Year 8 - Music
Building an improvisation
The 12-bar blues
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils learn about the 12-bar blues, the stylistic and musical features of blues music and the role of the instruments in a blues ensemble. They develop an extended improvisation and build a stylistic blues performance.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to create an extended improvisation over the 12-bar blues chords.
Key Notes
- Blues is heavily improvised. Although improvisation is composing on the spot, it is not random.
- Musicians use the blues scale, typical blues rhythms and the 12-bar blues chord sequence to structure an improvisation.
- A successful improvisation often develops from an initial motif.
- We have performed an improvisation over the 12-bar blues chords on the keyboard.
Vocabulary To Learn
- improvisation: a section of music where the melodic ideas are made up on the spot
- structure: the different sections within a piece of music or how these sections are organised into phrases
- motif: a short musical idea that recurs throughout a piece of music
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Improvisation means the notes are chosen at random.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Blues is heavily improvised. Although improvisation is composing on the spot, it is not random. Musicians use the blues scale, typical blues rhythms and the 12-bar blues chord sequence to structure an improvisation.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'improvisation'
a section of music where the melodic ideas are made up on the spot.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Improvisation means the notes are chosen at random. Correction: Although improvising means making music up on the spot, it is based on a set of notes or scale and can use repetition. Improvisation often uses fixed stylistic characteristics such as particular rhythms, phrase structures and chord sequences.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 8 Music guide library.