the early blues performer according to those dimensions.a)
The acquisition mode of musical skills
The question here is: how did an artist develop his (her) musical skills?Was there an involvement of formal schooling and learning, next to hardpractice and (self) study?It is a well known fact that (early) blues artists and their ascendants developed their musical techniques inthe ‘school of life’. Most if not all of them started already as a child to develop interest in music, stimulatedby the musical background of their relatives or neighbours. Hearing them play at home or at social eventswas the input for the youngster to cultivate his own talents. “Self-taught” is a word that constantly pops upin most of the biographies of those early musicians, and it would even be foolish to try to quote examples of biographies here.At first perhaps limited to family and neighbours, the sources for the acquisition of skills expanded over time with the increasing mobility during the second half of the century. The accruing density of the railroadnetwork went hand in hand with a higher level of mobility of the musicians, sustaining the popularity of touring groups and performers. This allowed the learning musician to pick up techniques from visitingperformers but also to travel himself to picnics, parties or other social events at ever further distances wherehe could learn from other musicians he admired.The advent of the records at the end of the century augmented further the learning sources. Liveperformances were complemented with waxed material as the inspiration for learning (new) techniques,tunes and lyrics. The phonograph became widespread – let us not forget the role played by mail order companies here – and assured that music could spread around much faster than before. The possibility toreplay a record over and over again was of course a luxury that could only contribute to the refining of thetechnical skill of the zealous student.There are legends which let us believe that some artists acquired their skills from a bargain with the devil.But that is a totally different story; if this type of devil would exist the world would not look the same.b)
The (broadness of the) repertoire
In his in-depth study, “Segregating Sounds”, Miller (2010) strongly highlights the variety of the repertoire of the early blues artist and his ascendant. Even when the blues became an ever increasing part of themusical repertoire, other popular songs remained on the list of the performer. At the risk of too strong ageneralization, one could say that the average musician included a substantial part of European inspiredmusic in his performance acts. I refer to ballads, polkas, waltzes, marches…The second half of the 1800salso witnessed the rising distribution of tunes produced in New York City by the famous Tin Pan Alley-collection of music publishers and writers. Mail order companies helped the spread of the Tin Pan Alleysheet music in the Southern States, which was further sustained by touring (vaudeville) theatres (oftenorchestrated from New York City) and medicine groups.Whilst in the first decades of the 1800′s the nostalgic black face minstrelsy – eulogizing the supposedlyperfect social harmony during slavery times – dominated the scene, the coon song – which stripped to itspurest form the burlesque and stereotyped image of the African American citizen – became top of the popsby the end of the century. This song became the guarantee of success, next to Tin Pan Alley-products.
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