Re: [Harp-L] Blues Scale / Shapes

[Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mar 7, 2008, at 4:58 PM, MundHarp@xxxxxxx wrote:

> It is always good to have music theory knowledge, but I'm sure  
> Little  Walter
> and Walter Horton also Sonny Terry never thought about even the  
> names of  the
> notes! They just played what they FELT!

This idea of celebrating illiteracy is a curious notion to me.  All of  
us here can read and write.  We use written language to express our  
ideas.  Nevertheless, we all acknowledge the necessity and the  
benefits of our education and the ability to construct grammatically  
correct sentences that form paragraphs that adhere to the basic rules  
of composition.

Musical notation and theory are like that.  Notation is a language for  
expressing the ideas in a composer's head so that they can be more  
easily shared with others.  Theory is an organized way of explaining  
how and why those ideas work.

Guys like Little Walter and Sonny Terry and . . . fill in the blank  
harmonica hero from the 50s were mostly poor, uneducated, and probably  
illiterate as well as untutored in music.  They were illiterate by  
circumstance not choice.  It is a testimony to their genius that they  
were able to create and organize and perform such amazing music with  
so few tools.  But most of us aren't geniuses.

Indeed, if my old friend Earring George Mayweather is indicative of  
his peers, I doubt seriously they felt good about their educational  
shortcomings.  He went to great lengths to hide his inability to read  
and write English and his lack of formal music theory.  Was he amazing  
when he played?  Yes.  Could he explain to others what he did, sort  
of.  Mostly he'd say, "It's like this . . . and he'd play something.   
Or when he fronted a band, he'd say, "I got a "A harp" and rely on the  
band to figure out they needed to play in E.

Case in point is Howlin' Wolf who, according to a documentary I saw on  
his life, learned how to read and write English and music and about  
music theory in his 50s, long after he was a success.  It was his  
professionalism and pride that sent him on that journey.  He realized  
the limitations inherent in being illiterate and untutored.

Clearly theory for theory's sake is a waste of time. But it sure can  
help.

Bob