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Bunny M." is a sixteen year old Dallas resident who plays drums, piano and clarinet. Her passion for jazz and the challenges she faces as a youthful fan of it is the focus of her Jerry Jazz Musician column, "Accent on Youth."
Listen to Dinah Washington sing Accent On Youth
by Bunny M.
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Questions and Answers, Volume II
Bunny If you could tell me guys, what kind of music do you guys listen to and enjoy? Michelle Mostly I listen to, I guess -- what, pop and hip hop -- kind of like the popular stuff of today, you know, stuff you'd hear in the clubs, like trance and stuff, yeah, that's me. Other than tha t-- I mean, I'll listen to anything you know, but that's the stuff I mostly listen to. Bunny Do you have any favorite artists or songs? Michelle Favorite songs, I don't know, because there's so many different types of music, it's hard to pick a favorite song. I like that teenybopper stuff like Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, you know, that's the kind of stuff I like. Louis I like alternative I guess. Most of the stuff -- like the dance and trance stuff that Michelle listens to, I like too. And-- Michelle You're forced to-- in the car-- <<laughs>> Louis Yeah -- and just pretty much anything I guess. Bunny What are your favorite artists? Louis There's one I like -- I like Red Hot Chili Peppers, they're good. And Seether, and Hoobastank -- Bunny Who? Louis Seether, and Hoobastank Bunny Oh -- I haven't heard of that one. Michelle Me neither. Bunny And what kind of music do your friends listen to -- more of the same kind of thing, or a little bit different -- Michelle Yes my friends and I listen to the same music. That is how we get along. <<laughter>> Bunny Yeah, that's a pretty good bond there. Louis Alternative, yeah, but one of my friends he's really interested in jazz -- he loves jazz. And that's pretty much all he listens to. Bunny What kind of jazz does he listen to? Louis He likes blues mostly -- and classical -- not really. Bunny Yeah, there's a lot of different styles -- well that's cool. And, growing up around the house, what kind of music did you hear -- what kind of music do your parents listen to? Michelle Well my parents don't listen to music much like -- our house is pretty quiet, but they listen to, like old-people Vietnamese music, you know. But when we're in the car with them, they listen to what we listen to. Bunny When you hear the word "jazz," what comes to mind? What do you think of or associate with jazz? Louis Well now I'd probably think about my friend because he talks about it a lot. I guess the saxophone, because he's in band and plays the saxophone, so, saxophone, blues, just like -- well jazz was really popular in the '20s right? So, probably around that too. Michelle Do I have to answer -- I don't know! Nothing really comes to mind. Well I guess -- oh okay: when I think of jazz, the thing I think about is like, you know in the movies how people go to jazz -- like a bar or club, I don't know what to call it, you know -- and they just sit and have a cocktail or something with their friends, that's what I think of. I don't really listen to jazz or anything, so nothing really comes to mind. Bunny Okay, so now -- we'll listen to a few pieces -- five to be exact -- and kind of get a little feel for the different spectrum of jazz. Of course, there's just so many facets -- I mean, the history of jazz goes back over one hundred years, and it's hard to cram that into just five songs and get everything covered, so, you know, this isn't a "Best of Jazz" or "Most Popular" or anything like that. It's just a couple of songs that, I feel, demonstrate kind of what jazz is about.
Michelle Well favorite, I don't know about that but -- well, 'cause I never listen to this kind of stuff, and I don't play any instrument and I'm not very artsy, so I guess I have no appreciation for that kind of stuff -- you know, just being honest. But, I was a little surprised that there was a lot of drums -- I was kind of surprised, I didn't know there was that much drumming in it. Bunny Do you think you would consider listening to more of that style of music, or would you just kind of "eh, whatever"? Michelle No, not really, because -- like I said, we go to the clubs a lot and we play music to dance and just have fun, and so, it's not something that I would actually like, jam to in the car. Like music -- I like to listen to music that I can sing, so I can sing along you know, and I think lyrics also, kind of go with how you feel. Like if you're having a bad day, you're gonna listen to some sad angry song, something like that. But, no, I don't think I'm gonna be listening to that kind of stuff on my own free will. <<laughs>> Louis Well, I've listened to stuff like this before, but that's when I had some relationship to it, back in band, so-- Bunny You were in band? Louis Yeah, but not very long. I played the trombone. Bunny Cool! Louis Yeah, and there was trombone in the jazz, so -- Michelle There's some piano isn't there? Bunny Yeah -- some piano in jazz. Traditional jazz is, you know, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, that sort of thing... So -- what do you think of that style in general? Louis It's relaxing -- it's probably something I'd put on like if I was having my in-laws over. <<laughter>> Bunny Oh that's beautiful! I love that.
Bunny It was all sax, yeah -- what'd you think about that sax? Louis It sounds pretty hard to play -- I wouldn't want to try that -- it would probably take me a while. It sounded interesting. I tried to see if there was a pattern. Did he just make it up? Bunny Yeah, that's the interesting thing about bop is that -- of course you had some that composed their original tunes, but, a lot of the big bop thing was, you take songs that were already popular standards, and take the harmonic changes and improvise new songs on top of them. So there was a lot of that harmonic invention, improvisation, that sort of thing on popular songs. Michelle Well compared to the first one, I didn't really like it as much because -- I mean the saxophone playing was good, but it didn't seem -- like to me, the whole song didn't really seem to go together, like fit with one piece. I felt like the saxophone was doing its own thing and then, in the background, just playing another thing, you know. Bunny So compared to the first song, do you like one better? Michelle I liked the first one better. I mean, the first one, it just sounds like the whole song "goes", you know, and the second one was, I felt like it was really -- not "choppy," but, it didn't really flow like a song would.
Bunny It gets the job done. Michelle Yeah. But it's always like, if you think about lyrics, they're basically all the same subject -- some kind of love or, you know, stuff like that. So, even back then -- Bunny Times haven't changed. The thing I really like about these words is that, they're very simple -- Michelle Yeah. Bunny But they manage to say a lot -- I mean, "Don't cry, don't be that way" -- it's simple. Michelle But it gets the point across. Louis I can only think of the movie Chicago. Last year when I was in Drama, we had to pick a song, and sort of act it out -- it was a project. I thought Drama was a waste of time, but you had to do it -- that or Art, and I'm not too good at drawing stuff. We picked "All That Jazz" from Chicago -- it was either that or The Sound of Music -- Bunny Yeah, ["All That Jazz"] would be the better choice there. <<laughter>> Louis So yeah, ["Don't be That Way"] has a lot more simple lyrics than "All That Jazz" -- I mean, "All That Jazz" is a little -- I don't really know the lyrics to it but I can't really understand it as well as this one. Bunny I'm not too familiar with the lyrics of that one either, but I thought it was pretty complex as well.
Louis I really don't hate any type of music, I can listen to anything -- well, almost anything. Michelle There's an exception to every rule. Overall, I liked it. Nothing really sticks out in my mind that's super great or super bad about it. I don't really listen to jazz, so I don't really know what to listen for, but I like it. I think the singing -- I actually like it compared to the -- you know today's male singing that's either like really angry and yelling or screaming or really "oh, I love you" -- I mean, oh gosh, please, you know. I'm pretty surprised that, these people back then had really good voices, you know -- not that people these days don't have good voices but it's -- sometimes you're like "how did they get to sing?" Bunny The quality is not necessarily consistent these days -- Michelle Right. But, so far, [Ella Fitzgerald] -- I think their voices are actually pretty good. Bunny [After "Little Girl"] Two minutes on the dot. That's one of my favorite songs of all time -- I listen to it all the time. It's pretty unhealthy. Michelle Out of all the songs that we've listened to, I liked this song the best. It's just really simple, and the music is simple too -- it's not too crazy and I'm all "what's going on here?" This is gonna sound kind of weird, but this song reminds me of me. <<laughter>> Bunny Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about me too. Michelle It's like, some guy singing it to you, "awww, little girl . . . " you know. Bunny It's cute -- I mean, the words are not really serious, they're just fun, silly and cute. Louis Yeah, it's a good song. Michelle You can't really relate -- Bunny <<laughs>> Yeah really. Louis Yeah, anyway . . . I'm wondering, about how short it is -- like today's songs, three minutes is short, and four mnutes is about average. Bunny Songs are getting longer these days, I think -- Louis Well, I think it's just repeating a chorus over and over. He only repeats it once -- technically he repeates it twice -- the second time he changes it -- Bunny It modulates up -- Louis I guess that really keeps it, you know, fresh, rather than just repeating verse, chorus, verse, chorus three more times. Bunny The form is a little bit different in music today. The popular song form is, you have two, you know, verses and then a chorus and another verse -- AABA. These days it's a little bit different, you have more repetition and different parts, and that would make for a longer song. Louis And it wouldn't necessarily be better, it would just be longer. Bunny Yeah. In my opinion, the older songs did the same thing in less time, a little more efficient. Michelle Yeah. Bunny What'd you think of the singing? Louis I usually like singing I can relate to -- Bunny Yeah it would be hard [for you] to relate to "little girl" -- <<laughter>> Louis Yeah, so, it's good for someone else <<laughs>> Bunny Someone else. What do you think of his voice -- his technique and this style? Michelle I think if you listen to the songs now and you listen to the songs back then, back then they keep their voice simple, the notes. Now, if you listen to people like Christina Aguilera, she tries to hit like every note in one song, and it's great that you have skills and stuff, but it's just -- I think people like simple songs that they can just sing to, you know. Bunny We can't all sing like Christina Aguilera. Michelle Yeah, so I like the way -- not necessarily he sings but just the way, you listen to all the songs so far, they just keep, the notes just seem really simple.
Michelle What? I don't get it -- Louis ...and you're just staring up at the sky -- yeah. Bunny There is definitely that beach feel to it. I get a lot of -- Louis Not like spring break or anything -- Michelle Oh! <<laughter>> I just party so I don't know; relax -- what is that? To me this was kind of like -- it was weird because we didn't understand what they were saying [in Portuguese]. It's kind of like Starbucks music where you're just chillin', and it seems -- it sounds a lot more calm than everything else we've listened to. Bunny It has that very, kind of soothing-casual-laidback -- Michelle It kind of seems like a coffee shop deal, not like a -- I mean, I'm sure people can dance to it, but the other stuff you can visualize people dancing more than with this one. Bunny Yeah that's kind of a hallmark of most Brazilian music -- bossa nova was born out of the samba, which is basically the same thing, just a little bit different. And, one of the hallmarks of tha t-- it's just very laidback, very casual, very calm, it's not really too wild. And of course you've got that syncopated thing going on -- the beat is not just 1-2-3-4, it's kind of a -- kind of uneven, makes it kind of interesting. It's amazing stuff, pretty interesting history when you read about the bossa nova and how it got started, and all the figures behind it -- it's a good history. So, across the board, based on everything we've heard -- and of course it's impossible to sample everything in jazz, I mean, I could play a million songs and it wouldn't even touch the tip of everything in jazz. But based on what you heard, what do you think about jazz in general? Michelle I think-- you can't really say that something's cool, there's so many definitions of "cool", but I think it's good to have, just to like -- there's how many different types of music out there, instead of just "oh, what's popular now." But personally, I wouldn't listen to it or go out and buy a jazz CD or whatever, but, I mean, I like it, it's just not -- I guess I'm too wild for that; I need music to party to and sing to and whatever's popular now I guess. I'm that little girl teenybopper... Bunny It is kind of an interesting change of pace though you know, with all sorts of stuff that we have today, it's kind of a nice little refresher there. Louis, what did you think about it? Louis I think we need it because there's some music you need to play in waiting rooms and elevators. <<laughter>> Michelle That was good. Bunny Yeah! Louis I mean, you recognize it, you're in a doctor's waiting room -- Michelle Actually when I go to the doctor's office sometimes they play the radio. Bunny Yeah. Michelle Or like elevator -- Bunny The dentist where I go they play the oldies station -- for years and years, it's the oldies. Louis I think it's one of the types of music where it can go, it can be really happy or really sad-- it can be anything. I don't think a lot of music can be like that, like Michelle said, the screaming people-- Michelle Like punk rock-- Bunny Punk rock is basically the same thing across the board: people screaming <<laughter>> Michelle "I'm so angry aaaahhhh . . . " Louis ...Like "leave me alone, I'm alone . . . ". That would be funny though, happy punk rock. Michelle "The sun is so shiny!" Louis Yeah, they scream out that. <<laughter>> So, it's a pretty diverse field of music. Bunny The styles, there's a lot of styles, and then within the styles there's a lot to express emotion-wise. Everybody puts their own twist on it, you can hear the same song by two different people and you get two totally different readings of it. Michelle We probably don't know this either, but like a lot of the songs now probably are influenced from jazz, that we just don't know. Like we think, "Oh, this is popular now, jazz is not cool," but, you never know where the music of today really came from. Bunny It's pretty interesting, and even some musicians today, you know, you ask them who did they listen to growing up or who are their influences and they'll bust out some, you know, "Louis Armstrong!" or something like that, and, "But dude you play electric guitar in a metal band," you know, so it's pretty surprising. I mean, you have Rod Stewart, this rocker guy who's known for all that crazy stuff from the '70's and he's in on it too. So there is a lot of mixing it up. So in general -- do you think it's kind of "nerdy" or "square", anything like that, to like jazz? Like, when you think of jazz, someone who likes jazz, what is your impression of it, is this someone you would hang out with and listen to some music with, chill, or would you kind of keep your distance? You know, "This person's not too cool, I wouldn't want to be seen with them"? Michelle I think I'm kind of too old for that stuff like "oh you're nerdy because you like jazz", you know. But, I don't think any of my friends actually like jazz, but I'm sure that we're all open enough to listen to it if it was like on the radio and we thought it was cool. I mean, I don't think it's, "Oh you're weird, you listen to jazz" -- people like different things, and some people...I like Britney Spears and some people don't like Britney Spears and, I'm still not ashamed. I think jazz is probably better to like than Britney Spears, but, I mean, if it's there, someone has to like it you know. It doesn't really matter if you listen to, like, Hanson <<laughs>>. If you still listen to Hanson, that's great, you know, it doesn't really matter to me, I mean, it's just whatever. But I think jazz, to me is kind of an acquired taste. You can't really have someone just, "Oh, I'm gonna make you like jazz"-- Bunny Especially in these days, I mean there's just so much different stuff out there, and,it is pretty different from all that, you know, it does take some getting used to, especially I think with the music today. Michelle You probably have to grow up listening to it to actually like it, because if you just grow up and go to school and do your own thing with your friends, you're going to end up in all this, you know, pop and alternative and rap and stuff, so it's kind of like, oldies I think, it's gonna come from your parents. Louis Well I already have a friend who likes jazz -- I knew him long before he was in band and before he liked jazz at all. Bunny What did he like before that? Louis I'm not really sure, he listened to less music than I did. I'm not gonna hate him or anything for liking jazz. He understands that not everyone likes jazz, but that some people like jazz, and he likes to share that with other people. I respect that; I'm glad that he found something he enjoys, that he can really get into, because before he really didn't have any hobbies or interests at all, and now he found this and he has something. I was afraid he was gonna go insane -- he wasn't talking to anyone. Bunny What do you think -- let's say that you said you liked jazz. You started liking jazz, and your friends found out about it -- either you told them or they're just saying, "Hey, uh, you know, Michelle's acting pretty strange lately, she's getting into this jazz business." What do you think your friends would say if they knew that about you? Michelle They would be kind of weirded out because of the way I am -- I mean, I don't think it would be that big of a deal I just think that, the way we are, like I would still be listening to more trance or pop or alternative or something because that's just what the majority of us listen to. But I don't think they would be like "oh, get away from me" because -- even each person in our group is totally different, you know. One thing that keeps us together, I guess, that we all have in common is our music, but, if one person likes something else I don't think it's going to be a big deal. Louis If I liked it and they -- I don't think they would be that confused because I like weird things. Bunny <<laughs>> Louis Okay, yeah, I'm a weirdo. Bunny I'm going to transcribe that into the interview. Louis I get bizarre interests sometimes, like out of nowhere. Not like things that would be wrong, but things that are always changing. Like my friends will be talking about some TV show or something and I'll bring up something completely different, and they're like, "where'd this come from?" But I wouldn't try to force it on them or make them try to listen to it. I mean, if I liked it and they knew I liked it, I would probably just do it on my own time and they wouldn't have a problem with it. I mean, it's a mature world today -- Bunny Yeah, be mature...Would you ever, assuming you liked jazz, just kind of, maybe have your friends over and just casually put on an album or something and say, "Hey why don't you check this out, you know, what do you think about this," you know, and what kind of a response would you hope for or expect? Michelle Well, if I really liked jazz, I mean, I guess I would probably do that at least every once in a while. Bunny Probably incorporate it with some other stuff -- Michelle Yeah. But, I know for a fact that they'd be like, "Oh turn this off, I want to listen to. . . " you know. I chill with a bunch of guys and they like to breakdance, you know, so -- they can't breakdance to jazz and start raving and stuff -- <<laughter>> So, I know that they would be like -- they wouldn't be like, "Oh, this stinks!" or something, they'd just be like, "Can we listen to something else, 'cause I want to do this" or whatever... Louis We either watch TV or sports or something, and like, "Turn it off I can't hear the announcer," or play some video game or something. They probably would be wondering, "Why is this on?". I guess the first time they probably wouldn't feel so bad with it -- they wouldn't get sick of it, but they wouldn't really like listening to it. Michelle I learned from 8th grade that -- this was when Hanson was becoming popular, and, if people don't like it, then people aren't going to like it and so it's just like, you can't put pressure on people, you can just defend what you like. Bunny If you've made up your mind not to like something you're not going to be convinced. Michelle Yeah totally. So I mean, even if I did put it on, I mean, I would hope they would respect it, but I don't really have big expectations of my friends to have to like what I like because, I don't always like what they like. It's a healthy thing. Bunny So, I guess in closing -- after today and after what we've heard, which isn't really much, in the grand scheme of things, but just based on some of the things that you heard and maybe some of the things that you liked, have your perceptions of jazz changed? Have your impressions of it, and would you consider venturing into it a little more, maybe listening to it, at least checking it out a little bit -- maybe not getting totally hardcore into it but maybe just, you know, test the waters a little bit? Louis Maybe, if I had more time. There's always something to do. If you're doing a project or a paper for school and you feel like this would be -- because this can relate to a lot of things, especially if you have English, because jazz can relate to a lot of literature -- I guess. I mean, I'd hate to say that I'd get into it because I was forced to, but it's just something you choose and I guess I could. I mean only as far as my friend would go because I'd probably just mention this to him and he'd tell me some things. But he'd probably know that I wouldn't want to hear too much about it. Bunny Do you ever listen to some of his jazz stuff? Louis He usually listens to his headphones, so I can't hear any of it. <<laughs>> Bunny So would you ever think of maybe asking him, "Hey can I check out one of your CD's" or something like that? Louis He brings his CD player everywhere, so if I were to ask him or if he came over to my house, he'd probably bring it. I don't know, if he really wanted to he could pop in the stereo, if he wanted to. Michelle What was the question again? Bunny Have your perceptions changed at all about jazz, and also, would you possibly consider checking it out a bit more? Michelle No, not really, just straight up, because, I'm not interested, you know, and I don't -- I mean, it's just there, it's in the past for me. I'm living in the future, I'm the, this generation, you know, I'm not that -- and I mean I know some kids who are like that and I think that's great, but that's just not who I am. I'm more of today, and today's fashion, more like that. I'm really girly, and, you know, that's just not me. I think overall, this was a good experience to expand my horizons, you know, but other than that I wouldn't try to go out and figure out stuff. Bunny Would you ever consider going to a jazz concert, like if you heard of, "Oh, something's going on here" maybe, would you ever consider going to that just for kicks or anything like that? Like if someone invited you to one -- two questions here -- if someone invited you to one, "Hey so-and-so's gonna be playing at such a place, wanna join me?" What would you do? Michelle Personally I wouldn't go, no, but if someone invited me I'd just be like "Thanks but I'm just not really interested." And, I don't think I'd have a good time if I went, even if it was really good, you know, but I wouldn't know if it's really good because I don't know what's good or bad, you know. So I just don't think I'd really be interested, I'd be just kind of bored. Louis If I heard it on the radio, and something was up, I probably wouldn't go just for the sake of being lazy. <<laughs>> But if someone invited me -- it'd depend on the person. Like say my friend for example -- if it was his birthday or something and he really wanted to do it, it would be really weird and, and all my other friends were going, then -- Michelle But that's like that situation where you're being forced into something, kind of. Louis Yeah. Bunny What if it was something that sounded kind of interesting to you? Like -- you seem to be really big into the bass, I notice. What if you heard that some famous bass player was doing a concert or something? <<laughter>> Louis Porbably not, because I'm not in band anymore, and, well, back to who and what -- that could also enter, because if it was some hot girl -- <<laughter>> Bunny You'd go anywhere with her. <<laughter>> Bunny Is your friend still in band? Louis Mmhmm. (Yes) Bunny And what does he play again? Louis The saxophone. Bunny And, do you ever go to see him play? Louis Like a football game or something -- Michelle That's the only time they really play. Louis Yeah. Michelle But they don't really play jazz. Louis Well, I'm not really sure. Bunny Does he play jazz on the side? Maybe not with the band, but maybe on his own? Louis Probably, I don't know. I haven't asked him about it. Bunny What if he said, "Hey Louis, I've been practicing to this jazz song on my sax, can you check this out?" Would you be willing to listen to it? Louis I guess, I mean, well, he doesn't talk much so I don't think he'll ever say anything like that. He's like me, I don't talk too much. If it really meant to him, then I guess. Michelle I think overall for us, because we didn't grow up listening to music a lot, you know, and our parents, our parents like to sing when we go to weddings and stuff and my dad plays guitar, but not really, you know -- he knows how to play but he doesn't really play, play. Bunny Everybody's dad plays guitar -- Michelle Yeah! So we were never really around that stuff, our parents didn't care about that kind of stuff so, kind of like sports, we were like, "Eh, whatever", so, I think that's kind of a big influence on why we don't really have a lot of interest for it. We're just kind of like, "Oh, it's just there". ______________________________
Michelle's email: vtbebemichelle@comcast.net Louis's email: L4sDude@yahoo.com
* Peace is the word, Bunny
* "Bunny M." is a sixteen year old Dallas resident who plays drums, piano and clarinet. Her passion for jazz and the challenges she faces as a youthful fan of it is the focus of her Jerry Jazz Musician column, "Accent on Youth." You can contact Bunny at: lotusflower1922@hotmail.com
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