Musical Freedom Across the World

An Investigation into the Scales and Improvisational Elements of Byzantine Chant and American Jazz and Swing

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination,
and life to everything."

                                                -Plato

 

            Recently, I was at church, chanting the Great Doxology and my mind began to wander towards my first period Jazz Ensemble class I had the next day. I thought about the improvisational solos we were preparing for the upcoming concert, and an interesting thought occurred to me: I was doing the same thing that very moment. My thoughts flowed not only from the music but into the further comparisons I made in the following investigation. I am both a Jazz musician and an Orthodox Christian chanter so delving even deeper into the research of the musical elements of these two genres proved to be a very interesting and enlightening learning experience for me.

            We cannot fully explore these genres without historical background and context. Contemporary American jazz and swing music has a rich history consisting of a mingling of many different cultures. During the Atlantic Slave Trade, thousands of Sub-Saharan Africans were brought to what is now America. Through slavery, their aboriginal tribal music was incorporated with Southern American music to form songs such as the black spirituals, which became the basis for the development of jazz. As the years progressed, many factors such as European instrumentation, Hispanic islander rhythms, and Western music theory influenced the music and produced the existence of jazz as it is known today.

            On the opposite spectrum, Orthodox Christian liturgical music[1] (known as Byzantine chant due to the empire that the Church dominated at the time) is especially known for its completely unchanging nature since its creation in the early 4^th Century AD. Even before the advent of Christianity, non-secular “holy” music was ascribed to angelic choirs’ praises to God. This was the notion that the early Church Fathers attempted to emulate when first arranging the various chants. Obviously, since the credit for their composition went to a heavenly power, all early pieces were written anonymously (contemporary arrangers and transcribers are recorded, however). Today, Byzantine chant is sung in every Orthodox Christian church all throughout the world.

            Musical improvisation plays a large role in many genres, especially Byzantine and jazz. It is a skill and instrumental technique; however, though they are complementary, technical ability and instrumental ability may not necessarily be related. The main reason for this is the nature of the music performed. For example, Romantic Era and Contemporary Era European music almost never consists of improvisation because of the themes they contain. However, ornamentation and specialized scales lends to the improvisational nature of Byzantine and jazz.

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[1] The written Byzantine music presented here is only approximate in its technicalities and intervals. It is the closest possible representation using Western notation. The actual sung piece is authentic and true to the style.