Re: [BluegrassHarp] Re: [Harp-L] Tulsa Read's Country & Bluegrass SPAH Seminar

["Cara Cooke" <cyberharp@xxxxxxxxx>]

Spot on.  The harmonica follows the fiddle better than it does the other
instruments, at least for me, because of the similarities in the advantages
of each as opposed to the other instruments: the ability to sustain a note,
the pitch range, modal/melodic application, and easy harmony note and
complimentary tone set-up.  I had mentioned this on one of these lists
recently and had decided not to repeat myself, but I am glad you mentioned
it.  I may not have been talking to this list when I wrote about it.

As for "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" and "Bluegrass Breakdown", the first is a
direct rip-off of the second with a change in the middle chord.  Bands at
the time often had to establish a 'personality' or 'identity' to distinguish
themselves, so from what I have read, when the Foggy Mountain Boys got
going, "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" became their identity.  "Bluegrass
Breakdown" didn't really seem to be identifying for Bill Monroe and the
Bluegrass Boys so much as so many other tunes they did were, so it would
work perfectly for the Foggy Mountain Boys.  They could start the show off
with a quick rendition, get the attention of the audience and establish
themselves, then the rest would be a well appreciated show.  (A lot of bands
still do this today with a recognizable or 'signature' tune/song.)

As it happens there are other permutations on "Bluegrass Breakdown", too.  I
don't remember all of the names, but they were usually played in the key of
G and the middle chord has been a C, E/Em ( early on Flatt played an E while
Earl Scruggs played over the E with an Em), Am, and F.  Sometimes it is fun
to rotate the chord in the middle of the tune each time you change players
(as long as everyone remembers the sequence of the chord rotation).  Another
tune that is very similar is "Train 45" by Ralph Stanley.  It is played much
faster and is played in the key of B on the banjo, but it often comes off
very much like a very fast version of the same tune.

It would be more correct to say that Bill Monroe took the music he knew from
childhood, much of which has English and Celtic roots (both Irish and
Scottish) and deliberately blended those tunes and ideas with the blues he
had come to love (which shares roots with jazz as well and has many of the
same elements).  He studied and worked with a couple of bluesmen to develop
his knowledge of blues and find a way to put it into his music.  (Charlie
Monroe, his brother, was involved with blues too and has been noted in some
capacity in some blues history texts.)  All of these music varieties blend
well together because of their many similarities, and until it was necessary
to market the music and separate the recordings into genres
(pigeon-holes), a single band might play bits of each at any given session.
The differences in the bands were often regional, presentation, and schtick,
not really genre.

Jazz filters into bluegrass directly through many of Bill's players, like
Chubby Wise, Kenny Baker, Earl Scruggs, Vassar Clements, and many others.
There are several tunes that came into bluegrass directly from jazz through
these players, but every player always adds a little of his influence when
they join a band, even when the band leader has a vision to which the player
should conform, so there would be no reason to expect that players who have
a touch of jazz in their style would not have some influence on the
direction of the music played during his participation in the band.

Cara


On 7/19/08, David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Excellent post Cara. Most excellent. For some additional ideas on what you
> might be able to do on Foggy Mountain Breakdown, check out the Bill Monroe's
> original "Bluegrass Breakdown" he recorded when Flatt and Scruggs were
> members of Monroe's Bluegrass Boys back in the 1940s, by the 1960s Bill
> decided it was a banjo tune and had his banjo player do most of it, but the
> one from the 1940s is mostly mandolin. There's, I think only one chord
> difference between it and Foggy, it's an Em.
> Cara said Bluegrass is learned by ear, this is true, but it is easy to
> learn by ear. Monroe created Bluegrass by fusing Scottish music with blues
> and throwing in a little jazz (as I understand it, he got the idea of
> alternating solos from jazz). Like blues, bluegrass has predictable chord
> progressions, many of which are 8 bar, some are 12 bar.
> The best way to get a handle on Bluegrass music is to go back to the late
> 40s, when Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs were playing with Monroe. From that
> point until the mid 50s, bluegrass had the same appeal rock and roll did
> later, a driving beat, bluesy, etc. In some of these songs you may notice
> has all the elements of rock and roll, only it's acoustic, like "Rocky Road
> Blues"
> On leads, Monroe plays with a LOT of flatted blues notes on the mandolin. I
> mean a Lot. It's why he sounds so cool and funky.
> A couple things I'll add to Cara's breakdown of instruments:
> With the harp, you can do the job of any instrument in bluegrass. You can
> even do the fiddle's job, because you and the fiddle are the only ones
> capable of a sustained note. The fiddle usually draws out the root note at
> the beginning of a chord and fills at other times, or they compliment the
> melody.
> The mandolin on rhythm is essentially a snare drum It does the same job. My
> harp is usually a percussive sound, BUT, don't worry with the hitting the 2
> and 4 (bluegrass is usually accented on the 2 and 4 beats) all the time. I
> usually do rhythm in two-measure groups, six beats on two beats off, accents
> on 2 and 4, except the second four. Bill didn't fully develop the "chop
> chord" concept, where he's hitting a chord on every 2 and 4 beat until the
> 1960s. A good example of a similar rhythm on the mandolin is Bill Monroe's
> original recording of "New Muleskinner Blues" which was actually recorded in
> the early 60s.
> An example of this sort of rhythm from me, I put as background music this
> page:
> http://www.elkriverharmonicas.com/pixpostedleeoskar1847sizecomparison
> Of you try to hit every 2 and 4 beat, you will get dizzy.
> Listen to a song, then listen to it again listening for what a specific
> instrument is doing. Listen once for the mandolin, once for the banjo, once
> for guitar (harder to pick out) once for the fiddle and another time for the
> bass. That will help you identify the specific elements that make bluegrass
> bluegrass.
> Dave
> ______________________________________
> Dave Payne Sr.
> Elk River Harmonicas
> www.elkriverharmonicas.com
> .
>
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