Q. i'm doing a jazz report and i need to know if the soloing style is melodic or harmonic just by listening to it. how do you know, determine, if this song has a melodic soloing style or a harmonic soloing style?
please explain this like you are explaining it to a 2 year old, I am not a jazz major or anything, i'm just taking this class in high school so i get a good grade.
A. OK- so I have a daughter who will be 4 years old next month. I tried to explain it to her- and this is what I came up with:
While the other posters are correct (melody is one note at a time, harmony results with simultaneous notes...), I think you are asking more about the soloing STYLE. To someone NOT educated in jazz (whether through "proper" training or just a lot of listening), some of the best known solos in jazz sound completely random. The reason I don't agree with the other posters (for THIS question) is: think about a piano player. They can solo all day long, with 2 hands, potentially playing 10 notes at a time... does this mean they are not playing melodically? Nope- and here's why:
Listen to the first few bars of a solo. Is it a "tune" that can get stuck in your head? Can you whistle it or sing it? Is it easy to remember? Are all the notes fairly close together- not jumping too high or too low? If so, then you are listening to a Melodic solo.
Also, if there is a main melody before the solo, and the soloist kind of sounds like he's playing it, but with more notes- probably a Melodic solo. For example: "Mary had a little lamb" would be your melody. Then the soloist gets it and it comes out as "Mary-she's a hottie- she had a little- diddly bop- lamb."
I feel stupid for just having written that, but hopefully you understand? LOL ;)
So for a harmonic solo then: is it hard to find a "theme" that you can sing? Does it seem like there are a few "wrong" notes? Are the notes going by very quickly- not many long notes? It means the soloist is probably "noodling" around through the chord changes, working with the harmonic structure of the piece.
John Coltrane has a TON of solos like this- to the inexperienced ear, it sounds like he was high on at least 3 different drugs (and after around 1965 he probably was) any time he played a solo... really though, he was showing off his genious by being able to manipulate the harmonies given to him by the rhythm section.
Of course, there is a lot more detail to it, and a lot of theory and technicality involved- but this is how I described it to my daughter, and she got it.
Try this: This is a tune called "So What" (VERY famous) from Miles Davis' album Kind of Blue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4FAKRpUCYY&feature=related
The first solo is Davis on trumpet... it is melodic
The next solo is Coltrane on tenor sax... it is fairly harmonic
The next is Bill Evans on piano... melodic.
See if you can hear the difference!
One more hint about what kind of solo style to expect: do you know the era the piece is from? If you know it's a big band swing chart- "Sing, Sing, Sing" for example- the solos are going to be melodic. The idea of virtuosic chord changes hadn't really come about until after WWII. If you know it's "avant garde" or even some hard bop- the solos will be harmonic.
Anyways, I hope this helped, and good luck with your report!
where can i find free piano chords?
Q. i cant read music notes so i need just the chords like C# B A....and so on
any help will be much appreiciated :)
thanks x
A. Some sites that I use are:
http://www.8notes.com/piano_chord_chart/
http://www.8notes.com/resources/notefinders/piano_chords.asp
http://www.zebrakeys.com/resources/reference/virtualpianochords/
You could download a chord chart from here:
http://www.completechords.com/PGS_Products_Charts/Complete_Keyboard_Chord_Poster.htm
Any of these will work
Hope they help
I need the name of this song ROCK SAND?
Q. i think its soft rock. its a old song it goes like this rock sand you don't have to put on a red dress tonight. rock sand and it goes on like that.
A. "Roxanne" - The Police
"Roxanne" is a hit song by the rock band The Police, first released in 1978 as a single and on their album Outlandos d'Amour. It was written about a prostitute in Paris.
Police lead singer Sting wrote the song, inspired by the prostitutes he saw near the band's seedy hotel while in Paris, France in October 1977 to perform at the Nashville Club. The title of the song comes from the name of the character in the play Cyrano de Bergerac, an old poster of which was hanging in the hotel foyer.
Sting had originally conceived the song as a bossa nova, although he credits Police drummer Stewart Copeland for suggesting its final rhythmic form as a tango. During recording, Sting accidentally sat down on a piano keyboard in the studio, resulting in the atonal piano chord and laughter preserved at the beginning of the track. The Police were initially diffident about the song, but Miles Copeland III was immediately enthusiastic after hearing it, becoming their manager and getting them their first record deal with A&M Records. The single did not chart at first, but it was re-released in April 1979 and reached #12 in the UK and #32 in the U.S., and went on to become one of the classic Police songs as well as a staple of Sting's performances during his solo career. Roxanne has appeared on every single one of The Police's Greatest hits albums.
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Title : What is the difference between melodic and harmonic?
Description : Q. i'm doing a jazz report and i need to know if the soloing style is melodic or harmonic just by listening to it. how do you know, det...