My Future Musical Plans

Originally I had planned to be an arranger of instrumental groups. I was inspired by my high school band teacher, Mr Tillman Buggs. He was from Indianapolis, Indiana and was one of the fastest arrangers of notation I have ever seen. He could write out parts for an 18 piece big band and hear something he didn't like and collect the parts and make corrections on multiple parts and hand the charts back to us in less than 15 minutes. I started taking private lessons from him when I was a Freshman in high school. The lessons were informal. I bought a manuscript book and he told me to write out all of the major scales and the three forms of the minor scales reserving each pitch it's own individual measure. Next he wanted me to harmonize each individual pitch starting with minor seconds, then major seconds, then augmented seconds, then minor thirds, major thirds and augmented thirds ect...... So I would continue to make the intervals larger and larger until I was up to one octave and then two octaves up to the Perfect 15th.

My regular piano teacher did not like Mr Buggs and he was highly opinionated so he told me so. He said this after I told him what I was doing with Mr Buggs. My regular piano teacher who I paid $3.00 for a half hour lesson once a week was Dr Granuel Whittemore. He was a local legend in music. Whittemore had graduated from Roosevelt University or Chicago Musical College for his undergrad degree and then Julliard in Manhattan for his Master's and Doctorate in Fine Arts. He had been a Warrant Officer in the segregated US Army during WW2. Now at home in the late 50's and going into the early 1960's he was a choir director and male chorus director for First AME church. However he did not teach me what I wanted to learn. My mother had asked him to teach me chords or harmony so I could learn how to understand harmony/counterpoint and be able to play piano by ear and teach people how to sing by rote using their ears. Whittemore never did do that. He wasted my time a lot and had me learning to be a concert pianist which was very unrealistic. I played for his recitals every year at his church. It was  a showcase of how great of a teacher he was. Hardly anyone was a lover of classical music in the working class town of Gary, Indiana. What we were playing was way over the heads of the audience were were performing for. I was one of his most advanced students but not his most advanced. He had about 5 who were more advanced than me. I was the silver medal winner among the boys. Billy Foster who was about three years older than me was the gold medal winner. The rest were girls. The girls were usually more disciplined and several were older than me. I quit or was asked not to come back when I performed part of my piano composition and added some improvisation to stretch it out a little more. I can't remember the piece. It was some master-work. I was way past the graded books and was performing the actual works written by master serious composers. The only people who knew I had improvised was a girl who was older than me. I believe her name was either Estes or Eskew. I can't remember since this was nearly 50 years ago. I often wondered what happened to all of those kids who put countless hours into practicing the piano. None of them were ever successful in music so far as big names. Billy Foster and I were the only ones that I know who continued to pursue music as undergrad and grad music students. We were the only ones out of that generation or group who were professional performers and professional music teachers on the public school and college level. 

I had trouble finding musicians who could read music. Most of the cats around Gary could not read or were very poor readers. The older generation were pretty good readers but most were retiring or had retired from playing their instruments and had gotten jobs in the steel mills. Only a few still played but that was mostly by ear and only tunes they already knew. They were not conducive to learning anything new or reading music. So my writing skills got stunted. I never developed as an arranger of instrumental music.

My Musical Life Z to A

I think I am going to tell this story in descending chronological order. I am going to start at the end and work my way back to the beginning. This is my musical life Z to A rather than A to Z.

I am working on two songs for a church program coming up on 9/9/2012. They are "I Believe" by Kathy Taylor, and "He is a Mighty God" and I am sure who wrote that song. These songs are presented to me on the spot without any preparation. So I have adapted to being very flexible and have learned how to improvise on the spot.

I can play thousands of songs. I really do not know how many songs I can play, but I know it's a lot more than a few hundred. I have pretty equal facility in all the keys so I am thinking in what I now call "The Big Key". I can adjust and adapt so quickly until the lead singer can be singing in one key and the choir in another key and I can follow both of them where it sounds okay. I can start following either a choir or a lead in one key and they can change keys and I can instantly transpose to the new keys as they appear. I never thought that was humanly possible.

I have learned how to listen to a song one time and play a reasonable facsimile of it instantly. In some cases I don't even get a chance to hear a song all the way through and I can figure the song out as the song goes along. Since the choir director does not know that it is humanly impossible to do she forces me to do it all the time and I have gotten good at it. Another impossible thing I was doing is playing a generic vocal part by rote without even knowing the tune of the song. However I had to tell her I can't really teach vocal parts without knowing the tune or melody. How can you give parts to others in  the play when you don't know the play? See it does not make sense. I really don't understand how she thought I could give alto and tenor their parts without knowing what the soprano is. So as she would be teaching and explaining the soprano part and words she would be asking me what is the alto part, and what it the tenor. Unless I can hear the soprano pitch or line I can't develop a harmony. Usually I would first hear her soprano but sometimes she would stop before even saying the words or singing the soprano pitch and ask me what is the harmony. See that does not make sense. You must first have a soprano line. Then you can find harmony lines. The lines are usually under the soprano in pitch although not necessarily. It depends on how you arrange the voices. The melody can be in the alto or tenor with soprano singing a harmony part on top of it.

The Tragedy Of Duke Ellington, The ‘Black Prince Of Jazz’by John Hammond — 11/1/1935An Exclusive Online Extra A Musician of Great Talent Forsakes Simplicity for Pretension Of all our native popular composers Duke Ellington is probably the most gifted and original. For more than ten years, he has been producing, with the aid of the most accomplished orchestra in America, songs and arrangements quite unlike those of any other musician, black or white. His work has been received with international acclamation, in some cases, less than it deserved and in a few, considerable more. Unlike so many of his contemporaries, Ellington is a hard-working, ambitious individual. Confronted with the undiscriminating praise of critics like Constant Lambert, he felt it necessary to go out and prove that he could write really important music, far removed from the simplicity and charm of his earlier tunes. “Daybreak Express,” and “Rude Interlude.” were the first signs of this, but even they could not prepare us for the pretension of his new 12-minute work, “Reminiscing,” which Brunswick has just seen fit to release on two ten-inch records. The saddest part of the tale is that the composer considers it his most important contribution to the field of music. The reasons for the complete sterility of this new opus are so numerous that it is difficult to know exactly where to begin. The most logical place would be with the Duke himself, since his life during the last eight years is almost the ideal example of what the modern composer, Negro or white should avoid at all costs. As a person, Ellington is one of the most completely charming I have ever come across. His disposition is without rival among artists, for he has never been known to lose his temper or do conscious ill to anyone. He suffers abuse and exploitation with an Olympian calm and fortitude, never deigning to fight back or stand up for even his most elemental rights. Unpleasantness of any sort he flees from. He would greatly prefer not seeing the seamier side of existence and has spent most of his recent years in escaping from the harsh reality that faces even the most secure among negroes. The Duke has been exploited in a way that is absolutely appalling to anyone not thoroughly conversant with the ethics of Broadway. Although he and his orchestra have earned between $5-and-$10 thousand a week consistently for the last eight years, he has received disgracefully little himself. His living habits are exceedingly modest for one in his position, and yet he has accumulated nothing. Ellington is fully conscious of the fact that Broadway has not treated him fairly, knowing many of the sordid details. And yet, he did not lift a finger to protect himself because he has the completely defeatist outlook which chokes so many of the artists of his race. It is easier to accept abuse without fighting back than to go through the unpleasantness of rows with associates. As a result, Duke has no time for rest and contemplation. He must be steadily on the run, hopping from one spot to the other in grinding out one night stands, picking up work when it can be had in theaters, and never getting down to any sustained labor. Since his music is losing the distinctive flavor it once had—both because of the fact he has added slick, un-negroid musicians to his band and because he himself is aping Tin Pan Alley composers for commercial reasons—he and his music are definitely losing favor with a once-idolatrous public. And unless there are definite changes very soon, he will be in a very precarious position. Shuts His Eyes to Abuses But the real trouble with Duke’s music is the fact that he has purposely kept himself from any contact with the troubles of his people or mankind in general. It would probably take a Granville Hicks or Langston Hughes to describe the way he shuts his eyes to the abuses being heaped upon his race and his original class. He consciously keeps himself from thinking about such problems as those of the southern share croppers, the Scottsboro boys, intolerable working and relief conditions in the North and South—although, he is too intelligent not to know that these all do exist. He has very real fears as to his own future, and yet, he has never shown any desire of aligning himself with forces that are seeking to remove the causes of these disgraceful conditions. Consequently, Ellington’s music has become vapid and without the slightest semblance of guts. His newer stuff bears superficial resemblance to Debussy and Delius without any of the peculiar vitality that used to pervade his work. The Duke is afraid even to think about himself, his struggles and his disappointments, and that is why his “Reminiscing” is so formless and shallow a piece of music. There is one extremely significant factor regardless of whatever worth there still exists in Ellington’s orchestra. the majority of the musicians do not accept unfair dealings with the equanimity of their leader. Within the past year, they have struck together twice in my knowledge and won their demands from an unwilling manager. Even the most highly paid among Harlem musicians do not forget the fact that they come from a race that has been traditionally exploited and that a determined fight has to be waged to preserve even their present status. DB

Duke Ellington

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The Tragedy Of Duke Ellington, The ‘Black Prince Of Jazz’by John Hammond — 11/1/1935An Exclusive Online Extra A Musician of Great Talent Forsakes Simplicity for Pretension Of all our native popular composers Duke Ellington is probably the most gifted and original. For more than ten years, he has been producing, with the aid of the most accomplished orchestra in America, songs and arrangements quite unlike those of any other musician, black or white. His work has been received with international acclamation, in some cases, less than it deserved and in a few, considerable more. Unlike so many of his contemporaries, Ellington is a hard-working, ambitious individual. Confronted with the undiscriminating praise of critics like Constant Lambert, he felt it necessary to go out and prove that he could write really important music, far removed from the simplicity and charm of his earlier tunes. “Daybreak Express,” and “Rude Interlude.” were the first signs of this, but even they could not prepare us for the pretension of his new 12-minute work, “Reminiscing,” which Brunswick has just seen fit to release on two ten-inch records. The saddest part of the tale is that the composer considers it his most important contribution to the field of music. The reasons for the complete sterility of this new opus are so numerous that it is difficult to know exactly where to begin. The most logical place would be with the Duke himself, since his life during the last eight years is almost the ideal example of what the modern composer, Negro or white should avoid at all costs. As a person, Ellington is one of the most completely charming I have ever come across. His disposition is without rival among artists, for he has never been known to lose his temper or do conscious ill to anyone. He suffers abuse and exploitation with an Olympian calm and fortitude, never deigning to fight back or stand up for even his most elemental rights. Unpleasantness of any sort he flees from. He would greatly prefer not seeing the seamier side of existence and has spent most of his recent years in escaping from the harsh reality that faces even the most secure among negroes. The Duke has been exploited in a way that is absolutely appalling to anyone not thoroughly conversant with the ethics of Broadway. Although he and his orchestra have earned between $5-and-$10 thousand a week consistently for the last eight years, he has received disgracefully little himself. His living habits are exceedingly modest for one in his position, and yet he has accumulated nothing. Ellington is fully conscious of the fact that Broadway has not treated him fairly, knowing many of the sordid details. And yet, he did not lift a finger to protect himself because he has the completely defeatist outlook which chokes so many of the artists of his race. It is easier to accept abuse without fighting back than to go through the unpleasantness of rows with associates. As a result, Duke has no time for rest and contemplation. He must be steadily on the run, hopping from one spot to the other in grinding out one night stands, picking up work when it can be had in theaters, and never getting down to any sustained labor. Since his music is losing the distinctive flavor it once had—both because of the fact he has added slick, un-negroid musicians to his band and because he himself is aping Tin Pan Alley composers for commercial reasons—he and his music are definitely losing favor with a once-idolatrous public. And unless there are definite changes very soon, he will be in a very precarious position. Shuts His Eyes to Abuses But the real trouble with Duke’s music is the fact that he has purposely kept himself from any contact with the troubles of his people or mankind in general. It would probably take a Granville Hicks or Langston Hughes to describe the way he shuts his eyes to the abuses being heaped upon his race and his original class. He consciously keeps himself from thinking about such problems as those of the southern share croppers, the Scottsboro boys, intolerable working and relief conditions in the North and South—although, he is too intelligent not to know that these all do exist. He has very real fears as to his own future, and yet, he has never shown any desire of aligning himself with forces that are seeking to remove the causes of these disgraceful conditions. Consequently, Ellington’s music has become vapid and without the slightest semblance of guts. His newer stuff bears superficial resemblance to Debussy and Delius without any of the peculiar vitality that used to pervade his work. The Duke is afraid even to think about himself, his struggles and his disappointments, and that is why his “Reminiscing” is so formless and shallow a piece of music. There is one extremely significant factor regardless of whatever worth there still exists in Ellington’s orchestra. the majority of the musicians do not accept unfair dealings with the equanimity of their leader. Within the past year, they have struck together twice in my knowledge and won their demands from an unwilling manager. Even the most highly paid among Harlem musicians do not forget the fact that they come from a race that has been traditionally exploited and that a determined fight has to be waged to preserve even their present status. DB

Duke Ellington

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Serenity Now

Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I can't change. The courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

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Scott Free

Scott was promised freedom but was denied it in the end. Dred Scott was a slave to a white man in the South during slavery times in America. The man said that he would write papers indicating that upon his death Dred would be a free man. But when the man died his wife demanded that Dred remain a slave. Dred got a lawyer to represent himself and claim his freedom. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court where the court ruled that a balck man had no rights and Dred became the property of the man's wife. Scott Free is a lie.

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Nice Book to introduce kids to Science Fiction

Children of Morrow Science Fiction for kids.

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