There are many different styles of music, from pop music on the radio to Classical music composed hundreds of years ago. Enjoy the following styles of jazz and ragtime - you may heard these pieces before!

1) D. Brubeck, Take Five

An aunique aspect of the piano is that it can stand alone - almost every other instrument must play with other instruments for harmonic support. This is because they can play only a single line - one note at a time. Often, you will see these instruments must be accompanied by a piano! For example, the cello and violin in last week's listening activity.

Take five and listen to the top selling jazz piece ever - I've included the original with saxophone and drums as well as a piano arrangement.

**2) L.V. Beethoven, Fur Elise, arranged by Ethan Uslan**

We recently heard this piece in a listening activity, Looking Into The Future. Listen to the same piece played in a ragtime style - it starts out as the original, then shifts into a totally different character! I've included The Entertainer as a bonus piece.

There are many other popular ragtime pieces you will likely recognize, such as The Entertainer and Maple Leaf Rag, which I encourage you to look up. You can even find ragtime versions of popular songs from Star Wars songs to the theme of classic game, Tetris, to jazz + ragtime arrangements! If you enjoy this style, you can look into the composer, Scott Joplin, also known as "The King of Ragtime", for more.

Music begins at 32 seconds

Questions

Have you heard any of these pieces before? If so, can you recall where?
List some elements or style features you feel distinguishes and defines these different styles of music. It may help to listen to several examples, especially in ragtime.