Overview
As mentioned in Lesson 1, the 12-bar blues was one of the most popular African American musical forms in the early to mid-twentieth century. In this lesson, we look at the blues as a genre, focusing on two specific types: the rural blues and the urban blues. These two types of blues share many characteristics, but at the same time, they are clearly distinguishable from each other. Early blues recordings also make an excellent case study of race records and the treatment of African American musicians in the recording studio and by the recording industry. In addition, we will see some other blues-inspired music, such as boogie woogie and blues-based or blues-inspired popular songs.
Objectives
- Examine two specific types of blues to understand the musical form, instrumentation, harmony, and lyric content of each
- Examine the listenership of each type of blues music and how these musics were recorded, marketed, and consumed by both white and African American audiences
- Examine the specific aspects that are key to African American music, such as call and response and blue notes
- Identify the 12-bar blues form
- Identify the performers associated with rural blues
- Identify the performers associated with urban blues
Boogie Woogie
Another kind of blues-influenced music grew up among piano players in the lumber and turpentine camps of Texas and Louisiana. It soon spread to the inner-city clubs of the midwest and became particularly popular in Chicago. In boogie-woogiea style of blues played on the piano that is characterized by eighth-note ostinatos in the left hand and highly ornamented melodies in the right, eighth-note ostinato patterns generate a driving rhythm in the left hand while the right hand embroiders that pattern with a variety of highly ornamented melodies. Recordings such as Pinetop Smith’s "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie ♫" show off these repeated bass figures and rhythmically contrasting right-hand melodies. Boogie-woogie was music meant for dancing, and it was a staple of Chicago "rent parties." A tenant might host a rent party if he was unable to make his rent payment one month. During these parties, a hired pianist would play boogie woogie music all night while people danced, drank, ate, and socialized. Everyone who attended would chip in some money, and usually the host earned enough by the end of the night to not only pay for the expenses of the party (including the pianist’s fee) but also to cover their rent that month.
