The Blues

This assignment will be a guided activity about the genre, The Blues.

There are 5 questions / activities highlighted in red (see Question 1 right away). Make sure you answer all five.

As always submit to your assignment Thread.

It is important for the assignment to follow instructions and do these questions in order .

** Warning : Some of the listening examples are not aesthetically 'pretty' or 'nice to listen to' - try to keep an open mind and still listen for musical characteristics, even though this may not be something you think sound good. *******

***For clarity , you will see the questions written on this page as we go along (See #1 right away). Answer them on your template as we go along***

*** Quick note - This class touches on some history - I am not a history teacher - Anything mentioned is purely for context of the class , so if it is in short form or glossed over - it is just so you can keep moving and know what you need to know ! This class deals with some serious topics - If it seems short it is not meant to trivialize or under play the delivery ! ***

Question 1

Without doing any research, give a short description of what you think of when you think of The Blues – Things like : some big artists , some famous songs, instrumentation, what are the songs usually about ? (think about genre characteristic stuff….

Listening - Intro

First thing - Let's do some intro listening.
One important thing to consider with the blues is that that it is an OLD genre with a LONG timeline - dating back as early as the late 1800's, maybe even earlier - so we have many different types of the genre
Listen for things like : (1) Instrumentation, (2) What is the song about , (3) style/vibe of the song, (4) tempo/speed or type of dance you might do to this music , (5) the type of setting in which you might hear the song
*** Listen to each of these !!! They will be used again as examples....

Question 2

Part 1. Pick 3 of the videos above and make some observations about them - use the 5 "Listen for things like (1) Instrumentation, (2) What is the song about , (3) style/vibe of the song, (4) tempo/speed or type of dance you might do to this music , (5) the type of setting in which you might hear the song" as a guide.

Part 2. What is common among the 3 examples you picked ?

Delta Blues

In those 6 example videos, there is a Timeline of about 100 years, and a few different styles or sub-genres of the blues.

If you had to guess, which of the 6 do you think would be the oldest examples ?

Charlie Patton - Rattlesnake Blues

Robert Johnson - Crossroad

These are two of the earliest examples of what is known as Delta Blues

Question 3

Find 3 other examples of DELTA Blues - These should share the same musical characteristics as these examples above, and should probably be older recordings !

Intro to the Blues

1. Where did the blues come from
2. Who developed it
3. What were it's Musical predecessors
4. Musical Characteristics

In a Sentence (From Wiki):

Blues is a music genre [3] and musical form which was originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1870s by African-Americans from roots in African musical traditions, African-American work songs, and spirituals. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads

Where did it Come From
&
Who Developed it

Early Blues
Mississippi Delta
Late 1800's-1930

1500-1860
Transatlantic Slave Trade

1861
Civil War

1865
After 4 Years Confederate/South Surrenders
13th Amendment makes slavery Illegal
***** With small exception: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in the United States, except in punishment of a crime" ******

1890
Jim Crow Laws legally mandate segregation -

With slavery as a punishment for crime and segregated prisons, the culture of enslaved people is preserved - And the oppression and emotions felt by those affected were the inspiration for The Blues

Mississippi Delta

Area of Mississippi between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers.

Because of it's proximity to the rivers, it was prime fertile growing territory

Because of incomplete or non existent historical records, it is hard to say where exactly in this timeline The Blues as we know it was being played.

There is also a lack of recordings to reference.

****This is similar to secular music in the early middle ages, where we only know about sacred music because the church we there only people keeping historical documents******

Where did it Come From & Who Developed it: The Blues came from a region of Mississippi called the "Mississippi Delta" and was pioneered by cultures of enslaved African Americans there.

What were its Musical Predecessors ?

***** These are the things that came BEFORE the blues - OR , you can think of it as these people were singing these songs before it turned into the blues. This is Earlier on the timeline
SO
Try to compare these with the early delta blues examples, you should hear some BIG similarities

1. Work Songs, Prison Songs

Serve functional purpose, sung by groups of slaves working in fields and later chain gangs
Meant to keep the Rhythm/Beat of the work going on
Used as entertainment/pass-time

Musical Aspects:

Call and Response
Rough/Harsh Vocals
Rhythmic
Formless (no verses chorus etc...)

2. Spirituals

Were sung solo or in groups
Has a religious aspect - an expression of faith
Many known today by their modern choral arrangements (ex. wade in the water, swing low sweet chariot etc.)
Were sometimes used to talk in code and have hidden messsages

3. Field Hollers, Chants, Shouts

Formless (i.e. no verse/chorus)
Always sung while doing work, thus were vocal and A Capella (no instruments)
Could be sung either solo, or in a group
May times there is an aspect of call and response

More Work Song Footage

Characteristics of Blues Predecessors

Raw, Unrefined
Unrehearsed
Not meant to be art, or even listened to
Pure, Heavy emotion
Almost more like actual moaning that singing
Back and Forth or Call and Response aspect. Often between two groups, or a soloist and a separate group.

We can see that these earlier folk song predecessors share more characteristics with the early blues examples (Robert Johnson)

[ and have less in common with the more modern examples ]

Consider these early Blues Predecessors.

It is an important observation to make that these people would not have been singing these 'work songs' if it weren't for the situation being there in the first place

- as in -

if they were sitting at home relaxing, they wouldn't have to sing a song to keep the rhythm of swinging axes.

They weren't singing these by CHOICE, but because they HAD to

Question 4

Compare and Contrast
Part 1:
Compare the musical characteristics of your found examples. What do they have in common, what has changed? See if you can get 4 differences and 4 similarities

Part 2 :
Find an example of a blues from BEFORE 1930, AND and example of a blues from after 2010. Give song / artist / youtube link

Part 3:
Compare the musical characteristics of your found examples. What do they have in common, what has changed? See if you can get 4 differences and 4 similarities

Question 5

Check out this Saturday Night Live Sketch found under this link

1. In a couple Sentences , Where Does the humor come from in this video?

Hint: I am not referring to the racial joke ! In my opinion this joke is a little silly and doesn't really land, but refers to an actual philisophical question which you can read up on if you wish here