High+School+Blues+Unit

This lesson is designed to be taught in a music theory class and stretched out over multiple days. The plan is fairly flexible and can easily be adapted for use in a jazz band, guitar, or music appreciation class to name a few. The main goal to this lesson is to teach the form of blues. You can expand on it to also cover blues/jazz history, basic chord progressions, 7th chords, improvising with chord changes/scales, etc.

__Introducing the form__ -Listen to a basic blues song as the students come into the room. This lesson will use Sweet Home Chicago by Robert Johnson as an example, but you could use whatever song wanted. -Draw a 4x3 table on the board and label each box as a measure. This outlines our 12 bar blues. Bar means measure, and there are twelve measures per verse/phrase. Blues is usually in 4/4 time. -Have the students copy this down, and listen to Sweet Home Chicago again. This time have the students write down what happens in each measure (including lyrics). Focus on just using the first verse for now. It should look something like this. -Like a Poem, musical forms can be broken down by assigning letters to each line, but instead of rhyme scheme they show similarities in lyric. -Blues form goes by the pattern A, A, B. -The A sections pose a problem or question, and the B section resolves it, ending the verse. It may also set up the next verse, in which case it is called a turnaround. -Add a column to show form: -What makes the A sections different? Listen again to the verse. -The answer is Chords. The same lyric is sung over different chords. Provide the chords as such; It should be noted that depending on the song you are using or even version of the song, the lyrics could alternate with the instrumental lines (lyric, instrumental, lyric, instrumental instead of lyric x2, instrumental x2). Just be consistent with whatever recording you are using. -How can we remember this form? Each section ends with IV, I, I. The only thing that differs is the first note chord each time, and they are in ascending order. First A is I, second A is IV, the third section is V. -Have the students create a table with the chords of the form that they can use for referencing in the future. They can draw it out or design it on their favorite electronic editing/flowchart software. -You can also have one to pass out to them if you are short on time. -If this is a theory class with keyboards and you have been learning chord progressions, now would be a good time to play this progression in a choice key. The same goes for if this was a guitar class or jazz band.
 * measure 1 || measure 2 || measure 3 || measure 4 ||
 * 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 ||
 * 9 || 10 || 11 || 12 ||
 * Ohhh || Baby dont you wanna' go || instrumental || instrumental ||
 * Ohhh || Baby don't you wanna' go || instrumental || instrumental ||
 * Back to that same old place (this varies by recording) || Sweet Home Chicago || instrumental || instrumental ||
 * Back to that same old place (this varies by recording) || Sweet Home Chicago || instrumental || instrumental ||
 * Form ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * A || Ohhh || Baby dont you wanna' go || instrumental || instrumental ||
 * A || Ohhh || Baby don't you wanna' go || instrumental || instrumental ||
 * B || Back to that same old place || Sweet Home Chicago || instrumental || instrumental ||
 * Form ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * A || I (lyric) || IV (lyric) || I (instrumental) || I (instrumental) ||
 * A || IV (lyric) || IV (lyric) || I (instrumental) || I (instrumental) ||
 * B || V (lyric) || IV (lyric) || I (instrumental) || I (instrumental) ||

__Quatrain Refrain Form__ This section can be skipped in the interest of time or if the students are having a hard enough time with the regular blues form. -Now lets dive into other verses of Sweet Home Chicago. -There are a few verses that the A sections do not line up, for example; (this varies by recording) || Sweet Home Chicago || (instrumental) || (instrumental) || -In this case the first A section is replaced by four small fragments, one in each measure. -This is called Quatrain Refrain Form, and is labeled a,b,c,d (with lower case letters!) in place of the first A followed by the second A and B, like normal. (a,b,c,d,A,B) -Usually this form will be used in a middle verse of a blues song or alternated with the regular blues form. -Listen to a few more examples of songs using Quatrain refrain form. (A lot of Stevie Ray Vaughn's music uses this form)
 * Form ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * A (?) || One and one is two || two and two is four || I'm heavy loaded baby || I'm booked I gotta go ||
 * A || I'm Cryin || Baby don't you wanna' go || (instrumental) || (instrumental) ||
 * B || Back to that same old place

__Improv__ From here you can teach improvisation if that is a focus (like in jazz band or guitar class). Just introduce the blues scale (Root, flat third, fourth, sharp fourth, fifth, flat seventh) in whatever key you want to play in and have the ensemble play chord tones either on whole notes or on a choice rhythm/strumming pattern while one student solos. You can also teach improv with the chord changes. I like to have the students start playing solos on just the root and third of the chords, then gradually add the 5th, 7th, eventually eventually the whole mixolydian scale (major scale with flat 7th, also called the dominant scale). For example, in Bb Blues students would play Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, and Ab on the I chords; Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, Db, and Eb on the IV chords; and F, G, A, Bb, C, D, and Eb on the V chord (concert pitches).

__Song Writing__ -Listen again to more blues songs. What kind of subjects are chosen? Sad ones, loosing something dear, complaining about something, etc. What do they have in common? A lot of the times the song will have some sort of double meaning in the B section -Have each student come up with one blues topic they could write about and share those ideas -Write one song as a group. The tricky part of this is to keep all the students engaged. This is why it may be a bit easier to have them split into groups of four or five and give them some time on their own, then meet with each group mid way through to provide suggestions and feedback. If you have them split into groups, have each group perform their song for the other groups. If this is a guitar or piano based class, they can accompany themselves with their instruments. -Now have each student write their own song with three verses. If quatrain refrain form was covered, have the middle verse be in that style. -Break the students into groups again and have them share their blues with their group members. Each member will write down two things that they liked about the song, and one bit of constructive criticism.

__Recording the Songs (Requires a Macintosh Computer)__ -Back to Sweet Home Chicago, listen to different people playing it. Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, BB King, and the Blues Brothers (to name just a small amount that are readily available) all play this song differently with varied instrumentation. A lot can change in just one song! -Open up GarageBand, and select "Magic GarageBand" from the launcher, then choose Jazz. -Students will be able to "audition" each part of the ensemble. That is, they change the instrumentation for each aspect such as drums, rhythm section, bass line, etc. Leave the solo line empty. -Once the desired instrumentation is reached, hit finish and the backing tracks will be automatically applied. Students can then adjust tempo and key as desired at the bottom of the screen. All that is left is for the student to hit record and sing their part the wrote.

__Effectiveness reminders__ -A lot about learning blues comes from listening to blues. I find that in this lesson the amount of time spent listening to blues correlates to the student understanding. Play music as they walk in, walk out, have work time, etc. -This lesson could be adapted to almost any age level by simply removing the more advanced theory (like chords and scales). In an elementary setting, just teach the AAB form. Bonus points for lining this plan up with a poetry unit and getting the their english teacher involved.