Blues as a Musical Idiom

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Evgeny A. Pinchukov

Abstract

The author calls in question the hypothesis of the African origins of blues, ascertaining that it has no substantial proof either in the sum total of historical circumstances or in the structure of blues as a system of intonation. The real precursor of this system is perceived to be the “neutral mode” of the folk music of Anglo-Celtic settlers in America which was merged in the harmonic modus of blues with its mixed inflection in the “search for blues” (or the “blues feel” cultivation). Emphasis is given to the ostinato character of the blues mode, where the role of the leading tone and the dynamicism of the relationship between dominant and tonic are reduced to a minimum. Instead, the basis of the movement is formed by the oscillation of the scale degrees I–IV–I. The fluctuations of inflection which occur from the influence of the blues notes as dissonances in chords are what make up the concentration of modal means related to the “blues feel.”

Keywords: neutral mode, blues notes, harmonic modus of blues

Article Details

How to Cite
Pinchukov, E. A. (2012). Blues as a Musical Idiom. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 11(2), 22–27. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/346
Section
Horizonts of Musicology
Author Biography

Evgeny A. Pinchukov, Ural State Conservatory named after M. P. Musorgsky

holds a degree of Candidate of Arts (PhD) and is an assistant professor (docent) at the Music Theory Department