Music theory is mind blowingly interesting and at the higher levels quite difficult. I was doing modulation today. Its a great skill to have and enables you to work out how to get to different keys by using the ii, V, or IV, V chord patterns.
I was also practising writing out chords and recognising modes from chord patterns by the chords, the dominant 7 and the half diminshed seventh which are the key - so to speak - to working it out. I have recently been working out the keys of a folk song which modulates from B minor, to C minor, to D minor and then to F# minor. Its good practice.
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I was improvising soul music this week. That was interesting.
Soul has its origins in Gospel, Blues and Jazz. We played in the Dorian mode. This is built off the second degree in a scale. Don't glaze over - this stuff is not that difficult. Soul chord progressions can be simple - mainly ii, V (so - in the key of C - the chords would be likely to be Dm7, G7 (dominant chord). The Dorian mode would run D - D (ie from the second degree of C) and uses the notes of C major scale. It works the same for any key. That's just the start though. We also used the blues scale here and there, and if the chords are Dominants +9 you can use mixolydian (basically a flattened 7th). Then there is the rythmns and voicings. This takes a bit of research and there are loads of great soul artists out there to listen to. Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and the Supremes. More on that later We had a country music quiz in class recently. I managed to get all the questions right except one - aaaaaaagh! What was the question? Who produced the record "Keep on the sunny side" which was recorded by the Carter family in 1928. If you don't know the answer its actually not that easy to Google. But - its Ralph Sylvester Peer. Here he is. So who was he? He was a producer, engineer, and talent scout who spearheaded the U.S. recording industry's shift away from classical and opera to indigenous American roots music, while essentially creating the country market that continue to flourish today. He's an important figure but is not that well known by the public at least as he did not seek the limelight. In 1927 he arrived in Tennessee to scout fresh local talent on behalf of the Victor record label. A few years prior, he had not only assisted in the first blues recording by Mamie Smith of “Crazy Blues” and later ones by Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five, but also produced the first commercially successful country session with “Fiddlin’ John” Carson. During the next two weeks, he recorded what has become known as the Bristol Sessions with Jimmy Rodgers and the Carter family, credited as the birth of modern country music, earning Peer the nickname of “Father of Country Music” and his place in the Country Music. He founded his own company Peermusic - which still survives. So now you (and I) know. It was the end of an era at the Tass on Wednesday 15 February. I have played in a session there most Wednesday nights for years. The pub has been sold and is closing so this was the last night. We had a good night. One of the things I did with the other musicians at the Tass was to record a CD and we sold these over bar for a couple of years - money went to charity.
One of our fiddlers who featured on that CD died unexpectedly on Thursday. I shall miss him and his music. RIP Ken. I have been asked to perform at this funeral this Saturday. Monday was spent listening to and talking about country music. There are lots of different styles within country music. Its a huge topic in its own right. I blogged about Bluegrass earlier. Today we listened to Rockabilly and Nashville.
Elvis and Johnny Cash were early rockabilly artists. Both began their recording careers in the 1950s with Sun studios (run by Sam Philips). Evis' recording contract was sold to RCA and he then morphed into more of a rock and rolls star. Heartbreak Hotel was his first "pop" no 1 - its very bluesy. Johnny Cash wanted to sing gospel originally but was turned down by Sam Philips. He re auditioned and went into country instead. Cash, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl perkins all went on tour together in 1956 and were known as the Million dollar quartet. I like the rockabilly style. Its quite raw and gutsy, with strong lyrics. By contrast the Nashville style of the mid 1950s was more commercial. It had more instrumentation, and more backing vocals - Nashville attracted lots of session musicians. It was smooth and, in my view a bit bland and safe. But it sold. Jim Reeves and Don Gibson were important artists. The Nashville style led to more sophisticated recording techniques - an art in itself. This has influenced recording today. Went down to the Sage with my daughter on Sunday. We both play guitar a bit and we decided to try a ukelele workshop for something different.
If you haven't been to the Sage it has loads of great music teaching events. Anyway, we were given ukeleles (yes - you don't even need to have your own) and we did loads of simple songs. We were all grooving along to Bob Marley. The tuning was high G, C, E, A . They are very easy to play, very small and light, cheap to buy and easy to carry. I can see why they are so popular. And they sound quite good. I'd recommend it as a day out and to try something different - although Sam and I could have done with going to a more advanced workshop probably. But it was great to have the chance to try one. There were all age groups there. Sam and I plan to buy a ukelele to join the ever growing list of instruments that live with us. Lucky ukelele.... We were filmed today improvising country music. It was good fun. The backing was in G meaning that Improvisation was mainly in G pentatonic. Good key for the fiddle - not so good for some of the other instruments. Ah well. It was the other way round when we were playing B flat blues.
I also played in the backing band for both classes. We played a couple of different chord sequences (one straight G, C and D, and one using G, Em, A7, D D7). Sounded really nice. I thought everyone did well. There were some great improvisers! Improvisation tomorrow. We will be filming country improvisation. I have come across some great fiddlers while I've been doing my research on country music. I mentioned Kenny Baker in my previous blog about bluegrass music. I have been listening to his playing today. Amazing. He was known for his long smooth bows. He played with Bill Monroe's band for a while and became one of the most emulated country/blugrass fiddlers. He died last year aged 85. Here he is playing Jerusalem Ridge with Bill Munroe playing mandolin (in 1985). What a couple of legends. " I think Bill Munroe's importance to American music is as important as someone like Robert Johnstone was to blues, or Louis Armstrong. He was so influential I think he's probably the only musician that had a whole style of music named after his band." Ricky Scaggs There are lots of styles of country music. Its difficult to choose one but I've decided to research Bluegrass more. I like the instruments traditionally used in bluegrass - fiddle, mandolin, banjo and guitar. Violins often double stop with open strings to underpin the rythmn and harmony. Unlike practically any other strain of american music, bluegrass can be traced - as the quote above says - to particular time and a particular group of men. Kentucky born mandolin player/bandleader Bill Munroe and a select handful of musicians he gathered in his band, The Bluegrass boys. Monroe and his band transformed the traditional country string band music into something fresh and exciting and revolutionary. They did this by giving it a syncopated beat along with close, him pitched lead and harmony vocals on favourites like "Uncle Pen" and "Muleskinner Blues" . Munro also elevated the mandolin from a accompaniment to fully fledged lead instrument and Earl Scruggs did the same for the five string banjo. Here he is paying Uncle Penn above at age 82. Their music - which they forged more than fifty years ago has endured and has regained popularity in recent decades. Film soundtracks such as the 2000 feature film "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" has helped. It starred George Clooney and featured vintage bluegrass music in a quirky film. It also included contemporary new grass musicians like Alison Krauss. The soundtrack sold millions, won five grammy Awards and sparked another revival. Bill Munroe's Bluegrass Boys deserve most of the credit for the bluegrass style. The line up during he late 1940s was Earl Scruggs on five string banjo and vocals, Lester Flatt on guitar and vocals, Chubby Wise on fiddle, Cedric Rainwater and Bill Munroe himself on mandolin. To this day, the band's recordings are the bible for bluegrass. In 1948, two of the Bluegrass boys left and set up their own band (Flatt and and Scruggs). Their band, Foggy Mountain Boys was influential too with the banjo playing lead. In 1955 they added resonator guitar to the line up. With the spread of bluegrass mountain radio, others began to be influenced too. In particular the Stanley bothers started covering some of Monroe's songs int heir own mountain style. They enjoyed great success. They also feature on the O Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack. Virginians, Jim and Jess McReynolds also became popular in the 1960s. They blended bluegrass with mainstream country and experimented with electric instruments. Also in the 1960 the Osbourne brothers from Kentucky became popular through country radio- which had often steered clear of bluegrass. They made this breakthrough by using distinctly unbluegrass instruments, like steel guitars, drums and pianos. Other ensembles such as Don Reno and Red Smiley and fiddler Kenny Baker would enrich and expand upon bluegrass tradition during the 1960s and 1970s. Newgrass By the 1960s Washington DC became the centre of bluegrass innovation. This was in partly because many musicians from Kentucky and Virginia had moved there in search of work. Young talented musicians were pushing the boundaries of traditional bluegrass using electrified instruments and eclectic styles. Bands like Seldom Scene and the Country Gentlemen emerged with more complicated lead instrumentals and smoother vocals. They were also beginning to sing songs written by the people like Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan and even Eric Clapton. Since the 1970s, bluegrass has enjoyed a huge revival with bands like Nickel Creek, Alison Krauss, Larry Sparks, Del McCoury, IIIrd Time Out, Blue Highway, Claire Lynch and Rhonda Vincent. Here is a video of the fantastically tented Nickel creek. They started out as a straight bluegrass band but are transcending that now. And here is another great You tube link to Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Bela Fleck is one of the most phenonomal banjo players around. He is also a great fiddler (listen to his recording of Down in the Swamp). His band has just got back together after a twenty year break and they are pushing the boundaries with their album "Rocket science". More on that in a further blog. The recording below is from "The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from The Acoustic Planet Volume 2. Enjoy!
As I am listening to and improvising country music, I can't get it out of my head. I set out to compose a tune last week and - needless to day - it turned out to be a country song.
However I seem to lost the sound in my Sibelius. I was about to phone the helpdesk when I discovered that my support ran out last week. Typical. Grrrr. This is no doubt down to me and not the package. Its amazing. I quite like the song. |
Fiona Harrison
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