Joe Filisko - Louisiana Song
Fri, 04/24/2020 - 07:34
Hi David, I like to understand what I am doing musically. Louisiana song begins (I chord) with the "octave" tongue block technique with 3 and 6 draw and 4 and 7 draw. 4 and 7 draw is in the I chord (the 5th and 3rd notes), but the 3 - 6 draw combination has only the 3rd note of the chord. 6 draw is not in the I chord. So why is this combination musically OK? I ask because later (in the IV chord) the 3 draw is dropped for the fact that is not one of the chordal notes. Thank you.
Hello rdh61. The first thing to think about is that there is a melody carried in the top line. Using a split embouchure, whether you’re splitting one hole with your tongue, two holes, three holes, etc., the bottom note creates a type of harmony. So, the top note is the melody, and the bottom note is a sort of harmony. Sometimes the harmony matches well, sometimes not so well. When it doesn’t match so well, we make a point to play it softer generally. The mismatched harmony notes in this case sound idiomatic of the Louisiana style. In this case, it’s mostly just because the top line has the melody... we excuse the slight dissonance. Lastly, try something... if it sounds OK, use it... you don’t have to explain why it sounds OK. As much as I like to understand the blues, there are cases that come up where something shouldn’t match at all, but it sounds great. This is the art part of music making.