Reference no: EM133664806
Question
'Blues' is both a musical form and a style of performing music that is one of the most important influences on jazz and many other genres of American music. The blues influences and crosses over with not only jazz but rock, soul, Gospel, rhythm and blues, and many other styles.
Browse YouTube music videos and find an example of EITHER jazz OR contemporary music that is NOT jazz (rock, pop, country, etc.) in which you hear one of the following blues characteristics:
Blue notes (that is, a vocal or instrumental sound that is bending, scooping, or smearing between two pitches). Soulful, or 'bluesy' singing is often heard on rock (including heavy metal), R&B, and even country recordings, and the most common instrument heard bending pitches in non-jazz styles is the electric guitar. It's also a common feature of singing technique.
The 12-bar form. This is a more challenging option, but if you are able to identify this form, you may choose to analyze and talk about this feature instead. If a song has a blues form, it will be made up of 3 phrases of music that keep repeating, with each being 4 bars, or measures, long. (As discussed in the modules, when lyrics are present, the a/a/b structure is usually used, and this can help you to identify the form, as can using a counting technique).
Once you've decided on a video, post the link in your discussion response. Then, in one paragraph (complete sentences), identify and explain the blues characteristic(s) that you found in the video. As usual, be sure use the course vocabulary that we've covered up to this point and to add at least two TIMESTAMPS to support your response. For example, if a singer or instrumentalist bends the pitch, they will likely do it multiple times, so point out at least two instances.
If you choose to identify the 12-bar blues, point out at least two places where the form starts again through the performance and discuss what things you hear in the music or lyrics that help you to notice these spots in the music (or whether you used a counting strategy).
You may not post a link to a video that someone else has posted and commented on already. Once again, you'll be in smaller discussion groups to make it easier to scan through video links already posted.
Once again, there will be a bonus opportunity this week: For an additional 10%, you may search through other people's linked videos and either find and correctly identify an additional instance of blue note(s) other than the timestamps the original poster provided, or
Identify the 12-bar blues form of a video performance in which the original poster did not discuss form.
For the bonus, you must post a polite response to someone else's original comment and the additional blues information you provide must be correct.
If you THINK you hear a blue note or can identify the 12-bar blues form in your video but you aren't sure, you may make your post as a question, as long as you do this before noon on Thursday. Then, once we respond, you may edit/finalize your post.