Degree in The Blues?

Yes, I suppose it is. There's no substitute for the doing of the thing.

 

Nosborne and Kismet - I respect your opinions and seldom disagree with you -- but here it is. Studying the blues isn't the same as playing them. Some folks want both. There's a whole lot of historical, sociological and -I swear - psychological/emotional baggage and twisty-turny paths connected with learning about the blues, besides the music aspect.

Learning to play them (credibly) is difficult enough - and the wrong teacher can be WAY worse than no teacher at all. The "right" teacher (for you) may not work in a music school at all -- he may be on YouTube. He could be a musician you meet in a bar or an after-hours booze-can, or who plays in a friend's basement - or somebody who died 40 years ago, whose records you bought in a second-hand store.

Studying blues in an academic venue is something you might want to do once you have enough playing chops and musical knowledge to appreciate them and want a deeper understanding of the life that goes with. You may end up researching plantation records, death notices, musical instrument makers' histories, recording companies' ledgers from depression years ... etc. etc. on your way to a graduate degree.

I like the great John Lee Hooker's take on this: "You don't got to study up on blues to sing 'em. You got to study up on people. "
Learn to play the blues -- study them. Two different ambitions. Sometimes, there's room for both.

J.

 

More about learning to play the blues:

"Well the roadhouse was my schoolhouse
That's where I paid my dues
I got a master's in rhythm and a minor in soul
And a PhD in the blues..

My teachers were the Killer and the Hound Dog Man
My classmates consisted of a five-piece band
Yeah my dormitory was a string of cheap hotels
But I survived it all and I'm alive and well
Although I never went to college..."

(Lee Roy Parnell, "Road Scholar")

J.

 

Here's a case in point. Dr. Adam Gussow. He's a helluva harmonica player and his education is from Princeton (B.A. and Ph.D) and Columbia (M.A.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Gussow
As I said - playing blues is one thing, academic study is another. This man has 'em both down. He's an associate professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

J.

 

Another stellar blues expert with a strong academic background is Jim O'Neal. He has a Master's in Journalism from Northwestern University. His Living Blues Magazine was acquired by the University of Mississippi in 1983 and is still published today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_O%27Neal
Jim O’Neal, Living Blues founder, ill and uninsured

The second article mentions that Jim is seriously ill - and one of the 59 Million Americans without health insurance. I wish somebody could fix that system of yours.

J.

 

And he's also the finest blues harmonica teacher on YouTube. If you play harp (or want to) check him out.

J.

 

I don't really think there's any disagreement, Johann. The people you mention tend to be performers, though, as well as possessing their academic backgrounds. That's my point. I don't think there's much to be learned about any art form from the outside alone; you can be a great performer with limited academic training but I question whether you can be a true expert in any form of music without at least some performance background.

There is a difference between "knowing what you like" and "knowing what it's all about". I took a great deal of music history and theory in college but only now that I've found a teacher and taken up classical piano in a serious way (though only for recreation/therapy) does all that theory make sense in my ears. I don't know how else to put it; listening is obviously important to understanding, there is no music without listening, but listening by itself is no substitute for performing any more than reading a foreign language can substitute for speaking it.

I liked what one piano teacher calls learning to play: "Wrestling with the Big Black Beast". Yes, you do struggle. Everyone struggles just because of the great mass of technique and theory that must be learned. Fortunately for me, there need be no goals or deadlines (though my teacher DOES hold me accountable as she should). There are no dim concert halls filled with well-dressed people waiting silently in my future. (At my age, there's not enough time on the planet remaining for me to reach any kind of performance level of skill.) But I've begun and will go as far as Heaven allows. Playing is expressive in a way that I'd forgotten from my youth. I play now because I somehow can't not play. It's too important.

 

In fact, I've become one of those annoying people who sit and play the floor models on display at piano dealers. Amazing how un-self-conscious a 6' grand makes me feel! Fortunately the salespeople don't seem to mind.

 

when I do that they just call store security

 

Having read your post, Nosborne, I don't think so, either. Well-said, the whole thing! :smile:

Right. I do the same with expensive guitars. Good feeling! They don't mind too much, because they know I'll soon cough up for a perfectly good but more reasonably-priced one, either for myself or a grandchild.

J.

 

Well, maybe not quite THAT un-self-conscious!

 

Especially since I don't look good in white gauze dresses...

 

That makes a whole lot of sense, to me. I know many writers write for exactly the same reason.

J.

 

A page on studying the Blues at University of Mississippi. Prof. Adam Gussow (previously noted) is mentioned extensively.

Studying the Blues at the University of Mississippi - Center for the Study of Southern Culture

JOHANN: "There's a whole lot of historical, sociological and -I swear - psychological/emotional baggage and twisty-turny paths connected with learning about the blues, besides the music aspect."

PROF. GUSSOW: “The blues tradition isn’t just about the music. It’s about powerful and often conflicted feelings that circulate within the music, sourcing it decisively (many have argued) in the historical struggles of African Americans to achieve full personhood on American soil.”

Yeah. He said it a lot better than I did. Then again, he earned a PhD. Way to go, Professor! Good thoughts! :smile:

J.

 

Online degrees from Berklee - a great music school. They have a course covering major blues guitarists - T-Bone Walker, Lightnin' Hopkins and many others. See YouTube for sample lectures /performances.

https://online.berklee.edu/music-degrees?pid=5540&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwbWDqovs1QIVUbXACh3FRw9kEAAYASAAEgKdAvD_BwE

They have a "create your own major," interdisciplinary option.

J.

 

Not a full degree program in Blues, but nice to see - from Delta State University. Your choice: a minor in Blues or an online Certificate. This school has the resources, no doubt whatsoever. http://deltacenterdsu.com/news/blues

 

Do Canadians ever sing the blues? What with socialized medicine and poutene and all?

 

They sure do - especially if they have to drink American beer for some reason, like a beer strike! Lots of us play and/or sing blues. I've been a blues fan for 60 years. Here's the story of a Canadian lady, went to Mississippi, learned from the best (Koko Taylor and Honeyboy Edwards) and earned herself a Master's in ethnomusicology, doing good by helping preserve music that might otherwise disappear. https://www.folio.ca/queen-of-the-swamp-blues-explores-mississippi-delta-culture-at-ualberta/

By the way, I'm not the St. Jérôme QC spelling police (and there are uniformed 'language police' in Québec) but it's "poutine" not "poutene." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine

 

Well, okay then!