James Robert Hester's Discussions

African Thumb Piano Tuning
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In Afro-American Folksongs, published in 1913, ,Henry E. Krehbiel describes an African instrument called a zanze as follows:"The zanze is a small sound-box...hollowed out in the form of a round gourd…Continue

Tags: Scales, Natural

Started this discussion. Last reply by James Robert Hester Jun 2, 2018.

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James Robert Hester's Page

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About me:: Retired chemical/metallurgical engineer. Earned BA in music after retirement. Interested in music history specializing in Afro-American slave songs. Author of A Yankee Scholar in Coastal South Carolina published by the University of South Carolina. Pending book: A Yankee Scholar in Helena, Arkansas.

Influences:: I began my pursuit of music as a performer in Broadway musicals and light opera. From there, I performed Renaissance and Baroque pieces as member of the Augusta (GA) Collegium Musicum. I received a BA in music from Augusta State University in 2010. My senior thesis was "Slave Songs of Augusta, Georgia. Initially, I became interested in slave songs in 2004, when I tried my hand at four-voice arrangements of spirituals that were attributed to Augusta in the anthology Slave Songs of the United States. My book A Yankee Scholar in Coastal South Carolina was published by the University of South Carolina in 2015. My second book A Yankee Scholar in Helena, Arkansas, is being considered for publication by Mercer University (Macon, GA). My current interest is in the origin of black spirituals, which is what brought me to the Overtone Music Network. If I were to name a long-term influence in the study of overtonal music, it would be W. A. Matthieu's Harmonic Experience. I find his approach to music theory to be a useful adjunct to classical theory. (Just an opinion.) Very recently, I became interested in Aindrias Hirt's theory of natural scales in European folk music.