(Original posted on April 9, 2002)
This is a rare book that could be described as a “stoic and cool music theory book.” It’s an unusual theory book with a layout like a science or engineering textbook, and its content is truly substantial, meticulously examining scales to reach a single conclusion.
A major feature is that it comes with a performance CD demonstrating the practical application of its theoretical findings. The kind of musical world this book proposes is concretely conveyed through the music played by the author himself, a bassist.
Phrases played with the blue note scale form the axis, and from there, the author’s improvised bass phrases freely roam within a sonic space constructed by derived scales and their characteristic chords. While the core phrases based on the blue note scale remain consistent, the scales and chords applied to each track change, and as the performance progresses, it takes on aspects of polytonality relative to the original blue note scale.
A certain level of understanding of the Berklee system (so-called jazz theory) is essential for the content, so it’s not recommended for beginners to pick up. Conversely, for those who have mastered and practiced these concepts, it’s likely to be very interesting, and they may experience an expansion of their own sense of sonority. However, patience is required to read it thoroughly.
Below is a quote from the text that expresses the author’s musical views.
“The most difficult task in music is the work from establishing fundamental theory to constructing a system for actually creating music. To put it extremely, the level of a musician’s musicality can be said to be a matter of the superiority or inferiority of their musical system. (omitted) People should perceive this system as encompassing the entirety of their musical experience and knowledge.
And the most important thing is to thoroughly pursue the basis on which individual systems stand and to acquire a standpoint that transcends existing premises as much as possible. This is the only way to go far musically.
I’m writing this because I don’t want to be misunderstood, but I am not asserting that the system itself is music. It is a tragedy if a system is not constructed as a materialization of the sonic images that a musician holds. The misery of music without an intersection of method and the author’s emotion is this tragedy. One must not use sophistry like music as the deconstruction of the author’s ego. Music and nihilism cannot coexist.
Therefore, the more realistic difficulty in music becomes a question of the existence or absence of the intensity of desire to build a system in the direction of one’s own sonic images. For musical expression to reach a certain level, there must be a supple union of an excellent system (structure) and the emotion of the author (composer, performer). There is no other catalyst for achieving this than the existence of a musician’s desire that they cannot be satisfied otherwise. And what we hear in music is the form of a musician’s struggle between this fated desire and their aptitude.”
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I also discuss the content of this book in an essay, but there’s another interesting point regarding understanding its content. It’s the concept of “affinity” proposed by the French musicologist Edmond Costère.
Costère’s book “Transformations of Harmony” (original: “Les affinités électives et la métamorphose de l’harmonie”) is about affinity, and “Blue Note and Tonality” similarly deals with affinity, making it an important keyword in the book. The flow of analyzing a simple major scale based on affinity, deriving the scale’s center of gravity from it, and proceeding with the discussion based on the Dorian scale is something I highly recommend experiencing through this book.
This concept of “affinity” is extremely useful for grasping harmonic progressions in music with weak tonality. It’s simple, can be expressed numerically for comparison, and is truly like a “measuring stick.”
Table of Contents for “Blue Note and Tonality”
- Preface / Contents / Notation
- 1.0 Critique of the Lydian Chromatic Concept
- Outline of the Lydian Chromatic Concept / Critique of the Lydian Chromatic Concept
- 2.0 Blue Note and Tonality
- Theory of Blue Notes / The World Created by the Subharmonic Series Realm
- 3.0 Scales and Chords
- Theory of Scales / Affinity and Inclusivity of Scales / Scales and Triads / Scales Determined by Chords
- 4.0 Upper Structure Triad and Hybrid Chord
- Upper Structure Triad / From Upper Structure Triad to Hybrid Chord / Classification of Hybrid Chords
- 5.0 Sus4 and the Subharmonic Series Realm
- Introduction of Sus4 / Expansion of Sus4 and Hybrid Chords / Sus4 and the Subharmonic Series Realm
- 6.0 Exchange and Development
- Horizontal Modality / Vertical Polymodality / Interrelationships / Introduction of IIm7→V7
- INDEX
- Subject INDEX / Name INDEX / Bibliography and Work Title INDEX
- Attached CD data
- Author’s Biography
About the Author
濱瀬元彦 (Hamase Motohiko)
Born in 1952. Since 1976, as an acoustic and electric bassist, he has been active in jazz groups led by figures such as Hidefumi Toki, Isao Suzuki, Mikio Masuda, Kazumasa Akiyama, Yasuaki Shimizu, and George Otsuka. He has participated in numerous recordings. As a performer, he established a new style for the fretless bass. In 1982, he formed the experimental music unit “RAGERU” and continued to explore new musical formats until 1985. After that, he began his solo career and has released five solo albums.
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