The Quelbe Commentary 1672-2012: Anthropology in Virgin Islands Music

Copyright © 2014 Dale Francis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Contents

About the Author

Acknowlegements

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1

THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF VIRGIN ISLAND MUSIC

Africans, Europeans, and Tainos

Dance Music

The Genesis of Multicultural Music Influences

Virgin Islands Music Distinctions

Chapter 2

POWER DYNAMICS IN MUSIC

The Interrelationship of Music & Religion

Ethos of Christianity

Music Roles in Religion

Religious Topics in Secular Music

Philosiphical Dynamics

Imperialism and the Ruling Class

Chapter 3

RESPONSES TO AUTHORITARIANISM

Bamboula Therapy

Bamboula Transcendentalism

Evolution of the Modern Carnival

Virgin Islands Music and Dance Dynamics

Protests and Music

Chapter 4

AFRICAN ROOTS AND THE MUSIC DIASPORA

1950s Jazz Music

Culture & Contemporary Music

Living History

Folk Music Bands

Chapter 5

TRENDS, HUMANITIES, AND ARTS INITIATIVES

Preface

Introduction

The Confluence of Nationalism and Colonialism 320

Educated Leaders

The Fate of the Music Programs

Chapter 6

Nexus

Singing and the Power of Lyrics

Societal Dynamics

About the Author

As a teen, Dale Francis was recruited to play with some of the Virgin Island’s distinguished music culture bearers. These opportunities to play with the elders instilled a responsibility to bear the genre traditions in the midst of controversy that the Virgin Islands had no distinct music and culture.

His subsequent education provided the means to achieve the goal of documenting Virgin Islands music. He has a Bachelor of Arts in humanities with concentrations in music and journalism, and a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in urban management.

Dale has won collegiate awards for his poetry and drama, and has written and produced plays as an educator. He has been a successful educator, performing artist, real estate broker, public and private sector manager, management consultant, small business owner, and civic activist over the past 30 years.

In 2012, Dale Francis published The Quelbe Method; Music Fundamentals in Quelbe Ensembles in order to provide a resource for the study of Virgin Islands folk music. Currently he has the Jazz Guitar Demystified series and other works pending publication.

From a cultural diversity perspective, Dale’s ancestry dates back to the early 1700s in the Virgin Islands. In contrasts, he has had the opportunity to teach and perform in the US, and travel to a variety of Caribbean countries as a performer. His international social interactions and observations sharpened his affinity for culture into a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of identity in ethnic music.

This book The Quelbe Commentary 1672-2012; Anthropology in Virgin Islands Music explores cultural and existential dynamics in the human experience. The Commentary applies protocols from music, journalism, and public policy to analyze historic data. Considering cultural heritage, experience, and training, Dale Francis is uniquely qualified to credibly document the Virgin Islands music, culture, and sociology from an anthropological perspective.

Acknowlegements

In deference for spiritual introspection, I thank God for opening up His word and allowing me to delve in. Secondly, I thank my mother, Acia Ford-Francis for exemplifying Christian discipleship, and teaching the sovereignty of the word of God. Her teaching about humanity, education, business, music and culture was also invaluable.

Historic references were accessed at the Enid Baa Library Von Scholten Collection, University of the Virgin Islands Library, and the Virgin Islands Department of Education Cultural Education archives. Family and church records including photographs also provided significant information. National and local news outlets, broadcasts, and public presentations are deserving of recognition.

The books Rebecca’s Revival, A Caribbean Mission, History of the Moravian Church, and Night of the Silent Drum are invaluable for envisioning the Virgin Islands society in the early years. Similarly, the Anansi story compilation by Dr. Lezmore Emanuel provides a critical dimension of the African diaspora as well. Thirdly, the ongoing Taino research in Puerto Rico continues to fill the void of information about Taino influence in Virgin Islands culture.

Sheet music from authors such as Hugo Bornn, and Bill La Motta were resources for evaluating the music notation and syntax. Analysis of live performances of local quelbe artists, and audio recordings of Herman Wallace was also necessary to confirm findings on music elements in the quelbe genre.

All the music tradition bearers are recognized for their parts in preserving the art form. On St. Croix, Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights, has been an institution for preservation. That group’s CDs document folk songs and melodic figures, and exemplify the artistry in the quelbe genre. The St Thomas community band bore the folk music tradition from the 1920s to the 1980s. Similarly, Milo and the Kings bore the culture for more than 50 years.

Culture bearers served as a resource for cross-referencing between documented and oral tradition data. It is through such resources that an in-depth understanding of the social, economic, and political dynamics in power, freedom, and music can be revealed.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to people throughout the world that value and appreciate the arts, and those that have endured institutional oppression. It is also dedicated to future generations of Virgin Islanders. May all be blessed and empowered by the revelations, and the encouragement and hope in this commentary.

Preface

The Quelbe Commentary 1672–2012; Anthropology in Virgin Islands Music explores how music trends reflect Virgin Islands tradition, contemporary culture, and society. To do so, it looks at what Africans, Europeans, and Tainos contributed to Virgin Islands quelbe. It also chronicles key genres that were played between 1672 and 2012. This exploration renders great respect for the sanctity of what has transpired in the past and is now lost in history.

Virgin Islands music has been described as a blend of African and European music traditions. Presumably, its longevity is attributed to its adaptability that enables the music to maintain tradition yet coexist with other forms of music despite changing technology and new contemporary influences.

One factor of its longevity may be that Virgin Islands music still relates to current topics and reflects current cultural norms, attitudes, and values. Therefore, it maintains significance by moving with the times or reminiscing about cultural traditions. Similarly, its communication tradition, storytelling nature and unique blend of musical elements embody the cultural heritage that keeps the music appealing and current.

This folk music has been a primary progenitor of Virgin Islands history in a society that has yet to comprehensively document its history. To assess the economic, social, and political implications of the music, this commentary contains analysis of pertinent historic events.

The research followed the trail of Virgin Islands songs to capture the essence of the society that created the music. The premise being that the social, economic, political, and religious environment were captured in the music. Therefore, the music and other historical records underwent reverse engineering to extract anthropology from the life, resolve, and mysteries about the people’s existence during the development of the Islands.

The methods used to interpret the historical records include comparative data, policy, and gap analysis as well as reverse engineering, design reengineering, and poetic interpretation. The application of the methods utilized public administration protocol and professional standards from management, leadership, and decision-making principles.

The analysis of the government and religious institutions looks at design and change issues, organizational learning, and other development principles. The operations analysis considers various modern management systems, practices and standards. However, the benefit of hindsight and many generations of human development are great factors in correlating the events and findings. All the findings are supported by mainstream philosophical contentions. Findings on religion and faith are based solely on analysis of bible texts and historic incidents. It excludes denominationalism.

Overall, this book includes the sociopolitical dynamics of Virgin Islands music, and the freedom and power it shares with government and religion. From this perspective are opportunities to view the antagonist or protagonist attributes as well as dominant and recessive characteristics of freedom and power. It is a conversation about polar perspectives in human interactions that pertain to Virgin Islands music, history, and culture.

In this context, questions about the interaction between freedom and power are numerous. From some points of view, freedom is experienced internally through the power of music and culture. This commentary suggests that internal perspectives of freedom and power indicate why people interact with their external environment the way they do. The consideration of cause and effect dynamics in freedom and power raises several questions. 1) Is there freedom from power, or power for freedom? 2) What are the sources of power and freedom? 3) Can covert power or freedom be identified? And 4) is there power and freedom in quelbe?

Within the apparatus of power and freedom are sociological and psychological mechanisms that enable control brokers in a society. In The Quelbe Commentary 1672-2012, control is found at the epicenter of the freedom and power dynamics. The history of the Virgin Islands shows that the ruling class members used (or abused) the dysfunctional political system for personal benefits while those subjected lived within the scope of government and religious deceptions.

The management operations show imperialist ideologies that influence societal interactions within government and religion’s control over the cultural behaviors. On the other hand, the power of music, unadulterated faith, independent reasoning, and positive thinking has been the antithesis of the illuminati style control that developed after the transfer to US sovereignty. Despite the decline of the bamboula, the power of music enabled the working class to achieve a semblance of freedom of mind, body, and soul.

Evidently, the Virgin Islands legacy of slavery has molded high levels of imperialism, colonialism, and authoritarianism into what are now mechanistic government operations. In any case, music still fulfills the protagonist role that ameliorates the living conditions and social dynamics for all within the hierarchy of the society. The political, and religious systems remain the antagonist.

This book documents the society’s battles with imperialism and the vestiges of slavery. This suggests that the small communities have been resiliently sensing humanity through minstrelsy, and smelling, tasting, and touching a manifested freedom through the legacy of masquerade. That legacy represents compelling yet unapparent artistic battles for liberty and justice.

In the midst of the battles is European music, which had also been controlled by imperialism and religion. To comprehensively address the circumstances, this social commentary explores religious concepts that impact the perception and performance of Virgin Islands music. The main body of The Quelbe Commentary 1672-2012 traces Virgin Islands music from its multiethnic roots through generations of culture bearers to contemporary musicians and budding music initiatives.

Governor Jorgen Iversen’s first order for the Danish Island, St. Thomas issued August 8, 1672, at Fort Christian specified the limited use of the drum: 1. Every person who speaks Danish is bound to attend service every Sunday in Christian’s Fort when the drum beats…

Chapter 1

The Anthropology of Virgin Island Music

AFRICANS, EUROPEANS, AND TAINOS

Early Baroque; Dance, Music, and Religion

Baroque Figures

Music Structure

Basso Continuo

Improvisation Style

Mature Baroque

Improvisation and Idealism

DANCE MUSIC

Theme and Variation

French Suite

German Suite

Biblical Sonatas

The Enlightenment

THE GENESIS OF MULTICULTURAL MUSIC INFLUENCES

European Settlements

European Music Styles

VIRGIN ISLANDS MUSIC DISTINCTIONS

Sexual Innuendo

From Masquerading and Minstrelsy to Quelbe

The Banjo

The Quelbe Beat

Bamboula Drum

Bamboula Rhythm Pattern

Bombolo Rhythm Pattern

Cariso

Cariso Rhythm Pattern

Seven Step Music and Dance

Quadrille Heritage

The Bamboula Heritage

THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF VIRGIN ISLAND MUSIC

After almost 50 years of international contests for ownership of the Danish West Indies, Denmark colonized St. Thomas in 1672.¹ On March 11 of the previous year, King Christian V gave the West India and Guinea Company a new royal charter to occupy and take possession of St. Thomas and uninhabited islands suitable for plantations. Later, on April 24, 1691 the town, Tapus in St. Thomas was renamed Charlotte Amalie in honor of the Queen. The Danish West Indies and Guinea Company purchased St. Croix for 760,000 French livres on May 8, 1733. It was officially transferred to the Danish Company from the French Crown on January 8, 1735.²

The caste system prospered from the African slave labor. In that society, some Africans were technically free, but equality and justice was not a hallmark of slave society for those who acquired a higher degree of freedom. One third of the population on St. Thomas was free in 1773. On St. Croix, in 1840, 4/5 of the population was enslaved.³

The inhumanity of slavery began in 1673 when the first 103 enslaved Africans were brought to St. Thomas. Although Denmark declared the slave trade unlawful in 1792, slavery did not officially end in the Islands until 1848. On July 3rd of that year the African diaspora on St. Croix, led by Moses (Buddhoe) Gottlieb and others demonstrated organizational power and demand immediate freedom. Governor-General Peter Von Scholten complied by making the emancipation proclamation. For that proclamation, von Scholten was charged with dereliction of duty but subsequently acquitted. At the time of emancipation, half of the Africans Territory wide was free.⁴

AFRICANS, EUROPEANS, AND TAINOS

Due in part to effects of the Atlantic slave trade, the music of the African diaspora and Tainos was negatively impacted. Perhaps due to a scarcity of data, the Tainos existence and contribution to Virgin Islands culture and music has been adequately recognized over the years. While some records minimize the proliferation of the Tainos, other sources indicate that Tainos assimilated into the populations.

In larger islands, one reason for minimizing their presence was to enable planters to benefit from a lower census count. Spanish planters achieved a lower census count by not counting Taino women and their children. A lower count to the imperial country conveyed a need for more resource allotment and personnel in the West Indies.

Various Arawak tribes inhabited the Caribbean islands from about 40 AD. The Tainos came to the Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands area from South America. Their population flourished to as much as one hundred thousand around the 13th century.⁵

The Tainos cordially received the Spaniards who in return treated them harshly and enslaved them. An unsuccessful Taino rebellion was too little too late. In the 1500s the colonial powers passed an edict to kill all Indians found in the islands. This may be another factor in the Tainos undocumented status. However, by the late 1500s the males had been decimated by the European diseases and other causes and the females, some ravished by the conquerors, disappeared as an ethnic group through intermarriage with Europeans and Africans.

Although Tainos as a people may be indiscernible, their culture contributed greatly to modern society. Many Taino words were adopted into the Spanish language, and English words such as hurricane, barbeque, iguana, manatee, hammock, canoe, and tobacco came from the Taino language.

The arrival of the Europeans in the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo region in the late 1500s exposed the Tainos and Africans to their music and vice versa. Ships typically had enough musicians to perform as ensembles. Crews in waiting for slave cargo occupied their time in foreign ports by playing some of the great works of their era. When Tainos welcomed the Europeans to the Islands, they likely entertained each other with music and dance as they exchanged gifts of friendship.

In the late 1600s when the Virgin Islands was settled by Denmark, the confluence of African, European and Tainos music became part of the foundation on which the Island inhabitants would build their new music. The Island music was based on the Taino instrumentation and sound, African polyrhythmic concepts, and European baroque era concepts. The contributions to the new music were not limited to each ethnic group’s dominant element. Each group likely contributed in all facets of music including melody, harmony rhythm and instruments.

Much of what is understood about Taino music comes from educated guesses. However, the word for their communal song and dance is areitos. Taino areitos (songs) used pentatonic (five note) scales. Unlike the universally established pentatonic scales used in the African American jazz and blues, their pentatonic used various arrangements of the intervals in the five-note scale. The variations in scales have been associated with melodic differences linked to the identity of island, tribe, community, or family groups. However, Taino music was strophic. So, while the lyrics in the verses changed, the melody stayed the same.⁶

Virgin Islands music developed over time. Perhaps shortly after arrival, enslaved Africans played primarily drumming and dancing music on Saturday nights and festival nights.⁷ In some African tribes such as the Adampe nation, only upper class individuals, noblemen, princes, and kings were taught the arts and were permitted to participate in dancing and incantation ceremonies.⁸

The new Virgin Islanders kept their African tradition of chanting while they worked long hours from sun up to sun down. Under the circumstances chanting was an aid for survival. Those who survived the slavery became the native population. New arrivals experienced culture shock. Some, notably royalty who were accustomed to being served, were unable to adapt to being enslaved. Some also believed that death was a release from slavery that would take them back to their homeland.⁹

The African arrived in the new world empty handed without material objects. In his heart and in his head he carried his portion of African culture. The King and the tanner; the hunter and the fisher; the Islamic scholar and the animist sculptor; they shared an African musical sense, an African artistic sense and an African world view…10 Michael Paiewonsky

Their music, beliefs, values, and state of mind are likely the most precious belongings that some Africans brought to their new home. Their music was an heirloom. However, their instruments were not available. In addition to various drums, African instruments include the marimba, kalimba, and stringed instruments. Both the Tainos and Africans used pitched instruments. Tainos used simple flutes or whistles, pentatonic scales, as well as call and response group singing.¹¹ Therefore, each culture had comparable communal music performances, music concepts, and folk song and dance traditions.

Worship services created opportunities for the natives to hear European music. In light of thematic similarities between hymns and Virgin Islands folk melodies that have existed to date, worship service was apparently a source of European music influence in the Islands.

Over the years, the music influences were cultivated to produce music for the native needs. The captive Danish West Indies natives used their after-hours time as well as European holidays and traditions to create and experience a humanity that would not otherwise exist under the circumstances. In that venue of fabricated humanity, they expressed themselves culturally and musically with instruments they made or acquired from within their community. These circumstances fostered the development of the Virgin Islands folk music, which survived for approximately 340 years since 1672.

The interaction of the cultures in the Danish West Indies resulted in a fusion of music that is now characterized as Virgin Islands folk music. Some of the melodies are reminiscent of Irish, French German, Spanish, Bohemian, and English folk dance tunes.

Perhaps the greatest European influence on Virgin Islands music occurred early on during the baroque era. However unlikely, the European music established foundational elements that have been preserved in Virgin Islands folk music. Some of the European elements in the music include Baroque style improvisation, harmony, virtuosic solo playing, and traits of folk dance forms that suggest influence from songs like those in the Bela Bartok folk collection.

It is a paradox of spontaneous creative forces that folk music should be by definition an anonymous art, originated by simple men and women without any musical learning and yet attaining the most perfect musical expression of a nation’s collective soul12 Nicholas Slonimsky

Therefore it is to the arts and sciences that we must first turn to know what the people of another culture, indeed, of our own, may be thinking.13 Bill LaMotta

Early Baroque; Dance, Music, and Religion

International dynamics may explain why the baroque era, from about 1600 to 1750 produced such lasting influence and significant development of the music and dance forms in the Virgin Islands. In Europe during the Baroque era, Italian ideas dominated the music but not without some challenges from the French. Moreover, the adoption of the quadrille shows that the French influence made a significant impact on Virgin Islands music and dance.

Some descriptive references to the Baroque era include; thoroughbass period, and period of the concertato style.¹⁴ However these references to musical characteristics do not fully capture the music’s overarching relationship to the contemporary architecture, paintings, literature, science and philosophy connected with that period of man’s creativity.

Though the term baroque may connote something irregular, or abnormal, the name is not an absolute indictment on the music as bizarre. It more reflects an era in the Italian region when the political environment fostered a desire for freedom of expression in the creative arts. At that time, the Italian peninsula was subdivided into regions ruled by Spain, Austria, the Papal States, and several smaller independent states that allied themselves with various larger European powers over time. The environment was one of distrust among the entities.¹⁵ This turmoil became a factor in the music that evolved. That music is noted for characterizing the era’s philosophical movement towards freedom of expression.

During the same era, the Danish West Indies experienced bizarre political activities and mistrust among nations as well. The political dynamics in the Islands included some turmoil during the baroque era. Ownership and sovereignty went back and forth from one colonial power to another and for some periods of time the Islands were leased to merchants. While St. Croix was owned by several countries and laid unoccupied for periods of time, the British took St Thomas and St. John on two occasions within a few years.¹⁶ Evidently, the colonization process produced political tensions and distrust between ruling powers in the Islands.

During the Baroque period, when the Virgin Islands were colonized, European courts were important centers for musical culture, and they regulated both ecclesiastical and secular music institutions. The court of Louis XIV of France was a major center for music. Other music patrons included Popes, emperors, kings of England, and Spain, and rulers of smaller Italian and German states. City-states also supported and regulated music institutions.

Though the church continued to support music, its role was relatively less important than in previous eras. In addition to the aristocratic, civic, or ecclesiastical patronage, academies of private persons in many cities supported musical activities. However, public fee based commercial concerts were not developed in the Baroque era. Early public concerts started around 1672 in England and were not common occurrences until the middle of the eighteenth century.¹⁷

The Danish West Indies musicians, who were not subject to the European system of church or court patronage, picked up the liberated Baroque style from the local aristocrats’ activities. Their exposure and ability to utilize this aristocratic form of music and dance for recreation became a part of their social expression of wellbeing. As Virgin Island performers played and the masses adopted those arts for their private parties, they consorted as aristocrats themselves; holding tea parties, dances, and theatrical productions.

Although public concerts were a new occurrence in Europe in the Baroque era, plantation operators violated the Danish West Indies statutes by participating in public fee based performances in which minstrels played music at plantations.¹⁸ Furthermore, being that they were exposed to the Lutheran, Catholic, and Moravian music, church tunes were also a source of repertoire for the minstrels.

Another distinction of the Baroque was the classification of music into church (Ecclesiasticus) chamber or concert (cubicularis) and theater (theatralis/scenicus) styles.¹⁹ This indicates that secular entertainment coexisted with church music. The coexistence of church and secular music was apparent in the Virgin Islands by the early 1700s. Traditionally, churches religiously adhere to the precepts of the denomination as handed down through the hierarchy. The hymns, sacred songs, and cantatas are handed down as well.

As more secular songs and events evolved, church music in the Danish West Indies became increasingly segregated into a class of its own. Generally, as the church feigned in its control and regulation of music, the classification of the music styles increasingly became more meaningful.

Idiomatic writing for a particular medium such as a specific instrument or voice was another development in the Baroque era. Prior to that era, music was orchestrated for any combination of voices or instruments. By the Baroque era, the violin family began to replace the viols in Italy where composers were developing an idiomatic violin style. An idiomatic style for keyboard also arose and technical improvements in wind instruments enabled them to be used for their specific color and capabilities.

In addition, the use of dynamic indications became apparent and the art of singing advanced rapidly. Furthermore, instrumental and vocal idioms became distinct enough that Baroque composers could choose to use a vocal idiom in instrumental writing or vice versa.²⁰ During this time, the violin emerged as a prominent lead instrument in the Virgin Islands paired with the banjo, percussions, and/or other instruments including the voice.

A major trait of Baroque composers was the effort to use music to express or represent a wide range of feelings and ideas with vividness and vehemence. Previously in the sixteenth century, the presentation of emotional expression in music was restricted within the bounds of the aristocratic concept of moderation and detachment. Baroque composers brought down these barriers. In the Baroque, they had a means of expressing affections or states of the soul, including rage, excitement, grandeur, heroism, lofty contemplation, wonder, or mystic exaltation. The intensity of these elements could be expressed through violent contrasts.

The previous era limits on consonance and dissonance, regular and equable rhythmic flow were lifting.²¹ Freedom of expression in Baroque compositions seems comparable to the freedom of expression in African Virgin Islands heritage. The Virgin Islands artistic freedom of expression has a rich oral tradition from the African griots, and the Anansi stories.

Baroque Figures

However, the European Baroque music was not being composed primarily to express the feelings of the artists. It was to represent the affections. But the affections were not left to an individual composer or performer’s intuition. They were conveyed through a systematic vocabulary that used a common repertory of musical figures and devices.

The figures ranged from those simple common pictorial figures of Renaissance music to those that were systematized in the contemporary Baroque theoretical treatises on the analogy of figures or special devices of language used in rhetoric. Accordingly, Baroque composers used particular devices of melody, harmony, rhythm, and texture including those that violate the rules of composition in order to illustrate the literal or implied meaning of words or passages in a text. This music has a more specific vocabulary than expected, and the same vocabulary, which is used in both instrumental and vocal music, has similar implied meaning.

The doctrine of figures, Figurenlehre, developed by German theorists was largely a codification of what composers were doing with some analogies to the art of rhetoric. The concept of music expressing clear and distinct ideas was represented in the teachings of Descartes, a philosopher who dominated the thought of the seventeenth century.²²

Quelbe can also be characterized as having a systematic vocabulary of simple repertory pictorial figures. Furthermore, quelbe has particular devices of melody, harmony, rhythm, and texture including those that violate the rules of composition in order to convey a specific meaning or feeling. Quelbe is a venue for the concept of expressing clear and distinct ideas in music. This tradition from both the African and European concepts can be found in both vocal and instrumental renditions of quelbe compositions by artists such as Jamesie, the Mighty Groover, and others.

Music Structure

Baroque music evolved with ideals that conflicted. These ideals were 1) freedom of expression, and 2) the forces of discipline and order in musical composition. The presence of these ideals in compositions can serve as traits that distinguish between the Baroque era and the preceding renaissance music. In the Baroque era, rhythm with regular metrical bar lines coexisted in contrast with free non-metrical rhythm of the recitative, or improvisatory solo instrumental pieces.

Not until the seventeenth century did dance rhythms begin to be written and heard in measures with definite patterns of strong and weak beats. In that era, the patterns that would be established throughout a movement or composition represented a basic affection.²³ Irregular inconsistent patterns in toccatas and vocal recitatives would be used for deliberate contrasts.

Quelbe music uses dance rhythms written with bar lines. However, it does not keep stiff timing. The quelbe rhythms flow freely across the context of the bar lines and metrical systems. This structured system driven by loose rhythms convey freedom of expression through discipline and order in composition.

Basso Continuo

The ideal sound of the Baroque era was a firm bass with a florid treble coupled with unobtrusive harmony. The texture is one of a single melody with bass, and a seemingly less important harmony, which was played through a system of notation called a thoroughbass or basso continuo. The bass was played by a continuo instrument such as; organ, clavier, or lute and reinforced by a sustaining instrument; a bass gamba, violoncello or bassoon.

Above the bass note, the continuo instrument player filled in the required chords, which were not written out. Where uncommon chords or non-harmonic tones were needed, the composer indicated the notes by writing figures or signs above or below the bass notes. This notation is called figured bass. Therefore, the player had room for improvisation within the framework set by the composer.

Depending on the skill, the continuo player could play simple chords, introduce passing tones, or play melodic motifs that imitate the treble or bass parts. This freedom is expressed in the scratch band also. The string player, depending on skill level, exercises the freedom to play basic chords or introduce passing chords, substitutions, or extend the triads to 6th and 9th chords.

During this period, counterpoint did not disappear. Rather, the melodic lines were made to fit into the harmonic framework of chord progressions that were explicitly defined by the continuo.²⁴

In quelbe, which is traditionally played by ear, when a group uses more than one lead instrument the second lead typically plays counterpoint lines based on arpeggios. Arthur Jeppesen and his band of Renown was one of the groups that used countermelodies in the horn section in a manner that served as accompaniment to the lead. Chromatic phrases used in improvisational pieces such as the toccatas were also used more freely in the Baroque era’s new major-minor harmonic system.

The new harmonic system served as the foundation for the current ways in which harmony relates to diatonic chords. In the new system the diatonic chord built from the first note in the key, known as the tonic, interacts primarily with the dominant (fifth) and subdominant (fourth) chords. The other diatonic chords are secondary, and temporary modulations to other keys may be made without sacrificing the supremacy of the original key.

By 1722, Rameau’s Treatise on harmony officially completed the theoretical formulation of the system. It formulates root movement of fourths and fifths, sequences of secondary chords in cadence progressions and modulations to the most related keys. In accordance with Rameau’s Treatise, Virgin Islands folk music typically uses primary chords in diatonic progressions, with temporary (short) modulations.

When the major-minor system became well established, there was no further need to make the harmonic relationships explicit using the basso continuo system.²⁵ The Virgin Islands harmonic system apparently uses diatonic chords and progressions akin to those introduced in the Baroque era. It is notable that the quelbe diatonic chords are different from the current standard diatonic chords such as those used in jazz.

A major difference is that quelbe uses the sound of the 6/9 harmonies on the major chords instead of major 7 chords. This practice may also be linked to the folk dance tradition of using a 1-6 chord in tandem with the curtsy.

Improvisation Style

Another trait of quelbe is the improvisation style. From as early as 1591, there have been forms of improvisation which used embellishments and cadenzas similar to those performed in Quelbe. One such early song with improvisation credited to Antonio Archilei has a style similar to the frottola, which has a simple homophonic texture with a cadence at the end of each line displaying virtuoso runs and cadenzas. That song is written for four instrumental parts in which the uppermost part is doubled by the singer.²⁶

The practice or art of weaving cadenzas and embellishments into a melody is well developed in quelbe. In essence, quelbe melodic embellishments and arpeggios create a lead playing style that produces an instrumental equivalent of vocal characteristics in the interpretations of a melody.

Mature Baroque

Performers in the Baroque era were expected to add notes to the written composition. In addition to the figured bass being worked out by the player, the vocal and instrumental solo melodic lines also depended on the performers’ skill and taste in producing ornaments.²⁷ In the Baroque view, ornamentation was not just decorative. It had an expressive function to convey affections, and ornaments such as the thrill and appoggiatura added dissonance that would not have been notated in the music.²⁸

Melodic lines were ornamented in two ways: 1) ornaments such as trills, turns, appoggiaturas, and mordents were attached to the written notes. 2) Short ornaments used with long ornaments such as scales, runs, leaps, and arpeggios dissected the melody into smaller notes to produce a free-flowing elaborate paraphrase of the written line.²⁹

The long ornamentations known as division, diminution, figuration, and graces were more appropriate in slow tempo pieces. The two versions of Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring is an example of a song with a slow vocal arrangement figurated into a free-flowing elaborate paraphrase of the vocal melody line.

Improvisation and Idealism

The scratch band instrumentation, which evolved from the pre-Columbian Tainos, may influence the characteristics of the improvisation as well. In addition to the unique sound and feel, the instrumentation has potential to produce a single vocal melody and a single lead instrument countermelody. The Taino influence on quelbe is not clearly defined. However according to observation, quelbe melody and improvisation portray a mix of European cadenzas with Virgin Island rhythmic phrasing.

In the phrasing, it is clear that the European based figures are given a Virgin Island rhythmic makeover that becomes a quelbe treatment on a piece of music. Some of the various melodies treated with the quelbe style are waltzes, Schottisches, jigs, adaptations of church songs, and marches. There are also melodies from the Virgin Islands bamboula, cariso, and quelbe music traditions. Although the quadrille is primarily dance music in five movements, it is traditionally treated with a dose of melodic variation and improvisation.

Ornamentation is also a key element in quelbe improvisation. The quelbe use of arpeggios for improvisation may be an adaptation and extension of the baroque cadenza. The Baroque cadenza was an elaborate extension of the six-four chords on a final cadence.³⁰ In quelbe improvisation, the cadenza is applied to all the chords in the progressions of a song. Typically, the cadenza would be dispersed intermittently within the instrumental melody, or woven into an instrumental countermelody.

The pastoral is a literary genre reminiscent of the idealism in quelbe lyrics and musical inferences. It is a Renaissance form of Italian poetic composition. They were loosely dramatic poems about rural subjects.

Like the pastoral, quelbe storylines may be loosely dramatic poems about rural subjects as well. For instance, in the song Ram goat laugh the question is You ever see a Ram goat laugh, when he smell the Ewe goat tail?³¹ This Socratic inquiry into existentialism uses goat mannerisms as a metaphor for human idealism. In addition to teaching about the dynamics of raising goats, this song encourages introspection on human relations topics.

Pastorals required skill in conveying the ambience of an idyllic world of nature with refined, civilized and harmless deities of the fields and woods. The subject matter presented a yearning for an unattainable earthly paradise. It created an imaginary world of music with a natural mode of speech that provided substance for the poet’s vision and longings. The pastoral was at the last stage of the madrigal and the first stage of the Opera.³² The corresponding literary idealism in Virgin Islands music suggest that artists in both regions responded similarly under comparative conditions in their respective caste societies.

The monody may have similarities with quelbe. The monody came out of a Renaissance rediscovery of an ancient Greek style of singing. It was given the Greek name monody (Monodia) from monos, which means alone and aidein, to sing.³³ In this era of blending counterpoint melodic lines into harmonic chord progressions, the monody clearly distinguished between the solo and accompaniment.³⁴

The true monody relegated the accompaniment to a few simple chords that may be played on a lyre. The rhythm was free to follow the natural accent and flow of the words, which were sung halfway, between speech and song.³⁵ These elements of style are also typical in the instrumental and vocal performance of quelbe. The style is distinct in songs recorded by vocalists such as Jamesie and the Mighty Grover.

DANCE MUSIC

In the 17th century, dance music flourished in greater quantity and variety than before. For instance, Polnischer Tanz (Polish dance) music appeared in German collections. Folk music of Poland was becoming known in Western Europe. The significance is that dance rhythms started to permeate vocal, instrument, sacred, and secular music.³⁶

Two notable dance rhythms, the sarabande and gigue, started to appear in compositions that are not dances. The sarabande is a slow sensuous dance in triple time with an accent on the second beat. Subsequently, the tempo became faster and it became more dignified, and was incorporated into the suite. The gigue is a lively jig generally in 6/8 time. This dance was popular from the late 17th to mid-18th centuries. The gigue is the last of the four dances in the suite after the allemande, courante, and the sarabande.³⁷

Similarly, dance rhythms permeated the styles in the Islands. One of the prominent characteristics of Virgin Islands music is the use of dance rhythms and dance tempos for music of various origins.

Theme and Variation

The most widely used Baroque technique was the development of a theme and variations of a musical subject. After 1650, composers preferred to write original arias for their theme as opposed to borrowing a familiar tune. Their theme used the basic arrangement of air, dance, chorale, and so forth, followed by variations.³⁸ In the Islands, analysis of the folk song repertoire suggests that the musicians were skilled at borrowing themes as well as creating variations of melodies to create new songs.

French Suite

Clavier refers to both keyboard and harpsichord instruments including the clavier and organ. In the Baroque era many types of compositions were produced as clavier music. Much of the late 17th and early 18th century clavier music is in the form of the suite.

Some French suites had a loose aggregation of as many as 20 miniature pieces with many in dance rhythms such as the courante, sarabande, and gigue. This type of suite used transparent texture, delicate melodic lines with embellishments, humor, and was notably concise.³⁹

Another clavier suite of French dances with no consistent order imitated the late 17th century orchestral ballet suites.⁴⁰ The Virgin Island scratch band music has comparable texture, melodic line with embellishments, humor and brevity.

German Suite

The German 17th-century partita, or clavier suite, established an order for four dances, the allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue. This suite may have included an introductory movement or optional dances placed either after the gigue or before or after the Sarabande. Some of the composers of the German suite are Froberger, Pachelbel, Alessandro Poglietti, and Henry Purcell.⁴¹

The allemande is a moderately fast duple meter composition that begins with a short up beat and continues with its smooth movement of eighth or 16th notes with a full accompaniment.⁴²

Typically, the courante was thematically related to the allemande. It was a moderate 6/4-time piece with a dotted quarter, eighth, quarter, quarter, dotted quarter, and eighth note rhythmic figure. At times the last two measures are transformed into 3/2 time with the shift of an accent. Also, the French courante was replaced by the Italian corrente, a faster 3/4 dance with a more homophonic texture.⁴³

The sarabande, a slow movement in 3/2 time often has a two measure rhythm pattern of half note, dotted half and quarter note in the first measure and a half note and whole note in the subsequent measure. In ¾ time, the pattern may be three quarter notes in one measure, and dotted quarter, eighth and quarter notes in the subsequent measure. The texture is generally more homophonic than the allemande and the courante, and may be followed by the double, an ornamental variation of the original dance.⁴⁴

The gigue has been in 4/4-time with dotted rhythm and subsequently in 12/8, but also in 6/8, 3/8 or 3/4 time. It has wide melodic skips and continuous movement of triplets. The gigue is often in fugal or quasi-fugal style wherein the second section inverts the first subject.⁴⁵

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