black scale

black scale
 n.— «The pentatonic scale is sometimes called the black scale, as so many Negro spirituals are pentatonic: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Deep River” were named. (I happen to know that Wings’”Mull of Kintyre” is also pentatonic, but that wasn’t mentioned.) The definitive version is Mahalia Jackson’s.» —“Tears of redemption, snorts of derision” by Miranda Sawyer Observer (United Kingdom) Mar. 25, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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Further reading

Woodshedding Music

When a musician is woodshedding a passage of music, they’re trying to master that part by repeatedly practicing it in private, as if having retreated to do so in a woodshed, away from others who might be bothered by it. This is part of a...