Similarities Between Dixieland And Swing Music

Jazz is like all types of music, they change through the years. With some genres it will be small changes, and sometimes it will be big noticeable changes. The changes between Dixieland and swing music were some pretty big changes. Those changes included, who was popular, what sounds were popular, and where was the music most popular. Dixieland was popular from the start of the 1900’s to the late 1920’s, and from there swing music became popular in the early 1930’s until the mid 1940’s.

Dixieland was mainly focused in New Orleans, Louisiana, known as the birthplace of jazz. The music produced was meant to be played mobile, in parades, or just on the street, to make this easier there was only 5 or seven members. Each member usually played their instrument, and nobody else played that exact instrument, which made it easier to improvise. Common instruments included a tuba, a clarinet, drums, a trumpet, a trombone, and a banjo, which was a good instrument for playing outside, because it is louder than an acoustic guitar. The people performing influenced the way the music was

arranged, because not a lot of Dixieland performers were formally educated, they improvised better than reading music. Because if this, everyone improvised most of the time, which is why every time songs would be played, it would sound different, because the music was never written down. People lost interest in this style of music because it had to be simple in order for improvisation, so soon after it started, it became repetitive.
A new and exciting style of music came around after Dixieland, swing music.

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

accessible.
With this we can see that there was a very big difference in these 2 popular music styles, even though they were only years apart. We will never know what the future has in store for music, and this transition of styles is a perfect example of that.