Two Approaches to Tonal Space in the Music of Muddy Waters

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11446136
AutoresBen Curry (0000-0003-3557-7566, University of Birmingham, autor de correspondencia)
Año2017
Volumen36
Número1
Páginas37-58
Fecha de publicación2017-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMusic Analysis (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0262-5245 • E-ISSN: 1468-2249
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/musa.12084
OpenAlexW2573249804
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas11

This article posits two approaches to blues tonal space: the networked approach and the laddered approach. The first is underpinned by the cyclical potential of equal temperament and is characterised by descending chromatic motions. The second is underpinned by the harmonic series and is characterised by microtonal shaping of pitch content within the framework of a ladder that approximates an equal‐tempered major‐minor seventh chord. Having explained the detail of these approaches to tonal space with reference to an early blues recording of Alberta Hunter and Fats Waller, the article goes on to examine Muddy Waters's use of the laddered approach to tonal space, but also develops novel ways of referencing the networked approach and of finding synergies between networked and laddered approaches. Analysis of key songs from Waters's repertoire offers insight into the interchange between networked and laddered tonal space in blues music. This interchange holds the major‐minor seventh chord to be structurally significant owing to the weight afforded by the sonority of the minor third and the affinity between microtonal and semitonal melodic motions

Acoustics · Art · Blues · Categorization · Linguistics · Major and minor · Melody · Musical · Physics · Repertoire · Sonority hierarchy · Speech recognition · Timbre · Tonality · Visual arts · Computer Science · Mathematics · Music History and Culture · Music Technology and Sound Studies · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy · Artificial Intelligence