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The Pentatonic Scale D What (is) the Blues? Akram Najjar You can download this Presentation + the List of Clips to be played at karazwlaimoon.com All Clips are found on YouTube 2 / 49 Apologies – Time is the Constraint . If your favorite blues singer is not featured If some clips are not completed The talk should finish at 8:30 --- But I will go on till the last person leaves 3 / 49 Why “Blues” ? Both Sources “Unconvincing” Origin 1: 17th-century English expression “the blue devils” Intense visual hallucinations that can accompany alcohol withdrawal. The blues came to mean a state of agitation or depression. “Blue” was slang for “drunk” by the 1800s. Also “blue laws” still prohibit Sunday alcohol sales in some of the United States Origin 2: derived from mysticism involving “blue indigo” Used by West Africans in mourning ceremonies Mourners’ garments were dyed blue to indicate suffering Associated with indigo plant in southern US slave plantations and with West African slaves who sang of suffering 50s Blues and the Rhythm and Rock n’ Blues Roll Evolution of Early Soul / Pop / 30s Latin / Country Jazz and Pop Boogie Woogie Honky Brass Band Tonk Marches 20s Ragtime Stride Early Spirituals Jazz (Sacred) 20s African Music Blues So What Makes a Song a Blues Song? Four Major Features A. African Musical Practices B. Musical Practices developed by the “Slaves” in Southern USA (under European influence) C. The Blue Scale, Blue Notes and the Pentatonic Scale D. The 12 Bar Song Notice: we did not include the mood as a feature Not every sad song is blue And not every blue song is sad 7 / 49 A) African Musical Practices A) African Roots In Africa, music was functional It was linked to everyday life: Birth / Death / Marriage / Exorcism Agricultural Events / Calendar Events Sicknesses / Woes / Religious Feasts Music was also found in: Work Songs / Field Hollers (Communications) Film: Amandla!: A Revolution in 4-Part Harmony “Professional” musicians were not common 9 / 49 Characteristics of African Music The Body is part of the music: Clapping / Swaying / Pounding a Stick / Dancing Music is Communal Everyone sang or took lead Call and Response: two phrases 1) A question or a statement 2) A response, an answer or a comment – sometimes instrumental Riffs: musical phrases indefinitely repeated 10 / 49 More . Irregular Vocal Characteristics . Raspy Tones / Buzzes / Falsetto / Bending Tones Pure or beautiful voices were neither required nor common Perfect mastery of instruments was also not a requirement 11 / 49 The Drum Family Dominated African Music Group performance Poly-rhythms or Cross Rhythms = the simultaneous use of 2 or more conflicting rhythms Syncopation, Hemiola (The banjo started life as a percussion instrument) 12 / 49 Examples: Works Songs / Hollers / Etc. 1) Call and Response: Work Songs in a Texas Prison A 2) Field Holler 3) Field Holler (French Clip) 4) Bessie Smith: Ma Man’s Gotta Heart like Rock n Steel 5) Polyrhythm 3-4 : a visual example 6) Riff + Call and Response: Glenn Miller: In the Mood 7) Call and Response: Miles Davis – So What 13 / 49 B) Musical Practices Developed by the “Slaves” B) Musical Practices developed by the “Slaves” Generally, under European musical influences Instruments and Scales Slaves were taught music to play in funeral and street bands Slaves were also influenced by sacred singing or spirituals Slaves sang sorrowful lyrics about unsatisfied love Curiously, not about slavery 15 / 49 Some of the Main Practices that influenced the Blues and gave Jazz “The Unexpected” 16 / 49 B1) Offbeat Melodies Offbeats: a singer or a player plays or sings a note just B before/after the beat 1) Billie Holiday was the GENIUS who mastered that A Sailboat in the Moonlight with Lester Young Bob Dylan was a master of off-beat singing 17 / 49 B2) Swung Notes: Changing the Beat B Blues/Jazz musicians use a beat that has triplets They then remove the middle note in the triplet Removal is a common feature in the blues . 2) Swung Note Demonstration on Guitar 18 / 49 B2) Swung Notes: A Contribution of the Blues to Jazz B2) Swung Notes: Remove the Middle Note of Triplets B3) The Blues also Gave Bent Notes . A blues singer will not jump from one note to another B He or She will “glide” going through all the tones in between This also applies to instruments 3) Bent Notes on Guitar 4) Bessie Smith in Backwater Blues 21 / 49 C) The Blue Scale, the Blues Notes and the Pentatonic Scale The Standard Western Scale With the Greeks, music consisted of 7 notes – No more Pythagoreans fixed the frequencies of each note The frequency of each note must be a whole number ratio higher than C = 1 C the previous note: 5/4, 4/3, etc. D = 9/8 C E = 5/4 C If you pluck a string, you will get C F = 4/3 C And most of the other “overtones” G = 3/2 C A = 5/3 C B = 15/8 C C' = 2 C 23 / 49 And . 5 Black notes were added hundreds of years later Tuning instruments with 12 notes to meet Pythogoras’s rules was a Mathematical Pain Early 18th century, mathematics intervened again They fixed the frequencies of all 12 notes (The Well Tempered Clavier) Out of the scope of this talk! 24 / 49 The 7 Notes and their Added Black Notes C C# D Eb E F F# G Ab A Bb B C D E F G A B Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si 25 / 49 The Modern Scale (Western) The distance from one note to another is called an Interval The smallest interval is called a Semitone, say from C to C# From C to D = Whole Tone or 2 Semitones C D E F G A B C 26 / 49 The Major Scale A modern Major Scale contains 7 notes The intervals (semitones) are 2 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 2 -1 If you use the these same intervals, each of the 12 notes can be the start of a Major Scale C D E F G A B 27 / 49 So What is the Blue Scale? It is the Major Scale BUT . 1) We drop the second note AND 2) We flatten the 3rd, 5th and 7th notes Flatten means they are replaced by the notes before them Most likely, the Blue Scale was invented by the “Slaves” Why is it “most likely”? (We will soon see why) 28 / 49 C Major Blues Scale (6 notes) Contains 3 Notes from C Major which are Flattened C X C Major C C# D Eb E F F# G Ab A Bb B 3 The Blue Notes C Major Blue C C# D Eb E F F# G Ab A Bb B The Blue Scale Intervals: 3 – 2 – 1 – 1 – 3 - 2 Let us Get to the Blue Scale from Another Side The Pentatonic Scale is made up of 5 out of the 12 notes The Intervals (semitones) are 2 - 2 - 3 - 1 - 1 Or the First / Second / Third / Fifth / Sixth notes of a Major scale The C scale Pentatonic = C – D – E – G – A The Pentatonic Scale is pervasive: Chinese / Japanese / African / Celtic / Latin American / etc. C D E F G A B 30 / 49 C) Pentatonic Examples 2) Pentatonic on the Piano C 3) Sudani Song: Ashrat Ayyam (Pentatonic Scale) 4) Bobby McFerrin: demonstrates prevalence of Pentatonic Scale 31 / 49 Looking at it from another Angle: the Blue Scale C Major C C# D Eb E F F# G Ab A Bb B C The Blue Notes C Major Blue C C# D Eb E F F# G Ab A Bb B C E flat Pentatonic E Flat Penta C C# D Eb E F F# G Ab A Bb B C 32 / 49 D) The 12 Bar Three Minute Song The 16 Bar Songs / Melodies in Western Music . Most songs you know will be made up of 16, 32, 64 . bars They will be grouped as: A – A – B – A Usually, the first two A groups would be in the same key: Group B goes to another key, phrase and melody The last A group resolves the tension and returns to the initial key This is a relaxed ending to the song 34 / 49 D) 16 Bars --- 4 Sections --- 4 Bars each D1 A A B A 1) George Harrison: The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea 4 groups of 16 bars each . The second group is a refrain, completely different 2) Chuck Berry: Sweet Little Sixteen 3) Beethoven: Ode to Joy (Symphony Number 9) Others? Happy Birthday, Our National Anthem, Jingle Bells, …. 35 / 49 To Create More Tension, a Blues Song Removes 2 Things The last group of 4 bars is removed: A – A – B – A The 12 bars now feel amputated They leave a feeling of emptiness, tension More Removals: In each group of 4 bars, the first 2 bars are sung The second 2 bars are left empty as an increase in “tension” This is a kind of Call and Response This space would later on be used to improvise on accompanying instruments An example of Beatles genius follows . 36 / 49 D2) Standard 12 Bar Blues (more to come) D2 1) W. C. Handy: St. Louis Blues 2) Boogie Woogie – Bloms Boggie 3) Ursula Ricks: Early One Morning (Jimmy Williams) 4) Beatles: Birthday 37 / 49 And one more Critical “Reversal” All songs are sung in a basic key: we call it the TONIC There are 2 other keys related to the TONIC The Sub-dominant The Dominant Most songs will “live” in these 3 keys How are these related? And why is the relationship important? 38 / 49 Keys Related to the Tonic (Starting) Key Say we are playing in the Key of C = Tonic The Sub-Dominant key is F which is of the 4th Note in C scale The Dominant key is G which is the 5th Note in C scale C D E F G A B The 1-4-5 Sequence Known to All Musicians Songs usually start in the Tonic (1) key It then migrates to the Sub-Dominant (4) key And then to the Dominant (5) key The composer then resolves the tension by returning to the Tonic (1) 4 5 1 1 How do the Blues “Disrupt” this Sequence? Woke up this morning, blues hanging in my head D2 A C C C C Woke up this morning, blues hanging in my head A F F C C Ma woman left me, just a room n’ an empty bed .
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