Blues Degree?

Two minor things I missed. My Real Estate Licensing Exam (1986) and my Mutual Funds Licensing Exam. (1994). Zero Academic Credit. And past their "best before date." If I wanted to sell Funds or houses now - I'd have to do the exams (and probably the whole of the courses) again... and I won't be doing that. The Mutual Funds one is a nice wall-hanger. The Real Estate one - not so much. I got a lot out of those courses. Useful knowledge.

 

Here's a so-what: it substituted for the real, original artists who got shut out in the process. Big Mama Thornton's version of "Hound Dog" was her only hit and hardly anyone got to hear it. But my big one was "Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins. Elvis made that guy's whole career disappear. Oh, not on purpose, of course, but nonetheless. (Not cultural appropriation, but the same dynamic.)

Pat Boone was a substitute, a stand-in. Kids could still hear the songs, and White parents didn't object to the future Face of Milk. Whether it falls under the concept of cultural appropriation (and I personally am dubious of that concept), the real effect was that a lot of Black artists got shut out by White artists who didn't make parents' heads explode. Cardigan sweaters, slacks, and white buck shoes, turning "Long Tall Sally" into "Home on the Range."

 

No offense, but that's a really weird degree (as you've already found). The best you're probably going to be able to do would be to pursue a regular music degree and eventually work your way up to a doctorate in Blues.

 

A Bachelor of Music (B. Mus. or, regrettably, B.M.), is a gigantic undertaking as I understand it. The student generally has to audition before even beginning his college studies which means years of training in childhood and youth. I don't doubt that an adult could manage it but it would be a long term effort.

 

As to my "cultural appropriation" question, yes, I think I understand the point but who gets hurt? There's no reason to think that Elvis's performances cost Thornton anything is there? Is there any reason to think white audiences would have listened to Thornton had Elvis not existed?

I absolutely understand that those who know about this music could greatly prefer Thornton over Elvis but that's a question of personal taste. Praising Thornton while sneering at Elvis might mark the connoisseur but it doesn't really affect Thornton or Elvis.

I am assuming that any royalties and credits were properly paid.

 

You assume wrong. Again, Elvis himself didn't do any bad deeds here, but Big Mama was a victim of systemic racism in the music business. She received a one-time payment of $500 for her hit. She did not write that song. It was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two young guys (under 18 when they started) who were White, but wrote great songs in the Black idiom.

Big Mama Thornton died in 1984 - in poverty. Some reparations were eventually made to her estate. Whole story here:
https://www.workers.org/2016/02/23993/#:~

Big Mama was a good blues harmonica player, as well as a fine singer. I never heard Elvis play harmonica. So, naturally, playing blues harmonica myself -- I prefer listening to Big Mama (Willie Mae) Thornton.

 

Never realized. OK - that lets me out...

 

I think that depends on which degree. It may not hold true of the TESU degree at all.

 

And none taken. In fact, I thank you. I never take offense at being called a really weird guy, either. I take it as a mark of distinction.

 

Well, lamentable example of cheating but clearly not "cultural appropriation" nor even necessarily race-based. Record companies cheated everyone, no favorites.

 

No. Racism and Black Exploitation were systemic in the music business. White artists stood a chance of being cheated. Black artists had a guarantee. Sadly. exploitation sometimes came from their own people. Willie Dixon, a bass player and singer / songwriter himself, was in charge of many recording sessions at Chess, in Chicago. He routinely gave himself copyrights on the work of Black blues people whom he recorded, to earn royalties. Many of the victims were fresh up from the South and didn't even know what a copyright was. Many learned in a hurry -- the hard way.

Black artists were routinely cheated -- sometimes because they were Black, other times because they were easy pickings. Sometimes both. Ask Muddy Waters (He learned - quickly.) Ask Willie Mabon. Ask Little Mack Simmons. You'll have to wait a while, though. they've all passed on.

Sometimes I listened to Willie Dixon and wondered - which of "his" songs did he write and which didn't he? But I have to give the Devil his due. I'm pretty sure Willie wrote most or all the songs under his name, on his records. He had a huge talent.

His fraud in taking writing credits due to others? That was an extra moneymaker. He did it to steal the writing royalties. I doubt he messed with other people's work beyond that. Because he knew he'd get caught? Maybe...

 

And for a real "copyright" story, here's a bit about Lester Melrose, a White man who assigned himself writing credit for three Arthur Crudup songs, later recorded by Elvis (to whom I assign no blame.)

"Although he could not play or sing a note of music, he owned the copyright to over three thousand songs, mostly blues. (Emphasis mine - J.) As was the widespread custom at the time (and not just in blues music), Melrose often assigned composer credit and performance rights of the artists' songs to himself, paying the artists only for the recording session."

From wiki here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Melrose

 

Willie Dixon sure did. Not only did he record his own compositions, he wrote songs that became major hits for star performers - among them Howlin' Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett), Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) and Little Walter (Marion Walter Jacobs). But yeah -- he also assigned himself copyrights that should have belonged to others.

 

If I can't get into a blues PhD program, maybe I can work hard making music - "applied blues" and get a "professional doctorate" like this Bluesman: 'Doctor' Isaiah Ross, (the Harmonica Boss). Besides his musical career as a true 'one man band' - vocals, guitar, bass drum, hi-hat and harmonica in a holder, Dr. Ross worked for 39 years at a GM plant in Flint, MI. The Plant Manager liked the Doc. and the Blues and let him have time off for European Blues tours etc.

He's the best I ever heard, with that holder-mounted harp. My take: he could blow circles around Jimmy Reed. Jimmy was darn good at that, and played the most danceable blues ever. When I was in my late teens and around 20 - young people at dances loved Jimmy's tunes - and the best local bands all learned them. "Peepin' and Hidin' ", "Bright Lights, Big City," "Big Boss Man," and so many more. But he just wasn't the Doc. when it came to harp in a holder. Nobody else was. Bio here: https://sunrecords.com/artists/doctor-ross/

Plenty of 'Doctor' Ross on YouTube. (Plenty of Jimmy Reed, too.) Have a listen. Primer on Jimmy Reed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Reed

 

Making music and studying music are two different things. In piano, anyway, jazz performers need to know quite a lot of theory (or at least a subset of theory) in order to do what they do. But in general performers perform and scholars debate.

 

No. They go together nicely. There are many degrees offered in performance. Holders of those degrees have studied music a lot. And practised plenty, of course.

One of my favourite jazz program hosts has two. A bachelor's and a master's. When not on air, she is a popular jazz singer. One of the programs she hosts is called "Jazzology." Final-year students from four local unis and colleges offering music degrees are interviewed and their work is showcased. All performers.

 

I didn't say they didn't go together. I said they are different things.

 

And the reverse sometimes works as well. - a seasoned performer will get a gig teaching his art, despite not having an academic background themselves. Sometimes, in Blues. IIRC, the late guitarist / singer Fenton Robinson - "Somebody Loan Me a Dime" taught a college course in blues guitar. At an RA school, too. He was a dynamic, "juicy" player. One of Chicago's best - and they have plenty, there.

This is far from the best article written about Fenton. But it's handy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenton_Robinson

 

You know, Johann, if want to take an academic approach to guitar performance you might want to spend some time learning a few Renaissance and Baroque lute pieces and some more modern Spanish stuff as well. Guitar literature is extensive and wonderful.

 

I think they are two parts of the same thing - music. Some can do one without the other. Not that many.