TJ's Lesson Notes: During these lessons Aubrey & I delved into pre Blues music of the Underground railroad. We listened to a variety of interpetations of the Drinking Gourd (ranging from folk music, classical oriented choral, to John Coltrane) We also discussed the history of the Underground RR, and how in certain aspects it continued throughout the Jim Crow period, with southern African Americans helping their community members who crossed the Jim Crow social rules escape the clutches of the KKK, other vigilante groups, & the law themselves (when they were carrying out the wishes of the White Citizens Council or unconstitutional, racists laws.) How, no less than, Willie Dixon escaped from a chain gang and eventually managed to get himself to Chicago. The coded messages of the Underground RR also continued in Blues songs and even into popular R & B songs.(such as A Change is gona Come, & Dancing in the Street.), We wondered how John Coltrane learned the Drinking Gourd....was it through passed down family songs, or from a pre integrated public school or church? Regardless his 1961 recording, done as a modal Jazz song, certainly was decades before most people started finding out about the rich wealth of culture and knowledge of the Underground RR. We also looked into the history of Modal Jazz and how African & Indian cultures (among other cultures) were playing modally as well as improvising. We watched videos of Bella Flecks trip to Africa in search of the roots of the Banjo..and listened to some modal music he was making there. Some of the early African banjos actually were similar to the cigar box guitars of the early country Blues era.. I also brought & loaned Aubrey my cigar box guitar and gave her a slide lesson on it! She picked up on it very quickly. To wind up, we jammed (along with her father on drums) on a one chord, modal open tuned, cigar box guitar number as well as a modal version of the Drinking gourd. Homework: practise the slide cigar box guitar. Aubrey's Journal: For these lessons, we played a modal (dorian) song called The Drinking Gourd and listened to a few versions of it, including John Coltrane’s. Then we watched some Bela Fleck videos of him playing with some African musicians. Also, TJ brought his cigar box guitar and showed me a few riffs to play using a slide. I think I did pretty good!  Cigar Box Guitar and Slide |
