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WorksheetsBlack Music Matters 6 - NOLA Jazz
Total questions: 10
Worksheet time: 9mins
What is one reason that New Orleans was the birthplace of jazz?
New Orleans had more churches per square mile than any other US city
Instead of trying to stamp out African culture completely, white people in New Orleans instead tried to regulate it, allowing enslaved people to dance and play music on Sundays.
In New Orleans in the 1890s they started a required public school music program, much like we have in Berkeley now.
Check all the famous New Orleans traditional jazz musicians
miles davis
louis armstrong
joe "king" oliver
sidney bechet
kid ory
In a small New Orleans jazz group, say 5 musicians, how was the music made?
everyone read off of sheet music
everyone played each song exactly from memory the way their elders taught it to them
everyone improvised their part, and each instrument had a special role to play in that improvisation (ex: trumpet on melody, clarinet on countermelody, trombone on response, tuba on bassline, piano on chords)
some types of music enjoyed in New Orleans around the time of the birth of jazz include
opera
military bands
rock and roll
ragtime
blues
what were some of Louis Armstrong's great gifts to jazz -- things that influenced the direction of all the jazz music that came after him?
scat singing
only playing with big bands (17 members or more)
playing all tunes in minor keys
making a great soloist the center of the music
Louis Armstrong was criticized but some younger jazz musicians because
he did not share enough gigs with them
his vaudeville inspired stage persona reminded them of minstrelcy
Louis Armstrong cancelled his US government state department sponsored tour of the Soviet Union because
two of the members of his band came down with the Spanish flu
he always hated Russia, especially the cold weather
he was angry because the US government was not strong enough in its support of Black people's civil rights in the south
He got a better gig
What are three reasons that New Orleans was the birthplace of jazz?
what are some ways that jazz gained popularity outside of New Orleans?
jazz was widely recorded, making Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet international stars
all of the leaders of the Baptist Church fell in love with jazz, and hired jazz bands to play at church services every Sunday
jazz was played over the radio, reaching all over America
New Orleans musicians travelled and performed widely
The following were popular instruments in traditional New Orleans jazz bands
cello
trombone
french horn
trumpet
clarinet
