Transcript Chapter 8 – The Blues

Chapter 8 – The Blues
Class Issues:
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There were class distinctions within the
African American community.
Blues musicians were outcasts, rejected by
the more settled, upwardly mobile members
of the race, particularly the devoutly
religious.
To the devout, the blues were “devil songs.”
The Spiritual and the Blues
Considering both the spiritual and the blues, what role did slavery play
in the evolution of these genres?
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spiritual
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began in slavery
blues
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evolved after the Civil War, strongly influenced by the changes that
affected the lives of African Americans following emancipation
What are some of the changes that affected the lives of African
Americans following the Civil War?
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new dimension of leisure
new degree of solitude
new set of social and economic problems; need for money; necessity
for finding employment
broader contacts and experiences
greater fluency in the American language
new mobility
Characteristics of the Blues
1. Blues subjects - the man-woman relationship
2. Musical form - a succession of three-line
stanzas
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Line two tends to repeat line one (a, a, b).
3. Instruments - The folk roots of the blues were
often sung unaccompanied.
Which was the first instrument to become
the standard accompaniment to the blues?
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guitar
Melodic material and singing
style:
What are some of the different singing styles?
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shouting
humming
singing in falsetto
singing in the false bass voice
chanting in the manner of a recitative
Speaking
What is the general tendency for melodic contour of the
blues?
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to start the phrase high and proceed downward
ending with a dropping inflection
Structure:
The importance of 1912
What are the conventions of the post 1912 tendencies?
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number of lines/stanza: three, the second a repetition of the first
phrases: four bars long (“12-bar blues”)
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harmonic plan:
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phrase 1: I
I
I
phrase 2: IV IV I
phrase 3: V7 (IV) I
I7
I
I
instrumental accompaniment:
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guitar
harmonica (“blues harp”)
improvised instruments:
Call and reponse
Ma Rainey’s “Countin’ the Blues”
Identify the structural and stylistic traits
Listen for:
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twelve-bar blues pattern
breaks
call-and-response pattern
Blind Lemon Jefferson (1897-1929)
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Texas blues singer and guitarist
performed in Dallas, Texas where he performed at
times with Leadbelly
recorded in Chicago in the late 1920s
died mysteriously in 1929
Major influence on blues and later rock guitarists
“Prison Cell Blues” recorded in Chicago in 1928.
Listen for:
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unconventional form (NOT twelve-bar blues)
fluid performance style
Instruments and the Blues Style
What are some other instruments commonly
heard in blues music?
harmonica (“blues harp”)
improvised instruments:
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jug
washboard
inverted washtub, with a piece off rope stretched
between a hole through its center and a broom
handle (= bass)
What are some common techniques that players
use to alter the sounds of the instruments?
“bending” the pitch
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On guitar, pushing or pulling on the string to
make the pitch sound higher
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Likewise, the voice might slide into the pitch.
“bottleneck” or slide guitar
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sliding the back of a knife blade on the strings of
the guitar
using a broken top of a bottle
Robert Johnson’s “Preachin’ Blues
(Up Jumped the Devil”
Example of slide guitar playing
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“bottleneck” style on the guitar
Note: Johnson does not follow the twelvebar blues pattern in this example.
Who is Robert Johnson (1911-1938)?
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Mississippi Delta blues singer and guitarist
recorded only twenty-nine songs
died young, yet extremely influential, largely due
to his recordings
Early published blues
1912 important because many pieces were
published
Who was W.C. Handy?
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composer/bandleader
from Memphis
promoted blues as popular music and brought it to a
wide public
Blues: An Anthology (New York, 1926), a famous
collection of early published blues (by Handy and
others).
Boogie Woogie
What is boogie-woogie?
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solo piano form (like ragtime)
developed out of the blues: form and harmony
driving left hand; ostinato (repeated pattern)
likely an adaptation of what blues singer-guitarists had been
doing
popular in the late 1930s
major influence on rock ‘n’ roll of the 1950s
Mr. Freddie Blues
Lux Lewis, piano
Ostinato in left hand
Repeated figure in right hand
Underlying 12 bar blues format
Urban Blues
What are some of the distinguishing characteristics of
urban blues?
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reflects harsher aspects of urban life
piano, essentially the blues-related boogie-woogie
electric guitar
bass
drums
strongly influenced by gospel tradition
very influential on later blues, rhythm and blues, and rock ’n’ roll
Chicago-home for musicians from the south
Kansas City –rise of blues singers backed by big bands
What are some of the changes that have occurred
in blues at the turn of the century?
fewer recordings are being produced
technologically and stylistically slicker
recordings
Blues festivals and live concerts have
largely replaced the clubs.
racial and gender shifts:
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White male blues singers have come into
prominence:
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Stevie Ray Vaughan (1980s)
Johnny Winter
William Clarke
Texas Flood by
Stevie Ray Vaughan
-virtuosic guitar technique
-urban sound of bass and drums
-12 bar form
-Vaughan had both a conservative taste in music
and progressive approach to guitar playing.
conservative
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twelve-bar blues pattern
blues song written in the 1960s
progressive approach to guitar playing.
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Jimi Hendrix was a significant influence on his playing and
performance style.
Made use of such effects as pedals (wah-wah and others)
and the guitars tremolo bar.