The blues is an American art form and the most important musical form in jazz. Although there are other formal paradigms of the blues, such as 8-bar or 16-bar, this course focuses on different incarnations of the 12-bar blues. There are considerable differences between Early Jazz blues, Swing blues, Bebop blues, Modal blues, and Post Bop blues. Each type has its unique harmonic syntax, melodic vocabulary and, associated with them, improvisational techniques. While other aspects of jazz performance practice have been constantly changing from one stylistic convention to another, the blues has never lost its identity and expressive power, and continues to exert a powerful influence on the harmonic and melodic syntax of jazz.
oferecido por
The Blues: Understanding and Performing an American Art Form
Universidade de RochesterInformações sobre o curso
Habilidades que você terá
- Music
- Chord
- Jazz
- Jazz Improvisation
oferecido por

Universidade de Rochester
The University of Rochester is one of the nation's leading private universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University provides exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by its Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.
Programa - O que você aprenderá com este curso
Blues Progressions – Theory and Practice
Lesson 1 focuses on foundational aspects of the blues, examining its history, innovation, and evolving harmonic structure. At the end of this lecture, students should have a firm understanding of the harmonic structure of the basic, generic, and minor blues forms, as well as a familiarity with the A A’ B phrase-structure of the blues.
Blues Scales
Lesson 2 dives into what makes the blues tick, beginning with an examination of the blues scale and the basics of jazz rhythms and blues riffs. Students will then explore call and response techniques and application of the blues scale in improvisation through demonstration with a live musician.
Keyboard Realization
Lesson 3 introduces the concept of guide tones and its association with invertible counterpoint. Four-part and five-part chords are discussed in detail by exploring their construction and function, as well as techniques to facilitate good voice-leading between chords using chordal inversions.
“Bird” Blues and Other Blues Progressions
In lesson 4 students analyze harmonic progressions from 3 jazz standards: “Now’s The Time,” “Billie’s Bounce,” and “Blues For Alice.” Practice techniques are discussed, including ear-training strategies, rhythmic displacement, and voice-leading exercises.
Avaliações
- 5 stars86,95%
- 4 stars10,68%
- 3 stars1,44%
- 2 stars0,36%
- 1 star0,54%
Principais avaliações do THE BLUES: UNDERSTANDING AND PERFORMING AN AMERICAN ART FORM
This was one of the best courses I have taken in my 61 years of piano...I'm 67 now...it was certainly comprehensive and extremely educational and most enjoyable. Thank you so much.
Thanks so much to all involved - I found the material to be clearly presented and rich in content. It really helped me to understand how to grow in my jazz exploration.
Everything is clearly explained and demonstrated. It was great being able to downloads course videos and transcripts for reference.
Very good course for all musicians. Explains advanced blues and jazz theory in easy way. Very interesting material about the music history and harmony evaluation.
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