Music Multimedia with Acid Music Studio: Level 1 Basics of 12-Bar Blues

Multimedia with Acid Music Studio Sound Engineering: The 12-Bar Blues – Level 1

What You’ll Learn… • Basics elements of music – beats, bars and scales • The musical elements of a traditional blues progression • The history of blues music in America • How to use Acid Music Studio 8 to import music clips • How to mix music • How to modify keys and volume Stuff You’ll Need… • Sony Acid Music Studio software • MIDI keyboard (optional)

ePortfolio Suggestions… • Before you start the activities in this Learning Launcher, write down anything you may already know about blues music and the history of the blues. • List the three most interesting things you learned in the What You Should Know… section. • Keep a glossary of words you learned from this Learning Launcher. Pay particular attention to the bold, italicized words. • Collect “screen grabs” as you go to document your work flow. • Take a video of you or your partner playing the blues. • If you record your own 12-bar blues piece, write down the notes and key progression you used. • Include your final recording in your presentation.

What You Should Know… Sony’s Acid Music Studio 8.0 allows you to make songs by combining clips, importing your own music, and recording your own voice. We’ll explore how to use this software soon, but first we need to understand a bit about music.

What You Should Know… Beats & Bars – The Rhythm of Music Have you ever heard a musician count, “1,2,3,4…” then start playing a song? When people play music together they need to coordinate their efforts and play at the same speed. In order to help this along, music is played in a specific rhythm decided on by the musicians. Most western music has four beatsper barof music. The musician counting “1,2,3,4…” is counting out the first bar of music. Try it! To get a feel for four beats per bar Open a new project in Acid. Click on the metronome. Press play below. The metronome will start clicking four beats per bar!

What You Should Know… The Basic Musical Scale Try playing a major scale on your MIDI keyboard. Start with a C then play up a scale, hitting only white keys until you get to the next C. Music, and all sound, is transmitted through the air in sound waves. As you play different notes, the length of the waves changes. When waves line up (like when one wave is exactly half the length of an other) the two notes sound good together. When they are off, the notes don’t sound that great together. Obviously, some notes are higher and lower than others, but there are really only seven main notes we use. They each have a letter associated with them, A-F. A major scalestarts and ends on the same letter. For example, a C-major scale would start with an C then go D,E,F,G,A,B and end with C again. The “C” notes are the white keys just before the two black keys together.

What You Should Know… Playing in Keys C E D C C E D C C E D C C E D C F A G F F A G F C E D C C E D C G B A G F A G F C E D C C C C C When you play a few notes together, it usually sounds “right” if you end on a certain note. Try playing C,D,E,C. on your MIDI keyboard. It just sounds right to end on the C at the end of your little bit of music. If you play C,D,F,E it doesn’t sound like your song is over– it feels like you are left hanging! To keep things simple, when you are playing in a key (in this example “C”) it sounds natural to end on that note. When music is played in a key, it uses a major scale that begins with that note. The series C,D,E,C is in the key of C so it sounds like it should end on a C note and the other notes are part of the C-major scale. When you play music you can change from one key to the next. Try playing the notes listed to the right and see if you can get a feel for when you are changing keys. If you want to hear what these notes sound like, click the speaker icon below. Key of C Key of F Key of C Key of G Key of F Key of C Listen to these notes by clicking on the speaker!

What You Should Know… The Twelve-Bar Blues C E D C C E D C C E D C C E D C F A G F F A G F C E D C C E D C G B A G F A G F C E D C C C C C Now lets look at how these notes are arranged in a traditional blues song. The series of notes to the right is an example of a typical arrangement for blues music called the twelve-bar blues. When playing the twelve-bar, you change keys a few times. Whatever key you start with, you play four bars of that then go up to a key four notes up. This is called the 4th of your original key. In our example, we started in the key of C so going up four notes takes us to the key of F. We play two bars there then return to the 1st for two more. The climax of our twelve-bar progression is when we reach to the key five above our original key, or the 5th. We play one bar up here before hitting one more of the 4th and two of the original key to end. 1st 2nd 3rd4th5th 6th 7th C D E FG A B It sounds a bit complicated but it will sound natural. If you haven’t tried it already, play the notes to the right. You should get a little bit of a blues feel. Key of C Key of F Key of C Key of G Key of F Key of C

What You Should Know… The Twelve Bar Blues- An Example This video is a clip in Acid being played by Little Walter, a famous blues musician. See if you can pick up the key changes and hear the 12-bar progression.

What You Should Know… The Twelve-Bar Blues– Blues in any Key The great thing about the twelve-bar blues is you can play it starting in any key! The example a few slides ago started with a C then went to F & G. Whatever key you start in, all you need to do is count up four keys and five keys for the other bars. It’s that easy!

What You Should Know… A Brief History of The Blues – The Delta Blues The blues is a style of music that was developed by African Americans in the late 1800s and has influenced other styles like jazz, rock and roll, and hip-hop. During slavery, work songs were common among slaves working in the cotton fields in the south as were powerful gospel sung in church. These songs slowly evolved into the first blues songs and a style of music now referred to as the Delta Blues. The Delta Blues earns its name because it was developed near the delta of the Mississippi in the Southern United States. Some of the first well-known blues artists came along in the early 1900s. Son House (1902-1988) and Charley Patton (1891-1934) were some of the best known artists. Charley Patton is often considered the Father of the Delta Blues. Listen to a sample of Charley Patton by clicking on this speaker! Charley Patton

What You Should Know… A Brief History of The Blues– Depression Era While the blues continued to grow through the early 1900s, it was a musical style that seemed to capture how people were feeling during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. One of the most famous blues singers was the legendary Robert Johnson (1911-1938). Robert Johnson became so good at such a young age that a legend grew that he met the devil at a famous crossroad in the rural Mississippi and sold his soul for his amazing guitar skills. This modern mythology has been commemorated in many songs and movies. The Mississippi Sheiks were another famous group from the depression era. Their music appealed a bit more to white America than some earlier blues in part because of their string band and style catering to square dance audiences. Later, you can hear this Robert Johnson song redone by Chicago blues artist Elmore James. Many blues artists “cover” songs done by earlier artists. This Mississippi Sheik song is a blues classic and has been redone many times over the years. Robert Johnson Mississippi Sheiks

What You Should Know… A Brief History of The Blues – Chicago Blues In the early 1900s, many former slaves and their descendents migrated north to cities like Detroit, New York, and, most of all, Chicago. In Chicago, the blues scene developed an urban feel with bigger bands, piano, electric guitar and other changes. This “amped-up” blues is what eventually led to rock and roll and most of today’s modern blues. There are many famous Chicago Blues artists among them, Elmore James (1918-1963), Little Walter (1930-1968), Roosevelt Sykes (1906-1983), Muddy Waters, (1915-1983) Bo Diddley (1928-2008), Buddy Guy, (1936-present) and many more. Click on the speakers to hear clips that are typical of the Chicago Blues scene. Elmore James Henry Townsend

What You Should Know… A Brief History of The Blues – Modern Blues After World War II, blues lost some of its popularity and many early artists disappeared from the musical world. Many popular blues songs were “stolen” by white artists who gave little or no credit to the men who developed the songs and musical style. In the 1960s there was a blues revival brought on, in part, by British acts like the Rolling Stones who had heard the music of Son House, Muddy Waters, Blind Willie Johnson and others. These British artists were surprised that these amazing artists were alive, but not revered in the states and no longer playing their music. There are several stories of blues fans hunting down blues legends in housing projects and on the streets and bringing them back to the fame they so richly deserved. Rock legends like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers and the Rolling Stones contributed much to honoring this style of music. Today, there are many modern blues artists keeping the style alive. Jimi Hendrix Amazon.com Samples Taj Majal Amazon.com samples

What You Should Know… The Legacy of the Blues The blues is a musical style that has evolved from the country blues sound of the Delta Blues to wide variety of modern styles that influence rock, jazz, country, bluegrass, and even hip-hop. Here are some famous blues artists who have developed this legacy over the years. You can go online to learn more about them and hear their music.

Do It! Making Your Own Twelve-Bar Blues with Acid You can use Acid Music Studio to make your own twelve bar blues, and it’s really pretty easy! This quick tutorial will help you develop your own song. Watch this tutorial video to learn how to make your own twelve-bar blues song! Tutorial Video: Making a 12-bar. wmv If you can’t launch the video from this slide, you can find it in the MediaLibrary on your SmartLab file server.

Do It! Making Your Own Twelve-Bar Blues with Acid Music Studio You don’t need to stop with just 12 bars. You can go to 24, 36, 48… any multiple of 12 you want! Just remember to return to the same keys. Now it’s your turn! Browse through the loops and songs available in your Media Library and find a few that might sound good in a 12-bar blues. Drag and drop the loops you want into the Acid timeline including a good beat. Use the + and – keys to change the keys for sections of your 12-bar song. Add fades to bring the music in and out. Rend your final product as a .wav file to include in a PowerPoint or other portfolio.

Extend Yourself… Develop a 12-bar blues song that incorporates music you make using your MIDI keyboard. Start with a bar or two you play on the keyboard, import it into Acid, then add rhythm and key changes. Write lyrics for your blues song. Traditional lyrics spoke of hardship, trouble and strife. Develop a rock and roll song with key changes. Most people say that rock and roll came from the blues– research a little about key changes in rock songs then develop your own rock song! Go online to learn more about the history of the blues and how it influenced modern music. Who were some of the women artists that shaped the early blues? Go online to learn about artists like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Victoria Spivey. Create a timeline of blues history or of your favorite musical artists.

Make a collage of rock, hip-hop, or country masters! Each genre of music has a series of artists that made large contributions. Use Photoshop to make a collage of artists like the one on slide eleven of this Learning Launcher. Remix a song that you bring in from home! Import a song from one of your CDs and then add new beats, loops, and even lyrics to it! Research the life of a famous blues musician and develop a presentation that includes clips of his/her music as well as a song you generate in Acid that mimics the artist’s style. Much of history has music that fits the times. The Delta Blues fit well with the mood and condition of post-slavery African Americans. The electronic sound of the 1980s also fit with the dawn of the computer age. Research a musical style and explain how it fit well for its time. Include music clips and photos of the era. Research more about sound and harmonics. What makes some notes sound good together while others don’t? Put together songs in Acid where the keys don’t mix well and others where they do as part of your research. Extend Yourself…

Music Multimedia with Acid Music Studio: Level 1 Basics of 12-Bar Blues