Re: The joy of actual numbers, was Democracy

On 05/11/2024 02:25, rbowman wrote:

On Mon, 4 Nov 2024 13:21:16 -0700, Peter Flass wrote:
 

Cotton gin Mass prod of rifes with interchangeable parts Sewing machine
Telegraph Telephone Transistor Banjo

 That last one won't fly.
 https://bittersoutherner.com/history-of-the-banjo
 

Nor will the telegraph, clearly a European invention
I'll give him mass production of everything - that was the USAs greatest contribution.
Sewing machine?
Thomas Saint: An English inventor who patented a design for a sewing machine with a hand crank in 1790.
Telephones were in existence in Europe before Bell.
Transistors were described by a Canadian first, but he never built one.
They weren't invented in the USA, they were developed there into something that worked

I play a banjo but I sort of subvert it further. Among other things, I
play the Irish flute / tin whistle, mostly Irish rebel tunes which tend to
be recycled traditional songs.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVpEu4fOMB4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaS3vaNUYgs
 There was a perfectly good melody just laying around...
 Anyway most of the material is in D or G. The Irish dlute has both C and
C# so it works. The standard banjo tuning is G, so it's a natural.
 The Micks do their own thing with banjos.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk_hLTzppIU
 

It is fascinating how music spreads. There are strong connections in the scales used in - say - Irish country music, and Indian ragas and the like.
Also Blues scales.
US country music is absolutely an offspring of English folk music from North country, scotland and Ireland.
Jazz is the negro's sarcastic take on the white man's classical music. The notes are *basically* the same, though often bent a little,  but the rhythms are no longer pompous and solemn , they are complete 'fuck you asshole' pisstakes.
I grin when people take jazz seriously.
--
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false face for the urge to rule it.”
– H. L. Mencken