English Listening B2 Section 1 - Episode 10 - Track 09
Fill in the Blanks Exercise
Presenter: Hello and welcome to ClickBeat - the show in which my panel and I discuss all things music. Now, today we're
on a genre that really does divide opinion - jazz. What is it about this style of music that some people love and others seem to
? Well, here to help us answer that question is jazz musician Elijah Kegan and music critic Bethany Cartwright. Elijah, Bethany-welcome to the show.
Presenter: So, Bethany - what is it about jazz that
opinion so much?
Bethany: I think partly because it's unpredictable, and it can be difficult to make
of if you aren't a trained musician. That's because jazz musicians often
. In other words, they make music up as they go along, so as a listener, you don't know where it's going next. That can be confusing, as time signatures keep changing. What I mean by that is that you might
out counting one, two, three, four and then find the rhythm's changed to one, two, three, four, five. Counting five beats or seven beats or whatever is very different to most of the music we listen to. It can be tricky to keep
of what's happening. It can create feelings of discomfort, and when we're made to feel uncomfortable by something, we're more likely not to
it.
Presenter: Interesting. Elijah, what do you think?
Elijah: Obviously, I'm a big fan of jazz! I couldn't
without it. Some jazz is very accessible. You'll recognise lots of jazz tunes and
your feet to them. There's this technique in jazz known as 'noodling". That's when the music diverts away from the main tune and it can sound quite
and noisy-though there is structure and tune there if you listen for it. I think mainly it's down to the sound-when you have, say, a saxophone involved, it can be quite
pitched and sound like it's screaming. I think that's why some people can't
it.
Presenter: What do you both think could help people to enjoy jazz more? Or, do they really
to?
Elijah: I do think they're
out, personally. It's got an interesting history. It's very creative and there are some great tunes and beats - like those ones that get your feet tapping. You don't have to listen to the '(
core' stuff that serious jazz fans listen to.
Bethany: Elijah's right. There's lots of more sort of basic, structured jazz out there which is a good
to the genre. No one has to listen to anything they don't want to - but when you give things a go, you often develop new
for things and it opens your mind.
Presenter: All right, well I think it's time we listened to some, don't you? Coming up next is Duke Ellington's...
