The Varieties of Musical Experience

In the Wikepedia article on William James' book : The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, the following quote is presented:

"Scientific theories are organically conditioned just as much as religious emotions are; and if we only knew the facts intimately enough, we should doubtless see 'the liver' determining the dicta of the sturdy atheist as decisively as it does those of the Methodist under conviction anxious about his soul. When it alters in one way the blood that percolates it, we get the Methodist, when in another way, we get the atheist form of mind."

Perhaps in a similar way, we could come up a scientific explanation for the variety of musical experiences that determine how one becomes a hip-hop fan, a jazz devotee or an old-time musician. Of course, as an English Major, I read a few of Henry James works (William's brother), but must confess to only owning (but not reading) a couple of books written by Wiliam James. And I won't be writing a treatise: my discussion of musical experiences will mostly be my own, perhaps as a start toward a musical autobiography.

I just started reading a book about the Carter Family (mentioned in a previous post), and not surprisingly "Church Music" plays an important part in the shaping of their careers as old time musicians. A.P. Carter had the best bass voice in the choir and his wife Sara had an almost magical contralto. Maybelle, the 3rd member of the Carter Family, was Sara's cousin and married AP's brother Ezra. The Carter family got their start as a group singing for church events.

Until I was five, my Dad was a Methodist Minister - he preached at a few churches in South Dakota before moving to Minnesota where he became social worker. My earliest musical memories are from about age 4 and involved singing in church or at a church (at this point the memories themselves are suspect since I am really remembering the remembering).

I had a pure boy soprano voice and was singing solos in church by the time I was in first grade. I know that one hymn I sang was In the Garden, but really had no idea what it was about until I read an explanation a few year's ago printed in the New Century Hymnal used by the UCC church I go to. I'm not aware of any recordings of my singing before my voice changed, but I know I had a good and high soprano range - high g's and a's were no problem. My voice changed late, so if I'd been in the right place in England, I might have been singing with a boy's choir on Christmas Eve. I remember a youth choir in 8th grade where I was the only boy; then, as now I had the loudest voice in the choir. In high school (as a tenor) I sang with the boy's glee club. I had started guitar and with my friend Dan (banjo) and Rick (bass) we used to play as a folk trio (circa 1963-1965); I usually sang the lead part.

After my voice changed (10th grade), I always sang tenor since I had been a soprano before; however, my range is probably closer to baritone or maybe 2nd tenor. In college, I tried out for, but didn't make it into, the Singing Knights of Carleton, a male octet. At Carleton I didn't sing in the college choir (that would have meant getting up early on Sundays, not part of the life style). I did continue to sing folk songs but wasn't in any organized group - I think I may have performed once or twice, but most of it was in the dorm kind of jamming stuff. Of course, Lynn and I met at Carleton and spent a lot of time singing and playing our guitars (as well as piano/cello etc).

After college and into my thirties I didn't do any organized singing other than jamming with folks I had met at the Black Forest Inn. In the late 80's I move from restaurant work into a true 'day' job and starting going to Church with Lynn and the kids. After ushering a couple times I thought I might as well join the choir; and I continue as one of two tenors. A few years ago Lynn and I got into Sacred Harp singing through our niece Kim and our neighbors Tim and Minja. One thing I really like about Sacred Harp is that loud singing is encouraged and there is no one telling me to tone it down.

Lynnhurst church has had an annual variety show since 1987 called the Lynnhurst Home Companion; for this, Lynn and I have performed with a once-a-year group called the Lynnhurst Hot Dish String Band (I've written a bit more on this here). Through this group I've learned and sung a number of gospel (and parody-gospel) tunes. For the most part; however, gospel music doesn't figure in most of the bob-i-lynn repertoire; although we do have a couple that are performance ready.

However, even if you are not in a formal 'gospel' group, you can't perform old-time and traditional music without taking notice of the tremendous influence that the varieties of religious experiences have had on the varieties of American musical experiences.

MBOTMA Harvest Festival

Last Friday we played a set at the MBOTMA Harvest Jamboree's open mike at Kip's Pub. We were originally scheduled at 9:00 or a 1/2 hour set, but since the slot before us wasn't filled, we split that time with our friends John Whitehead and Bob&Deb Carlson, who had the opening 8:00 set. We had prepared 8 songs with 2 backups. For the 1/2 hour set we figured we'd probably have to cut out one or even two of the 8; however, with the extra time we ended up playing all 10 plus another. We did two songs new to our repertoire - More Pretty Girls than One and East Virginia Blues. The sound set up was a modified single mike(there were two instrument mikes as auxiliary). Although it sounded boomy to us, the event organizer said the sound out front was fine (The room itself has stone floors and hard walls, plus it's a pub so you have lot's of people talking etc). We are also used to playing with multiple mikes (2 vocal/2 instrumental), so there were times when I was singing into the neck of Lynn's guitar and vice-versa.

As we played, I felt we were connecting with people (many of them were attendees of the festival); although in at least one case, the rapt attention of one woman was for the TV screen behind me and not for Lynn & me. We also had some nice comments afterwards including one from Kathy Liners (from Ivory Bridge). The next day, Jed Malischke, MBOTMA's executive director relayed some comments he had heard as well ('They sang all my favorite songs' is one that he passed on). In addition to this type of positive feedback, we also got a line on some potential (paying) gigs. One that we have verbally committed to is for Dulono's Pizza for January 4th. We had discussed playing at Dulono's with Al Jesperson last May, but to finally get a date set is a big step for us( Al did call us to be a last minute replacement for a date last summer but we were already booked). We also saw part of the Mill City Grinders set at the Main Ballroom Stage and ended up talking to Adam Kiesling about doing a combined set at the Coffee Grounds sometime. Lynn and I think that the Grinders are an awfully fine band , so we are get something set up (Stay tuned!).

The festival went all weekend and we went for a few hours on Saturday but had to cut it short to get to another event. The workshops at this event are for 'bands': the ones we attended were 'using a sound system and mikes' and 'organizing your own show'. Among other things I learned that Doug from Armadillo sound says that the Audio Technica AT2020 works just fine for the 'single mike sound' (and only costs $99 vs 100's or 1000's) and that organizing a show is a whole lot of work that is best left to others.

"Cover Artist"

In an otherwise informative Wikipedia article on Charlie Poole, I was struck by the use of the term 'cover artist' in :

Poole was essentially a cover artist, having composed few, if any, of his recordings...

The Wikipedia link actually goes to an article on cover bands.

I was pretty sure that this usage of 'cover' was fairly recent and this definition confirmed that:

cover version

–noun

a recording of a song by a singer, instrumentalist, or group other than the original performer or composer.

Also called cover.

---

[Origin: 1965–70]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.


Traditional musicians recording in the 20's and 30's were rarely 'singer-songwriters', even if some, like A. P. Carter, gained copyrights to heretofore traditional songs.

Another article in Wikipedia offers more perspective:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_version

Here's an excerpt:

Prior to the mid-20th century the notion of an original version of a popular tune would, of course, have seemed slightly odd - the production of musical entertainment being seen essentially as a live event, even if one that was reproduced at home via a copy of the sheet music, learned by heart, or captured on a shallac recording disc. Popular musicians (and especially modern listeners) have now begun to use the word "cover" to refer to any remake of a previously recorded tune.

So I would argue that using the term 'cover artist' for an old time musician such as Charlie Poole is a misnomer. I would further argue that it's not appropriate for old time musicians today. You could argue for 'Revivalist' maybe, but if you're doing traditional tunes you're not a 'cover' artist.

How it used to be before Television

The order from Elderly Music came yesterday and I started reading the Charlie Poole Biography:

RAMBLING BLUES: THE LIFE & SONGS OF CHARLIE POOLE by Kinney Rorrer

Ultimate biography of one of old-time country music's most influential songsters. Includes many photos, interviews with folks who knew him and complete words and sources for the songs he recorded, plus an extensive discography

The book was first published in 1982 and the author was able to talk to some of the people who knew Charlie Poole (he died in 1931 at the age of 39). The first part of the book sketches in his early life and direct accounts are few; however, there are descriptions of the development of the textile industry in North Carolina (Charlie's family were mill workers) as well as descriptions of the area's musical environment.

In the 'company' town in which Charlie nominally lived for the last thirteen years of his life (he was a Rambler, after all), the Mill helped fund and support several musicians to give lessons and hold musical festivals and so forth. The town had at most 2,000 folk, so I was impressed that there were hundreds of people in the music classes; and that they held festivals lasting a week or more. A book on the neurosicence of music that I recently read stated that currently only 7% of the population had played a musical instrument in the past year. Even though a lot of these folk spent 60 hours a week working at the mills, this amount of participation means that there were worthwhile things to do before TV gobbled up an average of 4 hours 35 minutes of TV every day. Of course as I've mentioned in previous blogs, many contemporary old time musicians have stated on stage that they don't own a TV (OK - I've heard two musicians say it).

The other insight gained from this part of the book is how varied a musical culture actually existed for musicians such as Charlie Poole. One of the music teachers was a German classically trained fiddler who judged the 'old-time' fiddle and banjo contest. In addition to 'string bands', there were also dixieland and brass bands.

So far, a fascinating book.

Charlie Poole

When picking music to learn I sometimes seem to get on a tear (or in a rut) to learn a bunch of songs from one musician's repertoire. A number of years ago it was Tim O'Brien; a few years ago it was Norman Blake, etc, etc.

Lately, it's been Charlie Poole. Last spring, Lynn and I added his version of Milwaukee Blues to our set list, and I'm currently working on If I Lose, Let me Lose and Baltimore Fire. I noticed a Charlie Poole myspace site a week ago and a documentary movie is in the works (the myspace site is sponsored by the movie).


In addition, I just ordered the following from Elderly Music (here's the picture & description):

RAMBLING BLUES: THE LIFE & SONGS OF CHARLIE POOLE by Kinney Rorrer

Ultimate biography of one of old-time country music's most influential songsters. Includes many photos, interviews with folks who knew him and complete words and sources for the songs he recorded, plus an extensive discography

My first exposure to a Charlie Poole song was through Doc Watson. I learned Doc's version of Don't Let Your Deal Go Down in college and from the album notes, I knew it was a Charlie Poole Song. However, I don't think I heard Charlie himself sing much until I got some LPs from Ebay: Vols 1-4 of Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers. There is a CD boxed set out, but since I have converted the LPs to MP3's I'll probably pass. Hopefully the 'extensive discography' included with the book will alert me to any other songs I am missing.

Of course, in the same Elderly order, I bought a book about the Carter Family:

WILL YOU MISS ME WHEN I'M GONE: THE CARTER FAMILY AND THEIR LEGACY IN AMERICAN MUSIC by Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirshberg

We were glued to this book! This story is a saga of "...love and fulfillment, sadness and loss." It reads like a well-written novel of another time and place. The first major biography of the Carter Family, the musical pioneers who almost single-handedly established the sounds and traditions that grew into modern folk, country, and bluegrass music. Recommended! Softcover. 417 pp.

Lynn and I already do a number of Carter Family songs, so this will probably just inspire me to learn more...

Selecting Songs

As mentioned in previous postings, I spend a lot of time listening to songs with an eye (or would that be an ear?) to see(or hear) if a song is suitable as a bob-i-lynn song (or sometimes just a 'bob' song). Recently I started to learn a new batch of songs so I started thinking about how I go about choosing a song to add to our repertoire.

In a new column in MBOTMA's Inside Bluegrass which discusses song-writing, the columnist discussed the importance of a song's melody and how it is the first thing you notice, comparing it to seeing a 'pretty girl' across the room or some such (Inside Bluegrass is not on-line and I don't have that issue handy). Although from the outside, a lot of the tunes for old time/folk music may all sound alike, I am often first drawn to a song because of the melody. For example, both Lynn and I were first drawn to Charlie Poole's Milwaukee Blues because of the tune (which Lynn likes to do on the fiddle). And often there is an instrumental riff that get's me interested - in his version of Otto Wood, Norman Blake's guitar breaks were one of my main motivations. (Although, my breaks have diverged a bit from his).

Sometimes a song grabs me because of some link to my life or to 'contemporary' happenings. Sometimes the link is obscure: I have a brother in-law 'Otto', so Otto Wood is for him. I learned Gillian Welch's song 'One More Dollar' during the dot-com boom and when my son was graduating from college with a degree in computer science. Her song is about leaving 'the hills' to go to California for a 'job in the fruit trees"; I imagined all the young software developers flocking to Silicon Valley. (As it turns out, Alex stayed in Mpls, but works for Adobe, based in San Jose).

Often a turn of phrase is what interests me; although often it is after I've started to learn the song that I'm struck with a certain set of words. Since these are folk songs, some of the phrases occur in multiple songs. Here's a few songs that I'm learning with a turn of phrase that please or amuse:

If I Lose Let me Lose: "The boys was fightin' the Spaniards while I was fightin' gnats "(also in Battleship of Maine which I don't do)

You've Been That Friend to Me: "Misfortune nursed me a child and loved me fondly, too"

One song I have yet to learn has one of my favorites:

Railroad Blues (Sam McGee):"I went to see the gypsy at the fortune telling place/She read my mind...& then she slapped my face".

Since Lynn and I started to play out more, I've started to also consider songs that will expand the 'sound' of what we do. Blue Railroad Train from the Delmore Brothers is an example. When we learned it, it contrasted well to the mostly Carter Family duets we were doing. I learned Bruce Molsky's version of Charming Betsy because it is up-tempo and it works with Mandolin and Guitar. And I'm always looking for something in 3/4 time as an alternative (many of these don't work out).

Finally, any song that I start to work on has to hold up under multiple repetitions. I always have a print out of the words (rarely the chords) and keep singing a song until it is memorized. I almost always play with accompaniment (I tell Lynn I need the Gestalt approach), since I usually sing differently if I'm not playing along with guitar or mandolin. I rarely spend extra time on 'memorization' so if I get tired of a song before it's memorized it doesn't get added to the repertoire. Of course we rest songs, especially if we've had to really focus on them (for example, any song we prepare for the duet contest). And there a few songs that seem to be permanently retired, but usually if I've learned a song it stays in the repertoire.

Of course why I'm drawn to mostly old-time music in the first place is a topic for other posts ;-)