Image Credits
The Blues as a Musical Form
What defines the blues as a musical form? The blues from the very
beginning exhibited the elements that have come to define it musically:
twelve measure verses in 4/4 rhythm, the second line of the song
echoing the first, each line length normally measured by five
stressed syllables, a I-IV-V chord progressions, the use of the
verses as a thematic building block, and at least in the case
of Delta blues, the slide and bottleneck guitar playing technique.
This is evidenced by some of the earliest recordings still existing;
however, the question remains whether this was the culmination
of the centuries of black music taking the form of modern blues,
or whether the early records themselves imposed the blues standard
throughout the south. One blues historian estimates that in 1930,
one out of every three Southern families in the poorest parts
of the South owned a Victrola, the standard record playing machine
that did not require electricity. So what effect a small number
of recorded musicians had on the formation on the future of the
blues remains a mystery.
| Home
| History
| Culture
| Archives
| Guides |
Search |
National Center for Supercomputing Applications