colour.

The first movement of Symphony No. 7 is noted for its long ascending scales as well as its applied dominants relative to its C major and F major modulations. The Introduction begins with a short A chord from the full orchestra. After eight bars, the piece has briefly entered the key of F major already and is now accompanied by scales of two octaves which begin softly, similar to the way a person creeps up and down a staircase. These scales repeat, gradually becoming louder and more extravagant. The third theme

     The mood of these two pieces is remarkable in that color does not play as great