BLUEs
by sierra lou
Blues is a form and genre of music that originated from the Southern plantations in the 19th Century. It evolved from the African spirituals, chants, work songs, field hollers, rural fife and drum music, hymns, and country dance music sung by African American slaves on the plantations. Multiple versions of Blues began to develop in different places in the South, such as Texas, Georgia, and near the Mississippi River. Blues culture was especially big in cities due to the Great Migration, which was the movement of African-Americans from Southern states to Northern states. Chicago soon became the center of the jazz age.
Blues music is known for its flattened or gradually bent tunes in relation to the pitch of the major scale. Most songs are consisted of 12 bars, with each individual part of the scales known as blue notes.
In the 1920s, blues began to become a more formal genre of music, and was performed in bars, nightclubs, and theaters. The first recordings were considered rural country blues or urban blues. Bo Carter, Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, Pampa Red and Blind Blake were some of the artists who became popular during this period of time. Of these blues pioneers, some usually performed solo with just a guitar. Female performers helped spread and standardize blues.
Works Cited
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"Blues, Jazz and the Great Migration." Blues, Jazz and the Great Migration. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/greatmigration/jazz.htm>.
"A Brief History of the Blues." All About Jazz. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=18724#.Uw7JxPnM10k>.
"The Classic Blues, 1900-1920s." The Classic Blues, 1900-1920s. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://www.calliope.org/blues/blues2.html>.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues#Pre-war_blues>.
"Blues." Blues. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/151.html>.
"Blues, Jazz and the Great Migration." Blues, Jazz and the Great Migration. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/greatmigration/jazz.htm>.
"A Brief History of the Blues." All About Jazz. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=18724#.Uw7JxPnM10k>.
"The Classic Blues, 1900-1920s." The Classic Blues, 1900-1920s. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://www.calliope.org/blues/blues2.html>.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues#Pre-war_blues>.