Styles of Music at the Turn of the 20th Century
Jazz began in the late 1890's with Ragtime, an upbeat style of music that differentiated mainly from classical because of syncopation and use of the blues scale (a chromatic set of notes with much more dissonance than is found in major and minor scales).
Ragtime eventually evolved into early Jazz. Jazz is much more improvisational than Ragtime. Another huge distinction is vocalists; singers. Jazz introduced some of the most prominent and influential singers in history; icons like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald as well as musicians like Duke Ellington. Jazz branched off in many different directions, one of the most popular at the beginning of the century was swing. Swing was accompanied by a revolutions in dance and style that lasted through the mid '90s. From swing other styles of music developed; with artists like Elvis and eventually the Beatles, artists who define music today. |