Informative Speech On Jazz Tru Essay, Research Paper

Purpose: By the end of the speech I hope you all will understand the joys and pains of playing jazz on the trumpet.

Introduction: (turn off lights) Imagine its night time in New York City. You head over to the village vanguard to see the hottest players in jazz, out do each other on stage. You enter the club it seats about fifty but there s more like 80 all wanting the same thing, to hear John Coltranes sextet perform. (play Lazy Bird up to 1:40). The recording you just heard was from the John Coltrane album titled BLUE TRAIN. Jazz is one of the most difficult genres of music to perform on the trumpet because of its demands on a person s body, technical skill as well as their ability to spontaneously create a melody, also know as improvising.

Credibility: You may be asking yourselves what would this young man know about jazz and why should I listen to him. Well to contradict the stereotype that jazz is old people music I have been listening to and playing jazz for the past 8 years and also teach private lessons. I have been principal chair in every band I have played in. In high school I was selected to play in the city honor band, received an award for jazz player of the year, received a scholarship and the semper fidelis award from the United States Marine Corp for excellence in music. There are numerous other awards presented to me by my school, and I led the jazz ensemble to place fourth at the national invite Monterey jazz festival sponsored by Clint Eastwood. Now that I have established my credibility I would like to move on.

Playing the trumpet requires many hours of practice daily, usually until your body quits. During these practices you do arpeggios, chromatic scales, lip slurs, high notes, long tones and so on. All these exercises increase your endurance and ability to improvise.

Main Points: some injuries or physical strain one can acquire are bleeding lips, headaches, passing out, dizziness, crooked teeth, and a change in their bite.

Shown in a documentary titled Jazz by Ken Burns is Louis Armstrong a jazz trumpeter, known for his high notes. He did anything it took to please the crowed whether it is detrimental to his health or not. One evening on stage he played beyond his usual capabilities in result his lip burst and began to bleed, he ignored the pain and went on just to please the crowd. Another incident was at the Newport jazz festival. He was about 82 years old and had a bad heart, doctors told him not to perform but his love for the music was too strong. 3 days later he died in his home in Brooklyn. According to Mr. Ted Newton former California Music Educators Association president of jazz studies educated me on the dangers of passing out while playing the trumpet, due to the lack of oxygen to the brain. Trumpeters blow so hard sometimes that their bodies just can t handle it.

(explanation and demonstration of why and how your mouth gets manipulated while playing)

(explain how the strange fingerings call on your technical skill)

(Explain how the fusion of your imagination and skills combine to improvise, improvising is known as the highest form of thinking according to a June 99 issue of Down beat magazine).

(Explanation of improvising and the joys of music will be explained off the top of the head).

Conclusion: Now that you have been informed on a small part of jazz I hope you have a greater appreciation for the art. You should also understand that to play something that you may classify as simple takes a lot of work to produce. According to John Birks Gillespie also known as Dizzy Gillespie a world renowned and historical jazz trumpeter, the trumpet is the most difficult instrument to play.

(explanation of comparison to wood winds). I would like to leave you all now on a high note by Ella Fitzgerald It don t mean a thing if it aint got that swing thank you.