Following Music’s Stream to Familiar and Unfamiliar Places

Ellie Thomas
Jul 25, 2017 · 7 min read

Music, like other art forms, is based off innovation from what came before. Artists gain knowledge and skill through studying what came before them. They then take that knowledge and skill and merge it with their own experiences into the music they produce. Candeleria’s theory of musical streams and viewing the progression of music history as a mosaic is helpful for tracking the connection and evolution of genres down to the evolution of musical elements. As I reflect on some of the songs I studied in this class, I can use the metaphor of musical streams converging and diverging, sometimes trickling and sometimes rushing into another. These streams reflect our human nature of appreciating what is familiar to us but always growing and changing aspects of ourselves and our art.

The first piece I analyzed was Scot Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” published in 1899. The syncopation in this song is the standout element. The simple but inventive idea of playing a steady rhythm with the left hand while allowing the right to play syncopated complex melodies is one of the biggest contributions I see coming from african american music which finds its way into jazz and almost all popular music afterwards. The syncopated melodies on the right hand sound similar to the solos played by later jazz musicians with their complexity and syncopation.

Eventually this complexity and syncopation evolves into what we hear in bebop. It’s like ragtime to the extreme except with a multitude of instruments. Syncopation also finds its way into the popular music stream with the emergence of rock n roll. You can hear the influence of syncopation and the idea of playing a steady beat with one instrument and a melody with another in the blues song “Texas Flood”.

“Texas Flood”, a song written by Larry Davis in 1958, was recorded in 1982 by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The deep bending at 3:00 and 3:18 and 3:34 catch my attention. Bending is a technique that is characteristic of the blues and is still used today in rock and pop music. This piece stands out to me as an important bridge between blues and rock music. Vaughan is someone who respected and studied the blues tradition and then brought his own experience and talent to the music. The addition of several improvised 12 bar guitar solos to the song showcase his creativity and technique.

I hear boogie-woogie influence with the bass acting as the left hand playing the low sounding ostinato while the guitar is similar to the right hand playing higher notes that are somewhat repeating. I think the guitar is distracting and takes away from the lyrics, but I think the lyrics are not suppose to be the focus of the song. I would label the guitar as the call and the lyrics as the response in this rendition of the song because the guitar has more energy and passion then the delivery of the lyrics. The call and response pattern is reminiscent of age old african american spirituals. This song intersects the folk stream of blues and popular stream of rock. In this case, the blues stream rushes into rock n roll of the popular music stream as Vaughan rides the 12 bar chord progression into the ears and hearts of white audiences.

His virtuosic electric guitar playing brings life to blues that had begun to lose its luster in the 70s and 80s to rock. As I mentioned before, Vaughan brings his talent and experience to the guitar playing in this song. The guitar part was originally by Fenton Robinson and you can compare how Vaughan added to the piece below.

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra’s “Ko-ko” recorded in 1940 is also played in a 12 bar blues pattern. The timbre and dynamics of the piece stand out to me even more after finishing our classwork. Over the course of the piece, I noticed the dynamics of the instruments change from pulsating together at times to very clear call and response style. The harmonic complexity is rich with all the horns sounding over a steady bass and fluctuating piano. The timbre is extremely rich and earthy with almost a burnt aspect to its sound from the use of minor chords.

“Ko-ko” would have found origins in the folk stream if it had been composed before jazz was spread out of the african american community. Out of the folk stream, jazz seeped into the earth and almost seems to transcend other types of music simply because it doesn’t quite fit into any of the major streams. However, jazz does not exist in a vaccum as it influences other genres and other genres influence it. “Ko-ko” pulls from the blues as the cornet in the song mimics the sound of a blues singer’s rich voice. It also mixes into the flow of experimentation with timbre and dissonance from the classical music stream. I see a connection from “Ko-ko” to Edgard Varèse’s “Hyperprism” in how they treated timbre and texture. Both songs use brass instruments in minor chords and dissonance which results in a similar timbre at times. The pulsing instruments in “Ko-ko” resemble Varèse’s sound masses. It is especially apparent at the end of the pieces when the instruments with their different rhythms and timbres crescendo and then fade quickly.

“Hyperprism” was first performed in 1923 and is an example of machine age music which flows in the fine arts stream. Listening again I can follow the sound masses better and see themes emerge. The percussion sound masses with the siren and lion roar show up four distinct times. The familiar sound masses help guide us through the piece until they seem to climax at 3:43 after the sounds crescendo. He plays with dissonant sounds, timbre, and rhythm throughout the piece. At 1:25 you hear a distinct percussive rhythm, but Verèse quickly moves on to other nonrhythmic sounds.

“Hyperprism” is flowing in the middle of the fine art stream with its inventive sound masses and odd instruments. Like jazz, it isn’t in a vacuum and Edgard Verèse’s ideas and techniques have trickled into the popular music stream by influencing guitarist and composer Frank Zappa (Kulke).

You can hear the song plays off Verèse’s concept of organized sound by his play with rhythm and familiar sampled sounds. He samples the sound of the wind blowing amidst the heavy guitar riffs and drums of rock music. Sampling familiar/natural sounds is still done today and is heard in popular music like Maggie Roger’s “Alaska” released in 2016. She samples bird noises and even the tapping of her hand on her jeans in her folk dance hit (Alaska (Maggie Rogers song)).

Taking what is familiar and turning it into something new like the sound of birds and the wind into melodies is what Henry Cowell did in 1925 with “The Banshee”. Henry Cowell takes the concept of the piano and spins it on its head. Instead of playing the keys, he employs the technique of sweeping his hands across the strings and directly plucking them. In doing so, he creates a piercing and cold timbre that causes listeners to feel uneasy. After all that I’ve learned in this course, I think it is important to have innovators willing to challenge how we view musical instruments and sources of sound.

“The Banshee” is a difficult one to relate to other streams. It is definitely within the fine art stream for it’s experimentation. However, it’s chilling and cold desolate timbre has rushed into the film music stream via non-diegetic music for films. The effect of playing a familiar instrument in such a way that the sounds seem like they come from another world is fitting for the horror genre that explores the horror of what is not familiar to us also referred to as “the other” (B Movie Becky).

Bernard Herrmann has roots in classical music but is most known for his compositions for horror films. “The Murder” from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho is a great example of classical music elements like experimentation with techniques and dissonance finding its way into mainstream culture. His use of glissandos for the stringed instruments immediately puts listeners on edge. The violins when played this way imitate a human voice scream which most people would react to negatively. The timbre is piercing and cold like the knife that is going into the protagonist during this scene. He also uses dissonance to further add to the audience’s unsettled and uncomfortable feeling. The switch from high strings to low brass signals the violence is coming to an end but the horror remains. The notes get longer and softer to signal the end of the scene. The glissandi technique coming in waves at the beginning of the piece sticks out to me. It immediately creates a sense of dread with its piercing timbre that goes from a thin texture to a rich texture with the addition of brass.

“The Murder” is in the fine art stream under film music which often pulls from classical music. The symphonic film score saw a rise to popularity in the 1930s and continues to experience popularity today (Candelaria). “The Murder” intersects with jazz music through its use of musical elements. The glissandi technique causes the sound of the strings to imitate the human voice, or in this case a scream, which is a characteristic of cornet’s in jazz music mimicking early blues singer’s voices. Herrmann’s approach to his instruments is also similar to that of what we see in “The Banshee” with the use of high strings to produce a feeling of uneasiness and dread.

These five pieces of music are each represented in the mosaic that is music history. They are not only a byproduct of their influences and what came before them but also create a platform for future artists to build off of. In other words, these songs have a place in the musical stream that is ever flowing and ceaselessly gaining new momentum and parts. Some artists add musical elements like syncopation or the glissando technique while others merge differing genre streams. The flow of these streams is ever changing and brings with it something fundamental to human nature. We need some aspect of the familiar to navigate this life but also need innovation to keep moving forward like the flow of the streams that nourish us.

Sources:

Kulke, Stephanie. “Northwestern Now.” Fathers of Invention: Zappa and Varèse connection explored. Northwestern University, 11 May 2017. Web. 25 July 2017.

“Alaska (Maggie Rogers song).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 July 2017. Web. 25 July 2017.

B Movie Becky. “The Revenge of the Other: Exploitation Cinema of the Seventies.” The Horror Effect. Blogger, 03 Mar. 2009. Web. 25 July 2017.

Candelaria, Daniel Kingman. American Music: A Panorama. Fifth edition. Samford CT: Cengage Learning, 2015, 2012. Mindtap. Web. 10 July. 2017.

Ellie Thomas

Written by

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade