Comments for Harmonic Dissidents Magazine

Comment on 45 Years of Finding America’s Groove by Charles Keil

Charles Keil — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:04:43 +0000

Bill, thanks for this well focused write up! Found this sort of by accident. There must be a lot of ways to sift the web for info that I’m not aware of these days.
charlie

Comment on LETTERS Issue #3 by TheProf

TheProf — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:59:35 +0000

If these black students are willing to perform the song in a contemporary setting, then whites should just shut UP>

http://www.colum.edu/cbmr/events/keep-a-song.php

Comment on LETTERS Issue #3 by TheProf

TheProf — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:50:33 +0000

The “Darktown Ball” was, in fact, a real event, but it did not start out as being for the higher classes. It was originated by the ladies of the evening in the Darktown area of Chicago. They decided to create the ball as their way of showing that, for at least 1 night per year, they were just as good as everyone else. It was by invitation only and, over time, became THE most sought after ticket. Even the Major of Chicago could not attend without an invitation.

The composer was Shelton Brooks, a black man who was celebrating the event and the fact that it had become such an important part of the city’s history.

Those who see racism in this song are those who have simply become conditioned to seek the most simple, childish explanation for the “supposed” motivation. I wouldn’t let any of these comments bother you. They come from simple, uneducated minds. I’ll bet the vast majority of the audience loves the song as audiences have loved it since 1917.

Comment on Community Music: From “There” to “Here” by Bill

Bill — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:30:14 +0000

Lee Higgins, who Pat Campbell features in her article, teaches at Boston University. You can reach him at higginsl(at)bu.edu. Pat and Lee have a book out, Free to Be Musical: Group Improvisation in Music, and Lee’s new book on Community Music is due out soon from Oxford University Press.

Comment on Community Music: From “There” to “Here” by Pamela West-Finkle

Pamela West-Finkle — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:07:20 +0000

Great article on community music! I am the founder/director of the Community Music & Arts Network. My center is based in a rural community in the Catskill Mountains. I teach everything from early childhood Music Together to an after school “School of Rock,” a summer jam camp, and we hope to start up adult jams and all ages workshops this year. Does anyone know of a national resource in the US that attempts to connect similar centers across the country?

Comment on LETTERS Issue #3 by Marjorie Searl

Marjorie Searl — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:13:55 +0000

It’s interesting and horrifying to google “Darktown” and see how many horribly racist images come up. Currier & Ives did a whole series called the “Darktown” series and it is a challenge for museums to deal with this material, although it is part of the art historical record. I grew up as a white child listening to my grandmother play “Darktown Strutters Ball” on the piano with terrific zest. I also think that we learned the song in elementary school. To me it always spoke of the exotic, elegant and exciting urban nightlife. I always wished that I could go to the Darktown Strutters Ball! It sounded like fun.

As an adult, I do confess to cringing at anything that used the term “Darktown” although I do wonder if it means that we will never hear that lively tune performed in public again. Were these white people who were complaining?

Comment on LETTERS Issue #3 by Jerry

Jerry — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:45:32 +0000

I played the tune in a funeral parade of a New Orleans native who had lived near my home in Sonoma, California. It was a pick-up band called together by the grieving family and this tune and “Saints” were the only numbers we all could play together.

It is perhaps sad but true that tunes can have symbolic value (think of “Dixie”), and that people do project their symbolic meanings on them. Get enough people projecting the same meaning on a tune and the meaning takes on an “objective” reality in the world.

Your band has as much right to project its own meaning on the tune as individual members of your audience. Once the meaning takes on an “objective” reality in a significant part of your audience you may need to reconsider. For now you just need to decide if the tune is worth saving because playing it gives you joy.

Comment on What Has Money Done for Us Recently? by Jerry

Jerry — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 13:48:17 +0000

I’m another Bub and see good in accepting money on the street as it reenforces the givers’ behavior and sets a example for others in giving money to street musicians, a very worthy contribution to the cultural commons.

Comment on What Has Money Done for Us Recently? by Eric

Eric — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 11:37:39 +0000

Hi Jean, thanks for your comments. For the record I don’t think accepting money is a bad or negative thing. I just wanted to toot our horn about how not accepting money works well for us and our situation. Also, we generally stick to the activist type gigs and avoid the wedding type gigs (with the exception of occasionally playing for nursing homes or a special request from a band member). Best of luck with your nonprofit plan. I think only you can judge whether it’s a good idea, so let us know how it works out.
Keep on Honk’n Bubs!
Eric Pearce

Comment on What Has Money Done for Us Recently? by Bill

Bill — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 07:12:34 +0000

The Carnival Band in Vancouver, BC, has an organizational structure you might want to weigh. Their major economic decisions (how much to charge, whether to accept a free gig, etc.) are made by the Open Air Orchestra Society, which frees the band from getting bogged down in these decisions. Of course, some of the band is also in the OAOS. I think OAOS is a nonprofit, but it follows Canadian law, not US.

They also pay a musical director, the only paid member of the band ( I think).

These arrangements aren’t for every band, but the CB has worked them out over 10 years of near constant activity, and it works for them.