The Ragtime And The Blues

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.

Thesis: Although Jazz music was first introduced over 80 years ago, the genre still influences artists and the new music they make to this day.

“For some this has been, at least partially, a nostalgic trip to the “simplistic and charm” of the past(...)ragtime’s direct melodic and harmonic message, its irresistible, foot-tapping, rhythmic impulse.” (Berlin) Ragtime was the type of music that was intended to evoke happiness and joy using instruments like piano, guitar, and drums. Through the genre of Ragtime, many popular dances of the late 1900s became prominent like the “cake walk”, “ragtime marches”, “two-steps”, and many more. (Berlin) One of the most prominent characteristics of Ragtime is the fact that it has syncopation which was fairly new at the time. Syncopation is the emphasis of notes that are played in the off beats. Irving Berlin describes the relationship between syncopation and ragtime as

Black folk traditions like spirituals and “ragged music” evolve into the blues, ragtime, and jazz.

Jazz is the world - famous music genre that originated from the African - American communities that existed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the town of New Orleans, United States. The genre of jazz has many subgenres which have evolved over time to give us current modern day jazz. The two jazz genres which will be compared and contrasted in this essay will be the two subgenres; Bebop, and Ragtime Jazz, which differ but at the same time have some similarities.

African Americans had a major role in the development of popular entertainment in America. Following the Civil War, black Americans, developed a new style of music called ragtime which eventually evolved into what we now know as Jazz. In developing Jazz, African Americans contributed knowledge of the dance and folk music of people across Africa. Together, these musical forms had a major influence on the development of music within the United States and around the world during the 20th century. Early jazz and blues recordings were made in the 1920’s and the early part of the 20th century saw a constant rise in their popularity.

The roots of modern american rock and roll music, are firmly planted in Africa. As the native Africans were torn apart from their family’s and brought to the new world their lives were immediately and drastically changed forever. Finding themselves immersed in a completely new environment with a foreign culture, they thankfully persevered and carried on with their own traditions and most importantly to this paper, musical ones. Most American slaves originated from Western and Central Africa. The West Africans carried a musical tradition rich with long melody lines, complicated rhythms (poly rhythmics) and stringed instruments CITATION. The West Africans music was also strongly integrated into their everyday lives. Songs were preformed for religious ceremonies and dances and music was often a

During this time period, music began to evolve. Woog says, “These immigrants, naturally, brought their music. During the next decades, black popular music flourished, developing into several key genres and moving steadily into mainstream American culture” (20). As they did, music began to grow into three obvious styles: ragtime, blues, and jazz. Starting this new era was ragtime. As pianos became common in saloons, clubs, brothels and middle-class homes (Woog 22), ragtime became very popular. Pianos were one of the main instruments, although a piano could have also been accompanied by bongo drums or an acoustic guitar. The ambiance of this genre is generally expressed in a fluent and joyful way.

During the early 1900’s, a new style of music began to take shape in the colorful city of New Orleans. People from all over the world came to exchange stories, conversation, and music. Although it is a very hard genre of music to define, it is said that Jazz is the combination of European and African music that was brought in via the ports. With mostly an African American population, the musicians shared their music in Storyville - a cultural melting pot, and began to spread the “New Orleans Sound”. They contributed to what would soon be known as Jazz in 1917. The spontaneous nature of Jazz’s syncopation and sound makes it a very humanistic style of music and makes every performance original. Every day we improvise, whether it is in conversation or spur of the moment decisions. These truly unique elements caused Jazz to become a symbol of America, and changed music forever.

First of all, ragtime and the blues are similar in that they both originated in the United States. In fact, they were created in the United States, and had not

The most obvious similarities between modern art and modern music from their Victorian counterparts was the large shift in subject matter. In art, the movement away from Ancient Greek and Roman influences to a focus on nitty-gritty dirty, poor Americans was enormous. The old portrait and nature based art reflected in the work of Victorian idealists conflicted with the abstract, vivid, eccentric works of the Modernists. Similarly, in modern Ragtime music, the new focus on adultery, sex, and sins also reflected the new naughty America. Both music and art began to focus on what was happening in America and what the younger generation felt, versus the old European influenced way that society was “supposed” to be. Another key similarity between the evolvement of music and art can be viewed by the change of techniques. From the use of hard brush-strokes to the jumbling of different shapes and colors, to a focus on societal imperfections, art again began to go again the Idealist norm and paint that which was truly there, not what was idolized. Similarly, the percussion-heavy, syncopated beats, and “blackness” of Ragtime music illustrated a huge change of heart. This music showed the eagerness of youth to truly take what they could from the new technological world. The modernization of both music and art was largely

Thus the similarity between ragtime and blues is significant but there are numerous differences between the two music styles. First, their origin was different. Even though they both had African influence as mentioned, ragtime was more strongly influenced by European music style, and blues was heavily African music style. According to Durk Sutro in his book Jazz for Dummies, “Ragtime was European-influenced, in the sense that it was composed, not improvised, and featured carefully crafted melodies and harmonies…ragtime could sound concisely European” (ch.5). Although European-influenced, there is some African influence such as rhythm and African banjo music as mentioned during the lecture. Ragtime rhythm was “the rhythms of the black dancers who used their heels to make drum sounds, or to that of the black church singers who could vary the rhythms of a Christian hymn so much that a white Christian could not even recognize it”(Tirro, pp.37).

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.

One cannot speak about music especially in America with referencing Jazz or the Blues. The two genres of music are synonymous with the American music scene originating from Southern America. Their similar point of origin has caused much confusion in distinguishing the two mainly due to the way today’s artists’ music crossover. Both Jazz and Blues, are two independent genres that formed concurrently in the 20th century and were produced at the same time.

Ragtime was a very influential part of the development of jazz. Ragtime became very popular in the late 1800’s. Ragtime’s distinct style set it apart from the other genres. Syncopation is what defines this art form. This is when the loud accents fall in between the beats. Anything that is syncopated is basically ragtime. One of the most important ragtime composers was Scott Joplin. Like all great artists, Joplin did not restrict himself to this favored art form. Both before the advent of ragtime and after, Joplin composed marches and waltzes, including the syncopated waltzes. There's more to ragtime than syncopation, while some very good ragtime is not of the classic form. But the lines are often blurred. Ragtime's influence on other