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How do you describe a blues song?
Blues songs are lyrical rather than narrative; blues singers are expressing feelings rather than telling stories. The emotion expressed is generally one of sadness or melancholy, often due to problems of love but also oppression and hard times.
What is typical for blues music?
The main features of blues include: specific chord progressions, a walking bass, call and response, dissonant harmonies, syncopation, melisma and flattened ‘blue’ notes. Blues is known for being microtonal, using pitches between the semitones defined by a piano keyboard.
What is blues music mostly written about?
Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the racial discrimination and other challenges experienced by African-Americans. Many elements, such as the call-and-response format and the use of blue notes, can be traced back to the music of Africa.
What music form is AAB?
AAB / 12 Bar Blues is the most common blues song form. An AAB pattern is used in both lyrics and melody (this is often set out in a “question-question-answer” format) made up of three 4 bar phrases in AAB Song Form. The fundamental structure of 12 Bar Blues is three four-bar lines or sections.
Is blues a jazz type?
Blues is derived from Bluegrass, Jazz, R&B, and Rock. Jazz comes from Calypso, Funk, Soul, and Swing. It’s important to know that Blues was around before Jazz; thus, Blues can be considered an element of Jazz music. Jazz is from New Orleans, while Blues is from Mississippi.
What is the meaning of Blue Note?
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical context.
What is rounded binary?
: a two-part musical form in which the first part modulates to the dominant or relative major and the second part returns to the tonic and recapitulates all or most of the opening section entirely in the tonic When the opening section of the three-phrase form has a strong cadence on V, it is generally classified as …
How many lines are there in a blues song?
Just like the melody, harmony, and rhythm; lyrics are also to be placed in blues music in a different manner. The verse of a conventional blues song comprises three lines. The first two lines are more or less the same, followed by the third. Most of the time, the first two lines are the same, and have question-like lyrics.
Why are there so many types of blues music?
Using various instruments is the chief reason why there are many branches in blues music found today. This type of music has been through many modification phrases with regards to lyrics, instruments, and harmony; which is evident in most types of music today. The most popular sub-genre is blues-rock, which is a blend of blues and rock elements.
What do you call a traditional blues verse?
Traditional blues verses in folk-music tradition have also been called floating lyrics or maverick stanzas.
What kind of instruments are used in the Blues?
Lyrics took up urban themes, and the blues ensemble developed as the solo bluesman was joined by a pianist or harmonica player and then by a rhythm section consisting of bass and drums. The electric guitar and the amplified harmonica created a driving sound of great rhythmic and emotional intensity.