Listening to the Jazz of the Jazz Age

Out of all the cool jobs in the world — and there are many — being a musicologist has to be one of the coolest.

A musicologist is someone who collects and studies music from many different times and places. They analyze the way music is made, what it means, and the place music holds in societies.

One of the basic questions a musicologist has to ask is, “How does a song work?” In order to answer that question, the musicologist has to break down the different parts of the song to help understand how the melodies, chords, lyrics, and other elements come together.

Learn more about how to listen to music in order to understand how it “works.” Read one or both of the following articles. As you read, write down a step-by-step process for analyzing songs. Your process should include three or more steps:

• How to Analyze Songs, and Why You’ll Benefit by Gary Ewer, courtesy of The Essential Secrets of Songwriting
• 4 tips to help you better analyze music by Reuben Raman at Splice

Share the steps you determined with your parent or teacher, then reflect on the following questions and discuss together:

• What are the most important songs to you and why?
• What are the meanings you associate with that music?
• When people listen to that music in a hundred years, what will it tell them about the times from which it came?

Every era produces its own special music. Perhaps you’ve noticed that you can differientiate music that comes from the 1980s from music that came from the 1960s or the 1950s. The music of each era has its own “sound,” and it tells us about the times and people who produced it.

In the Got It? section, listen to some of the music of the Jazz Age — the Roaring Twenties — and practice your musicology skills!