‘St. Louis Blues’
“First blues popular song” by W.C. Handy
“Father of the Blues”
Blues Music History
‘Singin’ the Blues’ LESSON OBJECTIVES: Blues Vocabulary Brief history of blues genre Characteristics of blues music Famous blues artists & songs ‘Black & Blue’, Broadway Musical Experience blues listening & performing
Music History of Blues
LANGUAGE ARTS Summarize, compare & contrast recordings
Write an original story for ‘St. Louis Blues’
Research an artist & present
Write an original blues lyric/song & perform
ACTIVITY EXAMPLE:
Think of ‘hooks’ from famous blues (or other) tunes…
“Hit the Road, Jack…”
“Can’t buy me love…”
“The Thrill is gone…”
…..
‘Write a Poem
ACTIVITY: Cinquain TOPIC: “Lost Love” or “No love yet…” WRITE :Three lines –
Six words
Five words
Four words
Recordings John the Revelator Son House St. Louis Blues W.C Handy & his Memphis Blues Band Cab Calloway Bessie Smith & Louis Armstrong Billie Holiday Ella Fitzgerald Doc & Merle Watson Carey Bell Preservation Hall Jazz Band The Magnificent Sevens Isley Brothers Jason Webb Herbie Hancock & Stevie Wonder
JAZZ! SING & PLAY
The Blues & Jazz are closely related…. Blues bass line in BLUES progression
12 Bar Blues Blues Scale Improvise!
Compose & Perform an original blues piece
Jazz & Music GLIs
VISUAL ART ACTIVITY: Make an album cover
Study - Andy Warhol’s Album Cover Art
Materials – Jpegs of artists who recorded St Louis Blues & Photoshop
Task- create and album cover using that portrait and manipulating it with PhotoShop.
Other Ideas • “Sing”a children’s book improvising with the blues
scale
• Create a collage by making a jazz vocabulary ‘poetry kit’ and gluing the words into an image.
• Research the various sets of lyrics used by different artists. Why are they different?
• Study the different types of blues. Trace their geography and major artists who influenced the sound