Analysis Of The Playing Techniques Of The Two Works Of Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer,who is regarded as one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time and is one of only five jazz musicians to date to be featured on the cover of Time magazine.He,with Charlie Parker,Dizzy Gillespie,Kenny Clarke and other musicians,contributed to the emergence of Bebop and laid foundation for the development of modern jazz in harmony.His compositions and playing are full of “dissonances”,which combined with his unconventional piano playing techniques,and have a strong sense of impact that make him a musician with a very personal style and characteristics.This paper takes two works of Monk as the object of the research,which analyses and studies the two works from the aspects of melody,harmony,rhythm,texture and so on,and discusses the musical characteristics and playing techniques of the two works,so as to further understand the characteristics of Monk’s music and his playing.This paper is divided into four parts.The first chapter briefly reviews Monk’s life and the background of his time.The second chapter analyses the musical characteristics and playing techniques of《Epistropy》which plays by his jazz combo.The third chapter analyses the musical characteristics and playing techniques of《Everything Happens To Me》which is a solo piano work played by himself.The fourth chapter summarizes the musical characteristics and playing techniques of the two works and briefly describes his influence to jazz music and on jazz musicians.