Music Paper

Nazar Jumayev

Ric Alviso

Installment #2

Thesis: The blues is a dynamic genre that spearheaded social reform through its interpretation of life.

When discussing the music that started getting recognition towards the end of the 19th century, it is impossible to leave out jazz, ragtime, and the blues. The three music genres have some common points of intersection. The three genres’ popularity rose because African American culture blended with the European one, thus providing a mainstream platform. It is in the South of Delta Mississippi that the Delta blues genre originated. Jazz music bares New Orleans as the point of origin, an area close to Mississippi, revealing the influence the two musical styles had on one another. Comparing and contrasting the blues and jazz, they several similarities and a fair share of differences. (Strait, 2017: 257)

The music genre was more than a work song, it was a voice of reason and truth that African found

interpretation of life. A common misconception is the association of the blues with feelings of

regret, loneliness and sadness. It is a composite of several music functions such as field hollers,

praise songs, spirituals, and chants. Call-and-response shout form was the pattern that early blues

developed, involving more than a single individual to create the impromptu musical act. The

phrase ‘devil’s music’ used to refer to the genre was mainly due to the feelings people thought the

music form represented. When Delta blues started spreading to urban areas such as Chicago, its

structure commenced evolving (Johnson, 2020; 207).

The blues doubles as a functional genre and also refers to a progression in chords while jazz is a bit complex music form. African slaves played a crucial role in the inception and progress of the Delta blues. Former slaves and even descendants of slaves helped spread the wave before Europeans found the genre likable and contributed to its improvisation. Improvisation of the early blues took foot, and a new harmonic structure was under initiation. Evolution was mainly due to music performers shifting from places of origin to other areas to settle or perform. Women were among the pioneers of genres that lost grasp of it after the Great Depression. Men became the flag bearers in the reviving of the blues afterwards, dominating the field. (Johnson, 2020; 207)

“As African-Americans continually migrated north, traditional instruments such as the piano, guitar, and banjo were mixed with the flavor of Memphis jug bands, prominent in the 1920s and 1930s, that included clay jugs, kazoos, and wash boards,”. There usually are three chords that contain four bars each in the genre. Blue notes, flattened notes, can be found either on the third, fifth, or seventh chord degrees. Despite the existence of other chords’ progressions that are still considered 12-bar blues, the three-chord with four bars each is the principal one. The blue scale is another feature that the genre utilizes to fit the progression perfectly. Also, blue notes complete the genre through improvisation of note bending. The three main features help in making the blues sound like the blues literally and figuratively. (Balagurchik, 2012)

“The flatted fifth is often referred to as the heart of “funk,” soul, or blues feeling, and it has even been said that blue notes can be found in all the cracks between the keys of the piano. The flatting or bending of thirds, sevenths, and fifths into quarter tones is part of a general defining feature, difficult to specify concretely, that may simply be called blues chromaticism,”. Not all songs under the genre follow the same tempo as it depends on the mood expressed by the artist. Unlike in the earlier days when blues musicians had to make full use of their hearing skills due to high illiteracy levels, there is learning for modern blues. (Keil, 1966)

There are several forms of blues in contemporary society due to the spreading of the genre and improvisation to suit the target audience given priority. “The blues became a ‘popular’ music in the sense that they were generated by and for an evolved community of consciousness and memory”. From the father of the genre William Christopher Handy to urban blues artists like Muddy Waters and other modernized forms, the genre has been impactful. Rhythm and blues and soul music are also significant genres that got their identities from the musical genre. The genre did not command the same respect it has acquired over time as it was starting, European terming it in citing. Some of the prominent jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, have performed the musical genre and got inspired in composing songs in their respective fields. (Woods, 1998; 83)

References

Johnson, Greg. The Blues Come to Texas: Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick’s Unfinished Book by Alan Goveia, and: The Original Blues: The Emergence of the Blues in African American Vaudeville by Lynn Abbott, Doug Seroff. Journal of Southern History 86.1 (2020): 205-208.

Balagurchik, James. A Comprehensive Approach to Teaching the Blues in the Music Classroom. (2012).

Keil, C. Urban Blues. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. (1966).

Strait, John Byron, and Ava Rei Fujimoto-Strait. The Impact of Multi-Layered Diffusionary Processes on Musical Evolution: The Global Nature, and Hawaiian, Spanish and African Roots of Delta Blues Culture. European Scientific Journal (2017): 257-276.

Woods, Clyde. Development Arrested: The Blues and Plantation Power in the Mississippi Delta. New York: Verso, (1998): 83.

Interview

I last questioned Bridget.

Bridget, What’s is your background knowledge of the blues? Well, my interpretation of the blues might differ from yours. I last took a dance appreciation class, where I learned about dances deeply influenced by music. Dance is interrelated with those of music, so I’ll do my best. Bridget, you mentioned dance is influenced by music. Would you mind giving me a few examples? The way I see it, the blues is an essential facet of African American culture. This genre is at the center of dances performed like ” the breakdown, cakewalk, and slow drag.” These dances were performed while the blue’s players performed. Interestingly, as cakewalk dances became more popular, they gave rise to their form of music, an early predecessor of what’s now known as ragtime. Bridget, would you be able to give me a few examples of the blues influence on art forms? I’ll give it my best shot. A common theme in blues is expression. The blues provides a possibility and perspective for experiencing and generating music. Hip-hop, jazz, and the blues are among those genres that have led others to appreciate the creatively composed music. Other forms of music that came afterward were influenced directly or indirectly by the blues, jazz, or hip-hop. I want to finish off by asking Bridget, from your perspective, are the blues alive today? Although it is not the most popular, I believe people are doing a great job keeping the blues alive. A majority of this generation listens to a mixture of Hip Hop, Rap, Techno, R&B, Indie Rock, etc. I don’t have a reason to believe that it is dying anytime soon. Some artists are covering songs from the ’70s to the late ’90s. I’m sure we will hear songs with an inspiration of the blues any time now. The blues is being kept alive by people who perform this genre. People can become interested in the blues for the music and visual aspect. A wonderful thing about blues is that it can resonate with so many people from diverse backgrounds. Thank you so much for your time Z, I appreciate you sharing the blues from your perspective.