Blues & Jazz Origins Flashcards

Grade 6 · Music · Flashcards

Study key terms, people, and concepts from the history of blues and jazz.

Flashcards

Blues

A genre born in the American South from African American work songs, spirituals, and field hollers

Mississippi Delta

The region in the Deep South where blues music primarily originated in the late 1800s

12-bar blues

The foundational blues chord progression lasting 12 measures using I, IV, and V chords

Blue notes

Flat 3rd, flat 5th, and flat 7th notes added to the minor scale to create the blues sound

Call-and-response

A musical pattern where a phrase (call) is answered by another phrase (response)

Bent note

Sliding slightly above or below pitch — a signature technique of blues vocalists and guitarists

Jazz

A genre that grew from blues in New Orleans, defined by improvisation and a blend of multiple cultural musical traditions

Improvisation

Spontaneously inventing and playing music during performance — the heart and soul of jazz

Syncopation

Emphasizing off-beats or weak beats to create rhythmic surprise and groove

Ragtime

A syncopated piano style of the early 1900s that was a major building block of jazz

Louis Armstrong

Pioneering jazz trumpeter and vocalist who became one of the most influential musicians in history

Bessie Smith

Empress of the Blues — powerful vocalist who was one of the most recorded artists of the 1920s

Jelly Roll Morton

Jazz pianist and composer from New Orleans who was one of the first important jazz arrangers

Jazz Age

The 1920s in the United States, when jazz music exploded in popularity and spread across the country

Get a personalized course on Blues & Jazz Origins built around your child.