Expression

• Definitions
• Interpretation of Melody
• Tone
• Articulation
• Emotion

This is a preview of the educational program A Jazz Improvisation Almanac which is under development for the Outside Shore Music Online School. Feel free to browse this preview and learn what you can from it. For a more completed product, though, check out the original freely browsable jazz textbook, A Jazz Improvisation Primer.

Definitions

Music is more than the sum of its parts. We can describe music in terms of melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre, but this only gives a blueprint for performance. In some styles of music, this blueprint is typically notated on paper; in others, the blueprint may be transmitted aurally. But music is not a series of markings on a printed page, nor is it a set of verbal instructions. It is the result of a musician interpreting those markings and instructions and then translating them into sounds via performance. In virtually all styles of music, the individual performer is given some degree of freedom to develop a personal interpretation.

While standard musical notation can specify pitch and rhythm unambiguously, many other aspects of performance cannot be notated so precisely. There are markings for dynamics (volume), but the volume is given only in such vague terms as "medium soft" or "very loud". There are markings for articulation (how a note is attacked and released), but a particular passage may be notated only as "especially smooth" or "somewhat detached". Tempo markings are often equally inexact. Markings may indicate a passage is to be played with a certain emotion such as anger. In all these cases, the musician makes the final determinations in playing the passage - how loud is "medium soft", how detached is "somewhat detached", how angry is "with anger" (and how to express that anger), and so forth.

This is not just a flaw with notated music. The situation is similar for music learned aurally; a musician hears another musician play a particular passage, or hears another musician describe how it is to be played, and it is up to the each individual musician to play the passage as he sees fit.

Interpretation of Melody

In any style of music, there are usually certain informal guidelines for interpretation, and the musician generally is expected to stay within these boundaries. In jazz, these informal guidelines are especially broad. Not only may the jazz musician interpret dynamics, tempo, and articulation, but he may alter even the precisely notated pitches and rhythm. For example, here is a notated melody played exactly as written:

And here is how a jazz musician might interpret that melody:

Usually, variations like this are improvised. Although jazz musicians enjoy the freedom to make such changes, and indeed, they may play a melody differently every time they play it, most jazz musicians develop habits and mannerisms and will tend to interpret a melody similarly from performance to performance. This becomes part of that musician's personal style, and listeners can usually learn to recognize the different styles of different musicians.

Tone

Except for pianists, who usually have no control over the tone of their instrument, and will most likely be playing a different instrument at each performance, one of the first clues that can identify a musician is his tone. As observed in the previous section on timbre, no two musicians will sound exactly the same, for instance, no more than any two singers will sound exactly the same. In jazz, where personal expression is encouraged, the difference is often noticeable even to those unfamiliar with the musicians. For example, here are two very different saxophone players playing exactly the same line:

Also as discussed in the previous section, jazz instrumentalists also tend to incorporate effects that are designed to mimic the sound of speech - bent pitches and sounds that have less to do with melody and more to do with conversation:

Ironically, jazz vocalists often employ techniques such as scat designed to mimic the sound of various different instruments:

Articulation

Articulation refers to how a musician attacks and releases a given note - whether it is long or short, accented or unaccented, smoothly connected to or detached from the preceding and following notes, and so forth. Jazz musicians usually have the freedom to articulate as they see fit. Here are two different articulations of the same melody, as two different jazz musicians might play them:

While much of the expression in jazz is personal, there are some approaches that are shared by many jazz musicians, and these make up part of the language of jazz. One device that is used by many jazz musicians is the element of sudden contrast or surprise. For example, a musician might play two notes in a row, one very much louder than the other:

Or he may exaggerate a short note at the end of a phrase the contains mostly smoothly connected notes:

In a way, this is conceptually similar to the idea of syncopation - both have to do with breaking expectations and creating a "ragged" feel.

Emotion

In any form of music, the goal is generally to express emotion. Jazz has traditionally involved different categories of feelings. Historically, early jazz musicians were classified as either "sweet" or "hot". Sweet music is, as the name implies, intended to be soothing and pretty:

While "hot" music is intended to be exciting:

Later, the term "cool" came into common use. It signifies something distinct from "sweet". Besides being pretty, the music is supposed to be more emotionally detached:

However, I believe that the emotions of a jazz musician, like those of any person, are considerably more complex than these simplistic terms could ever convey. Also, the emotional response produced by music is as much a function of the listener as of the musician. For these reasons, I avoid trying to analyze music from an emotional standpoint in this program. My personal reaction to music is my own, and I would be foolish to expect anyone else to react the same way. This does not mean I believe that there is no place for emotion in music, just that it does not benefit from analysis.

Expression is what translates an idea into music, and is thus important to all forms of music. In jazz, however, expression takes on an especially prominent role, as relatively little of a performance is notated. The rest is up to individual expression.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Expression