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Jazz Style and Articulation: How to Get Your Band or Choir to Swing
Jerry Tolson
Music Educators Journal 2012 99: 80
DOI: 10.1177/0027432112449020

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by Jerry Tolson

Jazz Style and

Articulation
How to Get Your Band or
Choir to Swing
Abstract: The interpretation of jazz style is crucial to the element of swing in any jazz ensemble performance. Today, many charts for both large and small instrumental and vocal jazz
ensembles are well marked with articulations and expression markings. However, in some
cases, there is nothing to guide the musician. This article addresses some common jazz articulations and style situations and provides a set of guidelines to help instructors and students
decide how to treat notes and rhythms in swing style. Use of these concepts can help an
ensemble sound more authentic and can help students better understand jazz articulations
and styles.

It dont mean a
thing if it aint got
that swing, said
Irving Mills and Duke
Ellington in 1932. Its
still true today, and
you can help your
ensemble learn
to do it better.

Copyright 2012 National Association

for Music Education
DOI: 10.1177/0027432112449020
http://mej.sagepub.com

Keywords: articulation, education, ensemble, jazz, pedagogy, rhythm, swing

n some ways, the concept of swing is the

Holy Grail of jazz.1 It is the foundation of all
jazz performances. Even if the piece is not
specifically in the traditional swing style, the
sense of propulsive rhythmic feel or groove
created by the musical interaction between
the performers is still referred to as the swing
factor.2 Indeed, Mark Gridley uses this concept as one of the definitions of swing in his
jazz history and styles textbook.3 As a performance technique, swing has been called
the most debated word in jazz.4 The Jazz in
America glossary defines it as when an individual player or ensemble performs in such a
rhythmically coordinated way as to command
a visceral response from the listener (to cause
feet to tap and heads to nod); an irresistible
gravitational buoyancy that defies mere verbal definition.5 When jazz performer Cootie

Williams was asked to define it, he joked,

Define it? Id rather tackle Einsteins theory!6
Scholar Jeff Pressing defined it more academically as a phenomenon of carefully aligned
concurrent rhythmic patterns characterized
by a subdivision structure relative to a perception of recurring pulses, which is to say that
it is a matter of how the beat is played and
subdivided.7
The interpretation of jazz style is crucial
to the element of swing in any jazz ensemble
performance. Today, many written arrangements for both large and small jazz ensembles are clearly marked with articulations
and expression markings. However, in some
cases, there is nothing to guide the instructor
or student. This article addresses some of the
articulation and style situations commonly
found in jazz music. These situations can be

Jerry Tolson is a professor of jazz studies and music education at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. He can be
contacted at [email protected].

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generalized into a set of guidelines that

can be used to guide decisions regarding
the treatment of notes and rhythms in
the swing style of the jazz idiom. Armed
with this set of general guidelines, your
ensemble will find it easier to sound
more stylistically accurate and authentic.
The ultimate goal of this article is to provide useful tips for helping your students
understand jazz articulation and style.
Jazz encompasses many styles
from Dixieland to big band swing to
bebop and fusion. Anecdotal evidence
from adjudicators and directors indicates
that by far, the most challenging element
for both instrumentalists and vocalists to
interpret is the swing style common to
both big band swing and bebop. Much
of todays printed jazz music is based
on performance practices established
in the big band and bebop eras of the
1930s and 1940s. In the swing styles of
jazz, what you see on the page is only an
approximation of what actually sounds
when the music is performed. It should
be noted that jazz, from its inception,
has always been a performers and an
arrangers music rather than a composers music. Thus, interpretations of style
have varied from individual to individual
and from band to band throughout the
course of the history of the music. This
makes generalizations about stylistic
performance even more challenging.
The repertoire of present-day instrumental school jazz ensembles often
consists of vintage charts from the libraries of the Count Basie, Duke Ellington,
Woody Herman, and Stan Kenton bands
as well as originals by a host of talented
young composers and arrangers. While
school vocal jazz ensembles have not
been around for quite as long, the repertoire for these groups is populated with
great arrangements of jazz classics
songs from great vocal groups, such as
the trio Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross;
The Manhattan Transfer; the Hi-Los;
and New York Voicesas well as originals by talented writers in this genre.
Attempts have been made to codify
the style and articulation used by most
players. These codification efforts have
been undertaken to make the music
more accessible to students and younger

performers. Much progress has been

made in the standardization of jazz markings and articulations in published jazz
material by the Music Publishers Association and organizations such as the
National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the International Association for Jazz Education (now disbanded),
and the Jazz Education Network.8 Still, it
must be remembered that because jazz
has its roots in the aural traditions of
African American culture, the printed
page merely approximates the ultimate
sound. What happens in the actual performance is far more crucial than what
is on the printed page. The most efficient way to become familiar with jazz
articulation is to listen to recordings of
the music being played by master soloists and ensembles and to emulate what
they do as closely as possible. Most students in todays world no longer have
ready access to hearing this music live or
on the radio, but through modern digital technology and the Internet, access to
vintage performances is rapidly increasing. Listening, therefore, is crucial to successfully and authentically playing jazz
in the swing style. Please refer to the jazz
discography sidebar for a representative
listening list of artists, bands, and vocal
groups.
Likewise, singing is very effective
for the internalization of the swing feel
and style. If the rhythm cannot be verbalized using syllables that approximate
the desired articulation, the performance
will never be truly authentic. The history
of jazz has long documented the symbiotic relationship of the voice and instruments in jazz. Louis Armstrongs singing
is a direct extension of how and what
he plays on his horn and vice versa. Listen to the example of him singing and
playing on Hotter than That (from the
Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz,
volume 1). A combination of long and
short syllables, such as doo, dah, day,
ba, da, va, daht, dow, and dit, are some
of the staples of the vocal vocabulary
that helped him create the appropriate
articulations. These syllables, known
as scat syllables, can help students verbalize rhythmic figures that they can
then transfer to their instruments. Even

www.nafme.org

Select Discography of
Jazz Recording
for Students
Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz,
vols. 13 (Sony, 1987).
Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, Town
Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945
(Uptown UPCD 27.51, 2005).
The Genius of Charlie Parker (Savoy MG
12014, 1992). A multiple-CD set also
titled The Genius of Charlie Parker
was released in 2005.
Charlie Parker, Yardbird in Lotus Land
(Spotlite [E] SPJ 123, 1945).
Charlie Parker, The Complete Savoy
Studio Sessions (Savoy SJL 5500,
1944).
The Quintet, Jazz at Massey Hall (Debut
DEB 124, 1953).
Sonny Stitt, Sonny Side Up, with Dizzy
Gillespie and Sonny Rollins (Verve
MGV-8262, 1958).
Sonny Stitt, The Champ (Muse MR 5023,
1974).
Art Blakey, Night at Birdland, vol. 1 (Blue
Note 32146, 1954).
Ken Burns Jazz, Definitive Count Basie
(Verve 549090, 2000).
Count Basie, Basie Straight Ahead (Verve
822, 1967).
Ken Burns Jazz, Definitive Art Blakey
(Verve 549089, 2000).
Ken Burns Jazz, Definitive Duke Ellington
(Legacy 61444, 2000).
Woody Herman, Woodys Gold Star
(Concord 4330, 1987).
Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Central
Park North (Blue Note 76852, 1969).
The Complete Ella Fitzgerald and Louis
Armstrong on Verve (Verve, [1956]
1997).
Ella Fitzgerald, The Best of the
Songbooks (UMG, 1993).
Ella and Basie! (Verve, 1963).
Manhattan Transfer, Bop Doo-Wopp
(Atlantic, 1983).
Manhattan Transfer, Vocalese (Atlantic,
1985).
Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross,
Everybodys Boppin (Sony, 1959).
The Real Group, Jazz: Live (Gazell
Records AB, 1996).
The Real Group, Unreal! (Town Crier
Recordings, 1995).
New York Voices, New York Voices (GRP,
1989).

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for singers and nonwind instrumentalists, the verbalization of such syllables

will enhance the swing factor of a performers technique. For singers, this is
true when performing lyrics or scatting.
To be sure, there are as many different
scat syllables used by jazz artists as there
are jazz performers. Comparison listening to scat solos by Louis Armstrong,
Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan will
demonstrate the wide variety of scat syllables that jazz performers use. Although
the previously mentioned syllables are
not the only ones used to indicate jazz
articulations, they have been selected to
offer a basic set of syllables that will provide accuracy and consistency for your
students. These syllables are typically
used in the following manner:
x Doo is used for long sounds that
occur on downbeats. The articulation
symbol used is ().
x Day or dah is used for accented
long sounds on either downbeats or
upbeats (>).
x Va, da, or ba is typically used on unaccented upbeats (no symbol is used).
x Daht is used for accented short sounds,
whether downbeats or upbeats (^).
x Dit is used for unaccented short
notes (.).
x Dn is used for notes that are ghosted
or swallowed. These notes are often
designated by an X on the staff in
place of the notehead or a notehead
in parentheses.
x Dow is used for notes that are followed
by a falla descending glissando to
an undefined ending pitch (\).
x Doo-dle-da is used to articulate
eighth-note triplets.
Keep in mind that the articulation
symbols are not always used in the sheet
music. Also note that accented short
notes use a different syllable than unaccented short notes and are, as a result,
played slightly longer, or as one would
say in the jazz vernacular, fat or phat.
The notes are still short, but they have
more weight and length.
In swing style, the eighth note is
the traditional underlying subdivision.
Although tempo somewhat affects the
treatment of these eighth notes, the

FIGURE 1
Swing Eighth Note Patterns

FIGURE 2
Swing Eighth Articulation Pattern

FIGURE 3
Scale Articulation PatternSlow to medium tempo

overriding principle is that all eighth

notes are not created equal. Remembering this so-called Jazz Bill of Rights
is effective in performing the music
more authentically.9 Through the use of
accents and an underlying subdivision
that, depending on the tempo, lies somewhere between the triplet feel of 12/8
time and the exact even subdivision of
rock music, the jazz performer can create that ever-elusive swing groove. Also
crucial to the groove is the importance
of swinging the rests as well as the notes.
A performance where the notes are
swung but the rests are not swung is just
as inadequate as one where the notes are
not swung.
The swing feel in moderate to slower
tempos is characterized by an underlying subdivision of the eighth notes into
triplets as shown in Figure 1. You will
often see this indication at the beginning
of a chart or in the conductors score

to indicate that the eighth notes should

be swung. Any or all of the rhythms in
Figure 1 may be used to indicate swing
eighth notes.
Practicing eighth notes with the
middle syllable of the triplet silently
articulated, but not verbalized, will help
develop your students style (Figure 2).
Keep in mind that both instrumentalists and vocalists can utilize this exercise
as well as all of the other articulation
guidelines.
It is equally important that the student think of the upbeat notes resolving
to the downbeat. Using a legato articulation with slightly more emphasis on
the upbeat will connect the upbeat to
the next downbeat and will increase
the authenticity of the swing feel. This
concept can be verbalized as doo Dadoo, Da-doo (Figure 3). One caveat
to this technique is that as the tempo
gets faster, there is less emphasis on
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the upbeat, and the upbeat eighth notes

are often slurred into the next downbeat (Figure 4). Once the quarter note
reaches M.M. = 180+, the eighth notes
are performed evenly, and the swing
feel is created by slurring three or more
notes together and accenting selected
notes (Figure 5). Scales can be used as
exercises to practice this feel.
Once students become comfortable
with swing eighth notes, then interpreting jazz rhythms and applying the
appropriate articulations will be easier.
Consider the following guidelines when
preparing your next jazz performance.
Remember that because jazz is like a
language, there are always exceptions to
each guideline.

FIGURE 4
Scale Articulation PatternMedium tempo

FIGURE 5
Scale Articulation PatternFast tempo

1. Unless specifically marked otherwise,

any quarter note or eighth note followed by a rest is played or sung short.
Notice that the articulation ends with
a t sound, which is achieved by stopping the tone with the tongue (Figure 6).
While typically not used in classical performance technique, the tongue-stopped
tone is standard in jazz.
Notice that some of the short notes in
this example are accented and some are
not. This will be addressed in Guideline 4.
Quarter notes or eighth notes followed by rests often occur in jazz in
the middle and at the ends of phrases
and lines. More clarity is achieved when
these notes are played short. It is also
easier to coordinate the precision of
larger ensembles when these notes are
played short.
If not followed by a rest, then quarter notes and eighth notes are usually
played/sung long unless one of the following situations applies:
2. Quarter notes that occur on the
downbeats of beats 1 or 3 are usually
played/sung long.
3. Quarter notes that occur on the
downbeats of beats 2 or 4 are usually
played/sung short.
In the last measure of the example
in Figure 7, the quarter note on beat 3 is
played/sung short because it is followed
by a rest (Guideline 1).

FIGURE 6
Short Note Articulations

FIGURE 7
Quarter Note Articulations

In many styles of music, including

marches, beats 1 and 3 are the strong
beats and are therefore emphasized
more strongly. In jazz music, beats 2 and
4 are more strongly emphasized. This
is where the eighth notes occur in the
drummers ride cymbal pattern (Figure
8). The drummer usually creates a long
sound on beats 1 and 3 with the ride
cymbal. The hi-hat is always played on
beats 2 and 4 in jazz.
Because of the strong impact of the
hi-hat cymbals when they come together
in a sort of chick sound on beats 2 and
4, quarter notes that occur on these beats

www.nafme.org

receive more attention. This action also

simulates the beats where finger snaps
would occur to keep time to the music.
To better coordinate the ensemble articulations with the rhythm section sounds,
short quarter notes on beats 2 and 4 are
more effective. An exception to this rule
is when there is a string of more than four
quarter notes in a row. In this situation,
all the quarter notes are typically played
(sung) short and accented (Figure 9).
Likewise, there are certain rhythm
combinations, such as the one shown in
Figure 10, that call for both quarter notes
to be played or sung short, even though
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FIGURE 8

FIGURE 12

Ride Cymbal/Hi Hat Pattern

Syncopation Pattern

common malady, especially in young

jazz groups.

FIGURE 9
Articulation for Consecutive Quarter Notes

The eighth-note/quarter-note/eighthnote syncopation pattern, as shown in

Figure 12, is very common in jazz music.
Usually the quarter note is performed
short and is accented to take advantage
of the syncopated rhythm. Figure 13
shows several ways that this syncopated
rhythm is articulated. If followed by a
rest, the figure should be articulated with
the syllables doo-daht-dit (Example 1).
If the last note is tied to a longer note,
the figure is articulated doo-daht-day
(Example 2). Even if the beginning of the
figure is an eighth note rest, the figure
is still articulated in this manner (Example 3). Example 4 shows how the figure
would be articulated if the last note of
the figure is not tied but is followed by
another note.
When the upbeat quarter-note equivalent occurs as a part of a sequence of
eighth notes and is tied across the bar
line or the imaginary midpoint of the
measure, it is played (sung) long, as seen
in Figure 14.

FIGURE 10
Johnny Carson Theme Rhythm

FIGURE 11
Eighth Note doo-dit Pattern

one occurs on beat 3 and one on beat 4.

I refer to this particular rhythm combination as the Johnny Carson Theme rule
due to the prevalence of that rhythm in
the theme song to his television show. It is
also the primary rhythmic figure in composer Neal Heftis Lil Darlin, a standard
big band chart recorded by Count Basie.
4. When the rhythmic pattern of two
eighth notes followed by a rest starts
on a downbeat, it is almost always
articulated with the syllables doo-dit.

5. A quarter note (or the equivalent

thereof) that occurs on an upbeat
between two eighth notes (or rests) is
played/sung short.

The two-eighth-note combination

followed by rest is one of the staples
of swing (Figure 11). As exemplified in
Duke Ellingtons C Jam Blues, the syllables doo-dit provide the appropriate
interpretation of this rhythm pattern.
Should this pattern occur at the end of
a phrase, the rhythm should be played
(sung) as if it were a triplet with the
middle note imagined mentally rather
than be articulated. Using the articulation syllables doo-hoo-dit will help this
rhythm keep from rushing, which is a

6. Upbeat entrances after a rest, especially those that are a dotted-quarter-note length or longer, should be
anticipated with an accent (AWA).
However, even short notes that enter
on the upbeat are AWA.
Entrances on the upbeat after a rest
are particularly crucial to an authentic jazz
style. Anticipating them with an accent
keeps them from sounding late and provides the appropriate emphasis for the
rhythm pattern (Figure 15).
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7. A succession (three or more) of quarter notes (or equivalent) on consecutive upbeats is usually played/sung
long and accented.

FIGURE 13
Syncopation Pattern Articulations

When three or more quarter notes

occur on successive upbeats, they are all
played (sung) long and accented to prevent the sound from being too choppy
and allowing the beat to rush (Figure 16).
8. In a line of eighth notes, accent the
highest note and any wide-leap
changes of direction. Ghost (swallow)
the lowest note and notes that occur
on the weakest upbeats (2 and 4).

FIGURE 14
Upbeat Tied Eighth Note Pattern

The concept of ghosting, or swallowing, a note is achieved by using the

syllable dn rather than doo and actually
simulating swallowing rather than blowing during these notes. This results in a
less defined tone for that note, making it
more suggested than clearly articulated.
Often this type of note is indicated in the
music with an X rather than a notehead
or parentheses around the chosen note.
This technique is often heard in music
of the bebop era. Listening to the music
of Charlie Parker provides the ultimate
guide for performing this articulation
style authentically. A careful analysis will
indicate this practice being used on long
lines of eighth notes, as shown in Figure
17. Use of this practice can be heard on
many Charlie Parker recordings. Listen to
examples from the discography included
as a sidebar in this article.

FIGURE 15
AWA Pattern

FIGURE 16
Consecutive Upbeat Quarter Notes

9. The eighth-note triplet rhythm is usually articulated by slurring the first

two notes and tonguing the last one.
The most commonly used articulation
syllables are doo-dle-da.

FIGURE 17
Ghosted Notes and Eighth Note Line Accents

Using this articulation will allow the

performer to play or sing a line of successive triplets with speed and smoothness (Figure 18).
10. All notes of a quarter-note triplet
should be played/sung long unless
otherwise indicated. Sometimes
they are accented, and sometimes
they are not.

www.nafme.org

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for your jazz ensemble to articulate better. The discography in this article will
provide good examples for your students
to listen to and emulate.

FIGURE 18
Eighth Note Triplets

NOTES
1. Antonio J. Garcia, Learning Swing
Feel or How to Sculpt an Elephant,
International Trombone Association
Journal 34, no. 2 (April 2006),
http://www.garciamusic.com/educator/
ita.journal/ita.journal.html.

FIGURE 19
Quarter Note Triplets

2. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Swing_(jazz_performance_style)
(accessed January 7, 2010).
3. Mark C. Gridley, Jazz Styles: History
and Analysis, 10th ed. (Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2009),
811.
4. Bill Treadwell, The Big Book of
Swing (New York: Cambridge House,
1946).
5. See http://www.jazzinamerica.org/
JazzResources/Resources (accessed
January 7, 2010).

FIGURE 20
Sixteenth Note Pattern

6. Treadwell, The Big Book of Swing.

7. Jeff Pressing, Black Atlantic Rhythm:
Its Computational and Transcultural
Foundations, Music Perception 19,
no. 3 (2002): 288.

In jazz, the quarter-note triplet is

known as the drag triplet. The purpose
of this rhythm is to pull against the regular eighth-note pulse. A common error is
to play the last note of this figure short,
which changes the impact and causes
the figure to rush. Imagining this rhythm
as if it comprised six eighth-note triplets
tied together in groups of two will make
it easier to perform. This rhythm should
not be confused with the dotted eighthnotesixteenth-note tied to eighth-note
eighth-note rhythm shown in Figure 19.
11. Two sixteenth notes followed by a
rest are articulated with the syllables
spit-it or did-it. The first sixteenth is
usually accented.

While this rhythm pattern does not

occur as often, it is often challenging for
students, who tend to play the sixteenths
too slowly. Using this articulation will
help solve that problem (Figure 20).

8. A copy of a chart of standard articulations can be found in J. Richard

Dunscomb and Willie Hill Jr.,
Jazz Pedagogy: The Jazz Educators
Handbook and Resource Guide (Van
Nuys, CA: Alfred Music Publishing Co.,
2002), 70.
9. Ibid., 75.

By following these guidelines, your

instrumental or vocal jazz ensemble
should be a swinging, hot-sounding jazz
machine. To be sure, there are exceptions to these guidelines, just as there are
exceptions to the guidelines for English
language pronunciation. Even so, just as
one learns a new language by listening
to it spoken and mimicking the speaker,
listening to and mimicking authentic jazz
examples will provide the prime model

Check out some of the

Jazz-Related Lesson Plans in
My Music Class
at musiced.nafme.org
under Lessons.
Put jazz in the search box.

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