Message Board Archive: Thread Number 148

I'm just curious...
If I described a song (or performer) that included the following
characteristics, what song or which performer would you think I was
describing?
The song/performer uses:
1. An open tuning
2. Broken or arpeggiated chords
3. Rhythmic tapping on the top of the guitar
You can send your answers to me privately or post them here. I think you
all may find the answer interesting. I'll post the answer here once we
get a few responses.
f

Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 12:32:40 -0500 (EST)
From: zeppa@earthlink.net (Frank Basile)
Subject: Ok: There are no right or wrong answers...
Message Number: 148.1

...it's an easy quiz! Don't be bashful :) I've gotten a couple of
private replies thus far. Don't be afraid to put your $0.02 in, lurkers!
The shocking answer on Friday!
f

Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 10:00:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Owner-HyperNews@ComCAT.COM (bruce nemerov)
Subject: a little answer
Message Number: 148.2

frank--I can think of hundreds of answers starting with Spanish Fandango
in the 1830's through Siege of Sebastopol and other "programmatic" 19th
C tunes. Of course, Patton and the others in rural blues are famous for
these characteristics...but Albert Collins could fit the bill as could a
few Hawaiian musicians; or Kottke or some of the new agers or...???
best, Bruce Nemerov

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 10:23:57 -0500 (EST)
From: zeppa@earthlink.net (Frank Basile)
Subject: Feedback: Spanish Fandango and the blues
Message Number: 148.3

Well, Bruce hits the nail on the head with the mention of Spanish
Fandango (SF). I've yet to find sheet music for The Siege of Sebastopol,
though. If it includes similar instructions to what I found in the music
for Spanish Fandango, I would be very curious to see the notation.
I've often seen it mentioned that SF is the source for Spanish tuning
(as The Siege of Sebastopol is credited with being the source for
"vastopol" tuning). In my opinion, banjo tunings might be considered
equally likely sources but that would hardly explain the use of the
names "spanish" and "vastopol" to describe them.
What is extremely interesting to me is that I found, in an 1878 version
of SF, instructions for:
1) drummming on the top of the guitar with the thumb near the
    bridge
and
2) striking the top with fingernails
Interested parties can visit the Library of Congess' American Sheet
Music, 1870-1885 website:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/smhtml/smhome.html
Use the search engine with 'spanish' as your search criteria. There are
two scores for SF but only the second, listing the composer as W. L.
Hayden, published 1878, is of real interest to this discussion (the
other is a banjo arrangement). It's interesting to me that I've never
heard that this piece included instructions for using the guitar
percussively. After seeing those instructions, I realized that I had
made a few assumptions about, say, Delta guitarists that might not be
true... and I'm probably not the only one. Check out these liner notes
from Mississippi John Hurt: Memorial Anthology Genes GCD 9906/7, which
includes MJH's version of SF. Larry Hoffman describes Hurt's performance
of the tune:
"Among the many musical highlights to be found in this
important collection is the instrumental 'Spanish Flangdang',
one of the artist's relatively rare instrumental outings.
This excellent performance is brought into focus by the
effective use of dynamics which lends it a full, almost
orchestral quality. The percussive tapping on the box is a
traditional Delta technique used here to great and delicate
effect."
A traditional Delta technique? Given that percussive tapping, according
to the sheet music, was already associated with SF, isn't it more likely
that MJH was more familiar with the parlor guitar version than with
Delta blues influenced versions of the same tune? If so, how did he come
upon it? Could it also be that Charlie Patton's highly percussive
approach to the guitar is also somehow a reflection of this piece
(albeit a highly stylized one, to the point of being nearly
unrecognizable)? The combination of spanish tuning and percussive
elements in both SF and tunes like Screaming and Hollering the Blues,
Revenue Man Blues, Love My Stuff and High Water Everywhere could be
coincidental... or not. Admittedly, Patton's percussive elements are far
more integrated into the overall performance, which serves to point out
Patton's genius, IMO.
Another question: Is there such a thing as "traditional" techniques in
blues at all? Is blues a traditional music or can it be described as the
product of very focused and inventive minds? The example of SF, in my
mind, might lead one to think that there might be less of a traditional
element in blues and more of a creative element... an element that
emphasizes novelty over tradition. I don't think it's a binary situation
- it doesn't have to be one or the other - but it seems like an
interesting question.
Anybody feel like commenting?
f

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 15:56:00 -0500 (EST)
From: Owner-HyperNews@ComCAT.COM (Tom W)
Subject: Feedback: span. fandango
Message Number: 148.3.1

Frank, interesting stuff you dug up here. I've always liked Spanish
Fandango and assumed it didn't have "delta" origins, but never knew the
tune went back to the 1870's. I wouldn't at this point, however, use
this information to jump to conclusions about the delta 'tradition' of
tapping the guitar. I think the liner notes you provided are accurate in
saying the tapping is a tradition as opposed to an origin. I'm not an
ethnomusicologist or whatever, but common sense and what I've learned
about delta musicians, tells me that Charlie Patton and Mississippi John
Hurt weren't following the instructions on sheet music of the 1870's,
and probably venture a guess that no delta musician was doing so. That's
not to say that these musicians didn't 'hear' Spanish Fandango played by
musicians from other facets of American culture and were somehow
influenced by it. I'd also venture a guess that even if no sheet music
anywhere ever explained tapping techniques that delta guitarists, and
guitarists elsewhere, would have been tapping their guitars for effect.

What's interesting is that this piece of sheet music pre-dates the
Hawaiian recordings that supposedly spread the use of open tunings among
blues players. Or was the Hawaiian infulence just sliding steel over the
open-tuned strings as opposed to fretting in an open tuning?

What about string snapping and delta players?

Keep digging--and let us know what you find.