Adapting or Borrowing Music by Composers
Music has been stolen, borrowed and adapted for centuries! Some of the
first examples of borrowing music dates back to the 13th Century and
Choral and Church music! During the 13th Century there were many types
of musicians. Apart from Monks and their plainsong style of music
there were jongleurs, troubadours, trouveres, minnesingers and
itinerant minstrels which all contributed to music of the day! Though
these secular musicians did not engage in choral activity they did
create a vocal tradition that was soon to "borrow" musical ideas from
the church as the sacred motet transmogrified into the secular
madrigal.
The madrigal appeared as the secular equivalent of the sacred motet in
the late thirteenth century. The madrigal writers immediately adopted
the style of having each part as an original composition rather than
use an existing melody around which other parts could be structured.
The secular words were taken from the works of esteemed poets as well
as original verse written specifically for madrigal purposes. The
quality of the words was deemed so important that they were able to
stand as poetry of merit in their own right and were sometimes
published as thus. Petrarch (1304-1374) was one of the earliest poets
to have his words used as the inspiration for madrigal setting.
This form of borrowing is seen in our set pieces too. Palastrina took
a plainsong hymn and used it in his Mass.
Another form of music borrowing is arranging! Arranging is where a
composer takes an original piece of music and adapts it to his or her
requirements. For example ‘You are the Sunshine of My Life’ was
originally a 1970’s popular piece of music. Frank Sinatra had it
adapted to Swing music so that he could put his own twist on it. Jazz
players do this as well, but taking someone else’s music is not really
composing so does that mean that people who arrange or borrow music
are not composers? Well going back in history again, Bach is one of
He developed a musical language that was ideally suited to easily fitting to varying lengths of scene. On the other hand, made strong use of short repeated rhythmic phrases and ostinati. These could be readily repeated to fit the length of a scene and provided a feeli... ... middle of paper ... ... avid
...leans style of music and influenced how big bands in the later eras would approach jazz. The compositions provided information on how to accurately notate improvisatory jazz music on paper and thus, laid the foundation for the next stage in the jazz timeline: the swing era.
“His relaxed phrasing was a major change from the staccato style of the early 20’s and helped to set the stage for the Swing Era” (“Life & Legacy”). And as such a prominent artist, and in particular, jazz artist, Armstrong did not only change the perception of jazz and swing, but the views on African Americans and their culture. Armstrong and the Harlem Renaissance reflected black history and culture, and it became popular, even in white communities and clubs. Jazz as a whole genre helped further society’s views through the universal language of music, where any ethnicity could partake in it. And the revolution of jazz was lead by the stylings of Louis Armstrong. The duration of the jazz and swing era, lasting decades past the 1920s, symbolized the civil rights movement directly through the lyrics, sounds, and artists
Swing music was mainly popular in New York clubs, because it is fast music with a steady tempo easy to dance to. This style was the start of big band music with an ensemble of 15 to 18 members. Most of the performers in the ensemble were formally educated and they could read music, so swing music is written down and is performed the same way every time. Because there were so many more people, more than 1 person would play the same type of instrument. They had a rhythm section, a saxophone section, trombone section, and trumpet section. There was only solo improvisation, while others would play 2 or more melodies, because there were too many people for more than one person to improvise. This style of music thrived, because people loved to dance, and because the radio was more popular, which made the music more
This icon wasn’t just any musician, he was considered an exceptional performer, song writer, and bandleader. During the lifespan of his extraordinary career, Ellington’s orchestra was amongst the top five nationally. Factually composing songs of which became valuable in the entertainment industry of jazz music. Leading him to categorize with the top contemporaries of his time. Ellington was predominantly ground-breaking tradition in jazz with the way he would arrange his compositions in order to fit the personality of his band players. In fact, He was known to be especially picky about not playing a song the same way frequently, thus this would lead him to continuously rearrange the way he would play his songs often. For example, one of his most recognizable songs "Mood Indigo", was discovered to have been altered to sound different from when it originally came out compared to years
Mr. Armstrong had many of talents such as singing, film star, comedian, and being a bandleader. Although he was blessed with many talent, he left an outstanding imprint on Jazz. Louis Armstrong was the first person to bring jazz out of New Orleans and spread it all over the world. His unique technique show different characteristics on a trumpet. For example, in 1922 Louis started to put his style into jazz whenever he joined King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. The way he improvised shocked all sorts of musicians because he was able to improvise a perfect harmony part, no matter how anyone played it.
Though there were many aspects that made up the 1920s culture, one of the most important was the music. Jazz was the major form of music that was starting to make its way through the seams. This style of music had been around for many years, starting in New Orleans. According the book Popular Culture: 1929-1929, Jane Bingham states that a group of talented African Americans started this type of music, and their inspiration came from songs their ancestors used to play while they were working on cotton plantations (Bingham 8). Jazz was originally played in underground speakeasies and nightclubs. However, it was none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald that jump-started this musical journey through his novel, The Great Gatsby. In the Encyclopedia of Jazz, James Ciment writes that Jazz was the musical anthem for the carefree, modern spirit of these times (Ciment 307). With Jazz being so upbeat, fast paced, and rhythmic, it led to the rebellion of many young men and women. For instance, in the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby’s parties as being jammed packed full of people dancing to jazz music and having the time of ...
Edward Kennedy Ellington, American jazz composer, orchestrator, bandleader, and pianist, is considered to be the greatest composer in the history of jazz music and one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. He composed over 2000 works and performed numerous concerts during his musical career. A compilation of some of his most popular music is collected on a CD called "The Popular Duke Ellington." Ellington personally created most of the music played by his orchestra. He often wrote pieces for specific players with distinctive musical styles in his band, such as "Concerto for Cootie" (1940) for fellow musician and trumpeter, Cootie Williams. With the help of American trumpeter James "Bubber" Miley, Ellington often incorporated in his music the jungle effect.
...e once sealed with his music. Armstrong amplitude the reality of world through his trumpet and his singing. Armstrong considered the movement as an individual expression, many showing it by art, literature, and writing. But he considered the best way of getting peoples attention, which was the popular art at that time, jazz.
All types of music require musicians. In the H.R (Harlem Renaissance), there were many who contributed to this new style of music known as jazz. These musicians all have their own style and form. Each of these styles has in some way influenced the evolution of jazz. Louis “Sachmo” Armstrong is recognized as the most famous trumpet player of this time. His “hot bop” style was heard in places like the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theatre. Everyone from all over the country would come to see him. Armstrong recorded such works as I’m in the Mood for Love, and You Rascal you (http://library.thinkquest.org/26656/english/music.html). Another famous person during this era was Coleman Hawkins, a saxophone player. Hawkins is recognized as the first great saxophonists of Jazz. His most famous work was a piece named Body and Soul (http://library.thinkquest.org…). Hawkins has also recorded with artists such as Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. Other people such as Bessie Smith, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, and “Dizzie” Gillespie have also made many contributions to the development of Jazz.
Jazz comprises of a wide range of music from the ragtime to the present music listened to by many people. The music evolution has taken roughly 100 years and jazz has been put in this particular evolution as one of the music styles today. In the definition of jazz, there is no actual definition of jazz because it a composition of very many music styles hence making it hard to get the required definition that would describe it fully. Attempts being made to define jazz have a basis of traditional music that have similar characteristics as jazz but not real jazz. Using the American or African music examples, the researchers argue that the definition is very broad and wide. Ernest Berendt one of the researchers says that jazz originated from America in the process of confronting Negros with Europeans in terms of music. This can then be termed as a tool of identity between the two groups of people due to the racist and discrimination aspects that faced America. This was now a tool that could identify the two groups to bring about national integration and understanding among the members of America. In America jazz has incorporated time as a special factor and is now referred to as swing. Swing means spontaneity and vitality of the production of music which has an improvisation role to play to the listeners. This particular jazz music contains a particular manner of phrasing which acts as a mirror to an individual and the personality of the musician performing that particular jazz music on stage. The early jazz musicians include Double Bassist Reggie Workman, saxophone player Pharaoh Sanders, and drummer Idris Muhammad who were performing in 1978 hence dating back to early jazz performance and presentation.
all interdependent on one another. As he was composing, he kept this in mind. In any case, he was a jazz musician, whether he liked being called one or not. His gift to
Ragtime, also called “ragged rhythm”, was first a piano style know for its fast paced beats. It first came into the publics eye in 1893 when he performed an instrumental ensemble at the World Exposition in Chicago. His originally developed style of rag time know as “Maple Leaf Rag” First came on the scene in a club in Sedalia, Missouri as his own form of ragtime. In 1899 He gained nationwide popularity after selling over one million copies worldwide.
He had exposure to several different genres growing up in his St. Louis, MO hometown. He heard country from the whites, rhythm & blues (R&B) from mostly blacks, even Latin music. His family environment set him up well for future success while growing up in a middle class home in the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930s. His parents sun...
Classical music has a big impact in today’s music; modern music is influenced by music from the Classical, Baroque and Romantic eras. Many of today’s modern songs are inspired or even copied from music of this periods, and even when we don’t realized by listening to modern popular songs we are actually listening in some way to music composed by famous composers of the classical periods of music, that’s why I believe that without the creative intellect of famous composers such as Bach, Chopin, Shubert, Beethoven and many others modern music that we know today it would not exist because many songs are a result of the evolution of music, and their fundamental roots come from classical composers.