BEXLEY GRAMMAR SCHOOL PERFORMING ARTS
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Year 8 Improvisation 

IMPROVISATION

African slaves brought their musical traditions with them when they were transported to work in the North American colonies. Early types of African American music included spirituals (religious songs using vocal harmony) and work songs.
Work songs were sung rhythmically in time with the task being done. They used call and response in which phrases from a lead singer were followed by the others. African music combined with the folk music of the white European settlers to produce new styles of music.
The blues emerged towards the end of the 19th century. This early style of blues was known as country blues and was usually a solo singer accompanied on guitar or piano sometimes with added harmonica or drums. Well-known country blues musicians include Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Robert Johnson.
Almost every blues songs:
  • has 4 beats in a bar
  • is built on the 12-bar blues form
  • uses 3 four-bar phrases
The most common chord structure uses just 3 chords. A blues in the key of C (as we are doing) uses the chords
C E G -  F A C - G B D. 
​
You will hold each chord for 4 beats - either you can simply hold the chord for 4, or you can make up a ​syncopated ​('jazzy') pattern to play the chords.
​Try using a drum beat on the keyboard to help keep you in time.
​In notation, it looks like this:
Picture
A simpler way to look at it is here:
Picture
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  • Home
  • DRAMA
    • Drama skills and techniques >
      • Freeze frame/ Still image
      • Mime
      • Thought in The Head
      • Narration
    • Practitoners and theorists >
      • Alecky Blyth
      • Artaud
      • Berkoff
      • Brecht
      • Dario Fo
      • Godber
      • Stanislavski
    • Theatre Companies >
      • Complicite
      • DV8
      • Ex Machina
      • Fevered Sleep
      • Forced Entertainment
      • Forkbeard Fantasy
      • Frantic Assembly
      • Gecko
      • Kneehigh
      • The Paper Birds
      • Pig Pen Theatre
      • Punchdrunk
      • Trestle
      • Tangled feet
      • The Wooster Group
      • 1927
    • Theatre Styles and Traditions >
      • Commedia dell'arte
      • Creative Adaptation
      • Docudrama
      • Multimedia
      • Physical Theatre
      • Puppetry
      • Total Theatre
    • Design Element >
      • Lighting
    • Year 7 Drama >
      • Introduction to Drama
      • year 7 self assessment
      • Haunted Lift
      • Exam revision
    • Year 8 Drama >
      • year 8 exam revision
      • Romeo and Juliet
      • Anne Frank
      • previous year 8 >
        • 8MLO
        • 8EA
        • 8NSS
        • 8DJB
        • 8AWS
        • 8SFG
        • 8JR
        • 8JS
        • 8MPL
        • 8MML
        • 8RPP
        • 8WEA
    • Year 9 Drama >
      • Devising
      • Billy Liar
      • Theatre in Education
      • Blue Remembered Hills
      • KAG Year 9 self assessment
    • GCSE Drama >
      • Blood Brothers >
        • Blood Brothers full performance
      • GCSE (year 10) blog
      • Devising
      • Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time
      • GCSE Revision
    • IB Theatre and Lit and Performance >
      • IB blog
      • IB Theatre Blog 2015-16
    • Literature and Performance 2015
    • Archived pages >
      • A-Level Drama >
        • A Doll's House
        • Response To Live Theatre >
          • The Play That Goes Wrong
          • Dead Dog in a Suitcase
        • A Servant of Two Masters
        • Our Country's Good >
          • OCG lesson materials
          • act 1 videos
        • Supporting notes AS guidance
        • Supporting notes A2
      • Trip letters
      • 39 Steps
      • Camera Lucida
      • John
      • Old GCSE work >
        • Choral narration
        • Year 10- telling the story physically >
          • Bazier- Telling story to Music
  • MUSIC
    • Metropolis Blue Competition 2019
    • IB Music
    • INSTRUMENTAL LESSONS >
      • Terms & Conditions
    • Extra-curricular music 2019-20
    • ABRSM Exams
    • Y7 Concert 2019
    • KS3 Showcase 2019
    • Junior Orchestra 2018-2019
    • Young Voices 2016
    • Year 7 Music >
      • Y7 Baroque
      • Y7 Film Music
      • Y7 Exam revision
    • Year 8 Music >
      • Y8 Exam revision
      • Y8 Film Music
      • Y8 Improvisation >
        • Y8 Improvisation HW 1
        • Y8 Improvisation - HW listening task
        • Y8 Improvisation - HW 3
    • Year 9 Music >
      • Y9 Exam revision
    • GCSE MUSIC >
      • GCSE MUSIC SET WORKS
      • Year 10 Trance Composition Feedback Form
  • PRODUCTIONS
    • The Ash Girl
    • Sister Act 2019 >
      • Sister Act CAST FORM
      • SAcharacters
      • SASongs
    • Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
    • SchoolOfRock >
      • SOR-CAST-FORM
      • SORcharacters
      • SORsong
    • Romeo and Juliet
    • Olivertwist
    • SPAMALOT!
    • Sound of Music 2016
    • Concert videos
    • QuizNight
    • TheWonderfulWizardofOz >
      • wiztops
    • Cinelive- Gregory's Girl at the Barbican
    • Peter Pan 2015
    • Beauty&Beast
    • As You Like It 2015
    • Alice in Wonderland 2015
    • FAME 2014
    • Summer Fayre 2014 Performing Arts Tent
    • Lion, Witch & the Wardrobe 2013
    • Shakespeare Schools Festival 2013
    • 'The Innocents' at The Barbican 2013
    • Hairspray 2013
  • Film Studies
    • Mr. Otley's film blog
    • Best film studies youtube
    • Film Podcasts