‘St. Louis Blues’

“First blues popular song” by W.C. Handy

“Father of the Blues”

Blues Music History

‘Story of the Blues’

Sharon Watkins

‘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.

Andy Warhol

Visual Art: Make an ‘album cover’

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

‘Story of the Blues’

Sharon Watkins