This week we only had one class because of the Columbus day interruption.

We started off by talking about how white people clap on the wrong beats. I’ve never heard this before. I have excellent rhythm (if I may say so myself), so I’m not sure if I’m guilty of this, although I am white. Apparently this comes out of the traditions of European music emphasizing beats 1 and 3, while Afro-New World music typically emphasizes beats 2 and 4. Who knew? Not me. Our pop music almost always emphasizes beats 2 and 4. Mr. O’Malley is right…once you hear it, it’s hard to not listen for it when you listen to music.

The displaced third beat. I couldn’t hear this at first, maybe the first 3 examples. Then we listened for it in swing music, and I heard it there. Now there is a mashup of those African traditions of emphasizing beats 2 and 4, and the European traditions of the displaced third beat which constitutes modern pop music in America.

The genre of R&B is often traced back to “The Great Migration.” Following the abolition of slavery, black people in the south could move where they wanted to go and lots of them ended up in Chicago for employment opportunities. Chicago became a place of southern food and authentic beats that would become R&B.

We learned that race records began to pop up and the market was nostalgic black people who urbanized and missed the countryside. I think Bessie Smith is amazing. Oh my lord did she give me chills listening to her beautiful voice. She was a vaudeville singer, but came to be known as the mother of blues. She often sang risque lyrics too. Apparently she bled to death after an accident because the hospital wouldn’t accept black people. That’s not sickening at all (sarcasm).

We heard a lot from Muddy Waters. Also fabulous. He became increasingly famous after recording music on the plantation with the gate…Stonewall Plantation? That might be wrong. Moved permanently to Chicago, but sings about wanting to go back. There’s a big market for the music of nostalgia. Mississippians are the largest emigrates to Chicago.

“Folklorists” are an interesting group of people. They are comprised of people who seek to uncover sounds not produced for money like unmediated folk music in Appalachia, for example. I think it’s cool. When I went to Radford University, I attended a weekly blue grass/folk music live performance and open mic. It was amazing to hear small groups or individuals who just want to make music for its own sake. Last night I walked my dog and there was a man playing the guitar on his balcony. These types of things make my heart so happy.

Oh, and spectacle lynching, but I won’t get into that.

-Jessi Russell