Machines and music

Instrumental Contributions to Bluegrass

Bibliographic Data

ID4304789
AuthorsNatalie Newton (0000-0001-5894-0714, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume40
Issue3-4
Pages470-491
Publication date2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopular Music (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-1430 • E-ISSN: 1474-0095
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0261143021000623
OpenAlexW4226346387
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited19

In the performance of bluegrass fiddle tunes, each repetition of the tune is generally played on a different instrument. I argue that the degree to which the instrument can influence the motivic material in improvised passages is beyond idiomaticism - where phrases might suit one instrument more than another - to the point where melodic pitch collections are shaped by the instrument itself. By combining post-human philosophies with music theories that emphasise instrument-player relationships, this essay shows how non-humans exercise agency in bluegrass improvisation. The resultant instrument-influenced passages contrast with each other, as each is played on a different instrument. This can help to signify formal structure within a performance, while the recurrence of particular instrument-influenced elements can be seen as a genre marker in bluegrass

Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Art · Improvisation · Linguistics · Literature · Melody · Musical · Point (geometry · Repetition (rhetorical device · Social science · Sociology · Visual arts · Computer Science · Mathematics · Music History and Culture · Music Technology and Sound Studies · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy · Psychology

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