These Blues Boxes represent the harmonic structure of a 12 Bar Blues
February is Black History Month, so we took a slight detour in week 4 to review some of the significant contributions to popular song by African Americans. We began with a rousing version of the cumulative song/game "Head and Shoulders" which emphasizes swing and improvisational skills. We then used what we learned about swing to segue into a discussion of the 12 bar blues, the form that is at the heart of all nearly all Rock and Roll songs. Since the rhythmic and harmonic patterns of the 12 bar blues are essential fixed, all that remains is to supply lyrics, which all classes did with hilarious results.
Homework -- write your own 12 bar blues lyric.
No comments:
Post a Comment