It was only in the first decades of the 20th century that the most common current structure became standard: the AAB pattern, consisting of a line sung over the four first bars, its repetition over the next four, and then a longer concluding line over the last bars. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times. "The Blues" is also characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. The Muslim slaves added their own flair to their field holler songs, with African diaspora historian Sylviane Douf describing the way they sang "words that seem to quiver and shake" as very reminiscent of the Adh an, or Islamic call to prayer. Blues music is heavily influenced by "field holler" songs, sung by the slaves as they worked in the fields. An estimated 30% of African slaves brought to America were Muslim. One of the first wholly American styles of music to gain traction and recognition across the world was blues music, developed in the American South by African slaves, many of whom were Muslim. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove. Blue notes (or "worried notes"), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale, and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. Give them a chance to build some confidence before getting into fast tempos, complex changes, and long solos with lots of double timing.Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. In general I'd say to start with simple tunes and changes such as blues, Autumn Leaves, Satin Doll, Summertime, and Take the A Train. I don't have any suggestions off the top of my head - not that these were, either - for piano, bass, drums, etc.Īnother suggestion is to get students to transcribe heads to tunes, especially versions of standards that are different enough from the fakebook charts that they'll actually have to use their ears rather than read them from a chart. Charlie takes two choruses of classic swing guitar. Guitar - Aside from the one I mentioned on another post try Charlie Christian's solo on Benny's Bugle, a 12 bar blues in Bb. Lester plays lines from the beginning there's no "head," and play a few simple choruses. Tenor sax - Lester Young's No Eyes Blues, which is a slow blues in F with some mid 1940s chord variations. Blues in G, short solo with plenty of swing. Kenny stays close to the melody and doesn't play anything that's too fast or complex.Īlto sax - Johnny Hodge's solo on A Pound of Blues. Trumpet - Kenny Dorham's solo on Blue Bossa from Joe Henderson's Page One album. I know a fair number of pro musicians who won't or can't transcribe solos because it's difficult, but people are recommending Coltrane, Art Tatum, and Chick Corea's solo on Spain? For middle school and high school students? How about scaling things way back for the youngsters? I'm really surprised by how many of the suggestions being given are extremely advanced.
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