Duke Ellington: Lesson 3

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Lesson 3: Coloring in a Chart

Listen to Ellington's Ko-Ko and feel the beat. In all of Ellington's music, as in jazz and African-American music, rhythmic drive is more than just a musical element. The colorful, insistent rhythms define Ellington's music as much as the colors of his arrangements. Ellington's musicians played from a chart, a printed score or hand-written manuscript with notes and meter--all the elements of a classical score.

But the chart might only be the frame of the painting, allowing jazz musicians to do what they do so well--improvise. Ko-Ko, written by Ellington and recorded in 1940, provides an excellent example of Ellington's rhythmic drive. Things Ain't What They Used To Be shows another expression of this same principle in Ellington's music.

The audio clips used in the lessons require the RealPlayer software, which can be acquired free from Real Networks web site.

Things Ain't What They Used to Be

After listening to the selection, choose the notation example that is correct.

Chart 1
Chart 2
Chart 3

Ko-Ko

As you listen to the selection, focus on the rhythm. Below are three lines written notating the rhythm of the trumpet line. Look at the lines, listen to the selection again if you wish, and decide which line is the correct notation.

Chart 1

Chart 2

Chart 3

Listen to this Blues Piano Example

You supply the rhythm to the melody you just heard with whatever you have nearby--a table-top, a drum, two pencils, spoons. Now write out the rhythm you created on a line like the one below.

[Write your notation on the printout produced after submitting this form and printing the results of the lesson.]

Date:
Name of Student:
Name of Teacher:


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