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 . . . . . B G F C G The Turnaround D3) Sometimes, we find 8 Bar Blues D3  First Form: 1 – 5 – 4 – 4 / 1 – 5 – 1 - 5  Second Form: 1 – 1 – 4 – 4 / 1 – 5 – 4 – 5  Third Form: 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 / 5 – 4 – 1 – 5  All end on the 5th!  Big Bill Broonzy: Keys to the Highway  Muddy Waters: Baby Please Don’t Go  John Lee Hooker (with Van Morrison): Baby Please Don’t Go  Billie Holiday: T’ain’t Nobody’s Business if I do

42 / 49 We CANNOT Classify the Blues BUT . . . . We can Try D4) Country Blues (mid 1800s or earlier)

 Blues Starts as a Vocal genre

 Accompaniment? Sometimes none – sometimes a guitar  Lyrics

 Dealt with the hardships of life

 Mostly love issues – not slavery  Vocal Style

 Very expressive

 Voice quality not critical  Location: work camps, rural areas  Singers: mostly men

44 / 49 Examples of Country Blues D4 1) Robert Johnson: Come on in my Kitchen 2) Blind Lemon Jefferson: See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (1928) 3) Peter Paul and Mary: See That My Grace is Kept Clean (Folk?) 4) Big Bill Broonzy: I Can't Be Satisfied (1930) 5) Big Bill Broonzy: Sun’s gonna shine in my backdoor 6) Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters (Country and Western?)

45 / 49 D5) Urban / City Blues (Late 1890s)

 Accompaniment: piano or small bands  Lyrics: more sophisticated, problems of the heart, social issues, etc.  Vocal Style: more refined  Location: vaudeville, clubs, red light environment  Singers: usually women  Next? By mid 20s, Blues invaded Jazz

 A lot of non-vocal blues

 All types of instruments are used

46 / 49 And in the Modern Period . . . . (Big Bands 30s)

 Blues became pervasive - - - found in every genre  Blues is often found in

 Pop Music, Rock, Latin American and Folk Music

 Country and Western and Classical Music (Gershwin, Ravel)  Large schools of Blues blossomed in different areas  An important school is the British Blues

 Early Eric Clapton (also with CREAM) / Georgie Fame

 The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Alexis Korner, etc.

47 / 49 Examples: Urban + Modern Blues

1) Thelonious Monk: Blue Monk D5 2) Dexter Gordon: Blue Monk 3) Jimi Hendrix: Red House 4) Georgie Fame: Bluesology (Milt Jackson) 5) Pentangle: I’ve Got a Feeling (A blues in waltz time) 6) Duke Ellington: C Jam Blues 7) Dave Brubeck: Blues Piece 8) Chucho Valdés - Blues 9) Miles Davis: Freddy Freeloader

48 / 49 What is the Epitaph of a Blues Singer?