Listening assignment

"West End Blues" — Louis Armstrong

Write a short description  (at least one paragraph, 5-7 sentences) analyzing this piece of music. Be sure to use  5 of the terms from RA 1 

Terms: improvisation, chord progression, lead sheet, fake book, form, riff, trading fours, jazz standard, syncopation, dissonance, melody, harmony and rhythm

Leave out the subjective and deal with facts within the music.

Reading assignment

After reading the above pages, in a Word document : answer the following questions in short paper form (your answers must be fully formulated and longer than a sentence or two):

1. What is ragtime?

2. As a musical form, what is the blues?

3. What is minstrelsy and how does it pertain to the study of jazz music?