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Machines and music: instrumental contributions to bluegrass

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2022

Neil Newton Open the ORCID record for Neil Newton [Opens in a new window]
Neil Newton*
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Los Angeles, CA, USA E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

In the performance of bluegrass fiddle tunes, each repetition of the tune is generally played on a different instrument. I argue that the degree to which the instrument can influence the motivic material in improvised passages is beyond idiomaticism – where phrases might suit one instrument more than another – to the point where melodic pitch collections are shaped by the instrument itself. By combining post-human philosophies with music theories that emphasise instrument–player relationships, this essay shows how non-humans exercise agency in bluegrass improvisation. The resultant instrument-influenced passages contrast with each other, as each is played on a different instrument. This can help to signify formal structure within a performance, while the recurrence of particular instrument-influenced elements can be seen as a genre marker in bluegrass.

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Article
Information
Popular Music , Volume 40 , Issue 3-4 , December 2021 , pp. 470 - 491
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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