Why Blues Piano Music is a Very Special Form of Music
Blues piano music is rejuvenating, re-charging, and therapeutic. It can stir up thoughts in lots of ways and sometimes has a Ray Charles sense to it. It could possibly be a great additional accessory for any pianist’s repertoire. It is a ‘tough’, versatile kind of music that shows quite a few colors of feelings and leads to quite a few stylistic readings. Blues music is generally categorized as deep music, in that we can feel the musician sincere, severe, intense and passionate and is great music to play for anyone learning piano.
It has survived to modern day as it allows self manifestation and interpretation, and is easy to study for anyone taking piano lessons online. The nice thing about blues piano music is its simpleness and artistic energy. It is truly a genuine kind of American music being imaginative, soulful, and incredibly impressive. It’s also a terrific method of getting brought to the field of jazz improv. It’s all about a rare kind of experiencing, and if you don’t have that, ‘you’ve got nothing’. It is a wonderful place to commence with having fun with solos on the guitar. While blues is frequently expressed musically through guitar, harmonica and/or voice, it works terrific on the keyboard too, if you work with making a powerful left-hand.
Blues piano music has gone through a very wealthy and intriguing history which often can be followed to the nineteenth 100 years. It is a distinct aspect in our history that is uniquely American. It is a truly American artform which has substantially inspired jazz and rock. It is a very exceptional part in our historical base. Blues was at one point even considered the devil’s music, being the alternative of faith based song. Blues has it’s greatest origins within the work tunes of the African slaves and was often designed to reflect the tough day-to-day living of African Americans.
Blues Piano Sheet Music Examples
- St. Louis Blues
- The House of the Rising Sun
- Hit The Road Jack
- Crazy Blues (Classical Blues Rhythm and Scale)
- Boogie Woogie Santa Claus
The Building Blocks of Blues Piano Music
When reading through blues piano sheet music during your piano lessons, you’ll discover the funny harmonies which are often dirtied up to create that rogue quality, the use of a ‘blue’ scale which relies on several ‘blue’ notes for its effect, a clumsy walking bass line which rises and falls using the seventh of dominant seventh chords and a certain structure which virtually all blues music falls into.
Blues isn’t a music genre that cares much about nice, clean harmonies. The basic schematic follows a series of seventh chords – about four measures with each chord – so in C major it would be – C7 (C-E-G-Bflat), F7 (F-A-C-Eflat), G7 (G-B-D-F), C7. Usually its in this order: C7 F7 C7 G7 F7 C7. Because the blues scale (explained further below) possesses a rare flat minor to the major third tones of the scales which often dirties up the major-minor mode of the chord.
It is among the only forms of music to possess a scale called after it. The blues music scale in blues piano music is dependent on ‘blue’ tones and frequently contains a recurring routine which usually follows a 12 bar structure. The ‘blue’ notes are basically 3 flattened notes added to a standard major scale. So if the major scale is C major – C D E F G A B C, the ‘blue notes’ added are E-flat, G-flat and B-flat (the III, V, and VI degrees of the scale).
It is structured as strophic song built on 3 quick musical melodic phrases, in duple meter, or common time. It is improvisational, with every repeating offering a playful development of what came just before. It is usually in 3 lines of 4 measures each, the 2nd line exactly or even nearly repeating the first line.
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