I first encountered Steve Reich last semester in Contemporary Music Class, but my interest wasn’t piqued until a student concert in December when I witnessed a live performance of "Clapping Music"
It was after that performance that I sought out a score of the music to learn its secrets. It’s so beautiful in its simplicity: a 12 eighth-note ostinato repeated 12 times and then shifted by one eighth-note every 12 repeats until 12 shifts have occurred and the original ostinato returns. It was a completely new form, not confined by the chorus / verse structure of pop music or even classical forms such as sonata or rondo. It opened my eyes to new possibilities as a composer.
"Clapping Music" (1972) was a direct extension of Reich’s earliest important work "Come Out" (1966) in that they both used the technique of phasing. However, where "Come Out" was produced in the studio with tape loops using linear phasing "Clapping Music" was able to achieve a phasing effect in live performance with stepwise motion.
I rediscovered works like "Different Trains" (1988) and "City Life" (1995) that utilized tape loops in conjunction with live instrumentation. These works were revolutionary as the melodic pitches and durations of the instruments were borrowed directly from the speech on the tapes.
I found works for guitar, including "Electric Guitar Phase" (2001) and "Nagoya Guitars" (1998)
I found "Piano Phase" (1967) a live linear phasing piece which predated the stepwise movement of later live pieces.
I found "The Cave" (1993) a multimedia "opera" that synthesizes all of Reich’s methods into one large-scale work.
As opposed to John Cage, who was interested in exploring the philosophical ramifications of music, Steve Reich focused on experimenting with new compositional techniques. He exploited the opportunities allowed by technology through incessant repetition and at same time pointed out the imperfections of machines through phasing. He returned to basic timbral elements such as the body and the voice and derived music from the natural cadences of speech. I know I have just scratched the surface of what Steve Reich has done and look forward to discovering more in the future.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Hip Hop Is Dead. Iron Butterfly Lives.
Rapper Nas’s latest album proclaims that "Hip Hop is Dead".
His reasons for saying this are numerous and half-baked.
The opening sequence of the music video reveals Nas’s Orwellian viewpoint of a future in which hip hop will die due to government censorship. Musicians today have considerably more freedom toady than, in say 1989, when record store owners were arrested for selling 2 Live Crew’s album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" and band members were arrested for performing the songs in public. Although there is currently much discussion in avoiding certain words and subject matter in hip hop music, many of the objections are coming from the hip hop community. Just last week, Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam Records, called for voluntary restriction on the words "bitch," "ho" and the "N-word," labeling them "extreme curse words." So while change may come, it will not be probably not be due to a government ban on hip hop.
In an interview which took place three months before the release of his album Nas said:
This gets closer to the real story. However, I don’t think American way of thinking is dead; I think that Nas’s way of thinking is dead. Here’s is a track called "Thief’s Theme" from an album released just two years before "Hip Hop Is Dead"
Did you notice a similarity? BOTH SONGS USE A SAMPLE FROM "IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA" BY IRON BUTTERFLY!!! Maybe Nas can’t play an instrument and maybe he’s not a record producer, but couldn’t he find a new sample to use? I think Nas’s main reason behind claiming that "Hip Hop Is Dead" was to stir up controversy which would help to promote the album sales for a performer on the creative decline.
The hip hop genre is, however, somewhat stagnant, most likely due to record companies and radio stations that play it safe by seeking out and promoting the familiar. Despite this modern rap occasionally moves in new directions and breaks new ground.
The Black Eyed Peas combine rapping and singing with a more positive worldview and infuse their music with a dance / funk element.
Black Eyed Peas – "Lets Get It Started" (2003)
OutKast is also "more musical" than previous rap music and the lyrics move beyond the traditional themes of money, sex, and violence.
OutKast – "Rosa Parks" (1998)
My personal favorite band that has expanded the boundaries of modern hip hop music is Rage Against The Machine. By combining the powerful instrumentation of an alternative metal band with abrasive rapped lyrics dealing with political issues, Rage Against The Machine has created some of the most unique and important music of the past fifteen years.
Rage Against The Machine – "Testify" (1999)
Rage Against The Machine – "Sleep Now In The Fire" (1999)
Rage Against The Machine – "Freedom" (1992)
His reasons for saying this are numerous and half-baked.
The opening sequence of the music video reveals Nas’s Orwellian viewpoint of a future in which hip hop will die due to government censorship. Musicians today have considerably more freedom toady than, in say 1989, when record store owners were arrested for selling 2 Live Crew’s album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" and band members were arrested for performing the songs in public. Although there is currently much discussion in avoiding certain words and subject matter in hip hop music, many of the objections are coming from the hip hop community. Just last week, Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam Records, called for voluntary restriction on the words "bitch," "ho" and the "N-word," labeling them "extreme curse words." So while change may come, it will not be probably not be due to a government ban on hip hop.
In an interview which took place three months before the release of his album Nas said:
"Hip-hop is dead because we as artists no longer have the power." He went on to say, "Could you imagine what50 Cent could be doing, Nas, Jay-Z, Eminem, if we were the Jimmy Iovines. Could you imagine the power we'd have? I think that's where we're headed."
If that’s where we are headed then wouldn’t that mean that hip hop is not dying, but in fact on the rise? The point is mute anyways, because it makes no sense to begin with. Jimmy Iovine is a record producer and co-founder of Interscope Records. Jay-Z is a rapper and current president and CEO of Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella Records. His current estimated net worth is $340 million. Does this sound like someone who is lacking in power?
In another interview Nas changed his story:
"...basically America is dead. There is no political voice. Music is dead. Our way of thinking is dead, our commerce is dead. Everything in this society has been done. That's where we are as a country."
This gets closer to the real story. However, I don’t think American way of thinking is dead; I think that Nas’s way of thinking is dead. Here’s is a track called "Thief’s Theme" from an album released just two years before "Hip Hop Is Dead"
Did you notice a similarity? BOTH SONGS USE A SAMPLE FROM "IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA" BY IRON BUTTERFLY!!! Maybe Nas can’t play an instrument and maybe he’s not a record producer, but couldn’t he find a new sample to use? I think Nas’s main reason behind claiming that "Hip Hop Is Dead" was to stir up controversy which would help to promote the album sales for a performer on the creative decline.
The hip hop genre is, however, somewhat stagnant, most likely due to record companies and radio stations that play it safe by seeking out and promoting the familiar. Despite this modern rap occasionally moves in new directions and breaks new ground.
The Black Eyed Peas combine rapping and singing with a more positive worldview and infuse their music with a dance / funk element.
Black Eyed Peas – "Lets Get It Started" (2003)
OutKast is also "more musical" than previous rap music and the lyrics move beyond the traditional themes of money, sex, and violence.
OutKast – "Rosa Parks" (1998)
My personal favorite band that has expanded the boundaries of modern hip hop music is Rage Against The Machine. By combining the powerful instrumentation of an alternative metal band with abrasive rapped lyrics dealing with political issues, Rage Against The Machine has created some of the most unique and important music of the past fifteen years.
Rage Against The Machine – "Testify" (1999)
Rage Against The Machine – "Sleep Now In The Fire" (1999)
Rage Against The Machine – "Freedom" (1992)
Friday, April 27, 2007
I know why the Cage bird sings
Some music is utilitarian. Drums played a communicative role in colonial military music. Work songs existed in both the African-American and Native-American cultures to fight the monotony of day-to-day life. Sacred music has always aspired to add to the religious experience. Much music has been created for the sole purpose of accompanying dance. Lyric-based music (whether it be opera, minstrel music, Tin Pan Alley, folk or rock 'n' roll) tells stories. These stories are meant to evoke emotions. Even instrumental music (from classical to jazz) strives to evoke an emotional response through its structure. In the simplest terms, we think of minor key, slow, legato music as being sad and major key, fast, staccato music as being happy. Melody and harmony have always exploited the dichotomy of tension and resolution in an attempt to convey feelings.
Early in the twentieth century, traditional harmonic structures began to be questioned. Charles Ives began to experiment with polytonality, the use of more than one key simultaneously. Arnold Schoenberg composed atonal music, music lacking any tonal center. This new music was less about the heart and more about the mind. It defied simple categorization as happy music or sad music. It posed questions.
John Cage went much further. Cage attempted to study composition under Schoenberg for two years, but ultimately went his own way because he had no interest in harmony. Cage turned his focus to expanding the rhythmic and timbral boundaries of music.
Music has traditionally told us what to do, think, or feel. John Cage’s music forces us to ask what to do, think, or feel. As much a philosopher as a composer, Cage questioned the very definition of music.
In The Name Of The Holocaust (1942)
Why does a piano have to sound like a piano??? A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered through the addition of foreign objects between the strings or on the hammers or dampers. After a span of exclusively writing percussion ensemble pieces, Cage was commissioned to write a piece for a space that was only large enough for one grand piano. By placing wood screws between the piano strings Cage was able to expand the timbral possibilities of the instrument.
Why does a piano have to be played like a piano??? Usually just the fingers are used to play the keys of the piano. In this particular piece the fist and forearm are also used. This innovation was most likely a result of Cage’s interest in percussion music. The volume and violence which this mode of playing allows effectively mimics the tragedy of the piece’s subject matter.
4’33" (1952)
Can silence be music? With 4’33" John Cage explored the concept of silence. Not a single note is played. The "music" is the ambient noise in the room, the sounds made by the audience. This piece blurred the line between composer, performer, and spectator.
What is music??? Cage was directly influenced by Robert Rauschenberg’s White Painting (1951) - seven panels of completely white canvas. These pieces are art and music, apparently, because the painter and composer say they are so.
Speech (1955)
What constitutes a musical performance??? Performers – check. Some sort of sound – check. Instruments – not necessary. John Cage’s "Speech" is performed by five people carrying portable radios and one person speaking. This piece was directly influenced by two technological advances around the time of its composition – the introduction of the pocket transistor radio in 1954 and the proliferation of television which resulted in radio focusing more attention on broadcasting music. Cage’s "music" was provided by radios, the most popular medium at the time for transmitting music.
What is composition??? What might, at first glance, appear to be random is actually carefully scripted by Cage. All of the performers’ actions were predetermined by chance through use of the I Ching, a tool frequently used by Cage. By completely removing any attempt to infuse the composition with his own ego, Cage left the structure of the piece up to the fates.
Chesspiece (1986)
What is a music video??? In 1981 MTV was born, debuting with "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles. In 1986 John Cage created "Chesspiece". If ambient noise can be music, then surely ambient noise on film can be a music video. In this work, the actions of the video camera are dictated by the I Ching while the movement of the chess pieces are dictated by the rules of the game. The "music" consists of the natural noises generated by a friendly game of chess.
What is John Cage doing??? John Cage’s music evokes not only feeling, but thought. Whether you respect what Cage is doing, or you think it’s silly, he forces you ask questions. Cage’s destiny was profoundly influenced by his father, who was an inventor. John Cage was an inventor too.
Early in the twentieth century, traditional harmonic structures began to be questioned. Charles Ives began to experiment with polytonality, the use of more than one key simultaneously. Arnold Schoenberg composed atonal music, music lacking any tonal center. This new music was less about the heart and more about the mind. It defied simple categorization as happy music or sad music. It posed questions.
John Cage went much further. Cage attempted to study composition under Schoenberg for two years, but ultimately went his own way because he had no interest in harmony. Cage turned his focus to expanding the rhythmic and timbral boundaries of music.
Music has traditionally told us what to do, think, or feel. John Cage’s music forces us to ask what to do, think, or feel. As much a philosopher as a composer, Cage questioned the very definition of music.
In The Name Of The Holocaust (1942)
Why does a piano have to sound like a piano??? A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered through the addition of foreign objects between the strings or on the hammers or dampers. After a span of exclusively writing percussion ensemble pieces, Cage was commissioned to write a piece for a space that was only large enough for one grand piano. By placing wood screws between the piano strings Cage was able to expand the timbral possibilities of the instrument.
Why does a piano have to be played like a piano??? Usually just the fingers are used to play the keys of the piano. In this particular piece the fist and forearm are also used. This innovation was most likely a result of Cage’s interest in percussion music. The volume and violence which this mode of playing allows effectively mimics the tragedy of the piece’s subject matter.
4’33" (1952)
Can silence be music? With 4’33" John Cage explored the concept of silence. Not a single note is played. The "music" is the ambient noise in the room, the sounds made by the audience. This piece blurred the line between composer, performer, and spectator.
What is music??? Cage was directly influenced by Robert Rauschenberg’s White Painting (1951) - seven panels of completely white canvas. These pieces are art and music, apparently, because the painter and composer say they are so.
Speech (1955)
What constitutes a musical performance??? Performers – check. Some sort of sound – check. Instruments – not necessary. John Cage’s "Speech" is performed by five people carrying portable radios and one person speaking. This piece was directly influenced by two technological advances around the time of its composition – the introduction of the pocket transistor radio in 1954 and the proliferation of television which resulted in radio focusing more attention on broadcasting music. Cage’s "music" was provided by radios, the most popular medium at the time for transmitting music.
What is composition??? What might, at first glance, appear to be random is actually carefully scripted by Cage. All of the performers’ actions were predetermined by chance through use of the I Ching, a tool frequently used by Cage. By completely removing any attempt to infuse the composition with his own ego, Cage left the structure of the piece up to the fates.
Chesspiece (1986)
What is a music video??? In 1981 MTV was born, debuting with "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles. In 1986 John Cage created "Chesspiece". If ambient noise can be music, then surely ambient noise on film can be a music video. In this work, the actions of the video camera are dictated by the I Ching while the movement of the chess pieces are dictated by the rules of the game. The "music" consists of the natural noises generated by a friendly game of chess.
What is John Cage doing??? John Cage’s music evokes not only feeling, but thought. Whether you respect what Cage is doing, or you think it’s silly, he forces you ask questions. Cage’s destiny was profoundly influenced by his father, who was an inventor. John Cage was an inventor too.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Ferris Bueller Goes To Band Camp
I have managed to live the majority of my life able to avoid lavish Broadway musicals. They seem to be so far removed from reality. Someone is talking and then all of a sudden they break into song and then everyone else around them breaks out into the same song and then they all dance in unison. It just seems downright silly. In real life I’ve never seen anyone transition seamlessly from talking to singing... except for Dr. Kwoun. I wonder if she dances too?
I can’t count how many times in the past year someone in a music therapy class has mentioned a song and I’ve said, "What song is that?" and they’ve said, "You know it’s that song from ‘Singin' In The Rain’ or ‘West Side Story’ or ‘Sound Of Music’ or ‘Cabaret’ or ‘Mary Poppins’ or ‘Meet Me In St. Louis’ or ‘Chicago’ or ‘Funny Girl’ or ‘Grease’ or ‘Rent’ or ‘Guys And Dolls’ or ‘Moulin Rouge’ or ‘Les Miserables’ or ‘The Phantom Of The Opera’ or ‘Cats’ or ‘Miss Saigon’ or ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ or ‘Fiddler On The Roof’ or … do you get the picture? And then I’ve said, "No, I’ve never seen that." I think I saw ‘The Muppet Movie’ when I was a kid. Does that count? I must have seen it because somehow I know the song "Rainbow Connection". And as a freshman in college I remember watching ‘The Wizard of Oz’, but it was only in an attempt to sync it up with Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon.’ (see here) I’m also familiar its most famous song "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" which led me to the conclusion that all musicals must have songs about rainbows and people with rainbow stickers on their car bumpers must be big fans of musicals – which I later discovered to be only somewhat true.
So in an attempt to broaden my music history horizons, I decided to watch an entire musical from start to finish.
I chose ‘My Fair Lady’, starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, the winner of eight Academy Awards in 1964. However, the inherent irony of a man discussing the importance of proper speech in a British accent so thick that I couldn’t understand him gave me a migraine and I had to turn off the movie after about ten minutes.
After a few Tylenol and some quiet time I resorted to plan B, the 2003 version of ‘The Music Man’, starring Matthew Broderick.
I was pleasantly not made physically ill by the first song, which I believe was called "Rock Island". The movie started with a group of travelling salesman having a conversation in a train car stopped at a station. As the train started chug-chug-chugging, the men’s conversation slowly accelerated in time with the sound of the train’s movement. I thought this was a really cool rhythmic effect. I enjoyed the fact that they DID NOT start singing, they talked rhythmically – somewhat like rapping. For the first two minutes of the song the only tonal timbral elements were the train’s whistle, the banging of a pipe against a metal ashtray, and the clinking of drinking glasses. When an orchestra entered the song my interest level immediately dropped. The song did end nicely with the speech decelerating and coming to a stop as the train pulled into the station of River City, Iowa.
Next was "Iowa Stubborn", a song about how people from Iowa are all assholes. I didn’t care for the music, but the lyrics were good.
Next was "Trouble", a song about how the billiard parlor in town just put in a pool table. I really can’t give an intelligent opinion on this song because I spent the entirety of it trying to figure out what the difference was between a pool table and a billiard table.
"Piano Lesson" was a pleasant surprise. The vocal melody was sung in unison with a young girl doing a simple piano exercise. This was another creative way to logically introduce instrumentation into a song. Again, when the orchestra joined, I was disappointed. I guess I’m easily upset by people singing along with an orchestra that isn’t there. I don’t understand. Do only we hear the orchestra or are the characters also supposed to be able to hear the orchestra? It is as puzzling as whether or not Stewie Griffin’s parents can understand him on the Family Guy, which is appropriate because I quickly figured out that Family Guy did a parody of "Piano Lesson":
Well… sorry, that wasn’t it. I couldn’t find it on YouTube, but I swear it exists.
After that song I got distracted and went to microwave some popcorn.
"Seventy-Six Trombones" was unique. The lyrics urged the townspeople to imagine the formation of a huge marching band. The instrumentation was provided by a huge marching band. Although the band didn’t actually exist on the screen, I still thought it was a clever association between the song’s lyrical and timbral elements. When everyone on screen started dancing Disney style, I noticed my toenails were long and decided to clip them.
In "Sincere", four school board members with no previous musical training who walk around town like Mafia henchmen were suddenly transformed into an amazing barbershop quartet. I felt a sharp, sudden pain in my left arm.
"The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl" took place in a tavern and soon after the tune got swinging the bartender moved from behind the bar to the piano in the room and added an additional syncopated ragtime style component to the song.
The next scene moved to a group of women shopping for hats in a hat store so I decided to rest my eyes.
I woke up to the sounds of "Shipoopi". This song was so over-the-top cheeseball, I couldn’t help but laugh. I hope that was the songwriter’s intention. This song was also featured on Family Guy:
After "Shipoopi" I got distracted and started googling Family+Guy+Music+Man and searching for related videos on YouTube. The movie continued to play, but my attention wandered so I couldn’t tell you how it ended.
I am somewhat disappointed that I didn’t achieve my initial goal of watching an entire musical. The DVD isn’t due for a couple days, so maybe I’ll get back to it.
Or maybe not.
I can’t count how many times in the past year someone in a music therapy class has mentioned a song and I’ve said, "What song is that?" and they’ve said, "You know it’s that song from ‘Singin' In The Rain’ or ‘West Side Story’ or ‘Sound Of Music’ or ‘Cabaret’ or ‘Mary Poppins’ or ‘Meet Me In St. Louis’ or ‘Chicago’ or ‘Funny Girl’ or ‘Grease’ or ‘Rent’ or ‘Guys And Dolls’ or ‘Moulin Rouge’ or ‘Les Miserables’ or ‘The Phantom Of The Opera’ or ‘Cats’ or ‘Miss Saigon’ or ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ or ‘Fiddler On The Roof’ or … do you get the picture? And then I’ve said, "No, I’ve never seen that." I think I saw ‘The Muppet Movie’ when I was a kid. Does that count? I must have seen it because somehow I know the song "Rainbow Connection". And as a freshman in college I remember watching ‘The Wizard of Oz’, but it was only in an attempt to sync it up with Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon.’ (see here) I’m also familiar its most famous song "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" which led me to the conclusion that all musicals must have songs about rainbows and people with rainbow stickers on their car bumpers must be big fans of musicals – which I later discovered to be only somewhat true.
So in an attempt to broaden my music history horizons, I decided to watch an entire musical from start to finish.
I chose ‘My Fair Lady’, starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, the winner of eight Academy Awards in 1964. However, the inherent irony of a man discussing the importance of proper speech in a British accent so thick that I couldn’t understand him gave me a migraine and I had to turn off the movie after about ten minutes.
After a few Tylenol and some quiet time I resorted to plan B, the 2003 version of ‘The Music Man’, starring Matthew Broderick.
I was pleasantly not made physically ill by the first song, which I believe was called "Rock Island". The movie started with a group of travelling salesman having a conversation in a train car stopped at a station. As the train started chug-chug-chugging, the men’s conversation slowly accelerated in time with the sound of the train’s movement. I thought this was a really cool rhythmic effect. I enjoyed the fact that they DID NOT start singing, they talked rhythmically – somewhat like rapping. For the first two minutes of the song the only tonal timbral elements were the train’s whistle, the banging of a pipe against a metal ashtray, and the clinking of drinking glasses. When an orchestra entered the song my interest level immediately dropped. The song did end nicely with the speech decelerating and coming to a stop as the train pulled into the station of River City, Iowa.
Next was "Iowa Stubborn", a song about how people from Iowa are all assholes. I didn’t care for the music, but the lyrics were good.
Next was "Trouble", a song about how the billiard parlor in town just put in a pool table. I really can’t give an intelligent opinion on this song because I spent the entirety of it trying to figure out what the difference was between a pool table and a billiard table.
"Piano Lesson" was a pleasant surprise. The vocal melody was sung in unison with a young girl doing a simple piano exercise. This was another creative way to logically introduce instrumentation into a song. Again, when the orchestra joined, I was disappointed. I guess I’m easily upset by people singing along with an orchestra that isn’t there. I don’t understand. Do only we hear the orchestra or are the characters also supposed to be able to hear the orchestra? It is as puzzling as whether or not Stewie Griffin’s parents can understand him on the Family Guy, which is appropriate because I quickly figured out that Family Guy did a parody of "Piano Lesson":
Well… sorry, that wasn’t it. I couldn’t find it on YouTube, but I swear it exists.
After that song I got distracted and went to microwave some popcorn.
"Seventy-Six Trombones" was unique. The lyrics urged the townspeople to imagine the formation of a huge marching band. The instrumentation was provided by a huge marching band. Although the band didn’t actually exist on the screen, I still thought it was a clever association between the song’s lyrical and timbral elements. When everyone on screen started dancing Disney style, I noticed my toenails were long and decided to clip them.
In "Sincere", four school board members with no previous musical training who walk around town like Mafia henchmen were suddenly transformed into an amazing barbershop quartet. I felt a sharp, sudden pain in my left arm.
"The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl" took place in a tavern and soon after the tune got swinging the bartender moved from behind the bar to the piano in the room and added an additional syncopated ragtime style component to the song.
The next scene moved to a group of women shopping for hats in a hat store so I decided to rest my eyes.
I woke up to the sounds of "Shipoopi". This song was so over-the-top cheeseball, I couldn’t help but laugh. I hope that was the songwriter’s intention. This song was also featured on Family Guy:
After "Shipoopi" I got distracted and started googling Family+Guy+Music+Man and searching for related videos on YouTube. The movie continued to play, but my attention wandered so I couldn’t tell you how it ended.
I am somewhat disappointed that I didn’t achieve my initial goal of watching an entire musical. The DVD isn’t due for a couple days, so maybe I’ll get back to it.
Or maybe not.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Uncle Tupelo: The Carter Family Good Time Happy Fun Revival Band
The Carter Family was a country band.
The Carter Family was a folk band.
This may be somewhat confusing to those accustomed to the disparity between modern country and folk genres. These days when we think of folk music, we most commonly imagine a solo singer/acoustic guitarist singing about peace & love and frequently lacking in acceptable personal hygiene habits. Today’s country music is essentially glossy pop music sung by someone with a southern twang, an oversized belt buckle, and a 10-gallon hat. Common themes are the loss of a loyal dog, a good woman, or a treasured pick-up truck.
The Carter Family was from the Clinch Mountains of Virginia, rather than a musical mecca such as New York or Boston. They were from the country. (In fact, country music was originally called hillbilly music, but that term was later dropped being considered derogatory.) The members of the Carter Family were common folks. They were not members of the upper strata of society and they were not trained in compositional theory from European masters. They were economically poor and subsisted in a rural, agricultural environment (A. P. Carter was a fruit tree salesmen) and their folk music told stories of life as they knew it.
ENGINE 143"Engine 143" tells a story and teaches a moral. It essentially reworks "the tortoise and the hare" fable that slow and steady wins the race. It uses the themes of death and religion, which are common in folk and country music, and centers around the railroad, a major economic institution in the early 1900s. The main focus is not in the melody, harmony, or rhythm, but in the song’s lyrical content. This is clear by analyzing the structure of the song – five verses and no chorus. There are no superfluous words and the verses are a chronological third-person narrative. The melody is simple and mostly conjunct varying slightly verse to verse as the number of syllables in the lyrics dictate. The harmony is extremely simple, in A Major, using only the I, IV, and V chords of A, D, and E. The rhythm is in a metric 6/8 time signature with occasional additions of a single bar of 3/8 time which seem to allow for the singer to extend a vocal syllable or take a breath between lines. The texture is homophonic, consisting of only an acoustic guitar and female singer. The guitar features the style of "Carter picking" in which the bass strings are played in a linear melodic fashion while the higher strings are used to voice the
Along came the FFV, the swiftest on the line
Running o'er the C&O road just 20 minutes behind
Running into Seville headquarters on the line
Receiving their strict orders from the station just behind
Georgie's mother came to him with a bucket on her arm
Saying, my darling son, be careful how you run
For many a man has lost his life in trying to make lost time
And if you run your engine right you'll get there just on time
Up the road she darted, against the rocks she crashed
Upside-down the engine turned, poor Georgie's breast it smashed
His head was against the firebox door, the flames were rolling high
I'm glad I was born for an engineer, to die on the C&O road
The doctor said to Georgie, my darling boy, be still
Your life may yet be saved if it is God's blessed will
Oh, no, said Georgie, that will not do, I want to die so free
I want to die for the engine I love, one hundred and forty-three
The doctor said to Georgie, your life cannot be saved
Murdered upon the railroad and laid in a lonesome grave
His face was covered up with blood, his eyes you could not see
And the very last words poor Georgie said was nearer, my God, to Thee
appropriate chord. This "Carter picking" style can also be heard in:
"Single Girl, Married Girl" is very similar in structure to "Engine 143" It has a monophonic texture of a female voice accompanied by an acoustic guitar. Its harmony is even simpler, consisting only of two chords – E and B (I and V in E major). The melody is simple and conjunct. In this tune the rhythm is in a 4/4 time signature with occasional additions of single bars of 2/4 time. The three verses discuss the woes of married life.SINGLE GIRL, MARRIED GIRL
Single girl, single girl, she's going dressed fine
Oh, she's going dressed fine
Married girl, married girl, she wears just any kind
Oh, she wears just any kindSingle girl, single girl, she goes to the store and buys
Oh, she goes to the store and buys
Married girl, married girl, she rocks the cradle and cries
Oh, she rocks the cradle and criesSingle girl, single girl, she's going where she please
Oh, she's going where she please
Married girl, married girl, baby on her knees
Oh, baby on her knees
The lyrical content of folk (and country) music differs from early parlor music in many ways. It usually deals with facts rather than feelings. It addresses content that exists in the musicians’ everyday lives. Stories of chivalrous love based on the lives of knights and princesses in Medieval England (found often in parlor music) are non-existent in folk music. The high degree of sentimentality found in a song like "Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair" is avoided. The heavy-handed use of metaphor, such as in the song "Grandfather’s Clock", is not commonly used in folk music lyrics.
In 1990 three twenty-somethings from Belleville, Illinois (Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn) created a new musical genre. Under the moniker Uncle Tupelo, the group released their debut album "No Depression" essentially giving birth to the alternative country movement. The album featured two cover songs that had been recorded by the Carter Family over 50 years earlier. "John Hardy" was an adaptation of The Carter Family’s "John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man" – the story of a black man hanged for shooting a white man. The title track (the name of which has since been used as a euphemism for alternative country music and is the title of an alternative country music magazine) was taken from The Carter Family’s "No Depression In Heaven"
NO DEPRESSION
Oh fear the hearts of men are failing
For these our latter days we know
The Great Depression now is spreading
God's word declared it would be soI'm going where there's no Depression
To a better land that's free from care
I'll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home's in heaven I'm going there
"No Depression" has many traits in common with both "Engine 143" and "Single Girl, Married Girl". It is harmonically very simple, consisting solely of the I, IV, and V chords in C Major (C, F, and G). Its melody is primarily conjunct and the two verses have subtle differences due to the number of syllables. Its form differs in that it does contain a repeated chorus section. The texture is homophonic and the Uncle Tupelo version adds the timbral elements of harmony vocals and electric bass guitar – which serves to mimic the "Carter picking" style. All three songs deal with sad lyrical content juxtaposed with major harmony. The lyrics once again visit the themes of religion and death. When first released in the 1930s by The Carter Family, this song dealt with the current economic condition of The Great Depression. However, when removed from its cultural context, the Uncle Tupelo version sounds more like a suicide pact than a tale of financial troubles.In this dark hour, midnight nearing
The tribulation time will come
The storms will hurl the midnight fear
And sweep lost millions to their doomI'm going where there's no Depression
To a better land that's free from care
I'll leave this world of toil and trouble
My home's in heaven I'm going there
The alternative country movement of the 1990s took the themes and structure of traditional country music and infused it with the rage and fury of punk music. "Graveyard Shift" and "Factory Belt", two of Uncle Tupelo’s original songs on their debut album, are prime examples of lyrics that look at life through the eyes of common folk. The members of Uncle Tupelo grew up as lower class citizens in middle-America during the Reagan/Bush era. As country musicians in the early 20th century sang about life through the eyes of a farmer or coalminer, Uncle Tupelo updates their viewpoint to that of a factory worker or gas station attendant in the late 20th century.
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Hometown, the same town blues
Same old walls closing in
Oh what a life a mess can be
I'm sitting here thinking of you
Won't you give a few thoughts to me?Well time won't wait, better open the gate
Get out and start, it needs to be done
It's winding down, there's much you miss
Working on that graveyard shift
But I'm not saying things won't go wrong as each day comes along
If what I see is true I could learn to believe
Can't look away, the powers that be might take it all away
Together we'll burn, together we'll burn it awaySome say land of paradise
Some say land of pain
Well, which side are you looking from?
Some people have it all
And some have it all to gainWell a man in a tie'll bum your dime
Before he'll break his twenty dollar bill
There's plenty of reasons in this world
For movin' along or standing stillBut I'm not saying things won't go wrong as each day comes along
If what I see is true I could learn to believe
Can't look away, the powers that be might take it all away
Together we'll burn, together we'll burn it awayThere's too much time spent looking for a reason
Seems the simple ones beat the most truth
Oh, what a life a mess can be
I'm sitting here thinking of you
Won't you give a few thoughts to me?Well, time won't wait, better open the gate
Get out and start, it needs to be done
It's winding down, there's much you miss
Working on that graveyard shiftBut I'm not saying things won't go wrong as the day comes along
If what I see is true I could learn to believe
Can't look away, the powers that be might take it all away
Together we'll burn, together we'll burn it away
FACTORY BELT
Well it's funny how it all works out
Mad men in suits walking about
I'd like to change their point of view someday
But I feel my patience slipping awayLooks like it's time to lay this burden down
Stop messing around
Don't want to go to the grave without a sound
Give the soul a place to rest
Not to ride on the factory belt
Not to ride on the factory beltWell you do what you can to just get by
With poison all around
It needs no disguise
You can see it on faces
From the barstools to the door
With no equal chance our respect is no moreLooks like it's time to lay this burden down
Stop messing around
Don't want an early grave in the ground
Give the soul a place a rest
Not to ride on the factory belt
Not to ride on the factory beltWell it's funny how it all works out
Mad men in suits are walking about
Well I've heard it said
That after seven years of factory belt
It gets in your headLooks like it's time to lay this burden down
Stop messing around
Don't want to go to the grave without a sound
Give the soul a place a rest
Not to ride on the factory belt
Not to ride on the factory belt
The most obvious difference between the music is The Carter Family and Uncle Tupelo is the addition of newer timbral elements of electric guitar, electric bass, and drum kit. The use of drums allows for a greater level of rhythmic complexity. The Uncle Tupelo songs are homophonic with the vocals still being the most important element. The melodies are mostly conjunct and, like The Carter Family, are delivered without excessive ornamentation, falsetto, or vibrato. The dreary lyrics are once again juxtaposed with a major harmonic structure – this time, however, more complex than just two or three chords. By rebelling against the overt sentimentality and polish of modern country music Uncle Tupelo was able to revive the story telling roots of The Carter Family and add to it a modern viewpoint and denser instrumentation, creating the alternative music genre.
Post Script:
After releasing four albums in five years Uncle Tupelo disbanded due to a conflict between the group’s two main songwriters. Jeff Tweedy went on to form Wilco and Jay Farrar created Son Volt. Wilco has since moved into more experiemental territory, using samples, loops, synthesizers, and obtuse lyrics. Son Volt has remained closer to the original Uncle Tupelo sound and still explores traditional folk themes such as religion, death, and politics:
Friday, March 16, 2007
Shitting Bull
When painting, artists often mix two colors to create a new color. Red and yellow combine to make orange. Blue with red creates purple. And, of course, yellow and blue make green. Colors found opposite of each other on the color wheel are called complementary colors, because, when put next to each other complements make each other appear brighter. However, when you attempt to mix two complementary colors together you end up with a brown lump of shit.
It is my assertion that "Mother Earth" by Sharon Burch is a brown lump of shit. "Traditional Indian music has virtually no connection in sound, style or aesthetics with the European- and African-based traditions that have dominated music making in this country." (Crawford, page 397) In attempting to combine traditional Indian music and Jewel-inspired-adult-contemporary-singer-songwriter-acoustic-pop music, Burch has attempted to combine two polar opposites. The resulting mutation does a disservice to both musical genres.
The timbral elements of "Mother Earth" include a female voice and a finger-picked acoustic guitar. First off, Native Americans didn’t have acoustic guitars. Native American singing is most usually accompanied by non-tuned rhythmic instruments (such as shakers, rattles, or drums) rather than any melodic instrument such as a guitar. Even the style of playing is less effective than it could be. If the guitar was played chordally, in a percussive manner it may have sounded more authentic Indian rather than the metric finger-picking style that is more reminiscent of either folk-rock or classical guitar playing. Second off, Sharon Burch’s voice is too pretty. Traditional Indian music is functional and therefore there is not the distinction of audience member versus performer. Everyone is a performer. The vocal timbre is much rougher in our samples of the authentic Native American music. Because the singing often accompanies a dance or some other physical activity there is a more muscular quality to the voice, somewhere closer to chanting than singing, as opposed to Burch’s velvety coffeehouse vibe.
The vocal melody is made up of the scale D, E, F#, A, and B – a major pentatonic scale. While this could be considered as a Native American influence it is not strong enough of an influence to define the music as Native American because the pentatonic is used by other cultures and musical genres as diverse as traditional Asian music to American blues music.
Harmonically the song only has three chords: consisting of mostly D major, sometimes E minor, and much less frequently what sounds like an A7 chord which is missing the leading tone of C#. The omission of this leading tone makes the chord more ambiguous as there is no tri-tone generated, and this tri-tone is the most structurally important interval of the dominant chord that makes it want to resolve to its tonic. It seems to me that the leading tone was omitted to conform to the pentatonic scale dictated by the melody, but in doing so the song has suffered a loss of energy due to decreased harmonic movement. On the other hand, the middle chord tone of E minor (G) is a very prevalent harmony and effectively changes the 5-note scale to a 6-note scale.
Native American music lacks time signatures. This does not mean that it is not metric, it is very metric, however because rhythm is such an important element it is sometimes complex in ways foreign to our ears. For example, John Comfort Fillmore’s transcription of the Omaha "Song of Approach" (Crawford, page 401) features something I’ve never seen before – two time signatures written right next to each other at the beginning of the piece. The song alternates between 2/4 and 3/4 time, but not in a predictable manner – with 4 bars of 2/4, followed by 2 bars of 3/4, then 4 bars of 2/4, followed by one bar of 3/4, and so on in a non-repeating manner. "Mother Earth" is in a steady 6/8 time signature. I’m not sure if I could explain why, but this to me sounds like the most UN-Native American time signature possible.
The homophonic texture of "Mother Earth" can be found in both the vocal line during vocal passages and the uppermost voice in the guitar during the instrumental parts. As authentic Native American music is vocally based it would not even contain these extended instrumental sections.
Her record company’s website states that Sharon Burch's music is the contemporary expression of traditional Navajo ways and living. I think it’s crap. "Mother Earth" does not hold any of the rhythmic excitement or complexity of traditional Native American music. Its timbral elements, both voice and guitar, are in no way authentic. Even the five-tone scale system is not strictly adhered to. Just about the only thing that sounds Navajo to me about this song is that the lyrics are in Navajo. And in reference to this: "while words in everyday language are sometimes sung, many songs feature syllables that seem to have no meaning (vocables)." (Crawford, page 398) So in filling her song with Navajo words, Sharon Burch has somehow succeeded in making her song even less Navajo.
It is my assertion that "Mother Earth" by Sharon Burch is a brown lump of shit. "Traditional Indian music has virtually no connection in sound, style or aesthetics with the European- and African-based traditions that have dominated music making in this country." (Crawford, page 397) In attempting to combine traditional Indian music and Jewel-inspired-adult-contemporary-singer-songwriter-acoustic-pop music, Burch has attempted to combine two polar opposites. The resulting mutation does a disservice to both musical genres.
The timbral elements of "Mother Earth" include a female voice and a finger-picked acoustic guitar. First off, Native Americans didn’t have acoustic guitars. Native American singing is most usually accompanied by non-tuned rhythmic instruments (such as shakers, rattles, or drums) rather than any melodic instrument such as a guitar. Even the style of playing is less effective than it could be. If the guitar was played chordally, in a percussive manner it may have sounded more authentic Indian rather than the metric finger-picking style that is more reminiscent of either folk-rock or classical guitar playing. Second off, Sharon Burch’s voice is too pretty. Traditional Indian music is functional and therefore there is not the distinction of audience member versus performer. Everyone is a performer. The vocal timbre is much rougher in our samples of the authentic Native American music. Because the singing often accompanies a dance or some other physical activity there is a more muscular quality to the voice, somewhere closer to chanting than singing, as opposed to Burch’s velvety coffeehouse vibe.
The vocal melody is made up of the scale D, E, F#, A, and B – a major pentatonic scale. While this could be considered as a Native American influence it is not strong enough of an influence to define the music as Native American because the pentatonic is used by other cultures and musical genres as diverse as traditional Asian music to American blues music.
Harmonically the song only has three chords: consisting of mostly D major, sometimes E minor, and much less frequently what sounds like an A7 chord which is missing the leading tone of C#. The omission of this leading tone makes the chord more ambiguous as there is no tri-tone generated, and this tri-tone is the most structurally important interval of the dominant chord that makes it want to resolve to its tonic. It seems to me that the leading tone was omitted to conform to the pentatonic scale dictated by the melody, but in doing so the song has suffered a loss of energy due to decreased harmonic movement. On the other hand, the middle chord tone of E minor (G) is a very prevalent harmony and effectively changes the 5-note scale to a 6-note scale.
Native American music lacks time signatures. This does not mean that it is not metric, it is very metric, however because rhythm is such an important element it is sometimes complex in ways foreign to our ears. For example, John Comfort Fillmore’s transcription of the Omaha "Song of Approach" (Crawford, page 401) features something I’ve never seen before – two time signatures written right next to each other at the beginning of the piece. The song alternates between 2/4 and 3/4 time, but not in a predictable manner – with 4 bars of 2/4, followed by 2 bars of 3/4, then 4 bars of 2/4, followed by one bar of 3/4, and so on in a non-repeating manner. "Mother Earth" is in a steady 6/8 time signature. I’m not sure if I could explain why, but this to me sounds like the most UN-Native American time signature possible.
The homophonic texture of "Mother Earth" can be found in both the vocal line during vocal passages and the uppermost voice in the guitar during the instrumental parts. As authentic Native American music is vocally based it would not even contain these extended instrumental sections.
Her record company’s website states that Sharon Burch's music is the contemporary expression of traditional Navajo ways and living. I think it’s crap. "Mother Earth" does not hold any of the rhythmic excitement or complexity of traditional Native American music. Its timbral elements, both voice and guitar, are in no way authentic. Even the five-tone scale system is not strictly adhered to. Just about the only thing that sounds Navajo to me about this song is that the lyrics are in Navajo. And in reference to this: "while words in everyday language are sometimes sung, many songs feature syllables that seem to have no meaning (vocables)." (Crawford, page 398) So in filling her song with Navajo words, Sharon Burch has somehow succeeded in making her song even less Navajo.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Perfection Does Not Equal Emotion
I was rather surprised at the fact that the class seemed to unanimously dislike "Wondrous Love" and the Southern Devotional Style. While the recording may have lacked the soulful chops of a vocalist like Aretha Franklin or James Brown, it was definitely not lacking in raw emotive power. I found the vitality in this music refreshing, and an effective tonic to rid my palate of that awful silliness known as "The Beggar’s Opera."
I guess I have a tendency to embrace performers that flaunt their unique imperfections. I like Bob Dylan’s nasal mumbling. I like Neil Young’s sloppy electric guitar noodling. I like the fact that the band Pavement doesn’t seem to even have the initiative to tune their instruments before they record an album. These qualities give the effect of the performer proclaiming:
HERE I AM; TAKE ME OR LEAVE ME...
I LOVE WHAT I'M DOING...
IF YOU LOVE WHAT I'M DOING, THEN JOIN ME...
IF YOU DON'T LOVE WHAT I'M DOING,
THEN I DON'T NEED YOU AROUND...
The Southern Devotional Style is a group that involves all of the individuals lending their unique voices. It is a choir full of soloists. The Southern Devotional choir does not meld into one giant tone. Its separate pieces maintain their structural integrity. And the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
When the grunge movement took hold in the 1990s, it celebrated sloppiness as a culturally relevant aesthetic. The twenty-first century finds a group of alternative bands borrowing the sloppiness of grunge, adding the larger group dynamic, and shifting the attitude from hopelessness and despair to transcendence and celebration. These new bands embrace the mentality of the Southern Devotional Style. They've expanded beyond the traditional rock instrumentation of guitar, bass, and drums and express their uniqueness through the inclusion of non-rock instruments like fiddles, accordions, bugles, and harps. And these additional musicians sing, almost scream, in an attempt to be heard over the myriad of sounds. These bands are sort of ramshackle rock choirs with all of the individual passion and communal fellowship characteristics of the Southern Devotional Style.
Arcade Fire began with six members and on this Conan O'Brien appearance features, uh 8, or 9, or 10 people... they're bouncing up and down so much I can't even count. My favorites are the two keyboardists wearing motorcycle helmets and beating each other with drumsticks.
Broken Social Scene contains as many as eleven people at a time and more electric guitarists than I've ever seen in one band.
The Polyphonic Spree has been described as "less a band than a happening, in the 1960s sense of the word." Its two-dozen members wear white robes and actually look like a church choir... or possibly a fanatic cult.
I guess I have a tendency to embrace performers that flaunt their unique imperfections. I like Bob Dylan’s nasal mumbling. I like Neil Young’s sloppy electric guitar noodling. I like the fact that the band Pavement doesn’t seem to even have the initiative to tune their instruments before they record an album. These qualities give the effect of the performer proclaiming:
HERE I AM; TAKE ME OR LEAVE ME...
I LOVE WHAT I'M DOING...
IF YOU LOVE WHAT I'M DOING, THEN JOIN ME...
IF YOU DON'T LOVE WHAT I'M DOING,
THEN I DON'T NEED YOU AROUND...
The Southern Devotional Style is a group that involves all of the individuals lending their unique voices. It is a choir full of soloists. The Southern Devotional choir does not meld into one giant tone. Its separate pieces maintain their structural integrity. And the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
When the grunge movement took hold in the 1990s, it celebrated sloppiness as a culturally relevant aesthetic. The twenty-first century finds a group of alternative bands borrowing the sloppiness of grunge, adding the larger group dynamic, and shifting the attitude from hopelessness and despair to transcendence and celebration. These new bands embrace the mentality of the Southern Devotional Style. They've expanded beyond the traditional rock instrumentation of guitar, bass, and drums and express their uniqueness through the inclusion of non-rock instruments like fiddles, accordions, bugles, and harps. And these additional musicians sing, almost scream, in an attempt to be heard over the myriad of sounds. These bands are sort of ramshackle rock choirs with all of the individual passion and communal fellowship characteristics of the Southern Devotional Style.
Arcade Fire began with six members and on this Conan O'Brien appearance features, uh 8, or 9, or 10 people... they're bouncing up and down so much I can't even count. My favorites are the two keyboardists wearing motorcycle helmets and beating each other with drumsticks.
Broken Social Scene contains as many as eleven people at a time and more electric guitarists than I've ever seen in one band.
The Polyphonic Spree has been described as "less a band than a happening, in the 1960s sense of the word." Its two-dozen members wear white robes and actually look like a church choir... or possibly a fanatic cult.
Folk Song + Parlor Piano + Opera Voice = ??? (or, Oh I Come From Catania With A Piano On My Knee)
* regarding "Oh! Susanna" as performed by Richard Lalli, from the album And The Beat Goes On.
This recording utterly confuses me.
"Oh! Susanna" is a common folk song still popular today, so I came into listening to it with some preconceived notions. I was immediately struck at the odd choice of instrumentation used for this recording. Most people probably think of "Oh, Susanna" these days as a campfire song, accompanied instrumentally by an acoustic guitar and sung by a solo singer or small, informal group.
The instrumental accompaniment on this particular recording is not a guitar, but a piano – and not even a Ragtimey western saloon sort of piano, but a dainty, intricate Mozarty sonata type of piano. The song was most likely originally performed with the traditional minstrel instrumentation of fiddle, banjo, tambourine, and bones.
And then there’s that voice. Ugh. "OH! SUSANNA" IS NOT AN OPERA – SO DON’T SING IT LIKE AN OPERA! I cannot stand singers that overdo the vibrato. Vocal vibrato originated in the opera genre so that a singer could be heard over an entire orchestra. Vibrato is not necessary to be heard over the sound of one lone piano. The song was most likely originally performed in a quite plain and informal vocal manner.
And then we get to the chorus of the song. Arg. Four-part harmonies? Are you kidding me? This is "Oh! Susanna" for Godsakes. Take your four-part harmonies and go sing Handel’s "Messiah" or something. Richard Lalli takes a tune that would fit in a parlor or on a minstrel stage and tries to make it go to a Sunday church service.
May the Lord have mercy on his genre jumping soul.
This recording utterly confuses me.
"Oh! Susanna" is a common folk song still popular today, so I came into listening to it with some preconceived notions. I was immediately struck at the odd choice of instrumentation used for this recording. Most people probably think of "Oh, Susanna" these days as a campfire song, accompanied instrumentally by an acoustic guitar and sung by a solo singer or small, informal group.
The instrumental accompaniment on this particular recording is not a guitar, but a piano – and not even a Ragtimey western saloon sort of piano, but a dainty, intricate Mozarty sonata type of piano. The song was most likely originally performed with the traditional minstrel instrumentation of fiddle, banjo, tambourine, and bones.
And then there’s that voice. Ugh. "OH! SUSANNA" IS NOT AN OPERA – SO DON’T SING IT LIKE AN OPERA! I cannot stand singers that overdo the vibrato. Vocal vibrato originated in the opera genre so that a singer could be heard over an entire orchestra. Vibrato is not necessary to be heard over the sound of one lone piano. The song was most likely originally performed in a quite plain and informal vocal manner.
And then we get to the chorus of the song. Arg. Four-part harmonies? Are you kidding me? This is "Oh! Susanna" for Godsakes. Take your four-part harmonies and go sing Handel’s "Messiah" or something. Richard Lalli takes a tune that would fit in a parlor or on a minstrel stage and tries to make it go to a Sunday church service.
May the Lord have mercy on his genre jumping soul.
James Alan Bland – What The Hell Was He Thinking?
James Alan Bland
- born in New York in 1854
- became a page in the U.S. House of Representatives in his teenage years
- graduated from college at age 19 with a Liberal Arts degree
- composed many popular minstrel show tunes, such as "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny", "Oh Dem Golden Slippers," and "De Golden Wedding"
oh and did I mention… he was an African-American?
This nation’s most popular form of entertainment in the nineteenth century, and our first truly unique contribution to the world’s musical culture, was minstrel music. Minstrelsy originated when some white racists decided to paint their faces black with burnt cork, greasepaint, or shoe polish and mimic the music and speech of African-Americans.
I’d like to think our society has evolved greatly from this time period – and here’s some proof that we have: October 8, 1993, Ted Danson (best known for his role on the sitcom Cheers) delivered a monologue in blackface at a Friar’s Club roast.
Even though he was romantically involved with Whoopi Goldberg at the time (and she actually wrote his offending monologue) the incident was universally panned by the public as being completely racially insensitive.
But let’s get back on track to James Bland and specifically his song "De Golden Wedding." What the hell is a "golden wedding" anyways? After unsuccessfully Googling the term I came up with a theory by analyzing the lyrics. The last line of the chorus goes "all the high-toned darkies will be at de golden wedding." Since this is a minstrel tune written by an African-American in Abolitionist times, I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to guess that "golden" in this context refers to skin tone. Golden seems lie somewhere between the continuum of black and white. The first verse also contains the phrase "yellow gals" which I’m assuming means the same thing. I don’t know if the song just relays the popular consensus at the time or James Bland’s personal opinion, but the lyrics seem to revolve around the idea that lighter skinned African-Americans are more sophisticated, refined, and therefore superior to darker skinned African-Americans. This idea of someone’s "degree of darkness" is still an issue today, although these days sometimes the argument can be that someone is not "black enough." There has been talk in the African-American community expressing concern that Barack Obama (born in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and a white mother) is not "black enough" to effectively represent the African-American community. I think Obama’s answer to this issue is profound. When interviewed by Steve Krofy on 60 Minutes Obama responded by saying that "when he walked down the streets of Chicago, visited a barber shop or tried to hail a cab, everyone knew he was black."
The question I struggled with the most is: what would drive James Bland, an African-American, to get involved with the racially offensive genre of minstrel music in the first place?
I came up with three possible answers.
1. MONEY
Minstrel music was big business. Bland joined his first minstrel group in 1875. Throughout the next several years he toured the United States. By 1881 he was a member of the Callender-Haverly Minstrels who traveled to England and performed for Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales. At this point in time (in his mid-twenties) he was making around $10,000 a year – an incredible amount of money in the late 1800s. Unfortunately money has been known to drive many people to do things they would otherwise find morally reprehensible. This may be the case of James Bland. Perhaps due to some cosmic karma he died of tuberculosis in 1911, in obscurity and poverty.
2. MUSIC
Bland was a talented songwriter, able to craft an engaging and memorable tune. Inspired by his inner muse he may have been drawn to pursue music as a career. However the only music that was popular at this time (except of course for classical music written by dead, white Europeans) was minstrel music. While Bland had talent, he was still confined to work within the genre that was popular at this point in American history.
3. EQUALITY
It seems incomprehensible to us today that an African-American would write a song like "De Golden Wedding" which repeatedly uses the racially offensive term "darkies." But can we find a parallel in modern culture?
Remember when "queer" was a derogatory term? By adopting the word "queer" for themselves, the gay community has succeeded in taking the venom out of the term.
And here it is again:
But can we find a closer parallel in modern society? Is there a word that was created by bigots and used as a derogatory term for African-Americans that has been adopted by some in the African-American community in an attempt to rob the word of it’s hateful power.
(sorry I had to post this video featuring a photo of Kanye West rather than the actual video which was shown on television, but the actual video shown on television edits out "the N word" which interferes with my ability to prove a point, and also highlights the fact that this word has not yet entirely outgrown it’s spiteful origins)
"The N Word" is frequently used today, most frequently by African-American comedians and musicians. While there is much controversy about this practice I think that it is done with the admirable intention to rob the word of its power. It is my sincere hope that James Bland was subversively attempting to improve the social status of African-Americans in the Abolitionist era by embracing racist terms and therefore robbing them of their power. It is somewhat perplexing that he was able to gain success in a career path that was initially intended exclusively for whites. As a minstrel, Bland had to navigate the confusing task of being an African-American who mimicked a white person pretending to be an African-American. To this end he may have succeeded in removing some of the bigoted origins of minstrelsy by removing the focus from black and white and placing the focus instead on the music.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Who Jumped The Shark?
1969: Roger Daltrey fronts The Who at Woodstock. 
1983: Roger Daltrey portrays Macheath in The Beggar's Opera.
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