Jazz 

爵士音樂

Instructor：Jen-yen Chen

Semester：Fall 2006

Credit：3

Course description:

This course examines the history, social significance, and musical style of jazz.  It focuses on two of the central periods in the development of jazz:  the Swing era (ca. 1930-45), which saw the rise of the “big bands” and the emergence of jazz as a great national popular music of America; and the Bebop era (ca. 1945-60), during which jazz became self-consciously difficult in the manner of so-called art music.  Though the course requires no previous musical training, we will immerse ourselves in an intensive description of the music in order to understand better the extraordinary fusion of spontaneous creativity and careful intellectual structuring that characterizes jazz.  We will also give in-depth consideration to socio-cultural dimensions of the music such as racial identity, American identity, and the impact of economic and technological factors.

Student objectives:

-          to gain an appreciation of the richness and variety of jazz through close study of a representative selection of pieces

-          to think critically about basic aspects of musical creation and production such as composition, arrangement, improvisation, and the function(s) of notation

-          to develop an awareness of the complex interrelationships between the arts and cultural/ideological attitudes concerning society, property, etc.

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites for this course, other than an eagerness to learn about jazz music and an interest in spending a lot of time listening to it.  It should be noted however that one of the assigned texts, Gunther Schuller’s monumental and comprehensive The Swing Era, includes many notated musical examples, and an ability to read these examples certainly can aid an appreciation of the music.  Nevertheless, I will design my lectures so that they accommodate all backgrounds, in part through the use of charts and diagrams which can be followed as easily by those of you with no musical training as those of you who have such training.  Also, exams and written assignments will be graded not for complex technical analyses but for critical understanding of style, history, and culture as expressed through ordinary language plus simple musical terminology which will have been explained earlier.

Requirements:

Regular listening is the most essential ingredient for success in this course.  Sound files of all listening selections are posted on a course website [Yingfen, is this feasible? I mean technologically at NTU; I’ll deal with issues of copyright.]  You should also watch the documentary Jazz by Ken Burns, a copy of which is available on reserve in the library.  A recommended viewing schedule is included in the Schedule of Lectures below.

The specific course assignments and the percentage which each counts towards the final grade are as follows:

Three short musical descriptions (ca. 2 pages)        15%

Two essays (5-7 pages)                           40%

Midterm examination                              20%

Final examination                            25%

Texts:

Deveaux, Scott.  The Birth of Bebop.

Schuller, Gunther.  The History of Jazz.  Volume I:  Early Jazz.

Schuller, Gunther.  The History of Jazz.  Volume II:  The Swing Era.

Shapiro, Nat and Hentoff, Nat, Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It

Tentative Schedule of Lectures

Week 1.  Basic Concepts:  Form, Instrumentation, Performance

Week 2.  Origins of Jazz:  Quadrilles, Ragtime, Blues

Week 3.  The 1920s:  Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, Fletcher Henderson, Paul Whiteman

Week 4.  Swing Masters:  Benny Goodman, “The King of Swing”

Short description 1 due

Week 5.  Swing Masters:  Duke Ellington

Week 6.  Swing Masters:  Louis Armstrong

Short description 2 due

Week 7.  The Rise of Kansas City Jazz:  Count Basie

Week 8.  Swing Vocalists:  Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald

Essay 1 due

Week 9.  Swing Saxophonists:  Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster

Week 10.  Swing Pianists:  Earl Hines, Art Tatum

Midterm examination (during the first half of lecture)

Week 11:  White Bands:  Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey

Week 12.  Bebop Masters:  Charlie Parker, “Bird”

Week 13.  Bebop Masters:  Miles Davis

Short description 3 due

Week 14.  Bebop Masters:  John Coltrane

Week 15.  Bebop Masters:  Ornette Coleman

Week 16.  Bebop Masters:  Thelonious Monk

Essay 2 due

Week 17.  Recent Jazz

Week 18.  The Global Impact of Jazz:  Art Music, Popular Music, Film, Theater, and Literature

Final examination