Blues

Music
Grade 11
Blues
1
BLUES
o Among the most important sources of jazz is a type of music known as the blues.
o The term refers to a form of vocal and instrumental music and to a style of
performance.
o The blues grew out of African American folk music, such as work songs, spirituals,
and the field hollers of slaves.
o It is uncertain exactly when the blues originated, but by around the 1890s they were
sung in rural areas of the south.
o The original "country blues," which were usually performed with a guitar
accompaniment, were unstandardized in form or style.
o The poetic and musical form of the blues crystallized around 1910 and gained
popularity through the publication of Memphis Blues (1912) and St. Louis Blues
(1914), by W. C. Handy (1873-1958).
o During the 1920s, the blues became a national craze among African Americans.
o Records by such blues singers as Bessie Smith sold in the millions.
o The 1920s also saw the blues become a musical form widely used by jazz
instrumentalists as well as blues singers.
o Since then, jazz and the blues have been intertwined.
o The continuing impact of the blues is apparent in such popular styles as rhythm and
blues, rock and roll, and soul.
o Vocal blues are intensely personal; they often contain sexual references and deal
with the pain of betrayal, desertion, and unrequited love. The lyrics consist of
several 3-line stanzas, each in the same poetic and musical form.
o The first line is sung and then repeated to roughly the same melodic phrase (a a');
the third line has a different melodic phrase (b).
a : I'm going to leave baby, ain't going to say goodbye.
a': I'm going to leave baby, ain't going to say goodbye.
b : But I'll write you and tell you the reason why.
o A blues stanza is set to a harmonic framework that is usually 12 bars in length.

o This harmonic pattern, known as the 12-bar blues, involves only three basic chords:
the tonic (I), the subdominant (IV), and the dominant (V). The specific ordering of
these chords can be outlined as follows: tonic (4 bars)-subdominant (2 bars)-tonic (2
bars)-dominant (2 bars)-tonic (2 bars). Here is how the 3-line stanza is set to this
chord progression:
Line 1 Line 2 Line 3
Bars 1234 5678 9 10 11 12
Chords I IV I V I
o Each stanza of the text is sung to the same series of chords, although other chords
may be inserted between the basic ones of the 12-bar blues.
o Singers either repeat the same basic melody for each stanza or improvise new
melodies to reflect the changing moods of the lyrics.
o The music is in quadruple meter, and so each bar contains 4 beats.
o The 12-bar blues is divided into three phrases, each of which is 4 bars long.
o The soloist takes only about 2 bars to sing a line. This leaves the remainder of the 4-
bar phrase to be filled in by the supporting instrument or instruments.
o In blues recordings of the 1920s and 1930s, instrumental responses to the singer's lines
were often improvised by leading jazz musicians.
2
o The following example shows how the vocal lines and instrumental responses fit into
the 12-bar blues pattern (some pitches and rhythms are approximate):
o Blues singers have a special style of performance involving "bent" notes, microtonal
shadings, and vocal scoops and slides.
o Their melodies contain many ''blue" notes, which are produced by slightly lowering
or flatting the third, fifth, and seventh tones of a major scale.
o Blues rhythm is also very flexible.
o Performers often sing “around” the beat, accenting notes either just before or after
it.
o Jazz instrumentalists imitate the performing style of blues singers and use the
harmonic pattern of the 12-bar blues as a basis for improvisation.
o This 12-bar pattern is repeated over and over while new melodies are improvised
above it.
o As with the baroque ground bass, the repeated chord progression provides unity
while the free flow of improvised melodic lines contributes variety.
3
o Music in this 12-bar form can be happy or sad, fast, or slow, and in a wide range of
styles.
LOST YOUR HEAD BLUES (1926), BY BESSIE SMITH
o Bessie Smith (1894—1937), known as the "empress of the blues," was the most
famous blues singer of the 1920s.
o Her Lost Your Head Blues is a well-known example of blues form and performance
style.
o The lyrics express the feelings of a woman who plans to leave her man because she
has "been treated wrong."
o Each of the poem's five stanzas is set to the 12-bar blues pattern.
o Typically, a cornet response follows each line that is sung (see the example above).
o Lost Your Head Blues begins with a 4-bar introduction by the accompanying cornet
(Joe Smith) and piano (Fletcher Henderson).
o Bessie Smith then sings a melody that she will repeat – with extensive variations of
pitch and rhythm – in each stanza.
o Her "blue" notes, microtonal shadings, and slides between pitches are essential to
the effect of the song.
o Notice the eloquent slides up to I in her singing of, I was with you baby, as well as
the ornamental quiver on down when she sings the words, ‘your good gal down’.
o There are many syncopated rhythms since words are often sung just before or after
the beat.
o Bessie Smith's vocal melody is highly sensitive to the words.
o For example, the long high notes at the beginning of the last stanza ("Days are
lonesome, nights are long") produce a wonderful climax.
o Throughout the song, Bessie Smith's vocal inflections are perfectly matched by the
cornet's improvised responses and echoes.
4
Lyrics for Lost Your Head Blues:
I was with you baby when you did not have a dime.
I was with you baby when you did not have a dime.
Now since you got plenty money you have throw'd your good gal down.
Once ain't for always, two ain't for twice.

Once ain't for always, two ain't for twice.
When you get a good gal you better treat her nice.
When you were lonesome I tried to treat you kind.

When you were lonesome I tried to treat you kind.
But since you've got money, it's done changed your mind.
I'm going to leave baby, ain't going to say goodbye.

I'm going to leave baby, ain't going to say goodbye.
But I'll write you and tell you the reason why.
Days are lonesome, nights are long.

Days are lonesome, nights are so long.
I'm a good old gal, but I've just been treated wrong.

Blues

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Music

o A blues stanza is set to a harmonic framework that is usually 12 bars in length.

LOST YOUR HEAD BLUES (1926), BY BESSIE SMITH

Once ain't for always, two ain't for twice.

When you were lonesome I tried to treat you kind.

I'm going to leave baby, ain't going to say goodbye.

Days are lonesome, nights are long.

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