In the 1920s, the era immediately following World War I, music and dance became a focal point. Many musicians were moving north from Southern cities like New Orleans, which was the main hub of what would become jazz music. When these musicians arrived in the more urban cities, they introduced the country to a musical world based on the tones of Caribbean music and Southern blues. Syncopation was common in the songs known in this area, as were the common blues sounds and rhythms of those gospel songs and old hymns. All this would greatly influence the creation of jazz. Jazz began as a type of music focused more on orchestral sounds and larger bands than smaller ones, as seen with Whiteman, and this was evident in the types of dances and music that people listened to, with large orchestras. In this time period, there were big bands, but few solos or focused on jazz technique individually, as the bands showcased the overall sound of the band's polyrhythmic, polyphonic sound more than its homophonic lead sounds. People like Louis Armstrong became more interested in chords than melodies, and in solos rather than collective group improvisation, and this began the transition to 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 doing some research on Fletcher Henderson and found out a lot of interesting things about him, such as example the fact that he had sold many of his songs to Benny Goodman later in his career. Knowing this, I can look at this information alongside what we learned in Lesson 4 about Henderson's tendency to be influenced by Whiteman. Whiteman was more interested in orchestral dance music and during this period there were orchestras… at the center of the paper… melody. This call and response is an interesting technique that can be found partly originating in the Deep South, such as in New Orleans, in Baptist churches. These musicians who had migrated north from these places incorporated techniques like this into their music. Riffs have also become more common. In this time period, there was a greater focus on homophonic rhythms and sounds, highlighting individual musicians' techniques and allowing for many more solos (e.g. in Goodman's earlier piece). As stated in Lesson 7, there was another major change from the 1920s to the 1930s, and this was found in the shift from tuba to double bass in most songs. This meant the songs went from a 2/4 bar to a 4/4 bar/bassline. This was called walking bass and allowed for a very upbeat, up-tempo song with a catchy sound.