[Dixielandjazz] Nazi Dance Band Rules - - A Fake?

[Stephen G Barbone]

Those of us who read, and believed the so called "Nazi Dance Band  
Rules" posted a time or two in the past, may be interested in the  
below blog. Like so many of the things we get over the internet, the  
rules are, according to this researcher, not true. How easily we are  
fooled these days where no one is concerned about logic or truth. How  
many of us took these rules seriously?

Cheers,
Steve barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

Fiction: Nazi Germany’s Dance Band Rules
August 16, 2009 — irom
When I first published this post yesterday (Sun. 8/16) I did so with  
some reservation, pointing out that these were “alleged to be actual  
rules handed out… by the German Government in 1940.” But I had my  
doubts when I discovered they’d been floating around the internet for  
a while, with no one seeming to affirm their authenticity or their  
fraudulence, one way or the other. So I labeled it “Humor (?). This  
morning I received a message from my Russian friend and jazz expert,  
Cyril Moshkow, clarifying everything. (More information about Cyril  
and his excellent jazz magazine and website can be accessed here:  
Cyril Moshkow.) Here’ s Cyril’s explanation about the “Dance Band  
Rules”:

“It is not exactly humor -- it is a part of Czech fiction writer  
Joseph Škvorecký’s story “Eine Kleine Jazzmusik”, published in 1966.  
Everybody in 1960s Europe knew it was a fake, expecially because of  
the “Reischmusikfuehrer’s” first and last name (which sounds too  
unnaturally much Hitler Era-ish — well, as if an imaginary U.S.  
functionary from the same time were called Roosevelt Newdeal.) But  
then, as the 1960s in their order became history, this feeling of on- 
purpose exaggeration somehow vanished, and newer generations of  
writers now meet this excerpt, which since the arrival of the Internet  
became a popular mega-quotation, now lives its own life; its readers,  
unaware of its being part of a certain writer’s fiction story (and, I  
am afraid, of the very existence of that certain writer,) now believe  
it to be a genuine Nazi document. Which only proves that Joseph  
Škvorecký (b.1924) is a very gifted writer. BTW he spent much of his  
life in Canada, wrote about jazz, was a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow  
of the Royal Society of Canada, and was nominated for the Nobel Prize  
in 1982 (but not awarded it.)” – Cyril Moshkow
That clarification made, I’m leaving the post here — properly re- 
labeled — as an entertaining sample of jazz fiction from a writer  
whose work I didn’t know. And, after looking into Skvorecky’s bio, his  
fascination with jazz and the list of his often jazz-tinged novels and  
short stories, I’m delighted that this chance episode has introduced  
me — and hopefully those of you who read this blog — to the work of a  
compelling, and too little known author.

To read further comments on the Nazi Germany Dance Band Rules, click  
here.

- Don Heckman

Nazi Germany’s Dance Band Rules of 1940


1. In the repertoire of light orchestras and dance bands, pieces in  
fox-trot rhythm (so-called swing) are not to exceed 20%.

2. In the repertoire of this so-called jazz type, preference is to be  
given to compositions in a major key and to lyrics expressing joy in  
life (’Kraft durch Freude’), rather than Jewishly gloomy lyrics.

3. As to the tempo, too, preference is to be given to brisk  
compositions as opposed to slow ones (so-called blues); however, the  
pace must not exceed a certain degree of allegro commensurate with the  
Aryan sense for discipline and moderation. On no account will Negroid  
excesses in tempo (so-called hot jazz) be permitted, or in solo  
performances (so-called breaks).

4. So-called jazz compositions may contain at the most 10%  
syncopation; the remainder must form a natural legato movement devoid  
of hysterical rhythmic references characteristic of the music of the  
barbarian races and conducive to dark instincts alien to the German  
people so-called ‘riffs’).

5. Strictly forbidden is the use of instruments alien to the German  
spirit (e.g. so-called cowbells, flex-a-tone, brushes, etc.) as well  
as all mutes which turn the noble sound of brass-wind instruments into  
a Jewish-Freemasonic yell (so-called wa-wa, in hat, etc.).

6. Prohibited are so-called drum breaks longer than half a bar in four  
quarter beat (except in stylized military marches).7. The double bass  
must be played solely with the bow in so-called jazz compositions;  
plucking of strings is prohibited, since it is damaging to the  
instrument and detrimental to Aryan musicality. If a so-called  
pizzicato effect is absolutely desirable for the character of the  
composition, let strict care be taken lest the string is allowed to  
patter on the sordine, which is henceforth forbidden.

8. Provocative rising to one’s feet during solo performance is  
forbidden.

9. Musicians are likewise forbidden to make vocal improvisations (so- 
called scat).

10. All light orchestras and dance bands are advised to restrict the  
use of saxophones of all keys and to substitute for them violin-celli,  
violas, or possibly a suitable folk instrument.

Signed,

Baldur von Blodheim
Reichsmusicfuhrer und Oberscharfuhrer SS