Origin - Blues

The predecessor of R&B appeared in the black areas of the United States in the 1940s.

At that time, not many people could afford colorful entertainment. Black people who loved music liked to gather on the streets after dinner and play music with simple instruments such as guitars and harmonicas to express their life and work. , leaving home and other feelings. This led to the development of Blues, the predecessor of R&B.

With the invention of the tape and the emergence of more and more small radio stations, blues music began to break out of the black circle and became popular in Chicago. I don’t know if it’s because blues music has been talked about as sad for too long. Music fans are eager to hear blues songs with strong rhythm, bright tunes and not too sad content.

In response to changes in public taste, musicians added piano, drums, saxophone and the latest technology of the time - electronic guitar, to their works, allowing the audience to follow the rhythm (Rhythm). ) danced to the strong new-school blues music (Blues), creating the classic "Rhythm Song".

Fresh rhythm

Important R&B musicians from the 1950s to the 1960s included Ray Charles, Ruth Brown and The Drifters. Listening to their classic works, you will find that they are very different from the R&B music we are familiar with, such as Jay Chou, Hikaru Utada, etc. But as far as musical elements are concerned, they still have many similarities. The most outstanding thing is the rhythm part.

Most R&B works use 4 beats as a measure and 12 beats as a paragraph. Different from traditional white pop music, Rhythm Complaint emphasizes the 2nd and 4th beats of a section, which is a very fresh rhythm effect.

The sound quality varies greatly

The timbre of the singing voice or musical instrument will vary greatly.

Sound quality is the "texture" of the sound. When we hear "Mud", we will feel that Xu Zhian's singing is very tragic; and the sound of the wooden boy flute often gives us a very lively feeling. This is the effect of the different timbres of vocals and instruments.

In R&B works, such as Jay Chou's "Bullfighting" or "Lady", we can easily find that both the music and the use of vocal lines are obvious in the beginning and chorus. Different treatments.

Singing voices and instrumental parts often echo each other - in R&B songs, when the singer sings certain notes, the musical part or the harmony singer will repeat/sing those notes again. It's like "questions and answers", or it can be used as a "yes man".

Another characteristic of R&B is that it repeats some phrases and sentences many times. Just like the continuous "I don't, I don't, I don't" in "Tornado", it is an obvious example.

The craze spread all over the world

R&B in the 1950s was able to shock white youth in the United States. In addition to its strong rhythm, the main reason was its frank, direct and non-coy lyrics. one.

Affected by different music types, markets, technology and culture, today's R&B has evolved from the black street music of the past to a global hit that has dominated the major sales pop charts in the UK, America, Europe and Asia.

The impact of R&B is not limited to music. Even our fashion, dress, culture, lifestyle, attitude, behavior, and behaviors have also undergone certain changes due to R&B music. Hey man! Duckbill hat, panties and Bao Daili braided hair, I believe you and I are familiar with them! In this way, R&B has become a channel for many black, red, yellow and white people to understand each other and appreciate each other's culture!

Hip Hop

Hip-Hop is translated as hip hop, and RAP is translated as rap. These two concepts are different. Hip-Hop is actually not a musical term but a cultural term, including rap, graffiti, hip-hop and DJing. RAP originated in the 1960s, while Hip-Hop as a musical understanding originated in the early 1970s. Its predecessor It’s RAP (sometimes with a little R(B) added).

Hip-Hop Literally, Hip is the hip and Hop is jumping on one foot. Together they are a slight hip swing. It originally refers to the embryonic stage of hip-hop (that is, what we used to call break dancing). ), and later gradually developed into a huge concept - the Hip-Hop culture we are talking about now also includes those baggy clothes, heavy pure gold jewelry, and the usual spoken language of "YoYo? what's up?" Habits - in short, it is the way of life and their "style" of black people in slums in the United States.

The origin of Hip-Hop can be summarized by the word "poor". Why wear one size larger? In addition to convenient movement, the advantage of this kind of large-sized clothing is that it can be worn for several more years; why is there graffiti? This thing was first used as a symbol to divide the spheres of influence between various gangs in the neighborhood. Later, it became more and more beautiful and exquisite, and developed into folk art; why is there hip-hop? Because they didn’t have money to go to dance halls, and racial discrimination still existed at that time. Even if you had money, you might not be able to have fun in a white dance hall. Why are pure Hip-Hop works mainly black and always contain swear words? Because these black youths on the streets have no future or hope, they hate them much more than they love.

The whole world is in the same situation

Although Hip-Hop culture only emerged around us in the late 1990s, in fact, the Hip-Hop trend had already begun in the United States as early as the 1980s. Set out to take the entire Western world by storm. In 1986, the "Def Jam Tour" of artists owned by Def Jam Records, including Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy and Run DMC, triggered a global Hip-Hop craze. In the 1990s, Dr. appeared again. Dre's gangster rap, Puff Daddy's hip-hop popularity, and rap queens like Missy Elliott and countless other hip-hopers gradually made this folk music form become a mainstream music market. The most important part of music, it can easily create sales of tens of millions of copies, and Hip-Hop music has become a major revenue generator in the American entertainment industry. Especially the emergence of the handsome young man Eminem in the late 1990s. As a white man, he became the hottest superstar in the Hip-Hop industry in just one year, completely breaking the racial question of Hip-Hop. Just like Elvis Presley was needed to prove that rock music is not just for black people, the emergence of Eminem marked the acceptance of white people by Hip-Hop culture and spread to the world.

Someone asked me if Hip-Hop culture is also a fashionable thing in the United States? The answer is no. Hip-Hop culture is a way of life in the United States, just like we have compound life, country life and alley life here. It's a pity that our status in popular culture in today's world is not as important as that of the United States. Otherwise, our farmer brothers or alley skewers might be able to come up with their own style (I'm kidding).

Chinese cannot Hip-Hop?

Many people think that Chinese is not suitable for Hip-Hop because its pronunciation has no similarity with English from its roots. At the same time, based on this, they draw the conclusion that the current Hip-Hop is It's garbage. I want to say that this is not right. The quality of Hip-Hop works fundamentally does not lie in its rhythm and soundtrack - these are just "style". The real essence of Hip-Hop music lies in the content it expresses and the attitude of the creator. At this point, some people have already done a good job.

Taiwan’s Hagou Gang, Da Lan Tang, L. A's four lowly customers, including the more popular Magi brothers, are all lovable. Take the Hagou Gang, for example. Their works have criticized old people, teachers, pop singers inside and outside the island, and even fans and themselves. But after listening to them for a long time, you can only say that their criticism is reasonable and has a Hip-Hoper response. Some goddam temperament and cuteness.

The more important hip-hop groups in the mainland include CMCB (Chinese Rap Brothers), Hide, Kung Fu, Longmen Group, etc.

Their levels are different, and they each have their own characteristics. The only thing they have in common is that they do not use curse words in their words, their content does not involve nationalities, and they do not even dare to use it to criticize mainstream culture (they debuted earlier) This is especially true for Bruce Lee and Dai Bing).

We all know that they are afraid that their future will be ruined, so you can also be funny (in fact, CMCB has a song like this, about the meeting of netizens, which is very popular), learn from Xuecun Well, tell jokes about trivial matters, and make fun of foreign leaders when necessary... It's a pity that these Hip-Hopers we have surfaced now always want to elevate themselves to the level of street preachers, and the most humble ones also use themselves as a fashionable lifestyle. and evangelists of fashionable music, whose content is often about national affairs, life principles, and fashionable nightlife (of course, it is the very healthy type for children, without drugs, sex, fighting, car racing, or anything else that is considered dangerous). At the 11th China Song Ranking Party, Kung Fu, Hidden, and CMCB brought Hip-Hop music into the Great Hall of the People. They sang loudly at the performance: "Kung Fu, Hide, CMCB, give Chinese pop music a progressive direction. Power..." Save it, let everyone play with you first.

The Internet is definitely in full swing. In fact, the best Hip-Hopers from the Mainland are gathering online, where there are almost no restrictions: comedy MC Hao Yu’s "University Study Room", "Higher Education" and " "Moon Flower"; "Super Abuse" and "Getting Back Xiao Wu" by Shenyang MM (whose real name is unknown, her online name is probably Xiao Wu) who is ruthless to a certain extent; "Dalian Station" and "Study Abroad Trash" by people who have returned from studying abroad; "Sister K from Shanghai" by McLucy, a Shanghai girl with a mysterious identity, are all hip-hop masterpieces that are widely spread among the people. You want to know how popular they are? Search the Internet with a search engine, or go to any university's FTP. There is a joking saying: College students who have not heard of "University Study Room" are not college students.

Some other popular works include Anzi's "Black Friday", Zhou Jiayang's "Internet Syndrome", Xiao Fei's "Who Makes the Entertainment Circle Porn", JE's "This Talent" "It's Hip-Hop" and so on. You can go online and look for it.

Conclusion

Hip-Hop is originally a subcultural form with counter-cultural tendencies. Its destructive and folk nature runs counter to our traditional popular culture. But judging from the current situation, it has not only become an important part of mainstream culture, but is also rising, spreading, and developing rapidly. The reason, a reasonable explanation is: in our increasingly metaphysical era, life and entertainment require not only touching, innocent, noble and serious, we also need to be funny, heartless and obscene And the shameless style that dares to despise everything - what I say is true, our cultural life is indeed too lacking in these. If there is any so-called hope or development direction for Chinese Hip-Hop, I believe we should start from these places. If we enter the market in the current eagerness to flatter mainstream music, it may be difficult to make a difference.

At present, the main hip-hop participants and audiences are relatively young, and most of them were born around 1980. These Hip-Hopers who began to be exposed to hip-hop culture when they were in middle school in the mid-1990s will be the first generation of Chinese hip-hop. Keep growing. As they grow up, I believe that China’s Hip-Hop culture will become more and more recognized, just like rock music is no longer regarded as alien more than ten years later, just like Japanese comics and video games are gradually emerging. Just like out of the water.

Hip-Hop is a culture and does not refer to a single thing. It’s not just wearing a big POLO shirt, wearing an APE hat, stepping on DUNK shoes, and hanging a big chain around your neck that is Hip-Hop, but more importantly, the spirit.

Hip-Hop: Hip means butt, and Hop means jumping. Hip-Hop music specifically refers to black people in the 1970s. It originated from R&B (rhythm and blues), but it is completely different from R&B. It emphasizes D.J. Remix in dance halls. A pure dance music with technical skills, this kind of music formed Rap music in the 1980s due to the addition of Scratch (playing the record intermittently upside down to produce a special effect of friction with the needle) and black street-style rhymes. Hip-Hop is the predecessor of Rap, but today the two terms are often used interchangeably, except that Rap focuses more on rap, while Hip-Hop tends to refer to pop dance music with an obviously strong beat.

Graffiti: Graffiti, in the dictionary, means drawing or writing on a public wall. Nowadays, the traditional spray painting and street forms of graffiti art have had a certain impact on artists around the world. As a sales tool, early Hip-Hop party promotions always asked graffiti artists to design flyers and posters. But later in the 1980s, Hip-Hop had been widely introduced and accepted by the public. For a period of time, Hip-Hop was not about trafficking culture, nor did it bring in the early graffiti form. Whether it is the special techniques or spray painting techniques in graffiti, it also has an impact on the art form, such as the angry graffiti of the Mexican Revolution. Today, in American cities where gangs are rampant, warnings of each other's turf and threats of violence are also communicated through graffiti.

Indie: The abbreviation of Independent refers to the fact that the record company to which the artist belongs is an Independent Label (independent company). Unlike the world's five major record companies, which have extremely large distribution networks, they can model and promote singers. The overall design of events, etc., because Major (i.e. the five major record company systems) can provide artists with the best recording engineers, accompanists and other objective environments, as well as a complete marketing plan, it often has the ability to mold an ordinary person into a big star. , and more importantly, for the sake of commercial interests, good artists under major record companies are often forced to sacrifice some ideals and persistence. This is why die-hard rock fans spurn the strong commercial nature of Major and support some Indie record companies that allow artists to produce their own albums and release albums according to their own ideals without doing a lot of commercial promotion.

Introducing some of the more famous Hip-Hop singers:

Eminem----I have to mention that as a white man, he performed very well in this music dominated by black people. . Some of my favorite songs are Stan, Without me, and Sing For The Moment (a cover of Aerosmith’s old song).

50 Cent----a very popular figure who needs no further introduction. There are many good songs, 21 questions is my favorite.

D12----The famous rap group, D-12's first album Devil\'s Night has proven this three years ago.

Snoop Dogg----The voice is very unique, and it feels like he is speaking calmly.

P. Diddy----An enemy of EMINEM, he is also a very good singer.

Usher----Needless to say its strength, in 2004 Billboard swept eleven awards as a hit.

THE BLACK EYED PEAS----The Black Eyed Peas collaborated with Justin on the song "Where Is The Love". The entire album is excellent.

Dr. Dre——A top producer and singer, he can often be seen in many Hip-Hop MVs and has produced many very famous albums.

JAY-Z----The rap is very clean, what makes it different is that there are no swear words.

Neptune----the first two people, one black and one yellow. He is very outstanding and has produced a series of albums such as Justin and Britney Spears.

There are also many famous musicians, and some of their improvisational raps are also very good. There are also some very good French raps, but they are not so reflected in the market that has long been occupied by English. Chinese rap is also currently in the development stage. The best rap album in Chinese is currently recognized as "Iron Bamboo Hall". Iron Bamboo Hall is composed of four producers: Micchael Lin, Jason Wang Weideng, Scottie Chen Hengyi, and Vince Zhang Aojie.

Jazz

Jazz Overview

In less than a century, the distinctively American music called jazz has risen from obscurity to Folk music developed into the most important art form produced in the United States. Today it is listened to and played in almost every corner of the world, and jazz flourishes in many forms, from roots blues and ragtime through New Orleans to Dixieland, swing, and mainstream jazz. , bebop, modern jazz to free jazz and electronic jazz. What is amazing is not that jazz appears in so many forms, but that each form is very important and has maintained its own characteristics and unique charm and has been passed down to this day. If you want to appreciate all kinds of jazz and experience all the fun in it, you must have an open attitude, be tolerant and listen.

Looking for its roots

Jazz developed from folk songs. It has many sources and is difficult to verify carefully. But its roots were definitely brought from Africa by black slaves. They tore themselves apart from their ancient cultural traditions and developed folk songs into a new form of communication that told stories through song. Black music in the Americas retains a lot of African characteristics, obvious rhythmic features, and the characteristics of collective improvisation. This tradition was combined with the music of the new settlement, which was mostly vocal, and the result was not just a new sound but a completely new form of musical expression.

The most famous Afro-American music is religious. White people also listened to these beautiful songs, but they had a more upper-class flavor than the songs sung in rural black churches. Gospel music as it is known today more accurately reflects the emotional power and melodic sense of early African Americans than it is a religious inheritance from the music of the famous Fisk Jubilee Singers of the first decade of this century. .

Other early musical forms include work songs, children's songs and dance music dating back to the slavery era, which have become important musical heritage, especially considering that under the system at that time, musical activities were quite restricted. Strict restrictions.

The Birth of the Blues

After slavery was abolished and black slaves were emancipated, African-American music developed rapidly. The abandoned instruments of military bands and their newfound freedom of movement formed the basis of jazz: brass, dance music, blues.

As a musical form, blues seems simple, but in fact it can have almost infinite variations. It has always been an important part of any kind of jazz, and it has successfully maintained its own independent existence. It can be said that without the blues, rock music would not be possible today. A brief explanation of the characteristics of general blues is that it is composed of music with every eight or twelve bars as a section, and the lyrics are tight. The reason for its "melancholy (blue)" characteristics is that the "mi" sound in the scale is And the "si" sound dropped a semitone. In fact, blues is a secular music form that corresponds to religious music.

Brass Bands and Ragtime

By the late 1880s, black brass bands and dance bands appeared in most southern cities in the United States. and concert band. At the same time, black music in the northern United States tended toward European styles. During this period, Ragtime began to take shape. Although ragtime is primarily played on the piano, some bands have begun playing it as well. The golden age of ragtime was roughly from 1898 to 1908, but its time span was actually very long and its influence was endless. Recently, it has been discovered again. The new "Ragtime" is characterized by charming melody and extensive use of syncopation, but its blues factor is almost gone. Ragtime is closely associated with early jazz, but it is certain that ragtime has a more stable rhythm.

The most famous composer of ragtime is Scott Joplin (1868-1917). Other famous ragtime masters include James Scott, Louis Chauvink Eubie Blake (1883-1983), Joseph Lamb, etc. Although the latter is white, he completely absorbed the connotation of this music form.

Enter the Jazz Age

Ragtime, especially the popular style that downplays the color of jazz, is aimed at the middle class and is disliked by orthodox musicians. In the last decade of the 19th century, jazz music gradually took shape, but it was not called "Jazz" at that time. It was originally called Jass and first appeared in the residential areas of black workers in southern cities in the United States. Like ragtime, jazz began as dance music. It is somewhat true, but also somewhat exaggerated, that the city that first became synonymous with early jazz was New Orleans.

New Orleans: The Cradle of Jazz

New Orleans played a key role in the birth and development of jazz. Here, the early history of jazz has been researched and documented in greater depth than anywhere else. During the period from 1895 to 1917, the jazz in New Orleans may have been more diverse and better than in other places, but this does not mean that New Orleans is the only place where jazz was produced. The music produced in every southern American city with a significant black population should be considered a form of early jazz. For example, W. appeared in Memphis. C. Handy (1873-1958) was a blues composer and collector. Other cities include Atlanta, Baltimore, etc.

New Orleans at that time stood out due to its very open and liberal social atmosphere. People of different faiths and races can communicate with each other, so the musical traditions in this easy communication environment are very rich, including French, Spanish, Irish and African. It's no surprise, then, that New Orleans was fertile ground for jazz.

If the idea that New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz is exaggerated but still somewhat true, the idea that jazz was born in the red-light district is complete nonsense. While New Orleans did legalize prostitution and produce some of the most sophisticated and tasteful "sports houses" in the country, the music played in these places was little more than solo piano, if any. In fact, people first heard jazz in a very different place.

At the time, New Orleans was notable for its many sororities and fraternal organizations, most of which sponsored or hired a band to perform on various occasions—such as indoor or outdoor dances, picnics, etc. , store openings, birthday or anniversary parties. Of course, playing jazz was also a feature of funeral processions and remains so to this day. According to tradition, the band gathered at the door of the church, played solemn marches and sad hymns, and led the funeral procession slowly toward the cemetery. On the way back the pace quickened and lilting marches and ragtime replaced dirges. This kind of procession always attracts many people to watch and is of great significance in the development of jazz. It was at this time that the trumpeters and clarinetists showed off their creative talents, and the drummers also played a rhythmic beat, which became the basis for the "swing" of the beat. Generally speaking, jazz music is played in two beats, with two or four beats per measure. This double-beat rhythmic background always exists in the bass, giving jazz a stable and regular rhythmic basis. Above the rhythmic bass, there are melody, harmony and counterpoint parts with irregular accent positions. Their usual syncopation effects form a strong contrast with the regular bass parts.

Among the tunes of jazz, in addition to the elements drawn from European traditional music, white folk songs and popular songs, the most distinctive one is the "blues scale" (about the structure of this scale, we will be introduced specifically in the section about blues), and jazz harmony can be said to be completely based on traditional harmony, but uses various chord changes more freely. The main difference is also caused by Brought to you by blues chords.

Jazz is very unique in the instruments and playing methods used, which is completely different from traditional bands.

Since the "Jazz Age", the saxophone has become one of the most sold instruments; the trombone is able to play funny or weird slides that other brass instruments cannot do, making it popular in jazz bands; the trumpet It is also the instrument favored by jazz musicians. The novel timbre produced by this instrument plus different mutes and the several notes in the highest range have almost become the unique timbre characteristics of jazz; piano, banjo, guitar and later appeared The electric guitar occupies an important position for its powerful percussive sound and ability to play chords. On the contrary, the most important string instruments (violin, viola, cello) in traditional bands play a relatively minor role; the rich tone of the French horn is very charming in the orchestra, but for the jazz band, its temperament is too tame , almost no one uses it. In an orchestra, each instrument tries its best to blend into the overall sound in terms of timbre and volume control. In a jazz band, it's just the opposite. The musicians try their best to make each instrument "stand up."

The formation of the band is very flexible. The most basic parts are the rhythm group and the melody group. In early jazz bands, the rhythm section consisted of euphonium, banjo and drums. Later, euphonium and banjo were gradually replaced by double bass (bass) and guitar, and piano was also added. In the 1930s, a dance band emerged, called the "big band" at the time, which consisted of three parts: rhythm section, brass section and woodwind section. The instruments used by the rhythm section are still double bass, guitar, piano and drums; the common arrangement of the brass section is three trumpets and two trombones, but this number is not fixed; the woodwind section usually consists of four or five saxophones , everyone also plays clarinet or other woodwind instruments. If there are five saxophones, usually two altos, two tenors, and one alto. There is also a kind of commercial (sometimes also called "sweet", "hotel", etc.) band. The organization is similar to the "big band", but all tenor saxophones are often used, and there are more woodwind groups. They often use other instruments (such as flutes, oboes), and sometimes three or four violins. The sound of this type of band can often be heard on commercial tapes.

Compared with traditional music, another major feature of jazz is its pronunciation method and timbre. Whether it is an instrument or a human voice, these characteristics are enough that people will never compare them with any traditional music. timbre confusion. Most of these special features come from the imitation of African American folk songs with musical instruments or vocals. If we have the opportunity to listen to real black field songs and spiritual songs, we will find how distinctive the dramatic changes from rough to smooth, from suffocating to loud, from harsh to soft, from barbaric to lyrical are. , touching. In jazz, non-singing roars, shouts and moans are added to accentuate this feeling. In addition, special playing and singing techniques are also important means to create special effects. Among these techniques, the most commonly used is vibrato that is different from traditional concepts. We know that the so-called vibrato is caused by regular changes in pitch (and sometimes intensity); for example, the vibrato on the violin uses this change to produce a vibrant sound effect. Vibrato in jazz changes. The direction of change is generally from narrow to wide, and from slow to fast. The vibrato amplitude and speed often increase near the end of a note, which further enhances the expressiveness of this technique. . At the same time, jazz musicians will slide from bottom to top to a predetermined pitch at the beginning of a note, and slide back down from the original pitch at the end. All these changes cannot be recorded in detail using musical notation. Experienced jazz musicians have mastered this type of method, especially this concept. They can "manufacture" these effects according to different melodies or accompaniment patterns. "come out. Therefore it can be said that due to the tradition of improvisation and the individual play of skills, jazz is created jointly by composers and musicians. The reason why it is difficult for classically educated musicians to perform jazz is because they have not developed such special musical concepts. If we carefully compare the differences between real folk singers and formally trained singers singing the same folk song, we will have a more intuitive concept of the meaning.

Since the birth of jazz, it has attracted many composers who have changed careers. In 1920, American conductor Paul Whiteman organized a famous band and brought adapted jazz works into the concert hall. This new trend aroused fierce opposition from many "serious" jazz lovers. However, it was from then on that jazz became a household name and became widely popular in the United States and Europe.

Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" was born at this time, and the person who orchestrated this work was Grofi, the composer of the Whiteman Band. According to the records in the manuscript, it took only three weeks to write this work, and it caused a sensation almost immediately after the performance. European composers also have many works based on jazz or influenced by jazz, such as: Debussy's piano music "The Dance of the Black Monster" (1908), "Il Trovatore" (1910), "Weirdo LaVey" "General" (1910); the slow movement (blues) in Ravel's Violin Sonata; Stravinsky's "Ragtime for 11 Solo Instruments" (1919), "The Soldier's Story" (1918) ), "Blackwood Concerto"; Hindemith's "Chamber Music No. 1" (Op. 24, atonal) and Piano Suite (1922).

Three Steps to Getting Started with Jazz

In contemporary China, the majority of music lovers have great freedom to appreciate the music they are interested in, and jazz has undoubtedly become a popular choice for more and more people. A category of music that music lovers pay attention to, love and even become obsessed with. Compared with classical music, jazz's inherent civilian origin makes it closer to the general public. Even people who sell liquor can get close to it. Its sound can be heard everywhere in bars and restaurants, and it is closely related to contemporary pop music such as rock music. Compared with classical music, jazz seems to have deeper emotions and a more profound and subtle form of expression. It may be swaying gently or beat like a rock, and it has its own intoxicating charm... It is "vulgar" than classical music. , is more "elegant" than pop music - the "intermediate" characteristics of jazz, which combines elegance with vulgarity and uses vulgarity to see elegance, make it easy to attract a broad audience including many classical music fans and pop music fans. In contemporary China, the craze for jazz appreciation is just in the ascendant.

To be honest, the more I listen to jazz, the more I feel that I am ignorant and shallow in knowledge - jazz has been around for hundreds of years, has many genres, countless famous people, and many masterpieces, and I will never be able to listen to them all in the rest of my life for decades. Oh! Jazz is an out-and-out treasure trove of music. Its content is so vast and its genres are so prosperous that it is impossible to exhaust them all.

Just because jazz is as vast as the ocean, readers who are new to jazz and are still waiting to get started must find a suitable method and start from the key points before they can finally get into the room and get a glimpse of its secrets.

The first step, extensive listening

Friends who have studied foreign languages ??all know what "extensive listening" is. I borrowed the word "extensive listening", which means that when friends first come into contact with jazz, they can completely distract their energy and attention, and they can listen to jazz intermittently while doing other things. It is enough to gain a little appreciation of the emotion, spirit and surface characteristics (such as arrangement and orchestration, rhythmic characteristics, scale characteristics, etc.) contained in the work without having to listen to it seriously.

In terms of content selection for "extensive listening", it is appropriate to select those classic jazz songs that are more traditional in terms of creation, arrangement and performance, especially those classics called "STANDARD" Works, and preferably interpretation versions by masters. These works can make first-time listeners feel the Jazz very clearly and vividly