Swing Dat Hammer Options

[Critter]

I'm proud to say that I took a number of music history classes in college. One such course was titled "African American Indian Music". I play an instrument (trumpet), I can read and write music and I've taken a number of music history courses. However, I am still not above getting "tude" from some tired-ass Queen who thinks Music was invented by a Chicago House DJ in 1985.

There can't be too many things in life more pathetic than Old School House Heads. As you may have read here, a couple of years ago, one well known House DJ was actually bragging about this new song he'd just DISCOVERED - the song was "Over Joyed" by Stevie Wonder. Need I say more?

The Key Thing to realize about Music created by people who were originally from Africa and India (and even native born Americans) is that the music these people were used to hearing and creating was Not Piano Based. Western music is based on the scales on the Piano. Music from Africa and India was/is not based on the scales of the piano. So,

When people from countries with NON-PIANO based music arrived in Countries where music and musical instrument were piano based, the result was MUSIC produced by people who were trying to get western instruments to do things that western instruments were basically never intended to do. For example,

According to legend, some Rag Time piano players struck two adjacent keys on the piano to try to produce a sound that was "in between" those two notes on the piano.

The trombone has a slid that you can use to vary the frequency of a note, you can produce notes on a trombone that are not "regulation notes", i.e. notes that are not one of the specified "frequencies" on the piano.

I'm a trumpet player, as I said, and tones on the trumpet are produced by how tight you hold your lips, how much pressure you apply to the mouthpiece on the trumpet with your lips and teeth and by how and how much air you blow through your teeth and lips into the trumpet. The skill of a trumpet player is in producing "regulation tones" on the trumpet based on instinctively knowing how much air to blow and what configuration of teeth, lips and pressure is required to produce that "regulation tone" on a trumpet. Frankly, I am always amazed that I (and all trumpet players) can produce a certain note on a trumpet ondemand, when you consider what is involved in producing a regulation tone on a trumpet. Anywho,

The Work Song

PBS ran a special some time ago about a man who toured the south with recording equipment (that recorded audio on aluminum records) documenting work songs and local folk music in the south.

With Work Songs generally, I think you can say that the "timing" and the "rhythm" of the work song is provided by/derived from the work that the people were doing while they were singing.

The work song "Swing Dat Hammer" appears to have a lot more "orchestration" than most "work songs" but, it still sounds like a classic work song.

Swing Dat Hammer !
Uploaded by daniela-lucie