The Black Influence on Popular American Music
jim...@gmail.com
American music is arguably the greatest music that can be found around
the world. I have a musician friend who is black, and he made the
comment one day that all great American music comes from blacks.
I am not black and so I took the opportunity to test his theory by
playing devil's advocate: I asked him, What about George Gershwin,
for example? My buddy answered that Gershwin "stole" music like
"I Got Plenty of Nuthin'," "Summertime," and "Porgy and
Bess" from the blacks. While I don't know about the validity of
his assertions that the music was "stolen", I do have to admit that
at least from a musical standpoint that those songs do use "blue
notes" which are characteristics of black music.
Now, after several years have transpired and I have had the time to
give the theory that all - or at least most - great American music
comes from black artists, I must admit that the argument is indeed very
compelling.
Jazz and blues are two basic forms of music that are credited as having
been originated from black musicians. What is unique to jazz and blues
both that markedly separates them from Western music I would say are
three major innovations and contributions to the world of music.
First, you have what is called "swing eighths". Swing eighths are
like trying to find out the value of pi: You cannot determine
mathematically the ratio between two notes purportedly of equal value.
Notation-wise, swing eighths are written to be of equal value, but the
musician must already be aware that such notes must not be played
"squarely" or literally. To give a layman's example of a
"square" beat, say "tic toc tic toc tic toc" and you have an
idea what "square" or even eights are. Then say "crazy crazy
crazy crazy" over and over and you begin to feel a certain
"swing" or "groove" develop that is uneven. This simple
innovation in music has had such a profound effect that most popular
music, such as jazz, swing, rock 'n' roll, bop, hip-hop, blues,
popular vocal standards, etc., are defined by such jazz- or
swing-eighths. Swing-eighths are a unique contribution to modern
music, and was an element of music that appalled and horrified
"legit," formal, classically-trained musicians of the
"old-school" who all but warned anyone that indulging in performing
such music would cause you to lose all credibility as a musician. The
swing-eight has prevailed, and has gained respectability, longevity and
legitimacy as an essential element of popular music today.
Second, there is the unlikely contribution of what are called "blue
notes". If left to their own devices, the great classical composers
and even the impressionists and modernists and other "long-haired"
intellectual and conceptual artist and composer types could not
conceive in their wildest compositions of the genius and magic of the
"blue note". Has anyone like Chopin, Wagner, Beethoven, Bach or
other musical geniuses of yesteryear even come close to the pedestrian,
everyman simplicity of the "blue note" in any of their
compositions? The "blue note" can be described as a dissonance
that gives rise to emotion. The dissonance is created by hearing two
separate notes: a note that is actually sounded, against a note that
is implied in the listener's mind. You expect to hear one note, but
the musician or singer sounds the "blue note" which is not quite
exactly the pitch you normally would expect. That tension, that
anxiety, that discrepancy, that anguish, that dissonance creates such
an effect upon the listener that it momentarily causes conflict...
until the release or change of that note to a more agreeable, more
consonant note. This effect of tension and resolution is the wanted
and desired effect upon the listener.
And "blue notes" are at the very heart of a whole laundry list of
musical genres, like, of course, the blues, and jazz, rock, country
music, funk, hip-hop, and so on. People have taken "blue notes"
and embraced them so much to their achy-breaky heart that the "blue
note" - again a black invention - lives on today, and again, as
an element, has been either shunned or ignored by the "old-school,"
formal, classically-trained musician. Who is winning the battle for
the hearts and minds of the listening public?
Finally, you have the black beat, or rhythms that have origins in
African music. The beat responsible for getting more and more people
up to dance is today is salsa, cha-cha-cha, mambo, bossa-nova, samba,
etc. All these highly percussive and repetitious rhythmic beats are
none other than African in origin. Rhythm and blues, Motown, funk,
soul, disco, and so on are just a few of the overwhelming majority of
popular musical styles that owe its origin to members of the African
race.
Now, rather than waste my time playing devil's advocate when it comes
to 'fessing up to the contribution blacks have made to popular music,
I simply spend my time learning more and more how to play like a black
man.