The BLUES

Blues can mean—

  • Flexible inflected sound

  • A harmonic pattern

  • A poetic form

  • A people’s spirit

  • A sad feeling

  • Earthy funky type of music

  • Triumph through hard times

  • Doesn’t have to be sad, but often is about coming through hard times

Geographic development

  • The south along the Mississippi river and the Mississippi Delta area – Louisiana (New Orleans), Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee

(Mississippi Delta Area)

Blues Roots/Musical Influences

  • Blend harmonies with African vocal style

African Influences on the Blues

  • African singing style – expressive, rough vocal tones

  • Freely moving vocals – voice floats free above strict rhythmic accompaniment

  • Inflected vocal style (like talking drums)

  • Syncopations, rhythmic vitality

  • Call-response – especially in group work songs (Leader sings a “call” – an opening phrase of music, and group sings a following “response” phrase

Western European Influences

  • Religious Music/Church Hymns – four-part harmony with melody on top

  • Harmonies – regular harmonic progression, blend harmonies with African vocal style

  • Short equal verses

  • Regular four-beat patterns

American Roots

  • Blues began to crystallize in 1890’s from many elements

  • Group work songs of laborers in Mississippi Delta region – steady underlying rhythm, often in call-response format

  • Solo field holler – solo voice, free rhythm, with slow inflected style

  • Street vendor cries of uptown blacks in New Orleans – used expressive variations in pitch and vocal quality

  • Inflected vocal styles of field holler and street vendor – rises and falls – leads to blue note in blues music

  • Spirituals/religious music – blended European church music and African vocal style

Blue note

  • Bending and flatting the pitch

  • Adds feeling and expression

  • Evolves from solo field holler and street vendor cries (roots in African inflected vocal style)

The Blues developed into an American popular song style in the 1920’s

  • Starts off as vocals only

  • Added instruments later

Early Instruments

  • Guitar and banjo

  • Also used the harmonica – called the blues harp

  • In urban areas – voice was often accompanied by small combos (small combination of instrument) – piano, cornet/trumpet (the cornet was a trumpet-like brass instruments used in military bands)

Musical Techniques and Characteristics

  • Blue note – in voice and instruments

  • String bending – pull on the strings and “bend” them to get blue notes on the guitar

  • Bottleneck slide – use broken necks of bottles around little finger to slide on the strings

Classic Blues Poetic Form - Lyrics

  • Song unfolds in a series of three-line stanzas in which the first two lines are the same (AAB form)

Line 1 (A) – statement (call)

Line 2 (A) – repeat line one (with same melody)

Line 3 (B) – complete statement/give response – different text from first two lines with different melody

  • Lines A and B often rhyme, but not always

Stanza 1 –

  1. I was with you, baby, when you did not have a dime (A)

  2. I was with you, baby, when you did not have a dime (A)

  1. Now since you got plenty of money, you have throwed your good gal down (B)

Stanza 2 –

  1. Once ain't for always, two ain't for twice (A)

  2. Once ain't for always, two ain't for twice (A)

  3. When you get a good gal, you'd better treat 'em nice (B)

Classic Blues Harmonic Pattern – The 12-Bar Blues

  • The 12-Bar Blues is the main harmonic structure of the blues

  • It is three basic chords—built on 1st, 4th, and 5th degrees of the major scale – shown by the Roman numerals I, IV, and V

  • The three chords correspond with the three lines of each stanza of lyrics

  • It is called a 12-bar blues because it take 12 bars of musical time

12-bar blues pattern (basic harmonic template)

  • I (home pitch) (4 bars of time) – 1st line of lyrics (A) – statement/call

  • IV – I (4 bars of time) – 2nd line of lyrics (repeat of 1st line statement) (A)

  • V – I (4 bars of time) – 3rd line of lyrics – response/complete the statement (B)

  • Always come back to home pitch at the end of each 4 – bar phrase

  • I was with you, baby, when you did not have a dime (I/Home)

  • I was with you, baby, when you did not have a dime (IV-I)

  • Now since you got plenty of money You have throwed your good gal down (V-I)Stanza 2

    • Once ain't for always, two ain't for twice (I)

    • Once ain't for always, two ain't for twice (IV-I)

    • When you get a good gal You'd better treat 'em nice (V-I)

    Stanza 3

    • When you were lonesome, I tried to treat you kind (I)

    • When you were lonesome, I tried to treat you kind (IV-I)

    • But since you've got money It done changed your mind (V-I)

    Stanza 4

    • I'm goin' to leave, baby, I ain't gonna say goodbye (I)

    • I'm goin' to leave, baby, I ain't gonna say goodbye (IV-I)

    • But I'll write you And tell you the reason why (V-I)

    Stanza 5

    • Days are lonesome, nights are long (I)

    • Days are lonesome, nights are so long (IV-I)

    • I'm a good old gal But I just been treated wrong (V-I)

     

    Classic Blues Style – Female Singers

    • Primarily female singer backed by a band/combo

    • Powerful and gut vocal styles

    • Early female blues singers were inspiration for later female rock singers and soul singers

    Bessie Smith (1894-1937)

  • An early blues recording artist in the classic blues style

  • Known as The Empress of the Blues

  • Was able to cross over to white audiences

  • Biggest earning black entertainer of her era

Western/European Influences on
Blues
• Church hymns – four-part harmony with
melody on top
• Harmonic progression
• Short equal verses
• Four-beat pattern