The Blues
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I. Blues Styles
A. Folk - for individual entertainment - Robert Johnson
B. commercial- Ma Rainey Race records targeted
mainly fro the African-American market
II. Meaning of the Blues
A. feeling- state of mind , songs about problem - even
if the song is not a “blues”song
B. style- way inwhich great blues singer perform - vocals
as heightened speech, delivery independent of beat, rough , highly inflected
vocal timbre.
C. form- indefinite number of sections, standard poetic,
melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic outline
III. Sound of the Blues
A. Vocal style - song aas intensified speech
B. Instrumental style - adapts key elements of the vocal
style to the instrument
C. Call & response, a full rhythm section, and an
active dense textured keyboard
D. Typical Form-
1. Poetic form - each chorus contains
a rhymed couplet
2. Melodic form - each line of text
is sung to its own melodic idea
3. Rhythmic form - Each phrase last
four measures; each measure has four beats; one chorus contains twelve measures
4. Harmonic form - Built on 3 chords
I, IV, V structure
IV. Sound of Early Blues
A. Early blues was sung throughout the rural south.
Country blues had a less refined vocal sound, acoustic guitar accompaniment,
irregular form, and use of other instruments.
B. Robert Johnson was one of the great country blues
performers
C. Blues for entertainment - African-Americans migrated
to the urban areas in both the North and South. In the 1st few decades of
the 20th century, blues singers (mostly women) performed blues on
stage.
D. After the opening of the recording industry with
“race” records, leading blues singers recorded extnsively, until the
depression which briugh hard times - few could afford to buy records or
go to shows
E. Bessie Smith was the most important and influetial
of the women blues singers
V. Blues Style in Popular Music
A. 1927: Bessie Smith recorded Alexander’s Ragtime Band
in blues style, influencing others in later years
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