Swing (jazz performance style)

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"Straight" versus swung [lower-alpha 1]
Swung notes straight.png
Straight: first note lengthsecond note length=11
Swung notes soft.png
Soft swing: >11 to <21
Swung notes triplet.png
Triplet swing: 21
Swung notes hard.png
Hard swing: >21 to <31
Swung notes dotted.png
Dotted hard swing: 31
Straight (*) versus triplet swing (*) eighth notes in the metric hierarchy Metric hierarchy swung versus straight.png
Straight (•) versus triplet swing (◦) eighth notes in the metric hierarchy

In music, the term swing has two main uses. Colloquially, it is used to describe the propulsive quality or "feel" of a rhythm, especially when the music prompts a visceral response such as foot-tapping or head-nodding (see pulse). This sense can also be called "groove".

Contents

The term swing feel, as well as swung note(s) and swung rhythm, [lower-alpha 2] is also used more specifically to refer to a technique (most commonly associated with jazz [ citation needed ] but also used in other genres) that involves alternately lengthening and shortening the first and second consecutive notes in the two part pulse-divisions in a beat.

Overview

Like the term "groove", which is used to describe a cohesive rhythmic "feel" in a funk or rock context, the concept of "swing" can be hard to define. Indeed, some dictionaries use the terms as synonyms: "Groovy ... denotes music that really swings." [1] The Jazz in America glossary defines swing as, "when an individual player or ensemble performs in such a rhythmically coordinated way as to command a visceral response from the listener (to cause feet to tap and heads to nod); an irresistible gravitational buoyancy that defies mere verbal definition." [2]

When jazz performer Cootie Williams was asked to define it, he joked, "Define it? I'd rather tackle Einstein's theory!" [3]

Benny Goodman, the 1930s-era bandleader nicknamed the "King of Swing", called swing "free speech in music", whose most important element is "the liberty a soloist has to stand and play a chorus in the way he feels it". His contemporary Tommy Dorsey gave a more ambiguous definition when he proposed that "Swing is sweet and hot at the same time and broad enough in its creative conception to meet every challenge tomorrow may present." [3] Boogie-woogie pianist Maurice Rocco argues that the definition of swing "is just a matter of personal opinion". [3] When asked for a definition of swing, Fats Waller replied, "Lady, if you gotta ask, you'll never know." [4]

Bill Treadwell stated:

What is Swing? Perhaps the best answer, after all, was supplied by the hep-cat who rolled her eyes, stared into the far-off and sighed, "You can feel it, but you just can't explain it. Do you dig me?"

Treadwell (1946), p.10 [5]

Stanley Dance, in The World of Swing, devoted the two first chapters of his work to discussions of the concept of swing with a collection of the musicians who played it. They described a kinetic quality to the music. It was compared to flying; "take off" was a signal to start a solo. The rhythmic pulse continued between the beats, expressed in dynamics, articulation, and inflection. Swing was as much in the music anticipating the beat, like the swing of a jumprope anticipating the jump, as in the beat itself. [4] Swing has been defined in terms of formal rhythmic devices, but according to the Jimmie Lunceford tune, "T'aint whatcha do, it's the way thatcha do it" (say it so it swings). Physicists investigating swing have noted that it coincides with a perceptible difference between the timing of a soloist and the rest of the performers. [6]

Swing as a rhythmic style

Blues shuffle or boogie played on guitar in E major (Play). Blues shuffle in E.png
Blues shuffle or boogie played on guitar in E major ( Play ).

In swing rhythm, the pulse is divided unequally, such that certain subdivisions (typically either eighth note or sixteenth note subdivisions) alternate between long and short durations. Certain music of the Baroque and Classical era is played using notes inégales , which is analogous to swing. In shuffle rhythm, the first note in a pair may be twice (or more) the duration of the second note. In swing rhythm, the ratio of the first note's duration to the second note's duration can range: The first note of each pair is often understood to be twice as long as the second, implying a triplet feel, but in practice the ratio is less definitive and often much more subtle. [8] In traditional jazz, swing is typically applied to eighth notes. In other genres, such as funk and jazz-rock, swing is often applied to sixteenth notes. [9] [10]

Shuffle notation in straight eighths (in drum set notation ) play Shuffle feel straight.png
Shuffle notation in straight eighths (in drum set notation ) play
Shuffle triplet-like performance play. Shuffle feel.png
Shuffle triplet-like performance play .
Shuffle pattern with staggered thirds played on piano (Play). Staggered thirds in C.png
Shuffle pattern with staggered thirds played on piano ( Play ).
Basic shuffle rhythm play Shuffle feel simple.png
Basic shuffle rhythm play

In most jazz music, especially of the big band era and later, the second and fourth beats of a 4/4 measure are emphasized over the first and third, and the beats are lead-in—main-beat couplets (dah-DUM, dah-DUM....). The "dah" anticipates, or leads into, the "DUM." The "dah" lead-in may or may not be audible. It may be occasionally accented for phrasing or dynamic purposes.

The instruments of a swing rhythm section express swing in various ways, which evolved as the music developed. During the early development of swing music, the bass was often played with lead-in—main-note couplets, often with a percussive sound. Later, the lead-in note was dropped but incorporated into the physical rhythm of the bass player to help keep the beat "solid” - the lead-in beats were not audible, but expressed in the player’s motion.

Similarly, the rhythm guitar was played with the lead-in beat strummed by the player, but so softly as to be nearly or completely inaudible.

The piano was played with a variety of devices for swing: Chord patterns played in the rhythm of a dotted-eighth—sixteenth couplet were characteristic of boogie-woogie playing (sometimes also used in boogie-woogie horn section playing). The "swing bass" left hand, used by James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, and Earl Hines, used a bass note on the first and third beats, followed by a mid-range chord to emphasize the second and fourth beats. As with the bass, lead-in beats were not audible, but expressed in the motion of the left arm.

Swing piano also put the first and third beats in a role anticipatory to the emphasized second and fourth beats in two-beat bass figures. [13]

As swing music developed, the role of the piano in the ensemble changed to emphasize accents and fills; these were often played on the lead-in to the main beat, adding a punch to the rhythm. Count Basie's style was sparse, played as accompaniment to the horn sections and soloists. [14]

The bass and snare drums started the swing era as the main timekeepers, with the snare usually used for either lead-ins or emphasis on the second and fourth beats. It was soon found that the high-hat cymbal could add a new dimension to the swing expressed by the drum kit when played in a two-beat "ti-tshhh-SH" figure, with the "ti" the lead-in to the "tshhh" on the first and third beats, and the "SH" the emphasized second and fourth beats.

With that high-hat figure, the drummer expressed three elements of swing: the lead-in with the "ti," the continuity of the rhythmic pulse between the beats with the "tshhh," and the emphasis on the second and fourth beats with the "SH". Early examples of that high-hat figure were recorded by the drummer Chick Webb. Jo Jones carried the high-hat style a step further, with a more continuous-sounding "t'shahhh-uhh" two beat figure while reserving the bass and snare drums for accents. The changed role of the drum kit away from the heavier style of the earlier drumming placed more emphasis on the role of the bass in holding the rhythm. [14]

Horn sections and soloists added inflection and dynamics to the rhythmic toolbox, "swinging" notes and phrases. One of the characteristic horn section sounds of swing jazz was a section chord played with a strong attack, a slight fade, and a quick accent at the end, expressing the rhythmic pulse between beats. That device was used interchangeably or in combination with a slight downward slur between the beginning and the end of the note.

Similarly, section arrangements sometimes used a series of triplets, either accented on the first and third notes or with every other note accented to make a 3/2 pattern. Straight eighth notes were commonly used in solos, with dynamics and articulation used to express phrasing and swing. Phrasing dynamics built swing across two or four measures or, in the innovative style of tenor saxophonist Lester Young, across odd sequences of measures, sometimes starting or stopping without regard to place in the measure. [14]

The rhythmic devices of the swing era became subtler with bebop. Bud Powell and other piano players influenced by him mostly did away with left-hand rhythmic figures, replacing them with chords. The ride cymbal played in a "ting-ti-ting" pattern took the role of the high-hat, the snare drum was mainly used for lead-in accents, and the bass drum was mainly used for occasional "bombs." But the importance of the lead-in as a rhythmic device was still respected. Drummer Max Roach emphasized the importance of the lead-in, audible or not, in "protecting the beat." [15] Bebop soloists rose to the challenge of keeping a swinging feel in highly sophisticated music often played at a breakneck pace. The groundbreakers of bebop had come of age as musicians with swing and, while breaking the barriers of the swing era, still reflected their swing heritage. [14]

Hard swing (3:1): dotted eighth + sixteenth. Dotted eighth-sixteenth.png
Hard swing (3:1): dotted eighth + sixteenth.
1:1 ratio
3:2 ratio
2:1 ratio
3:1 ratio

The subtler end of the range involves treating written pairs of adjacent eighth notes (or sixteenth notes, depending on the level of swing) as slightly asymmetrical pairs of similar values. On the other end of the spectrum, the "dotted eighth – sixteenth" rhythm, consists of a long note three times as long as the short. Prevalent "dotted rhythms" such as these in the rhythm section of dance bands in the mid-20th century are more accurately described as a "shuffle"; [16] they are also an important feature of baroque dance and many other styles.

In jazz, the swing ratio typically lies somewhere between 1:1 and 3:1, and can vary considerably. Swing ratios in jazz tend to be wider at slower tempos and narrower at faster tempos. [17] In jazz scores, swing is often assumed, but is sometimes explicitly indicated. For example, "Satin Doll", a swing era jazz standard, was notated in 4
4
time and in some versions includes the direction, medium swing.

Genres using swing rhythm

Swing is commonly used in swing jazz, ragtime, blues, jazz, western swing, [18] new jack swing, [19] big band jazz, swing revival, funk, funk blues, R&B, soul music, rockabilly, neo rockabilly, rock and hip-hop. Much written music in jazz is assumed to be performed with a swing rhythm. Styles that always use traditional (triplet) rhythms, resembling "hard swing", include foxtrot, quickstep and some other ballroom dances, stride piano, and 1920s-era novelty piano (the successor to ragtime style). In the Middle East, a rhythm very similar to shuffle is used in some forms of Iraqi, Kurdish, Azeri, Iranian and Assyrian dance music. [20]

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. All of these may be intuitively counted "1 &" as if they were straight. Triplet swing may be precisely counted "1& a" and dotted-note swing may be precisely counted "1e& a".
  2. Swing may be considered as metric (rhythmic organization) rather than simply rhythmic.

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bebop</span> Subgenre of jazz music developed in the U.S. in mid-1940s

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polyrhythm</span> Simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythms

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bassline</span> Low-pitched instrumental part

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beat (music)</span> Basic unit of time in music and music theory

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Notes inégales</span> Musical performance practice

In music, notes inégales is a performance practice, mainly from the Baroque and Classical music eras, in which some notes with equal written time values are performed with unequal durations, usually as alternating long and short. The practice was especially prevalent in France in the 17th and 18th centuries, with appearances in other European countries at the same time. It reappeared as the standard performance practice in the 20th century in jazz. The phrase notes inégales means "unequal notes" in French.

A drum beat or drum pattern is a rhythmic pattern, or repeated rhythm establishing the meter and groove through the pulse and subdivision, played on drum kits and other percussion instruments. As such a "beat" consists of multiple drum strokes occurring over multiple musical beats while the term "drum beat" may also refer to a single drum stroke which may occupy more or less time than the current pulse. Many drum beats define or are characteristic of specific music genres.

Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm, "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music. The characteristic rhythm and feel of the boogie was then adapted to guitar, double bass, and other instruments. The earliest recorded boogie-woogie song was in 1916. By the 1930s, Swing bands such as Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Louis Jordan all had boogie hits. By the 1950s, boogie became incorporated into the emerging rockabilly and rock and roll styles. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s country bands released country boogies. Today, the term "boogie" usually refers to dancing to pop, disco, or rock music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Half-time (music)</span> Type of metric change in music

In popular music, half-time is a type of meter and tempo that alters the rhythmic feel by essentially doubling the tempo resolution or metric division/level in comparison to common-time. Thus, two measures of 4
4
approximate a single measure of 8
8
, while a single measure of 4/4 emulates 2/2. Half-time is not to be confused with alla breve or odd time. Though notes usually get the same value relative to the tempo, the way the beats are divided is altered. While much music typically has a backbeat on quarter note (crotchet) beats two and four, half time would increase the interval between backbeats to double, thus making it hit on beats three and seven, or the third beat of each measure :

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jazz drumming</span> Art of playing percussion, predominantly the drum set, in jazz styles

Jazz drumming is the art of playing percussion in jazz styles ranging from 1910s-style Dixieland jazz to 1970s-era jazz fusion and 1980s-era Latin jazz. The techniques and instrumentation of this type of performance have evolved over several periods, influenced by jazz at large and the individual drummers within it. Stylistically, this aspect of performance was shaped by its starting place, New Orleans, as well as numerous other regions of the world, including other parts of the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa.

In music, counting is a system of regularly occurring sounds that serve to assist with the performance or audition of music by allowing the easy identification of the beat. Commonly, this involves verbally counting the beats in each measure as they occur, whether there be 2 beats, 3 beats, 4 beats, or even 5 beats. In addition to helping to normalize the time taken up by each beat, counting allows easier identification of the beats that are stressed. Counting is most commonly used with rhythm and form and often involves subdivision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghost note</span> Musical note with a rhythmic value, but no discernible pitch

In music, notably in jazz, a ghost note is a musical note with a rhythmic value, but no discernible pitch when played. In musical notation, this is represented by an "X" for a note head instead of an oval, or parentheses around the note head. It should not be confused with the X-shaped notation that raises a note to a double sharp.

In music, a cross-beat or cross-rhythm is a specific form of polyrhythm. The term cross rhythm was introduced in 1934 by the musicologist Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980). It refers to a situation where the rhythmic conflict found in polyrhythms is the basis of an entire musical piece.

Tresillo is a rhythmic pattern used in Latin American music. It is a more basic form of the rhythmic figure known as the habanera.

References

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  2. "Jazz Resources: Glossary". Jazz in America. The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.
  3. 1 2 3 "What Is Swing?". Savoy Ballroom.
  4. 1 2 Dance, Stanley, 1974, The World of Swing: An Oral History of Big Band Jazz (2001 edition) Da Capo Press, 436 p.
  5. Treadwell, Bill (1946). "Introduction: What Is Swing". Big Book of Swing. pp. 8–10.
  6. Godoy, Maria (2023-01-18). "What makes that song swing? At last, physicists unravel a jazz mystery". Morning Edition. NPR . Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  7. Savidge, Wilbur M.; Vradenburg, Randy L. (2002). Everything About Playing the Blues. Music Sales Distributed. p. 35. ISBN   1-884848-09-5.
  8. "Jazz Drummers' Swing Ratio in Relation to Tempo". Acoustical Society of America. Archived from the original on 2008-05-18. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  9. Frane, Andrew V. (2017). "Swing rhythm in classic drum breaks from hip-hop's breakbeat canon". Music Perception. 34 (3): 291–302. doi:10.1525/mp.2017.34.3.291.
  10. Pressing, Jeff (2002). "Black Atlantic Rhythm. Its Computational and Transcultural Foundations". Music Perception. 19 (3): 285–310. doi:10.1525/mp.2002.19.3.285.
  11. Mattingly, Rick (2006). All About Drums. Hal Leonard. p. 44. ISBN   1-4234-0818-7.
  12. Starr, Eric (2007). The Everything Rock & Blues Piano Book. Adams Media. p. 124. ISBN   978-1-59869-260-0.
  13. Hadlock, Richard, Jazz Masters of the Twenties, New York, MacMillan, 1972, 255p.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Russell, Ross, Jazz Style in Kansas City and the Southwest, Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, 1972, 291 p.
  15. Davis, Miles, and Troupe, Quincy, Miles: The Autobiography, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1989, 448 p.
  16. Prögler, J. A. (1995). "Searching for Swing: Participatory Discrepancies in the Jazz Rhythm Section". Ethnomusicology. 39 (1): 26. doi:10.2307/852199. JSTOR   852199.
  17. Friberg, Anders; Sundström, Andreas (2002). "Swing Ratios and Ensemble Timing in Jazz Performance: Evidence for a Common Rhythmic Pattern". Music Perception. 19 (3): 344. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.416.1367 . doi:10.1525/mp.2002.19.3.333.
  18. Stomping the Blues. writer Albert Murray. Da Capo Press. 2000. page 109, 110. ISBN   978-0-252-02211-1, ISBN   0-252-06508-5
  19. "Teddy Riley New Jack Swing Hip Hop part 1". YouTube . Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  20. Armbrust, Walter (2000). Mass Mediations: New Approaches to Popular Culture in the Middle East and Beyond. University of California Press. p. 70. ISBN   9780520219267.

Further reading