Muziekstijlen

Rock 'n Roll Mid fifties, rock 'n roll was born out of Rhythm and Blues and Country and Western. We now consider rock 'n roll as the beginning of the popmusic. Rock 'n roll was different from the then existing types of music, because it was raw and impetuous. The white youth in the U.S. massively got under the spell of this new style of music, whilst the older generation found it disgusting. The youth needed an idol and the ecstasy of swinging masses. Resistance against the values of the older, bourgeois generation determined the texts of the songs. Also the matching dancestyle was considered too wild by the elder generation. The dancefilm "Rock around the clock" with Bill Haley very quickly made rock 'n roll famous all over the world. Other big names in this genre were: Eddy Cochran, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent. In the early years, many American radiostations boycotted rock 'n roll. At the same time the recordcompanies did not want to take big risks and in an attempt to give rock 'n roll a better chance of success with a bigger white public, the so-called "highschool" was developed. This was a "sweet" version of rock 'n roll, now without its rawness. Examples are: Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Paul Anka and Bobby Vee. Specially Britisch musicians, like mainly The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, returned to these roots of popmusic. In the hard rock, that started in the late sixties, the rawness of the original rock 'n roll was again cultivated. Filmmusic Films have always been supported by music. At the turn of the century, the filmmusic was improvised by a pianist below or beside the screen. Main function of it was to drown out the sound of the filmprojector. Later small orchestras played musical escorts of what was projected on the white screen. Even musicbooks were published with standard music for specific scenes: to go with a screaming row, a busy street, a romantic rendez-vous, etc. Organs were invented that could produce many different sounds, ranging from barking dogs to church bells. A famous composer of music for silent films was Giuseppe Becci. In 1929 the first soundfilms came and this completely changed the character of the filmmusic. From now on producers hired composers, orchestras, etc. to support a film. Nowadays it is impossible to think of certain films without their accompanying music. Very often top films have produced tophits for instance: Exodus, Guns of Navarone, Grease, Pink Panther, Once upon a time in the West, and very recently: Titanic.
Blues The blues is folkmusic wich has been played by and for the North-American black population sice 1900. Roots can be found in the period of slavery. Blues are about the daily-life worries, like for instance a lost love, someone being hurt, injustice or even a leaking roof. Blues sing about all subjects that make life less pleasant. Related are the so-called "negro spirituals", religious church-hymns, rhythmically sung by black Americans. Characteristic for the melody of the blues are the so-called blue notes, notes in minor that create harrowing tension, whilst "dirty intonation" of the singer magnified this poignant effect. Important bluesvocalists are B.B. King, Bessie Smith and Muddy Waters. One white representant should not be forgotten: Dusty Springfield. Some other music genres derived from the blues are rhythm and blues, soul and funk. Black music: Ragtime Blues Jazz Swing Bebop Rhythm and blues Soul Funk Reggae Fusion Rap White music: Classical misic Rock 'n roll Filmmusic Folkmusic Bluesrock Symphonic pop Disco Popmusic Dance and house Techno Musical Merseybeat Jazz Jazz is a mix of two big music traditions: the European and the West-African. Important elements in it are the European melody, the Euro-African melodyconstruction and the African rhythm. Jazz was the heritage of the deportations during the slavery and the continuation of elementary, African musical traditions in cults like voodoo and other religious worships mixed with Cristian elements. In that tradition singing went together with dancing, drumming, clapping and thumping. Also spirituals, gospels and blues originated out of the same roots. One very famous jazz performer (trumpet and vocal) was Louis Armstrong, an interpreter of the typical New Orleans-style. JAZZ Jazz is a style of music that originated around the year 1900 in the black population of the U.S.  Little by little it spread out amongst the other populations in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere in the world. Jazz is based on rhythmic and melodious remainders of West-African music (slaves), melodious and harmonious Western elements and on a number of various other elements such as the so-called "worksongs".
New Orleans (later: Dixieland) The first real jazzstyle was that of New Orleans. Characteristic for this music is the dynamic tone-building, swing and improvisation. The oldest New Orleans orchestras were marching-orchestras, but very quickly they functioned as dance-orchestras, so that a small group of professional jazzmusicians developed. A typical New Orleans-band  consisted of the following instruments: trumpet, trombone, clarinet, piano, guitar/banjo, bass and percussion. Today this still is the composition of the dixieland-bands. The band started by playing a certain theme together, often a popular song, whereafter each member of the orchestra could improvise. After improvisation on each of the instruments the session was closed with a repetition of the original theme. In 1917 the entertainment district of New Orleans, Storyville, was closed and the musicians dispersed all over the U.S.  At first they went to Chicago, where the original New Orleans-music flourished till 1929. In a later stage jazzmusic no longer remained monopoly of the black population, as it was copied by white musicians and assumed the name "Dixieland". The most important persons of this first period are: King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton. Chicago In Chicago, in the second part of the twenties, a white variant of the New Orleans-music was developed, with as most important representative the trumpet player Bix Beiderbecke. Of more importance however, is the piano-variant of the vocalblues: boogie-woogie. The most important difference between the New Orleans-jazz and the Chicago-jazz was the phonical issue. The polyphonical sound of New Orleans was replaced by the more symphonical sound of Chicago. The Chicago-jazz flourished between 1925 and 1930. The thirties and fourties (swing and big bands) Jazz developed in two directions. In the first place, the solistical efforts became much more complicated by harmonious extensions (Coleman Hawkins). Secondly the concept of the big band-jazz was developed. For both developments bigger technical skill, and therefore professionality, was required. In spite of the severe economic depression in the thirties, this professionalism became possible because of the dance-halls in the big hotels that hired black jazz-orchestras. Kansas City became the centre of this development and Count Basie was the most prominent bandleader. Another very famous artist who made the Kansas City-style popular was Benny Goodman. The most important bandleader/ componist was Duke Ellington, who's work remained popular till far after the bebop. At the end of the thirties, the centre of jazz shifted over to New York, where in the early fourties the "Harlem jump" originated. With Lional Hampton as main representative, this Harlem jump later influenced the Rhythm and Blues and consequently thereafter: rock 'n roll.
Bebop At the same time in New York, a number of musicians worked on further extension of the harmonious and rhythmic language. This new music became famous under the name bebop. With the bebop the jazzmusic returned to the formula of the small bands. The only bebop-big band of that time was Dizz Gillespie's. The combo, instead of the big band, returned, with as characteristic instruments: trumpet, sax, piano, bass and percussion. The drummer got more independence, whilst the bass took over the beat. The piano anly supported in harmonious chords. The bebop flourished from 1940 till 1955. Other famous names in bebop, besides Gillespie, were: Thelonius Monk (piano), Kenny Clarke (drums), Art Blakey (drums), Charles Mingus (bass) and Charlie Parker (sax). Cool jazz and free jazz Whilst the bebop was still in full swing, a new style was developed in 1950, the cool jazz. A number of jazzmusicians introduced a new music, where the agressive, nervous bebop gave away to a cool but stylisch music with character. Tones were played "flatly" without vibrato and experiments were made with a new sort of polyphony. Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan (both on sax) and Miles Davis (trumpet) were important representatives of the cool jazz. Cool jazz was played by small combo's (Modern Jazz Quartet) as well as by big bands. As compared to other types of music, in jazz there is a lot of freedom for musicians to improvise whilst playing and to develop their own ideas. Yet, a theme and chordschedules remained basis for every performance. In the so-called free jazz these restrictions were taken away and collective improvisation returned now without the framework of chordschedules. The musicians had to react on one another when improvising the interaction. Representatives of free jazz are Charlie Mingus (bass), Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane (both on sax).