Discovering music: the blues

This free course, Discovering music: the blues, will introduce you to a musical tradition with roots in the nineteenth century but which is still relevant to making music today. You will learn about how the lyrics of blues songs reflect the social environment in which they were created, and about the musical techniques that underpin the structures of blues songs. You do not need to play an instrument, to sing or have any prior musical knowledge to be able to complete this course.

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 ‘Feeling blue’
• 1 ‘Feeling blue’
• 2 What makes a tradition?
• 2 What makes a tradition?
• 3 Covers and continuing traditions
• 3 Covers and continuing traditions
• 4 Defining the blues
• 4 Defining the blues
• 5 A short history of the blues
• 5 A short history of the blues
• 6 Blues in urban Chicago
• 6 Blues in urban Chicago
• 7 Blues styles and the blues tradition
• 7 Blues styles and the blues tradition
• 8 Blues and the early history of the recording industry
• 8 Blues and the early history of the recording industry
• 9 The limitations of technology
• 9 The limitations of technology
• 10 The impact of recordings
• 10 The impact of recordings
• 11 Blues lyrics and the expressive voice
• 11 Blues lyrics and the expressive voice
• 12 Musical techniques
• 12 Musical techniques
• 12.1 The blues scale
• 12.2 Chords and primary chords
• 12.3 12-bar blues
• 12.4 Primary chords: building blocks of tradition
• 13 Check your learning
• 13 Check your learning
• Conclusion
• Glossary
• References
• Acknowledgements