The Phenomenon of Jazz Music - Essay Example

? Jazz Review PART ONE: INTELLECTUAL Jazz concert Venue and artist. The Jazz Mafia at Churchill’s Pub on 1st April. Performing artists were the band members of Mafia. Some of the instruments used include; drums, trumpets, violins, acoustic guitar, piano, saxophone, clarinet, alto flute and jazz accordion. All these music instruments are used together to bring the musical effects of the intended song. At the concert, the band members were around ten where each and every person played his own instruments as the soloist perform to the beats of the chord. The band members defined jazz from their way of playing the instruments in a rhythmic and flexible manner. They also accompanied it with basic tunes and chords outlines of soloist. The organization at the concert also contributes to it success since the band arrived in time for the event to be a success as they had planned with the hall manager. Most of the instrumentalists were middle age men who seemed to be more experienced and from the look of things it was clear that what they would deliver would be mature enough for the attending audience. The situational emotion was therefore transferred to lyrics, sounds and beats hence becoming jazz music. The advantage Mafia Jazz band had was that during this period of time, freedom was granted to all in members in that they were able to contribute in the lyrics as they play their musical instruments. This made them sing without getting tired. Jazz music is an art that does not require books, websites or even to be written on the paper for performance. It entails composing the music anywhere anytime of the day. It does not apply the use of all the musical rules but it all about creativity of an individual so as to pass the intended massage accompanied by other musical instruments. Jazz music on the other hand has been defined by many people but academically it reached a compromise in its definition and later accepted as an American music genre from Orleans characterized by prominent meter, improvisation, tonal variation and technique delivery, and pattern of its rhythms. As an art, it has general invitation for audience and listeners who invest their time attentively while listening to every word during performance. This genre of music is more of emotional concern than the intellectual. This is because its effects to the listeners. From the live concerts, it’s clear to depict its effects to be spiritual out of its composition and performance to the audience. Jazz unique distinctiveness improvisation exemplifies other forms of music which requires the listeners to get the information rather than the personal connection of what is being delivered by the performer while on stage or any form of recorded medium. Other than jazz, most kinds of music involve the listeners during performance as written by the composer on stage. Jazz attracts most listeners into a deeper perspective with involvement of audience when each phrase is created. Jazz music on stage is new at all stages this is because the composer uses the time available to make the song a success and relief the listeners of their stress and days hard work. The passion of jazz is derived from the orchestral sonorities thriving on the musical instruments diversities. This makes it more different from other classical music that strive to obey the rules of music. In American culture, jazz is considered as the most significant kind of music expression due to its outstanding outcome to music as an art. Jazz is presently adorable all over the world even though it originated from a smaller land in the United States of America. People appreciate this form of music since it motivates an individual besides its energetic performance by an artist. This has made this genre to evolve and seek different levels of artistic delivery. With this improvement, it has given rise to many different jazz styles. Jazz music gives one a life experience and emotion due to its creative inspirational force and discourse that show chronicles story of its founders. The followers and musicians do have one in common in that, it’s a complete society with its leader and subjects. Jazz enables individuals come together and innovate improvised art together with agendas hence makes it an art of its own. PART TWO: IMPROVISATION At the concert, there was a continuous change of chords in the tune which created a spontaneous fresh melodies during performance hence creates something spiritual. This was a result of contours of the original jingle of chords from the music instruments such as the saxophone and jazz accordions. There was a merge of unique mixtures from the compositions of the whole song. Most invented out of the air because most of the performing artists were not reading the music as they do their performance to us. At the concert, the Jazz troupes select phrases that seem to be predictable naturally to incorporate the audience into their performance as they hear it. Furthermore, these Jazz players know the tune of the instruments as they are played by their group members hence helps them to create variant forms of themes as the musical instruments are played. It is the duty of the soloist to create improvised variations as the played guitar, piano and drum is played to give the rhythm and harmony to the musicians in their performance. The soloist with the help of these instruments is able to venture in at any direction as the Jazz players create spontaneous art all the time due to the flexibility of Jazz composition structures for example the singers in most of the songs they played at the concert din not consider the use of correct grammar or vocabulary since it was worth noted that Jazz has its own language unlike other genres of music. Jazz is believed to devoid mostly on improvisation hence the real challenge is seen when its composer assimilates improvisation in one piece of creative art. Most of the Jazz players improvise their creative reach by their own materials since they do not sit and write or compose on the score board. As witnessed at the concerts, it was clear from the performance that every Jazz singer creates his or her own words in the song as they sing along with the audience. They would call names, towns, cities and even places at easy without any problem. This clearly depicts that composing Jazz is very easy and does not need the presence of whoever to be named in the song to be present as the composition is made to the audience or during writing of the song. The difference lies on the composition and improvisation in respect with time of delivery. The concert gives a broader perspective during performance in that one can clearly deduce time taken during composition and the time during delivery to the audience at the stage no wonder Jazz concerts are always spiritual and soul touching to the audience as well. Methods of Improvisation There were three major methods of improvisations employed by Jazz Mafia during their performance and they include: harmony, motive and melody. Melody improvisation occured when the soloist used insults, alternative notes and syncopation to create the melody in a new and interesting manner at the Jazz concert. Employment of the chords and centre tones to inspire soloing is caused by improvisation of harmony. The musical arrangement at the concert showed a much sophisticated phrases and statements hence depicts why two or more artists would not paint on the same arena because of improvised motives which has been refined. The jazz Mafia Band employed all the methods of improvisation in their Jazz music to create and inspire their original melody, structure and harmony in a unique way. This uniqueness made their performance express the value of Jazz music which relied on their creativity. Emotional Responses At the concert my emotional response changed immediately the instruments started playing, this was because I had to concentrate on the tune, beats and rhythm of the song. I felt as if my memory was fresh for there was only one thing to think about and that was the music. Spiritually the feeling changed greatly for I started feeling pain from the words the soloist was saying as he was on the stage performing for the audience. At first he started by making a loud sharp noise to alert the audience before continuing with the business of the day. The mood of the hall was cool and attractive to everybody especially for those like me who had the main agenda of learning. The soft music got into my mind as I pay much attention on every word. I got on stage with other people who attended the concert and it was great since the way of dancing is simple compared to any other concert have attended where people would jump and make noise on the dancing floor. Jazz is a cool and calm music I wished to hear more and more since it made me feel refreshed. Jazz reduces blood pressure; this can be achieved by playing the music all the time especially when one is awake and when going to bed. Addictively, individual with high blood pressure can make this a routine to lower their blood pressure. According to various researches all over the world shows that listening to Jazz and other Celtic classical music for about 30 minutes only can strive a greater deal in an individual life significantly. At the concert I attended I witnessed that one becomes relieved of all the stress of the day and stays comfortable without any other worries in life hence makes an individual more focus and healthy. Music with high tempos is considered to be a medicine of the heart. This is because among the carried research and live concerts attended Miami, There is a greater effect of music to the heart in that as the music was being played, the heart beats just the same as the tempo of the music no matter how boring the music is. And when the beats are slow, the heart responds to the beats hence becomes normal to the beats. This is witnessed as the audience would react to any song played on the stage besides accompanying the rhythm with kicking, tapping and nodding at their seat and applauding as the tempo rises hence gives an individual a soothing relaxation. Jazz music is believed to help in recovery of stroke according to the latest research on human health. In countries such as Finland, the study revealed that people who listen to music have increase in their verbal memory besides attention compared to those who like reading novels and listening to fairytales. Music boosts the immune operation especially from the recent research which showed that Jazz music creates a philosophical emotional experience thus leading to immune boost secretion. This contributes to human health in that cortical hormone helps in stress relieving. When an individual listen to music, the level of stress reduces hence makes one feels relax. From the attended concerts, it is witness that after the whole event the rate of concentration increased and gave one power and morale to handle the assignment perfectly with much easy as compared to before when the mind was very exhausted with the days’ happenings and events after a tough job. This explains why most people like listening to Jazz music every now and then after work. As depicted, most Jazz concerts are charged higher compared to other performance since it comprises of many things besides sing and listening to the message from the song itself. To the human brain as well, music plays a major role of enhancing the level of intelligence, learning and the intelligent quotient (IQ). This is because music makes one very attentive while playing the music instruments and listening to the tunes. To the listeners, Jazz increases the listening capacity and thus makes one smarter compared to other activities in that one gets to learn new words and how these words are used to bring about the rhyming schemes when in cooperated with other words. The power of Jazz to brain include; literacy and reading skills, spatial reasoning and skills in mathematics problems. Most people who listen to Jazz have higher affinity to any mathematical problem since their ability to be attentive is higher. Music boosts the hyperactivity disorder in children as they listen to music. On testing the cognitive stimuli in human beings classical music such as Jazz is used to test the response which gave a positive feedback. This is a good explanation of emotional intelligence as an effect of music to human cognation. Music is also used to improve memory performance this is because the intriguing effect of music affects the memory. Research by scientists such as Mozart, explains that 60 beats of the heart per second makes the left and right part of the brain be active. In that this maximizes the learning and retention of useful information in the brain as it beats simultaneously right and left. Music acts on the right side of the brain while the left part activates the information to be studied. The brain is also capable of processing additional information such as playing the instruments and singing or singing alone at the same time. As an individual listen to such kinds of music, information is being recalled this is because research carried out shows that some types of music act as a key to recollecting memories. Children taking music lesson have also proved better developed memory compared to those who have no such lessons. For example it is believed that important information learned while listening to music can be recalled at easy simply by playing that particular song when the song when the information was being passed on to the person. Another example is that anybody who was at Churchill’s Pub in Miami during performance by The Jazz Mafia can really recall how people danced to the great tunes of the artists. Conclusion In summary, jazz music is an art of its own with as many members as possible all over the world. Jazz rules our everyday life in that all we do is art just as jazz itself is a broader art compared to any other form of music one may think of. Jazz heals, treats and bring together individuals from different part of the world besides uniting communities of different interests. It’s therefore advisable for all individuals to look for jazz anywhere before it starts looking for them since when it decides, one might not think of giving up being in any jazz concert or even be far from Jazz. Reference Giddins, G., & DeVeaux, S. K. (2009). Jazz. New York: W.W. Norton. Read More