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