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Topic: Music in the Universe |
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 24 Feb 2014 4:39 pm |
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Most histories of rock and roll centre around the amalgam of rhythm and blues and country music, but they completely miss the reality. In reality, most traditional music all over the world was based on three chords, the tonic, dominant and sub-dominant. The difference was in the sounds of the instruments. Once you electrified those instruments, and did away with their acoustic differences, rock and roll was an inevitable result of technology. In fact, rock and roll would have materialised if American culture had never existed.
Rock and roll was based on a boogie-woogie beat. Boogie-woogie was an arithmetical consequence of bass runs on the blues scale, which have existed from prehistory, and were recorded as one of the modes by the Ancient Greeks.
What I'm saying is that, given an intelligent, technological society on any planet, as a result of the arithmetical relationship between notes in a scale, blues and boogie-woogie, along with many other cultures, will be hot-wired into the psyche of any intelligent lifeform. Can you imagine humans without the blues? Of course not. Why do historians look for the origins of the blues, when, like all other musical forms, they come as a natural result of intelligent thinking? When Leadbelly was asked about the origin of the blues, he said that "the blues has always been", and he was correct. He related boogie-woogie to "walking the basses", in which he was also correct. A million years ago, our ancestors were singing in all the scales we now know, because those scales are arithmetical.
From time to time this discussion comes up, and mention is made of scales in non-western music, where the octave is divided into more than twelve notes, but no matter how you divide the octave, the basic notes stay the same, and the other systems record divisions of the same basic notes.
If and when we come into contact with intelligent lifeforms on other planets, which I myself think is entirely doubtful considering the distances involved, despite the fact that with the trillions of stars in the galaxy the universe is teeming with life, we shall find that all the types of music that we hold dear, and identify with ethnic groups, already exist many times over.
Last edited by Alan Brookes on 25 Feb 2014 2:36 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bud Angelotti
From:
Larryville, NJ, USA
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Posted 24 Feb 2014 5:59 pm
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WOW!!!
_________________
Just 'cause I look stupid, don't mean I'm not. |
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Craig Baker
From:
Eatonton, Georgia, USA - R.I.P.
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Posted 24 Feb 2014 6:09 pm Out of this world
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Alan,
If you had posted this information a few years ago, perhaps it could have been verified by Moon Mullican or Duane Marrs. In fact didn't Moon record for the Mercury label, or was it Sun?
All the best,
Craig Baker 706-485-8792
cmbakerelectronics@gmail.com
C.M. Baker Electronics
P.O. Box 3965
Eatonton, GA 31024 |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 25 Feb 2014 9:06 am
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| Can you imagine humans without the blues |
I never felt that Blues Music generally conveyed the feeling of sadness or even depression. There's some sexuality below the surface as is in Rock'n'Roll.
I don't know much about this, but weren't some note sequences banned by the church, because they evoked "lower instincts".
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 25 Feb 2014 2:34 pm
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| Joachim Kettner wrote: |
| ...but weren't some note sequences banned by the church, because they evoked "lower instincts". |
The church has banned all sorts of things over the years, and their bans have rarely had a technological basis. At one time people were burned at the stake for daring to suggest that the Earth was round and not the centre of the universe.  |
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Don R Brown
From:
Rochester, New York, USA
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Posted 25 Feb 2014 2:36 pm
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| Quote: |
| What I'm saying is that, given an intelligent, technological society on any planet, as a result of the arithmetical relationship between notes in a scale, blues and boogie-woogie, along with many other cultures, will be hot-wired into the psyche of any intelligent lifeform. |
So Elvis may be alive and well on some planet in another solar system?  |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 25 Feb 2014 3:01 pm
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I would like to know what's prompted Alan - is he being channeled by aliens? But he's right about all music following basic laws.
The octave is the first interval you get from most vibrating objects and I think it's true to say that it is universal to all musical cultures. The triads we recognise as major and minor chords can be represented by simple ratios and sound beautiful when rendered that way. That is what attracted me to the steel guitar, which I tune by ear in natural intervals. My other instrument is the trombone. When trombonists play a chord, they automatically find the natural intervals by tuning out the beats, which they feel rather than hear. If you asked a trombone section to perform in equal temperament they wouldn't be able to.
I'm not restarting the debate - but E.T. is alien to me.
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Craig Baker
From:
Eatonton, Georgia, USA - R.I.P.
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Posted 25 Feb 2014 3:34 pm
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Ian,
While I agree with much of what you said, E.T. certainly didn't seem alien to me. I thought he was great and so were the rest of the Troubadours.
Sincerely,
Craig Baker 706-485-8792
cmbakerelectronics@gmail.com
C.M. Baker Electronics
P.O. Box 3965
Eatonton, GA 31024 |
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Les Cargill
From:
Oklahoma City, Ok, USA
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Posted 25 Feb 2014 4:07 pm
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| Don R Brown wrote: |
| Quote: |
| What I'm saying is that, given an intelligent, technological society on any planet, as a result of the arithmetical relationship between notes in a scale, blues and boogie-woogie, along with many other cultures, will be hot-wired into the psyche of any intelligent lifeform. |
So Elvis may be alive and well on some planet in another solar system? |
"Jay: You do know Elvis is dead, right?
Kay: No, Elvis is not dead. He just went home." - Men In Black... |
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Barry Blackwood
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Posted 26 Feb 2014 10:35 am
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Ian,
While I agree with much of what you said, E.T. certainly didn't seem alien to me. I thought he was great and so were the rest of the Troubadours.
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 26 Feb 2014 10:40 am
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Well, whether Elvis be dead or not is a completely different topic. Personally, as a lifelong Elvis fan, I would like to believe that he's living somewhere away from the spotlight and the terrible life he had become molded into, but that's wishful thinking. Are you aware that no-one ever claimed on his life insurance?
Back on the subject, you don't have to get sidetracked into all the science fiction written about far-flung monster-like aliens. With the trillions of galazies out there it's statistically probable that the whole universe is teeming with life.
Reincarnation is another completely different subject. I'm just talking about the inevitability of modern music based on the progress of technology. Ian is exactly right. I think he knows what I'm getting at. |
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Don R Brown
From:
Rochester, New York, USA
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Posted 26 Feb 2014 2:17 pm
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| If I recall, that band in the Cantina in Mos Eisley from Star Wars had a pretty good sound - but no steel! |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 26 Feb 2014 3:12 pm Re: Music in the Universe
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| Alan Brookes wrote: |
| The difference was in the sounds of the instruments. Once you electrified those instruments, and did away with their acoustic differences, rock and roll was an inevitable result of technology. |
There was plenty of early rock that didn't feature electric guitar or bass. In fact, most of the earliest stuff featured piano and sax. Problem was, piano wasn't portable or easy to play, and it was really hard to sing and play sax at the same time. Enter the electric guitar - loud, portable, and also pretty easy to accompany yourself on and play the basics. No doubt, the electric guitar certainly helped the proliferation of rock 'n roll, but I don't quite think I'm ready to say it was essential for the genesis of the genre.
All IMHO, of course.  |
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Mitch Ellis
From:
Collins, Mississippi USA
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Posted 26 Feb 2014 3:57 pm
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| Barry Blackwood wrote: |
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Ian,
While I agree with much of what you said, E.T. certainly didn't seem alien to me. I thought he was great and so were the rest of the Troubadours.
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It took a few minutes, but now I get it. 
Mitch |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 27 Feb 2014 10:06 am
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I think it's generally accepted amongst astronomers and statisticians that the universe contains a large number of planets at the right distance from their suns to support life as we would recognise it, and that some of those will be very similar to Earth. What I want to know is, how many of their steel players prefer a 12-string over a double neck?
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 27 Feb 2014 10:16 am
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| ...and do they prefer Typhoo or P.G. Tips? |
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