The Blues. African American vocal music Slaves not permitted to bring instruments Drumming specifically forbidden Playing of European instruments.

The Blues

African American vocal music

Slaves not permitted to bring instruments

Drumming specifically forbidden

Playing of European instruments permitted

Musicians also served as tribal historians and social commentators

A vocal music unique to the African American experience is most direct, although not “perfect,” link to African heritage

Work Songs

Call and response

A “functional” music

Common in plantation culture; after breakup of plantations they persisted in the Southern penitentiary system until the 1950s

Work songs led to “field hollers” – solo calls free in form but similar in feeling to the blues; field hollers contributed to the vocal style of the blues

General characteristics of the Blues

Appeal to senses rather than intellect

Generally highly personal – often focused on topics such as love, death, sexuality, life conditions, etc.

Country Blues” vs. “City Blues” Guitar accompaniment vs. piano or multiple instruments.

“Free” form & rhythm vs. 12-bar structure.

“Earthy” lyrics vs. more sophistication in content & melody.

Expressive but “undeveloped” vocals vs. refined & predetermined.

Roots in work songs vs. minstrelsy & vaudeville shows.

Male performers vs. female.

Informal atmosphere vs. formal (performer/audience clearly defined).

A State of Mind

“blue” describes a state of melancholy since the 16th century; entered American vocabulary after the Civil War

Music that portrays such a state of mind

Performance of or interaction with the music as a way of “ridding oneself of the blues”

Perception that one cannot “play” the blues unless they have “blues feeling”

Performance Practices

“playing the blues” as a measure of a particular kind of quality

Techniques include: “rough” or “unrefined” timbre

“blue notes”

Improvisation

Form

Strophic/cyclical

Repetitions of a chorus

AAB