爵士乐—二十世纪美国社会文化的一面镜子Jazza Mirror of American Society and Culture in the 20th Century.doc

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1、爵士乐二十世纪美国社会文化的一面镜子Jazza Mirror of American Society and Culture in the 20th CenturyAbstractJazz originates from New Orleans of southern America at the end of 19th century and is characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and cho

2、rd patterns and more recently a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom In the 1920s-1990s Jazz develops very fast and in different periods Jazz has different characteristics As a musical form of America Jazz reflects the situation of American society and culture In the 1920s Jazz gets its first-step de

3、velopment and brings together elements from Africa and Europe Jazz is a kind of pure American black music because in this period the United States monopolizes this art In the 1960s-1970s Jazz gets new development some fresh elements are introduced into Jazz which reveals that America artists do not

4、monopolize the scene and Jazz is spread to the world quietly Jazzs sad and strong rhythm and disappointing lyrics reveals a confusing American society and Americans contradictory feelings after the Second World War In the 1980s-1990s it seems that each European country has its own style in Jazz for

5、different cultural backgrounds The melting-pot social and cultural environment brings about Jazzs multi-elemental development In turn the multi-elemental development of Jazz demonstrates the coexistence and co-development of different cultures and ideas in AmericaKey WordsAmerica society jazz cultur

6、e reflection 摘要爵士乐是19世纪末起源于南美新奥尔良的一种音乐形式它以强劲而灵活的旋律为构架在节奏与和音形式的基础上配合个人和集体的一种即兴表演越到后来爵士乐的风格越复杂谐和20世纪20年代到90年代爵士乐发展得很快并且在不同的时期有着不同的特点作为美国的一种音乐形式爵士乐反映了美国社会文化不同时期的情况20世纪20年代时爵士乐得到了初步的发展爵士乐将非洲与欧洲的元素相结合并融合成为新的文化显示出了美国特有的音乐表现特色爵士乐是一种纯的美国黑人音乐因为在这个时期美国独占了这项艺术在20世纪6070年代爵士乐有了新的发展一些新的音乐元素融入到了爵士乐这些融合是美国社会发展的结果它显

7、示了此时的美国已不在独占爵士乐这个舞台爵士乐正在悄悄的走向世界在这二十年里爵士乐时而忧伤时而强劲的旋律以及令人绝望的歌词揭露了二战后动荡的美国社会和美国人矛盾的心情到20世纪8090年代时几乎每个欧洲国家因为文化的差异都有了各自的爵士乐风格美国社会与文化的多元发展带来了爵士乐的多元化爵士乐的多元发展则展现了不同的文化与思想在美国的共存与发展关键词美国社会爵士乐文化反映IntroductionJazz is a treasure of American culture which originated from New Orleans of southern America at the end

8、 of 19th century Compared to other music forms it is a unique music form characterized by improvisational performance and changeable rhythm In terms of the way of performance Jazz isnt only performed by solo but also by a group of people And there is a great variety of musical instruments involved i

9、n the performance like clarinet saxophone trumpet and trombone and so on In playing Jazz the percussion instruments are also an important part such as drum double bass and the piano The entire musical instruments work together as if there is a party of sounds Then the player makes an improvisational

10、 dealing with the timbre cadence of the musical instruments However this is not enough Jazz emphasizes more on players distinctive performance than Jazz itself As a special music form it also requests players to put their own musical mind and emotions into the performance Only the sound from heart c

11、an make Jazz fantastic Especially its changeable rhythm always brings listeners into another world and sometimes it is so wild like a strong howling sometimes it is very soft as a weak patient In addition Jazz is also a free music form in which there is no certain rule rhythm or way of performance B

12、ecause of the characters mentioned above it develops very fast in America and later sweeps the whole worldJazz brings together elements from Africa and Europe and then made them an expression of music unique to America And in the 20th century it develops very fast and followed the development of Ame

13、rican society However in different periods Jazz has different characteristics especially in the 1920s 1960s 197os 1980s and 1990s In these periods Jazz replaces some popular music forms to be Americas mainstream popular music To some extent Jazzs development witnesses the progress of American societ

14、y and culture In other words its development may reflect the development of American society and culture In this paper three periods are taken as a clue to demonstrate the reflection function of Jazz In the 1920s Jazz gets its first-step development in America it differs from other music and injects

15、 new blood for American music Jazz is a kind of pure American music because in this period the United States monopolizes this art Its popularity is not contingent and the wild rhythm and improvisational ways of playing are its advantages These advantages bring many listeners for it in which people c

16、an throw away all social conventions rules and indulge themselves completely Through it disappointment and resistance are brought to players The mood reflects peoples attitude towards life after the First World War And Louis Armstrong the king of Jazz expresses the depressive mood in his songs like

17、Lonesome Road On the Sunny Side of the Street Hotter than That Snake Rag Then in the following few years jazz gets some new developments and Swing Bebop Cool Jazz and free Jazz appears one after another And in the 1960s-1970s some fresh elements and new techniques are introduced into Jazz making Jaz

18、z more powerful and advanced Compared with Jazz in the 1920s the requirement for players is improved It changes the past playing ways of following certain rhythm tone and accompany Improvisation and personality is the main feature in this period Its wild or soft rhythm impresses the audience greatly

19、 After World War Americans lived a idle and scared life Material spending becomes their only way of living especially the young men have no ambition and passion as the war has exhausted their energy and vigor Accordingly Jazz in this period is filled with decadence and indulgence The musician Miles

20、Davis expresses the mood best in his music In a Silent Way Meanwhile the sentimental rhythm in Jazz wild and strong can also be the best demonstration In the 1980s-1990s with the development of American society American musicians do not monopolize Jazz It seems that each European country has its own

21、 style in Jazz for different cultural backgrounds Jazz of this period is not a pure American music but a multi-elemental music of the whole world In fact this big change is just the result of the influence of pluralism in the society and Jazzs multi-elemental development is just the reflection of th

22、e multicultural development of American society and cultureI Jazz a Mirror of American Society and Culturein the 20th CenturyJazz has different characteristics in different periods especially in the 20th century and always serves as a mirror of American society and culture In order to demonstrate th

23、e reflecting feature of Jazz three big periods of 20th century are taken as a clueA Jazz in the 1920s In the 1920s Jazz gets its first-step development and brings elements from Africa and Europe which are fused together with Jazz into a new music an expression unique to America In this period Jazz i

24、s a kind of pure American black music and the United States monopolizes this art Jazzs wild rhythms corrupted lyrics expose the decadence and dark life of Americans and truly reflect American society and cultureJazz has a connection to the essence of America in a much more fundamental way It is an e

25、xpression of the African roots of American culture the treasure of American culture a musical medium that exemplifies the culture of the Africans whose culture came to dominate much of what is American Actually in many aspects Americas roots are in Africa In fact this is a factor for Jazzs first tra

26、nsmission to America Ralph Ellison perceptively describes the transformation of separate African and European cultures are at the hand of the slavesthe dancing of those slaves who looking through the windows of a plantation manor house from the yard imitated the steps so gravely performed by the mas

27、ters within and then added to them their own special flair burlesquing the white folks and then going on to force the steps into choreography uniquely their own The whites looking out at the activity in the yard thought that they were being flattered by imitation and were amused by the incongruity o

28、f tattered blacks dancing courtly steps while missing completely the fact that before their eyes a European cultural form was becoming Americanized undergoing a metamorphosis through the mocking activity of a people partially sprung from America Townsend 78 Out of this fusion of African elements com

29、es an idea that Americans believe central to their identity namely tolerance Both cultures come to realize each others value In the heart of Americans diversity is their strength Americans learn every day that other cultures and peoples may make valuable contributions to their way of life This great

30、 fusion makes Jazz a distinctly American music Jazz reflects two contradictory facets of American life On the one hand the band features a soloist who is an individual at the extreme On the other hand it is a team effort where every musician is completely immersed in what these groups does together

31、listening to each of other players and building on their contributions to create the music whole In the same sense American life is also a combination of teamwork and individualism a combination of individual brilliance with the ability to work with others In a word Jazz as an important part of Amer

32、ican culture is based on real peoples and things and is the music from life Through it something more about America is known to the worldIn the 1920s Jazz gets its primary development and this distinctly American music quickly finds its way to the whole America Its wild rhythm improvisational perfor

33、ming and changeable tone give listeners a fresh feeling and it abandons traditional music forms and outdated performing ways to separate itself with other music In this period Ragtime Dixieland as a branch of New Orleans impresses every American and the young man indulge them in it completely Jazzs

34、every note makes them crazy and then the word JAZZMAD comes into being in America Its rhythm sometimes sounds like howling for escaping the tightened rope and sometimes is so grave like a weak patient The changeable rhythm seems to expose the contradictory sides of their inner heart Louis Armstrong

35、the king of Jazz expresses the sad mood in his songs like Lonesome Road On the Sunny Side of the Street Hotter than That Snake Rag and etc For example in the song of Hotter than that Louis repeats the word hotter hotter hotter hotter hotter than hell hotter than hell when the sun goes down cold day

36、in helland points the peoples life is as evil as the hell and their inner hearts are contradictory under the war And another song On the Sunny Side of the Street is filled with beautiful things and Louis repeats the sentence on the sunny side of the street to express the yearning for a happy and pea

37、ceful life As for the band feature it is solo and it requests players to put their own heart and find their playing styles in jazz Improvisation and particularity are the main characters As the saying goes art is from life as a music form Jazz connects with the real social life of Americans In this

38、period America has experienced the First World War and the domestic situation is unstable The whole society is under the shadow of fear and disappointment The war especially for those who has witnessed it firsthand is brutal and represents a profound failure of western civilization The young people

39、try to do everything to escape responsibilities because after the First World War there is a general prosperity in America and they are tired of politics economics restrictions and international responsibilities They are angry with the consequences of the war and likened it to what the poet Ezra pou

40、nd called an old bitch had gone in the teetha botched civilization Townsend 68 In 1920 F Scott Fitzgerald in his novel this Side of Paradise describes the wild rebellious young men and women after the First World War and he makes a true portrait of the very young people with their new ways of dressi

41、ng their disregard of manners and propriety And in his another novel All the Sad Young Men he makes a beautiful metaphor of the country which seems to be blind and deaf to everything And the very man for this sentence is Gatsby the hero of novel The Great Gatsby he isnt only a representative charact

42、er of materialism but also a devout follower of American Dream In this novel F Scott Fitzgerald reveals the corruption that wealth causes and the unworthiness of Gatsbys goal much in the way the writer sees the American dream crumbling in the 1920s as Americas powerful optimism vitality and individu

43、alism become subordinated to the moral pursuit of wealth Then in Ernest Hemingways full-length novel The Sun also rises he also dramatizes the sense of lost direction for this generation after the war The young mens energies are exhausted by the war and destroyed by the war It is this life style tha

44、t gives the decade of the 1920s such nickname as The Jazz Age So Jazz of this period is just the embodiment of corruption fear and disappointment of Americans and demonstrates the real face of American society in the 1920sB Jazz in the 1960s-1970sJazz in this two decades are merged with some fresh e

45、lements and gradually develops to a multi-elemental music Jazzs new development witnesses the development of American society and culture In the two decades America develops very fast and becomes the strongest country of the world Because of immigration new cultures new ideas are brought to America

46、which brings about multiculturalism of AmericaIn the 1960s-1970s Jazz continues to explore its way to every corner of America and even the whole world Since 1920s different forms of Jazz such as Swing Bebop and Cool Jazz appear one after another In the 1960s free Jazz appears and begins to be popula

47、r The great musician Coleman changes the past ways of composing music according to certain rhythm accompany and harmony Jazz requests improvisator to give vein to all their energies and passion Jazz of this period puts more emphasis on improvisation and offers more space to players And rocks instrum

48、ents volumes and styles are introduced into Jazz and fusing Jazz sprouts at the narrow space of Jazz and rock In 1965 the fusing Jazz becomes a member of Jazz family Its earliest and famous fusing experiments are done in the recording of musician Miles Davis In a silent way This kind of music style

49、provides the original art with new appreciative points of view And in the 1970s Jazz and blues grow up in America together and they both convene finally at a fusion This is another great fusion in Jazz The fusion injects Jazz with new blood After the fusion Jazzs tone is still agile sometimes it is loud and sonorous sometimes it is bold and unrestrained In terms of the performance solo is not the only way instead team efforts also become the band features At this time American artists do not monopolize the scene and Jazz is spre