January+Jazz+Jam

=**Jazz Jam** =

Jazz is a type of music that started in New Orleans in the early 1900s by black Americans. It combined European and African music forms and styles. Brass and woodwind instruments and piano are particularly associated with //jazz//, although guitar, violin, and bass fiddle are also used.

Jazz was considered "the devil's music" when it was first heard by white listeners. This is because the music was very different from what white Americans were used to listening to. Today it is appreciated and played by music lovers all over the world.

Jazz music has a regular or forceful rhythm, syncopated melodies, and often improvisation. Improvisation is when the musicians add their own notes to a song as it is being played to create new layers and harmonies. Sometimes this is called a "jam session" -- where everyone comes together to improvise to create a new song.

Click here for an example of [|Improvisation in Jazz].

Another musical technique you might here in jazz is scatting. Scatting is when the singer imitates instruments by adding nonsense sounds and words.

Click here for an example of Ella Fitzgerald [|Scatting in Jazz](Jazz Singer).

Not all jazz sounds alike. There are many different types including ragtime, cool jazz, bebop, swing, dixieland latin jazz, jazz funk, and more.

= LISTENING ACTIVITY: = Nikki Yanofsky is a young Canadian who sings jazz. Listen to the videos below to learn more about her and to hear her singing in the jazz style and in a contemporary, pop style. Discuss how the jazz song differs from the pop song.

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Nikki Yanofsky Scats "I Got Rhythm", Montreal Jazz Festival Can you hear examples of improvisation and scatting. What kinds of instruments are playing behind her?

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Nikki Yanofsky I Believe Video media type="youtube" key="9N2tLfGUPwU?version=3" height="349" width="560"

[|Nikki Yanofsky, Olympic Theme Song, Believe] French and English Version

Listen to the different versions of the jazz song, [|//So Wha//t]. Can you and your classmates use improvisation and scatting to create additional lyrics for the song, //So What.//

= = =Additional Ways to Explore Jazz:=

Read, "The Jazz Fly" and listen for the scatting and jazz instruments heard in it. Listen here to a Creole Jazz Band

Learn more through: [|Other Jazz Links]