Writing the Blues ACTIVITY

Questions about the following activity:

1. What grades can this activity be use for? – Can it be adapted to 4&5, 6&7, 8&9?
2. What are the GA Standard Performance catalog numbers for each grade?
3. Read the list below regarding responses to “When we say someone has ‘the Blues’, what do we mean? – What are the more PC or less controversial responses we can use? – Do you have other suggestions?

Write Your Own Blues: Blues Structure

Blues generally have relatively simple harmonic and lyric structures. A twelve bar blues contains three lines of four measures (with four beats per measure). Because the first line of each verse is repeated, we only need to create two rhyming lines for each verse. For example:

I believe I’ll travel—I believe I’ll get away.

I believe I’ll travel—I believe I’ll get away.

I’m goin’ down to Carolina, the Bull City’s where I’m gonna stay.

From “The Bull City Blues”, (©1996, Scott Ainslie) Used by permission.

In music, as in poetry, we identify the form of a verse by assigning a new letter of the alphabet to each different line in the form. The first line of this verse is thereby assigned (A), the repeat of the line (A) and the rhyming third line (B):

(A) I believe I’ll travel—I believe I’ll get away.

(A) I believe I’ll travel—I believe I’ll get away.

(B) I’m goin’ down to Carolina, the Bull City’s where I’m gonna stay.

This is known as an [A-A-B] Form, where the first line is sung twice and rhymes with the following line. Part of the beauty of this form is that it is simple enough to allow for improvising lyrics in the midst of a song—and gives you time during the repeat to think of the rhyming line!

Your Blues can be written en masse, in small groups, or by individual students. Going after the first one en masse tends to get the ball rolling and acclimates everyone to the messiness of the brainstorming/creative process.

Before beginning a class Blues, it helps to solicit what it means to have ‘the Blues’. Ask your students: “When we say someone has ‘the Blues’, what do we mean? What feelings are we describing when we say someone feels ‘Blue’?”

Make a list of appropriate responses on the board. My list includes:

Lonely

Mad

Sad

Exhausted

Depressed

Jealous

Envious

Grumpy

Bored

Confined

Upset

Sick Feeling Like You’ve Been Treated Unfairly

Your classes list may be longer, or shorter, but should include some of these.

Once your have your list, you’ll need to agree on a topic for the song: it’s your Blues, and should be about things that give you the Blues. Ask your students:

“The last time you felt one of these ways—angry, sad, depressed, lonely, bored, or like you were treated unfairly—what was the cause? What gives you the Blues?”

[NOTE: I have had everything from the cafeteria food to teen (and preteen) suicide come up on these lists. Handled in an open, straight-forward manner, this can be a very cathartic exercise for a class to pursue together and may bring out things about your students' home situations that will help you better tailor your efforts to their needs. The loss of someone---whether through divorce, the death of siblings, parents, grandparents or pets---often comes up; as does the loss of a job that supports the family; having to move away from friends; and in some contexts pressure to act against your will (in the context of drugs, money or sexual situations).

One fifth grade class in Columbus, Georgia once wrote an absolutely killer tune about when parents fight. We sang it at an assembly for the PTA, and you can believe we had a lot of nervous parents out there when we introduced that Blues!

"I came home last night---and they were at it again...."]

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