Early Downhome Blues: A Musical &amp; Cultural Analysis

Lornell, Kip; Titon, Jeff Todd

doi:10.2307/898649

Cited by 1 publication

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“…In his critical reading of other musicologists, 11 Weisethaunet suggests that when music is theorized and researched in terms of this formal structure, Blues is understood “as opposed to [the complex and sophisticated norms of] European music” and is considered a simple or primitive derivative (Weisethaunet, 2001, p. 100). Following Titon (1994) he considers the concept “pitch complexes” as the correct way to describe Blues. In Titon's description, pitch complexes refer to relations in frequency and approach (either arriving at a subsequent note from a higher or a lower note) between notes in a “downhome” blues scale.…”

Section: Pitch Complexes and Fleshy Soundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I take note of the fact that Titon describes complexes as component of what he calls Blues “families.” Families are groupings of sounds based upon their aural relations/commonalities. For Titon “blues families” are inferred models “capable of production according to a derivable set of instructions, a large number of blues songs” (Titon, 1994, p. 141). Yet, these sonic relations often suggest a material relation between the Blues artists themselves.…”

Section: Pitch Complexes and Fleshy Soundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet, these sonic relations often suggest a material relation between the Blues artists themselves. Titon's account describes apprenticeships—social relations—wherein the Blues practice is communicated and constructed (Titon, 1994, p. 41) 12 . That has echoes of Houston Baker's (1984) description Blues as a “matrix” that sounds out a geography of porosity and creativity, difference and simultaneity, and serves as a fecund Clearing for Black lives.…”

Section: Pitch Complexes and Fleshy Soundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, I describe and explore “pitch complexes.” I move from Don Ihde's (1976) work on a phenomenology of the “auditory dimension,” to Blues scholarship (Baker, 1984; Titon, 1994; Weisethaunet, 2001), and then to Havis (2014) and a listening of Billie Holiday's approach to “Summertime” to locate the specific pitch complexes of Blues as socio‐affective complexes. Attention to the aural sounds out a “deliberate decentering of a dominant” (Ihde, 1976, p. 14) 6 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Shamelessly Blue: Pitch Complexes and the Social Otherwise

Warmack

2024

Philosophy Compass

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Early american Black Blueswomen—such as Ma Rainey, Alberta Hunter, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Nina Simone—perform Blues as a praxis that both critiques and transforms the ways in which american Black people were—and continue to be—excluded from the construct of the human subject. Merleau‐Ponty's account of inter‐subjectivity is predicated on his account of the human subject who is always‐already in a social milieu in which they are never taken for an object. Subjectivity is affirmed through the subject's ability to differentiate itself from objects via sight. In this way the human subject is sensorially, affectively, epistemically, and axiologically organized as eye‐forward. The human subject's ability to exceed objectification runs counter to the lived experiences of a number of precaritized peoples, specifically, american Black people. If being seen without being objectified is the lived experience of the subject, then subjectivity is an exclusive way‐of‐ being in the world. Rather than inhabit this exclusion from human subjectivity as a lack, american Black people—as is evidenced by Blues—create a social otherwise with distinct ways of living—not just surviving or enduring—created within, but not wholly determined by, the pornotrope or the wake. This paper begins to sound out a way that this social otherwise breathes life into its own socio‐ethical experience via a turn to the aural. This paper takes up Blues to explore what expressive and affective ways‐of‐ being in the world are possible with an ear‐forward sensorial organization.

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Section: Pitch Complexes and Fleshy Soundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pitch Complexes and Fleshy Soundingmentioning

confidence: 99%