In the 1920s, just after World War I, music and dance became a priority. Many musicians were moving north from southern cities like New Orleans, which was the main center of what would become jazz music. As these musicians traveled to more urban cities, they introduced the country to a musical world based on the sounds of Caribbean music and southern blues. Syncopation was common in songs known in this region, as were the bluesy sounds and rhythms common in these gospel songs and early hymns. All this will greatly influence jazz creation. Jazz began as a type of music focused more on orchestral sounds and large groups than small groups, as seen with Whiteman, and this was evident in the types of dances and music people listened to, with large orchestras. In this era, there were big bands, but few solos or focused on jazz technique individually, as the groups emphasized the overall sound of the group's polyrhythmic and polyphonic sound more than its homophonic solo sounds. People like Louis Armstrong began to focus more on chords than melodies and solos rather than collective group improvisation, which sparked the evolution toward a new wave of jazz: swing. When we got to our forum post for lesson 4, which was After the Lesson on the 1920s, Paul Whiteman and Jungle Music, I ended up researching Fletcher Henderson and discovered lots of interesting things about him, like the fact that he sold several of his songs to Benny Goodman later in his career. Knowing this, I can compare this information to what we learned in Lesson 4 about Henderson's tendency to be influenced by Whiteman. Whiteman was more interested in orchestral dance music and at that time there were orchestras...... middle of paper...... melody. This call and response is an interesting technique that partly originated in the Deep South, such as New Orleans, in Baptist churches. Those musicians who had migrated north from these places introduced such techniques into their music. Riffs also became more common. During this period there was an increasing emphasis on rhythms and homophonic sounds, showcasing the musicians' individual techniques and allowing many additional solos to be performed (e.g. in Goodman's earlier piece) . As noted in Lesson 7, there was another significant change between the 1920s and 1930s, and this was found in the switch from tuba to double bass in the majority of songs. This meant that the songs went from a 2/4 beat to a 4/4 beat/bassline. This was called the walking bass and made for a very upbeat, upbeat song with a catchy sound..