Music Theory and White Supremacy

[Supper]

That's exactly what I tried to imply when saying the above as succinctly as possible.
I realize "The Blues" isn't African but African American and everything that entails.
It hails back to the "old world" in certain ways but it's evolution and sonic qualities are
distinctly African American. And as you stated the 12 Bar Blues structure and Swing are
defining characteristics of Blues and would go on to be a structure maintained in Jazz until
this day.

Much respect !

Right, it's hard to explain that when you hear them heavy swinging basslines in our music you KNOW that this is some "black" sounding music even though it ain't "african" in origin, cuz at the same time it's certainly way outside the culture of white/european/western as well and represents the particular black american sensibility and expression to a tee.

There are many other examples of this in black american music and culture, but the 12 and swing are probably the most obvious staples.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Right, it's hard to explain that when you hear them heavy swinging basslines in our music you KNOW that this is some "black" sounding music even though it ain't "african" in origin, cuz at the same time it's certainly way outside the culture of white/european/western as well and represents the particular black american sensibility and expression to a tee.

There are many other examples of this in black american music and culture, but the 12 and swing are probably the most obvious staples.

The ADOS shuffle feel evolved out of the african 6/8 feel....so yes, the shuffle was born out of something "african" but has its own distinct "new world" feel.

 

[Supper]

The ADOS shuffle feel evolved out of the african 6/8 feel....so yes, the shuffle was born out of something "african" but has its own distinct "new world" feel.

Thing is swing is more a laidback feel than a beat ratio. Depending on the tempo played it can sound more like 12/8, 6/8. 3/1, or even 4/4.


(edit: timestamped)

For instance non swinging "triplets" from other cultures like North Africa for instance don't have the same exact feel as the laidback 8th in swinging ados triplets.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Thing is swing is more a laidback feel than a beat ratio. Depending on the tempo played it can sound more like 12/8, 6/8. 3/1, or even 4/4.


(edit: timestamped)

For instance non swinging "triplets" from other cultures like North Africa for instance don't have the same exact feel as the laidback 8th in swinging ados triplets.

yea, that's why it's uniquely Afram

 

[Supper]

yea, that's why it's uniquely Afram

Yeah, I remember you posted an exerpt from a book that talked about how cubans, who have their own triplet rhythms with the tresillo, just couldn't get a hold of the swing feel.

People really underestimate how impactful the banning of the hand drums hand on black american music. Our people lost that important rhythmic placeholder used to stay on time in their music with the drums, which I believe is what led us to make up random timelines based on feel rather than a number of beats based on a concrete pulse which inturn led to greater rhythmic & melodic improvisation and also playing in response to each other more than with each other ie more reliance on call and response forms.

I'd say this period was just as important if not more than any old world heritage in black american music.

 

[Supper]

yea, that's why it's uniquely Afram

Now that I think about it J dilla's refusal to use quantization to line up his basslines on the mpc which led to the ever popular "drunk drumming" style is sorta the same concept of the development of the lazy-laidback swing feel after the banning of the drums imo.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Now that I think about it J dilla's refusal to use quantization to line up his basslines on the mpc which led to the ever popular "drunk drumming" style is sorta the sample concept of the development of the lazy-laidback swing feel after the banning of the drums imo.

yup

The Dilla Feel, Part II: The Theory (Quintuplet Swing, Septuplet Swing, and Playing “Off-The-Grid”)

 

[Supper]

Herbie Hancock on how Miles Davis encouraged him(accidentally?) to replace harmonic filler in the traditional 3rd & 7th notes which led to greater room for improvisation.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Yeah, I remember you posted an exerpt from a book that talked about how cubans, who have their own triplet rhythms with the tresillo, just couldn't get a hold of the swing feel.

People really underestimate how impactful the banning of the hand drums hand on black american music. Our people lost that important rhythmic placeholder used to stay on time in their music with the drums, which I believe is what led us to make up random timelines based on feel rather than a number of beats based on a concrete pulse which inturn led to greater rhythmic & melodic improvisation and also playing in response to each other more than with each other ie more reliance on call and response forms.

I'd say this period was just as important if not more than any old world heritage in black american music.

 

[March Madness]

Herbie Hancock on how Miles Davis encouraged him(accidentally?) to replace harmonic filler in the traditional 3rd & 7th notes which led to greater room for improvisation.

Herbie was big on quartal voicings, but they are an acquired taste for me.


9ths, 11ths and 13ths are my go-to's however...I have a few fake books on Herbie's stuff

 

[Jimmy from Linkedin]

I was thinking also that the removal of the drum led to a lot of the inherent-rhythm being shifted tonally as suggested before into the vocal chords. I think this plays out today in seeing every other culture of the world sing like a black person. Kpop and all this, as bizarre as it is boyzIImen ->nsync->kpop, it still is us at the center and that is a worldwide thing. I'm super loose with what I am saying if it needs clarifying lemme know.

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Music Theory is definitely a Cac invention because Black People never saw a need to “theorize” our own shyt. To put it simply from a metaphysical/esoteric standpoint: Melanin is Nature...Nature is chaos whereas melanin is chaos in its purest form....Black People are chaos incarnate or Chaos Beings. What you see in Nature does not make a single lick of sense....What you see Black People do and create on a regular basis both past and present MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE AT ALL and that’s the beauty of it....It doesn’t have to make sense to us because it just is. That’s why Black People, most especially ADOS are so eternally GOAT and are a Christ People whether these Cacs like it or not. We literally take nothing from absolute nothingness and materialize it into something phenomenal that’s unexplainable....Be it with music, dance, food, fashion, language, swag, spirituality, inventions, or even the damn Universe and its celestial bodies

A really good musical case study for that chaos magick/melanin of ours is Jazz and also Funk. Both those genres make absolutely no sense at all, especially Jazz but we managed to make that shyt work without missing nothing

Music...Specifically Black music and music with Black origins are for all intents and purposes, melanin put to scale.

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Choreography serves a similar purpose and function for these soulless Cacs too.

Yes you have Black folks who can’t dance including myself but it’s not exactly uncommon for us non-dancing Black folks to get into a groove and/or catch a beat if the vibe is a certain wave or if we’re under influence of those Spirits (liquor). Give me some liquor and put on some Bounce Beat GoGo and I’ll hit the floor beatin’ my feet like it’s natural to me Can’t do that with Cacs, it’s very rare you’ll see a natural dancing Cac, be them intoxicated or sober.

 

[King]

Wow this is crazy interesting and inspiring.

Never made music before, but I’m gonna experiment with beat making. Just seeing what comes up.

Always grew up around a lot of music and had a feel for it. But never really got around to making any or learning instruments

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Music Theory is definitely a Cac invention because Black People never saw a need to “theorize” our own shyt. To put it simply from a metaphysical/esoteric standpoint: Melanin is Nature...Nature is chaos whereas melanin is chaos in its purest form....Black People are chaos incarnate or Chaos Beings. What you see in Nature does not make a single lick of sense....What you see Black People do and create on a regular basis both past and present MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE AT ALL and that’s the beauty of it....It doesn’t have to make sense to us because it just is. That’s why Black People, most especially ADOS are so eternally GOAT and are a Christ People whether these Cacs like it or not. We literally take nothing from absolute nothingness and materialize it into something phenomenal that’s unexplainable....Be it with music, dance, food, fashion, language, swag, spirituality, inventions, or even the damn Universe and its celestial bodies

A really good musical case study for that chaos magick/melanin of ours is Jazz and also Funk. Both those genres make absolutely no sense at all, especially Jazz but we managed to make that shyt work without missing nothing

Music...Specifically Black music and music with Black origins are for all intents and purposes, melanin put to scale.

this clip with louis armstrong sums up exactly what you just said

(jazz)

The blues is a foundational element of America’s vernacular and art music. It is commonly described as a combination of African rhythms and European harmonies. This characterization is inaccurate. Blues follows harmonic conventions that are quite different from those of European common-practice tonality. Blues does not fit into major or minor tonality, and it makes heavy use of harmonic intervals considered by tonal theory to be dissonant. But blues listeners do not experienced the music as dissonant. Instead, they hear an alternative system of consonance. In order to make sense of this system, we need to understand blues as belonging to its own tonality, distinct from major, minor and modal scales. The author argues that blues tonality should be taught as part of the basic music theory curriculum.

Blues tonality






blues/funk

Minor Pentatonic Over Major Chords
Question by Panos
(Athens , Greece)

Can I use minor pentatonic to solo over major chords and progressions? And if yes what is the relationship between the key and the scale that I should use?

Thank you

Answer

Yes, you can play minor pentatonic over major chords and chord progressions... if it sounds good.

Ultimately, let your ears be the judge of what you can and can't do. I'm not here to tell you what to play, just to guide you ;)

Blues is the most common example of minor pentatonic being used over a major key progression (the 1 4 5 progression - that's E A B in E major).

Now, if you've studied music for any length of time, you'll probably have been conditioned never to mix your major and minor 3rds.

However, blues and jazz have been ignoring this "rule" for over a century.

It's this discord/dissonance between the minor 3rd of minor pentatonic and the major 3rd of the root/tonic chord that supports the indescribably soulful "bluesy sound".

Of course, the tonic chord in a major key blues progression is nearly always a dominant 7th chord (e.g. E7 in the key of E major).

This flat 7th helps to "soften" the harshness of this major/minor 3rd clash.

Even so, the minor 3rd will often be quickly resolved to the major 3rd for a stronger feeling of resolution, but when held it's not actually an unpleasant dissonance, as many blues lovers will tell you!

Minor Pentatonic Over Major Chords