MU239 Study Guide - Comprehensive Final Exam Guide - Jazz, Piano, African-American Music
20 Nov 2018
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Document Summary
Jazz dna (middle eastern/african elements in american music) Playing rhythms in between or against the steady beat. The art of spontaneous composition in music. Use of bends, slides and timbre (tone manipulation) to sound like no one else. Deep relationship between slaves of islamic descent and u. s. culture. Connection between renaissance music and arab-islamic culture. Muslim call to prayer sounds a lot like levee camp holler , an early type of blues song from the mississippi delta. Melody and note changes closely parallel one of islam"s best-known refrains. Came from muslim slaves from west africa who were forced to the u. s. Upward of 30 percent of the african slaves in the u. s. were muslim. Muslim slaves had an indirect influence on blues music b/c: Drumming was banned by white slave owners. Stringed instruments were allowed because slave owners considered them akin to european instruments like the violin. Today"s blues singers unconsciously echo arabic-islamic patterns in their music.
