Mood Indigo

Photograph of Wayne King; Blue, white and yellow confettihttps://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/cht-sheet-music/13355/thumbnail.jp

Who wrote Duke Ellington’s music? Authorship and collective creativity in ‘Mood Indigo’

The copyright system privileges composition over performance, particularly improvisation, and melody over harmony. Both of these evaluations are problematic in the field of popular music, which is often the result of collaborative processes involving improvisation, and where harmonic structures may be of greater importance than recognisable tunes. In this chapter, I will illuminate the creative process of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Often regarded as, variously, America’s or the Twentieth Century’s ‘greatest composer’, Ellington arguably comes closest to a traditional authorial figure in jazz. Nevertheless, the majority of his most famous creations are the result of often complex collaborative processes. Using ‘Mood Indigo’ as a case study, I will reconstruct the creative contributions of various individuals in detail, evaluating their originality and significance for the final result. As I will show, although he was by no means the sole creator of the song, Ellington did take most of the fundamental creative decisions and, as bandleader, lent the tune a ‘brand identity’

Trends and tradition: Negotiating different cultural models in relation to sustainable craft and artisan production

If the identity of ‘design’ as a practice is contested then the relationship of design and designers to craft and craft practices can be hugely confused. This lack of clarity can encourage non-design based organisations to promote the use of ‘trend forecasting’ as a panacea to the design dilemma associated with craft production for non-traditional markets. Consequently fashion sensitive trends become perceived as the driving force of design-led consumption. In this context how do we understand what ‘trend forecasting’ is and becomes when used in this manner? How does it contribute or not to the sustainability of local design cultures? This paper examines how these challenges have been interrogated and experienced through practice at Masters Level at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. It seeks sustainable strategies for design and craft drawing on a diverse range of examples to illustrate contemporary artefacts realised from a diverse range of projects, sources and geographical locations

Who wrote Duke Ellington’s music? Authorship and collective creativity in ‘Mood Indigo’

The copyright system privileges composition over performance, particularly improvisation, and melody over harmony. Both of these evaluations are problematic in the field of popular music, which is often the result of collaborative processes involving improvisation, and where harmonic structures may be of greater importance than recognisable tunes. In this chapter, I will illuminate the creative process of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Often regarded as, variously, America’s or the Twentieth Century’s ‘greatest composer’, Ellington arguably comes closest to a traditional authorial figure in jazz. Nevertheless, the majority of his most famous creations are the result of often complex collaborative processes. Using ‘Mood Indigo’ as a case study, I will reconstruct the creative contributions of various individuals in detail, evaluating their originality and significance for the final result. As I will show, although he was by no means the sole creator of the song, Ellington did take most of the fundamental creative decisions and, as bandleader, lent the tune a ‘brand identity’

The Economics of Color: A Null Result

Color research has a long tradition in psychology, consumer behavior, and marketing research. The literature suggests that exposure to colors influences mood and emotions of humans as well as their attitudes towards products. This paper makes two contributions. First, we review the existing literature in science and psychology on the effects of environmental colors (red and blue) on physiological functions, mood, and consumer/economic decision-making, insofar it may be potentially relevant to experimental and behavioral economists. Second, we conduct a laboratory experiment with a typical experimental economics subject pool testing the effects of environmental colors red and blue on decision-making in an incentivized Ultimatum Game experiment. We find no statistically significant effect. However, we also cannot replicate previous results of exposure to colors red and blue on mood as measured by established questionnaire instruments. Our results suggest that experimental economists do not need to worry about the potential confound of colors in economic decision-making.Series: Department of Strategy and Innovation Working Paper Serie

Listen Up: A case study examination of focused listening

Today, most everyday music listening is an accompaniment to other activities; it is far less common that listening is someone’s primary activity, receiving most of their attention. In this article, we present a case study, Listen Up, run by Indigo Project, a mental health organization in Sydney, Australia, in which we explored relationships between participants’ responses to the experience and their demographics and styles of music engagement. A sample of 187 Australian residents (aged 20–64 years) who attended Listen Up completed a survey measuring music engagement; emotional responses to the experience; perceived outcomes of the session; pre- and post-measures of stress, mood, and anxiety; and free-text responses to questions concerning their experiences of listening mindfully and any thoughts or feelings that arose during the session. Participants experienced an increased mood and decreased levels of stress and arousal after taking part in Listen Up. Their focused-listening experiences were not simply characterized by enjoying the music; rather, the emotions evoked were varied and complex. We characterized their emotional responses as negative, positive, evocative and expressive, and sad; in addition, participants characterized their own experiences as a cathartic journey resolving into a positive, peaceful, and calm state. Reported outcomes of participating in Listen Up included experiences described as being emotionally challenging, therapeutic, and physically uncomfortable. An affective music engagement style was positively associated with evocative and expressive and sad emotional experiences, and therapeutic outcomes. As a focused-listening experience, Listen Up provides participants with the opportunity not only to attend to music but also to reflect on and process their personal thoughts and feelings. This research provides evidence for the emotional and mental health benefits of focused music listening, such that, focused listening reflects opportunities for strong experiences with music in today’s listening landscape

The Long-Playing Ellington: Analyzing Composition and Collaboration in the Duke Ellington Orchestra

This dissertation examines four albums released by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra in the LP era, highlighting the intertwined roles composition and collaboration play in the realization of the sonic products. The first chapter analyzes 1951s Masterpieces by Ellington, the bands first 12-inch LP and one of the first jazz albums to explore the possibilities of the long-playing record as a medium. I balance discussion of Ellingtons compositional techniques in The Tattooed Bride, an eleven-minute concert work, with an examination of interaction as it occurs on the extended arrangements of three standards that constitute the albums remaining tracks. Chapter 2 looks at Duke Ellington, His Piano, and His Orchestra at the Bal Masque, a 1959 concept album that depicts the Ellington band in the guise of a supper-club orchestra. I look at Ellington and Billy Strayhorns arrangements of the preexisting material for insights into their creative process while also looking at the role of three other collaborators: Dick Vance, an outside arranger contracted for three arrangements on the album; Columbia records producer Irving Townsend, who splices fake applause at the beginning and end of each track to simulate a live recording; and the intended audience, who can choose whether or not to imaginatively engage with the albums simulated concert concept. In Chapter 3, I address The Ellington Suites, a 1976 posthumous release of pieces Ellington wrote to commemorate different people and places. After a detailed look at Ellingtons treatment of compositional parameters in The Queens Suite, I provide a comprehensive history and analysis of Ellingtons place-themed suites, offering a way of using place to hear these pieces as collaborations with members of his orchestra. In the final chapter, I focus on two multimedia collaborations for which Ellington provided the scores: an unfinished documentary film by Sam Shaw on Edgar Degas and a successful ballet choreographed by Alvin Ailey. The last chapter in particular reveals Ellingtons reliance on recording technology as a compositional practice, using tape as a sketchbook to work out, develop, and preserve ideas. Though composition and collaboration may seem opposed, they are reciprocal trajectories in addressing the music of Duke Ellington and His Orchestra

Spartan Daily, May 8, 1940

Volume 28, Issue 136https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/3083/thumbnail.jp