#tonic-dominant

You Never Can Tell (1964) Chuck Berry Early Rock ’n’ Roll key: C major blues

Euroclassical function names:   tonic   dominantTagg: tonic   counterpoiseRiemann: T7 D7scale degrees: I7 V7chord names: C G7

 C7 |////|////|////|////|  C7        G7 |////|////|////|////|  G7 |////|////|////|////|  G7        C7 |////|////|////|////|

mode: C blues — C D Eb F# G Bb C melody: d r (ri) m f s l (li) ta t d’ (<— this is a bit much, I know) form: AA’A’’A’’’ meter: duple suggested time signature: 4|4

other recordings: Loggins & Messina, C blues Emmylou Harris, Bb blues John Prine, B blues

There are times when no one is playing the flat seven in the tonic. There are many times where we have B natural and E natural. Such is the variety and changing nature of the blues. We like to have  pat formulas, like the one listed under “mode” (which I list for improvisation purposes), but the truth of the matter is more apparent in the messiness of what is listed under “melody.” Scales are very artificial constructs, though they occasionally appear “verbatim” in songs (“Joy to the World” comes to mind…). The true sense of a scale/mode/tonality/style comes in how it actually ends up being used. A real education is to be had in slowing down this track and trying to imitate Berry’s delivery as closely as possible, whether you are singing or playing an instrument.

Rockin’ Pneumonia (1957) Huey Smith Early Rock ’n’ Roll key: C major blues

Euroclassical function names:   tonic   dominantTagg: tonic   counterpoiseRiemann: T7 D7scale degrees: I7 V7chord names: C7 G7

 C7 |////|////|////|////|  G7        C7 |////|////|////|////|

mode: C blues — C D Eb F# G Bb C melody: S L TA d r (ri) m form: ABA’B’ meter: duple suggested time signature: 4|4

other recordings: James Booker, C Johnny Rivers, C Phoebe Snow, D

The blues. Possibly the most important musical development in the past 150 years. It has certainly become the predominant sound-world of music making today.

In the blues, we have a situation where the notes of the melody are not fully represented in the harmonies — in fact, they clash, but in a way that somehow sounds right. So have a C major chord with a flat seventh degree, like a dominant chord, except it’s clearly the tonic — when naming the chord we still say “C dominant 7” anyway. In the blues scale, there is no E natural for the C major chord; there is no B natural for the G major chord (with the flat seventh degree, this time functioning more like a dominant).

This is where chord nomenclature starts to go horribly wrong. Part of the issue is that there is only so much you can fight centuries of habit. These names were already available and so people just used them, even though “dominant” stopped meaning what it was originally supposed to mean. Much in the same way that we use “octave” — which, yes, way, way back in Greek antiquity was separated by eight (uneven) steps — even though we now separate the octave into twelve steps (dodecatave is a bit unwieldy…). Think about the last four months of the year and how the number changed, but not the name. Old habits die hard.

In modern times, it has become important to separate “dominant, the chord function” from “dominant, the chord flavor.” I wish it were easier and Tagg’s new terminology helps a lot, but has not spread to the point of standardization. It’s not that traditional Euroclassical concepts of harmonic function need to be thrown out — they actually still have good use in musics that have roots in both European and African musics (basically, most “popular” styles that have come out of the Americas since colonialism and slavery), but they most definitely need to be enhanced and modified, just as they have been throughout its history. We do not analyze Josquin like we analyze Bach, we do not analyze Philip Glass like we analyze Mahler. But as each composer pushed the boundaries of what was considered musically acceptable in Classical music, the theory expanded to include those examples. While there are definitely conservative strongholds in some areas of academia who feel music that is not purely from the Euroclassical tradition is not worth studying, for every one of those there are progressive strongholds expanding the canon. In this case, more is more.

Now. All that said, the melody to this song has a lot of slides and more speech-like pitches (as we heard in Life During Wartime, for example), which is a hallmark of the blues style. I hear this song as using mostly E natural — not a blue note — when C7 is in play.

Start Wearing Purple (2004) Gogol Bordello Gypsy Punk, New York/Ukraine key: A minor

Euroclassical function names:   tonic   dominantTagg: tonic   counterpoiseRiemann: t D or D7scale degrees: i V or V7chord names: Am E or E7

*Ukulele does not have E in open position. It only has E7.

chorus:

 Am             E |////|////|////|////|  E              A |////|////|////|////|

verse:  Am        E         |////|////|////|////|  E         Am |////|////|////|

mode: A minor — A B C D E F (F#) G (G#) A melody: l t d r (ri) m f l’ t’ d’ r’ form: chorus — AB; verse — AB’; meter: duple suggested time signature: 4|4

This is, well, an unusual song. I don’t think the under-12 set would relate to it much, but I think it’s pretty rad (full disclosure: I am not under 12.).

San Toki (????) folk, Korea Elizabeth Mitchell key: A major

Euroclassical function names:   tonic   dominantTagg: tonic   counterpoiseRiemann: T D or D7scale degrees: I V or V7chord names: A E or E7

*Ukulele does not have E in open position. It only has E7.

  A         E    A |:////|////|////|////:|

mode: A major/ionian — A B C# D E F# G# A melody: drmfsd’ form: AB meter: duple suggested time signature: 4|4

other recordings: The Chinkees, E Kyung Hun, G (performed with a drone) Elena Moon Park, A

Life During Wartime (1979) Talking Heads New Wave, USA key: A minor

Euroclassical function names:   tonic   dominantTagg: tonic   counterpoiseRiemann: t D or D7scale degrees: i V or V7chord names: Am E or E7

*Ukulele does not have E in open position. It only has E7.

verse:   Am     |:////|////|////|////:| 4x

chorus:   E |:////|////|////|////:| 2x (last time 4x)

mode: A minor — A B C D E F (F#) G (G#) A melody: S l d r m si form: verse — AAAA ; chorus — BBBB; meter: duple suggested time signature: 4|4

other recordings: Staples Singers, C minor

In this song, we have much longer stretches of any one chord than we have previously seen. The chorus really sounds some other place to be (counterpoise) and doesn’t sound much like a traditional dominant. The length of each chord diminishes the sense of tonality a little and creates more of a feeling of two tonic poles, two places that are visited.

Tenement Yard (1976) Jacob Miller Reggae, Jamaica key: A major

Euroclassical function names:   tonic   dominantTagg: tonic   counterpoiseRiemann: T D or D7scale degrees: I V or V7chord names: A E or E7

*Ukulele does not have E in open position. It only has E7.

 A    E |:////|////:| loop

mode: A major/ionian — A B C# D E F# G# A melody: Sdrmfs form: call-and-response; AA’ meter: duple suggested time signature: 4|4

other recordings: The Jolly Boys, F

Here’s another controversial one. Unfortunately, the only reason I wouldn’t use this with children is “smoke him pipe in peace.” It’s easy to say, “Relax! It just references a pipe!” But I fear too many parents would make the very obvious connection between reggae, pipes, and weed and not be happy about condoning such things.

There is another fear, and perhaps this one is worse. The vocal delivery and slang that makes this song so enjoyable to sing would probably just be perceived as ridiculous nonsense by most kids, thereby missing the really important part of the song: the message. The police, and therefore, the government won’t leave a regular joe in peace (i.e., there are worse things than smoking a pipe, weed or no…). This is always a problem to be vigilant for. And that’s why I keep going back and forth about whether I green-list this song for teaching.

In somewhat less controversial areas, this is one of our few examples in which the whole song is a tonic-dominant shuttle. In fact, it’s our first whole-song shuttle! I hinted at them in the very first post, but did not go into detail. As we shall see in future posts, reggae is chock full of shuttles, but usually tonic-subdominant and occasionally tonic-supertonic. Let’s see what Mr. Tagg has to say about shuttles, since he made up the term. Shuttles are made of:

two chords, which have

equal duration (and therefore importance), but

neither is longer than what is perceived as “the extended present” — meaning, in musical terms, no longer than a phrase, and

repeated in this way at least twice

Fidel Castro (1959) Lord Invader Calypso, Trinidad key: F minor

Euroclassical function names:   tonic   dominantTagg: tonic   counterpoiseRiemann: t D or D7scale degrees: i V or V7chord names: Fm C or C7

 Fm             C |////|////|////|////|  C              Fm |////|////|////|////|

mode: F minor — F G Ab Bb C Db (D) Eb (E) F melody: SI l t d r m f l’ form: call & response; ABA’C meter: duple suggested time signature: 2|2, 4|4