Adapting or Borrowing Music by Composers
Music has been stolen, borrowed and adapted for centuries! Some of the
first examples of borrowing music dates back to the 13th Century and
Choral and Church music! During the 13th Century there were many types
of musicians. Apart from Monks and their plainsong style of music
there were jongleurs, troubadours, trouveres, minnesingers and
itinerant minstrels which all contributed to music of the day! Though
these secular musicians did not engage in choral activity they did
create a vocal tradition that was soon to "borrow" musical ideas from
the church as the sacred motet transmogrified into the secular
madrigal.
The madrigal appeared as the secular equivalent of the sacred motet in
the late thirteenth century. The madrigal writers immediately adopted
the style of having each part as an original composition rather than
use an existing melody around which other parts could be structured.
The secular words were taken from the works of esteemed poets as well
as original verse written specifically for madrigal purposes. The
quality of the words was deemed so important that they were able to
stand as poetry of merit in their own right and were sometimes
published as thus. Petrarch (1304-1374) was one of the earliest poets
to have his words used as the inspiration for madrigal setting.
This form of borrowing is seen in our set pieces too. Palastrina took
a plainsong hymn and used it in his Mass.
Another form of music borrowing is arranging! Arranging is where a
composer takes an original piece of music and adapts it to his or her
requirements. For example ‘You are the Sunshine of My Life’ was
originally a 1970’s popular piece of music. Frank Sinatra had it
adapted to Swing music so that he could put his own twist on it. Jazz
players do this as well, but taking someone else’s music is not really
composing so does that mean that people who arrange or borrow music
are not composers? Well going back in history again, Bach is one of
Ragtime, also called “ragged rhythm”, was first a piano style know for its fast paced beats. It first came into the publics eye in 1893 when he performed an instrumental ensemble at the World Exposition in Chicago. His originally developed style of rag time know as “Maple Leaf Rag” First came on the scene in a club in Sedalia, Missouri as his own form of ragtime. In 1899 He gained nationwide popularity after selling over one million copies worldwide.
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Miles Davis was a key player in the evolution of modern jazz. In the 1940’s he participated in the bebop craze, then initiated the cool jazz era in the 1950’s. Bebop involved a higher register and note fueled playing while Miles favored the middle register, with longer and less frequency of notes, and a
Said to be the father of jazz, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, born on April 29, 1899, was an American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz orchestra. Duke Ellington was known and is remembered for his unique and profound style of jazz music. His development in jazz was one of the most spectacular in the history of music, as demonstrated by more than fifty years of sustained achievement as an artist which led him to be known as one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. Duke’s music was so original, he called it “American Music” rather than jazz. Based on his success, it’s unlikely to think that he was not even attracted to music in his younger years, however music clearly became a very important part of his life, as he still reigns
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The process of establishing Miles Davis in the field of the jazz music has many different aspects. The story of his professional development is very interesting and unstable as it has its breakthroughs and setbacks, and indeed, all turning points in his life has made a significant impact on the evolution of the jazz music sound. In this essay, I am going to discuss how Miles Davis affected every stream of jazz and how jazz affected him during his all life.
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Through his contribution to early Jazz, he had a direct hand in developing the new field of academic jazz scholarship, although it had been extensively debated on his contribution. None the less, his talent formed a popularity that was surpassed by none, even to the point that once in his career; he was more popular than the Beatles. Undoubtedly, he was the first, if not the only to present Jazz to the public as a form of art. This changed the direction of Jazz to not just leisure listening music, but a teachable and complicated
All types of music require musicians. In the H.R (Harlem Renaissance), there were many who contributed to this new style of music known as jazz. These musicians all have their own style and form. Each of these styles has in some way influenced the evolution of jazz. Louis “Sachmo” Armstrong is recognized as the most famous trumpet player of this time. His “hot bop” style was heard in places like the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theatre. Everyone from all over the country would come to see him. Armstrong recorded such works as I’m in the Mood for Love, and You Rascal you (http://library.thinkquest.org/26656/english/music.html). Another famous person during this era was Coleman Hawkins, a saxophone player. Hawkins is recognized as the first great saxophonists of Jazz. His most famous work was a piece named Body and Soul (http://library.thinkquest.org…). Hawkins has also recorded with artists such as Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. Other people such as Bessie Smith, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, and “Dizzie” Gillespie have also made many contributions to the development of Jazz.
He had exposure to several different genres growing up in his St. Louis, MO hometown. He heard country from the whites, rhythm & blues (R&B) from mostly blacks, even Latin music. His family environment set him up well for future success while growing up in a middle class home in the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930s. His parents sun...
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Music Copyright is a very important aspect of the music industry. The Copyright law was established to preserve the creativity and rights of authors, composers, performers of expression. Copyright is the law that protects the property rights of the creator of an original work in a fixed tangible medium. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/copyright) A fixed tangible medium is something substantial like copying lyrics on paper or putting a song on tape or CD. Copyright can be seen every where in the music industry. Many music artist of our culture today have been involved in copyright issues. Recently, on MTV news it was stated that, "As the music industry becomes increasingly concerned about protecting the integrity of artists copyrights in the age of MP3. Prince has now filed a motion in New York federal court aimed at shutting down several websites offering free downloads of the Artist's songs." (http://www.mtv.com…19990304/prince.jhtml) In addition, in recent music news, "Nine Inch Nails lead man Trent Reznor copyright infringement suit was dismissed. Another artist claimed that the Reznor had stolen material for his last album." (http://www.mtv.com…19991202/nine_inch_nails.jhtml) The copyright law has become an important legal aspect to know our music generation.