Modern Day Music Analysis

types of seventh chords are found in pop, jazz, blues, and R&B music. Jazz musicians also improvise over a harmonic progression, known as changes which are a series of chords played in a strict rhythmic sequence. Composers also arrange triads into patterns called progressions. At the main points in the melody, the triads give the song a sense of forward movement ("progression"). Composers traditionally wrote progressions using only three or four different triads. However the jazz musicians of the "Bebop Era" revolutionized music by creating progressions that used as many as seven different chords. Hence, modern music takes its fundamentals from jazz and uses various progressions of four to five different chords. Modern day music has adopted
the use of both triads and chords to the seventh. We see this for example in Jimmy Hendrix music style at lot, as well as in a lot of music covers and R&B music.
“Before jazz, most genres of music placed the notes of the melody on the pulse, also called the beat, established by the other instruments. Jazz music started placing long melodic sounds between the established beat quite regularly. This technique, called syncopation, gives the music the feeling of having the hiccups. Syncopation has become a standard tool for writing modern music.” Syncopation includes a variation of rhythms which are in some way unpredicted, yet they make up part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. Syncopation is also known as a disruption of the regular flow of rhythm. It is used in many musical styles, especially dance music, in the form of a back beat. The idea or concept of syncopation is used in virtually all modern day popular music. Artists like Katty Perry, Tayler Swift, Kanye West, Drake and Chris Brown all use Syncopation in their music. Could you imagine a world without syncopation? How different would our music be if it wasn’t for the creative minds of jazz musicians.
Additionally, Jazz musicians also were the first to develop the drum set. Before Jazz bands required one person to play each of the different types of drums like the snare and bass drums, the cymbals and the tom-toms. Jazz bands however relied on one person to play not one but all the necessary drum instruments which lead to the creation of the drum set. Drum sets are seen in multiple genera’s of music like: Ballets, Pop, Rock, R&B, and Rap as it is now used as a back beat or bass rhythm for the musical composition. Today’s modern band would not think of playing without a drummer behind a drum set. The drum set has become a huge part of modern day musical culture and our music would not be at the progression stage it is now in if it was not for the creative back beat provided from the drums.
Jazz improvisation is the creation of new melodic solo lines or accompaniment parts. Jazz improvisation is a key aspect of Jazz and can even be considered a descriptive quality of jazz. Improvisation or improvising is defined as composing “on the spot”. It is the act of a singer or instrumentalist inventing solos, melodies and vocal lines over the sounds of a chord progression played by rhythm section instruments (piano, electric guitar, double bass, etc.) and accompanied by the famous drum kit. Jazz musicians construction their songs to allow for these improvised melodies. When you listen to an instrumental or vocal solo by a modern band, you are listening to a jazz concept. Blues, rock and even free style rap use improvisation, though the improvisation in these non-jazz genres are normally done over simple chord progressions. Jazz improvisation can become an open ground for soloing .
When “soloing” a performer creates a new melodic line to suit a song or tune's chord progression regardless of whether this is an instrumental solo or a vocal solo. During a solo, the audience’s main focus is the performer who is playing the solo is. However the other members of the group typically accompany the solo with a lower volume rhythm. At times the which entire band can stop playing to focus on the solo, though not necessary. For example, “during the Swing and big band era, performers typically improvised solos by ear, by using riffs and variations on the tune's existing melody. During the Bebop era in the 1940s, jazz composers began writing much more complex chord progressions. As a result, in the Bebop era, soloists like sax player Charlie Parker began soloing using the scales and arpeggios associated with the chords in the chord progression.” When listening to modern music, you may notice that the musicians allow a single instrument to play or a single vocalist to sing, for an extended period. This is the modern-day solo. However modern day solos are normally done over simple chord progressions. Modern-day solos however can be seen as a musical element for a variety of musical genres.
The Call and Response technic used in modern day music such as rap was originally used as a musical technique for improvised jazz and as a technique to engage the audience.
“Call and response is a musical form in which a melody is stated in a phrase that is then followed by a second phrase that completes the idea.” It aids in bonding a musician to its audience and can even be seen as two instruments responding to each other’s musical notes. Many elements of African-American plantation songs, the blues, jazz and gospel have found their way into newer modern day music such as hip hop. Hip hop began during the late 1970s in the Bronx and it developed out of a need for young African Americans to express themselves and the world around them. Unlike earlier African-American music forms, hip hop places a heavy emphasis on both rhyming lyrics and beats. Like jazz, it is a method of storytelling used to describe the harsh realities, hopes and dreams of everyday life. It also resembles jazz music in its upbeat tempo and its big emphasis on dancing. An example of a jazz influenced modern day rap songs is “40 Acres” by Pusha T featuring The-Dream, as it mentions slavery times through both lyrics and the use of the call and response
technique.
Conclusion
In assumption Jazz characteristics have been heavily used in the creation of modern day music.
Jazz its self is a constantly evolving genre even till this day. Difficult to defined jazz music can be characterized by swing, bent notes or blue notes, riffs , call and response vocals, syncopation, polyrhythms, playing an instrument with creative freedom, the "extension" of the voice cords, its melodies and musical solos and improvisation. Blues helped with the formation of jazz which in return helped with the formation of popular music. Additionally, the formation of popular music helped pave the way for the evolution of popular music into modern day music. Blues jazz songs and blues singing, aided as a standard and inspiration for songwriters and singers. Continuously, Jazz musicians expanded on the pre-jazz harmony series of three notes (called a triad) by adding sounds to the triad creating a Chord. The most commonly added was the 7th chord. Additionally, Jazz composers also arrange triads into patterns called progressions. Later on Jazz musicians of the "Bebop Era" created musical progressions that used as many as seven different chords. Today modern music uses diverse progressions of four to five different chords. Modern day music had now adopted and expanded on the use of both triads and chords with the seventh. Modern day music has also allowed musicians to play a single instrument or sing a vocal cord for an extended period, these types of solos also have their roots
in jazz improvisation. Jazz musicians also created a new technique called syncopation. Syncopation, known as a disruption of the regular flow of rhythm, has now become a standard tool when writing modern music. Continuing on, the Call and response technique used in modern day music such as rap was also originally used as a musical technique for improvised jazz (instruments responding to each other) as well as a technique to engage the audience (audience responding to musician). Lastly our rhythmic clock, the drums set, has also been a product of the creative minds of jazz musicians. Without the use of most jazz characteristics in modern day music there would be no modern-day music, or at the very least our music would be nothing like what we know of now. Rock, R&B, Rap, hip-hop, popular and country have all derived from the characteristics of jazz and henceforth have all derived from Jazz. After doing the research and after my person experience with different musical genres I can conclude that indeed Jazz music has influenced most modern day music and hence if could be seen by those who agree with me as the father of modern-day music.