Jazz Music Culture

For my musical ethnography I am studying the music culture surrounding relatively large jazz ensembles. These larger jazz ensembles are typically found in high schools and universities and mostly perform in performance halls (as opposed to the smaller ensembles that typically play in cafés). UNT has a strong university jazz band, while my high school has a strong high school jazz band. The only main difference between a high school and university is the difference in the difficulty of their repertoire of music.

This music culture has its history rooted in a much wider and much older musical genre. This website provides a good brief summary of jazz history. The foundation of jazz goes all the way back to the time of slavery in Africa where the slaves sung many work songs and spiritual songs that became the foundation of jazz music. Then as America became a mixing pot of cultures, so did music, and so jazz became a mixture of many of the European compositional styles with melodies from the black community. Then, the jazz music culture began to rise throughout the US especially in cities such as New Orleans, Chicago, and New York, and artists such as Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis.

Through the long evolution of jazz, we eventually come to see the music culture I am studying. In the larger jazz bands we typically see an ensemble consisting of trombones, trumpets, saxophones, percussion, and possibly a guitar or piano, depending on the piece. The jazz style of music is mostly noted for the syncopated rhythms, solos, call and response, blues scales, and improvisation. Although jazz was founded on the melodic styles of the black community, nowadays it is open to everyone and you will see people of very different cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds participate in this very exciting music culture.