‘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