Event Title
How ‘Blue’ Are Blue Notes? A Methodological Case Study
Date of Publication
3-26-2021
Document Type
Poster
Abstract / Program Notes
In blues and jazz, a blue note is a note that is expressively lowered in pitch. Wikipedia points out that “typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical context”. This poster will present a case study on exactly measuring the frequencies of blue notes and their intervallic relationships to other notes in the scale. The freeware Sonic Visualiser and its “Peak Frequency Spectrogram” function was used to determine exact frequencies. Specifically the third scale degree in an the cappella blues recording “I Got Too Much Time for the Crime I Done” by J. B. Smith was analyzed, which was recorded while incarcerated at the Ramsey State Farm in Rosharon, Texas, in 1965 (serving 45 years there for the murder of his wife). The analysis shows both the unaltered third scale degree in the ascending melody as well as the third scale degree ‘blue’ note in the descending melody, which was lower than the half-step-lowered third scale degree. Most important in this poster presentation is the discussion of the methodology, which provides a higher accuracy than analytical approaches used in published research on pitch alterations.
Biography
Dr. Nico Schüler (born 1970) is University Distinguished Professor of Music Theory and Musicology at Texas State University. His main research interests are interdisciplinary aspects of 19th/20th century music, methods and methodology of music research, computer applications in music research, music theory pedagogy, and music historiography. He is co-editor of the research book series Methodology of Music Research, the author and / or editor of 21 books, and the author of more than 120 articles. Among his most recent books are Musical Listening Habits of College Students (2010) and Computer-Assisted Music Analysis (2014). E-Mail: nico.schuler@txstate.edu
Keywords
Blues and Jazz, blue note, pitch alterations
How ‘Blue’ Are Blue Notes? A Methodological Case Study
In blues and jazz, a blue note is a note that is expressively lowered in pitch. Wikipedia points out that “typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical context”. This poster will present a case study on exactly measuring the frequencies of blue notes and their intervallic relationships to other notes in the scale. The freeware Sonic Visualiser and its “Peak Frequency Spectrogram” function was used to determine exact frequencies. Specifically the third scale degree in an the cappella blues recording “I Got Too Much Time for the Crime I Done” by J. B. Smith was analyzed, which was recorded while incarcerated at the Ramsey State Farm in Rosharon, Texas, in 1965 (serving 45 years there for the murder of his wife). The analysis shows both the unaltered third scale degree in the ascending melody as well as the third scale degree ‘blue’ note in the descending melody, which was lower than the half-step-lowered third scale degree. Most important in this poster presentation is the discussion of the methodology, which provides a higher accuracy than analytical approaches used in published research on pitch alterations.