The Blues. African American vocal music Slaves not permitted to bring instruments Drumming...
-
Upload
amie-whitehead -
Category
Documents
-
view
219 -
download
0
Transcript of The Blues. African American vocal music Slaves not permitted to bring instruments Drumming...
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