23/1/2012
We have just started a new unit about blues music. We are going to do some band playing and some history, which we have already done. Here are some of the songs we have listened to:
- Before You Accus Me (Eric Clapton)
- Trouble So Hard (early 1900)
- Crossroad Bluse (Rober Johnson, 1930’s)
- Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues (Skip James, 1930’s)
- Manish Boy (Muddy Waters, 1950’s)
- Da Thrill Is Gone From Here (Chris Thomas King, early 2000)
Concepts:
o Improvisation
o Shuffle beat
o 12-bar blues progression
Some facts about blues: It started in the late 19th century in southern United States and it was most common in the 20th century. It is usually played on guitar, double bass, piano, trumpet, bass guitar, drums, saxophone, harmonica, vocals, trombone
I also had to find out somethings about Robert Johnson:
He was born in May 8, 1911 until August 16, 1938. He was an American blues singer and musician. He wrote songs, played on the guitar and also sang. There is also a legend about him which goes like this:
As a young man living on a plantation in rural Mississippi, Robert Johnson was branded with a burning desire to become a great blues musician. He was "instructed" to take his guitar to a crossroad near Dockery Plantation at midnight. There he met with a large black man (the Devil) who took the guitar and tuned it. The "Devil" played a few songs on it, then returned the guitar to Johnson, giving him mastery of the instrument. This was in effect, a deal with the Devil mirroring the legend of Faust. In exchange for his soul, Robert Johnson was able to create the blues for which he became famous.
Bibliography:
4/2/2012
I have discovered the song, er songs that we are going to play in our bands. One of them is " Started out with nothing" by Seasick Steve and the other one is "Before you accuse me" by Eric Clapton.
We were asked to choose two instruments that we want to play on. I chose piano and drums.
We were also asked to learn the 12 - bar blues progression, which looks like this and it is almost the base of every blues song;
D7/D7/D7/D7/
G7/G7/D7/D7/
A7/A7/D7/D7/
There is also another version which we are going to play;
D7/G7/D7/D7/
G7/G7/D7/D7/.
A7/G7/D7/A7/
We also tried to play it on either guitar or piano. I chose piano. It was easier to play it than I thought it would be.
11/3/2012
Since the last time I have written something we have done drumming which I can not really do because when the others did it for the first time I was not there so I just had to learn it during the lesson. We also did some improvisation. We learned the blues scale which is D,F,G,G#,A,C, and used it to compose a short solo. On each lesson we played n the piano /guitar. By doing that we learned the 12-bar blues progression by heart, so now we do not have to think about what note comes next just about the way we need to put our fingers. We also learned how to play the cords on the bass. I think that bass is the easiest instrument to play on so now I would actually want to choose that instead of the drum.
On this lesson we did some band playing (not in the actual bands, because we still do not know them). I was in a band with Tsion, Isabella and Emil. The girls play on the piano and Emil plays on guitar. When we got to our station the first thing we had to do is to check if every cable is in the boxes, then we had to sort out which cable is used for which instrument.It went quite well.Then we had to inform the teacher and only when he said that everything was in place we could start playing. During the playing time we rotated on the instruments every 5-10 minutes. I played on the bass and piano. We realised that Isabella was playing the 12-bar blues progression upward and I was playing it down so since she did not seem like she would want to change the way she plays I had to learn to play up. It actually went well but it was harder than it was playing down.
17/3/2012
On this lesson we continued playing in pre-bands. I played on all of the instruments. I only struggled with the drums but the teacher said that he could not hear that it was not so good. Sometimes I stopped playing because I messed up but then I could easily go back to playing, which was quite good to know because if in the real bands I am going to be the drummer then now I know I would be able to continue playing if I mess up, which would probably happen.
On the bass; first I started playing the shuffle beat but then I realised that I should have just played normally; once per beat.
9/4/2012
On the last lessons we have played in the pre-bands. I developed good drumming skills through these band-playing lessons. Now I can play the drums without doing any mistakes, but I can not always remember the suffle beat, so I can never really play the drums first because I do not know the beat.
On last lesson we have played in the pre-bands that were a bit changed. We tried our solos on our chord instrument while the other group members were playing the normal 12-bar blues progression. It went quite well except that it was hard to play on the same beat that the others were playing because I practiced them on another one and did not try to do some other beat. Another thing that I had as a feedback is that should not play my different solos right after each other. I think other ways it went well but it was hard for the first time.
11/4/2012
Last lesson we played in pre-bands. We rotated on the instruments while playing solos. There were two chord instrument players so the only way to play the solos was to play the 12-bar blues progression twice without stopping between. It was hard to switch from playing the solo to playing the normal beat. After some time we realised that the person who plays his/her solo first needs a little help with getting back on track. So since the bass player was the only instrument that played the 12-bar blues progression for the whole time he/she would look at the drummer who would do a short extra to make the person realize that it was the last bar. It worked out quite well, but we did not have so much time to do it this way because the lesson ended.
My personal thought was that it was hard to swap from solo to normal beat.
17/4/2012
Today we discovered what instruments we are going to play on. My instrument is drums. We were also told that if we want to get a higher achievement level than we need to do an advanced way of playing. It is very easy with the drums because I just needed to add one more hit with my foot. I also had to add a fill-in for the last A7 which was pretty hard to do because it is not easy to get it on the perfect beat.
My strategy to develop further is to practice slowly hitting the drums one by one and slowly go faster until it is the right speed.
1/5/2012
We have started playing in our bands. We played the 1st and 2nd verse. We just focused on getting the beat and the song correctly because this was our first time playing. It was very hard for me to do the fill-in on the correct beat. After a while I realized that if I watch what my foot was doing I could to the fill-in at the correct time. Sometimes I forgot to hit the drum twice whit my foot, because it was hard for me to play drums for a log time. Also sometimes I went faster than I should have so I also had to be careful with keeping the beat.
13/5/2012
Today we worked on solo+4th verse+solo ans the 1st+2nd+3rd verse. We focused on going from the solos back to the verses. The others struggled with the advanced versions of the song so we spent quite a lot of time practicing individually. I worked on doing the fill-in at the correct time at the solo changes. I tried to pay attention to what was the bass player was playing so that I could do the fill-in at the correct time and it worked.
20/5/2012
Today was our last chance to get everything together because next lesson was the PERFORMANCE!!! On this lesson we were missing our keyboard player which gave us some struggle because almost all of us were concentrating on what the piano was playing and when we had no keyboards the only person I could listen to was the bass player because the guitar player was playing the advanced version of the song which I did not know so I could not recognize each part, but it was also a little difficult with the bass since the bass player was also playing the advanced version but it was easier to recognize the parts .
We practiced the solo-changes and some of the verses, but we did not manage to go through the whole song. I am just hoping that we can pull it together for the performance. I concentrated on the fill-in, and doing it on time. I know the basic drum beat well but I sometimes struggle with the fill-in. I also practiced my solo. I came up with some new phrases which is good because over the lessons I forgot one and I needed some more.
I hope we will do well next lesson with the PERFORMANCE!!!
4/6/2012
2 lessons ago we performed our solos and the song. We did not have our singers so it was a little difficult to get used to the other singer who came to help us.
The above video is me playing the 12-bar blues progression and my solo. For the 12-bar blues I completely forgot to do it with the suffle beat, but othervise I think I manage to do it good. My timing was good and I did not mistake any of the bars. For the solo playing I actually made up some of things that I was playing but I think that my timing and use of phrases were good, my only concern about it was that it did not sound blues like. To improve my individual performance I should have done the 12-bars with the shuffle beat. For the solo I think I should have had more seperate solos an not one long one.
For the band playing I did not manage to put up the video. We performed twice because we felt that the first one was very bad and that we could do better with our actual singers. I think my timing was perfect I only did one of the fill-ins one second late but othervwise I think it was good. Even when the pianist was not playing the 12-bars but the solo I manage to do the fill-in at the correct time. I did not get lost anywhere in the song once or twice I might have been one second late but I found my way back. The things I could do to improve would be keeping the beat and not being one seconds late, which could effect the whole group and what beat they play in.
I have developed a lot during thins unit. Before I could not even notice that there was a blues sng playing in the radio for example, but now I can play a whole range of blues songs. I have learned how to play the suffle beat and the 12-bar blues progression. I have also learned to play solos by learning the blues scale. I think I have learned more through out this unit than I have ever learned during any music units. I also learned how to play the 12-bars on different instuments like keybrd, bass and drumms. I have also improved my improvisational skills and the use of phrases. During group rehearsals I have learned to communicate in a band and lead the band since that is what the job of a drummer is. I managed to improve my time management and learned th amounts of times that one needs to practice on different parts of songs or on differnet instruments. I think that my developmental workbook is fine and I have shown all of my development through out the unit/year. To improve on it I could have writen more ofthen in it but I think I always managed to catch up.
I think this unit was a very usefull one and I have learned a lot!!! :)
THE END
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