By Iqra Uddin 8Y1

1. 12 bar blues By Iqra Uddin 8Y1

2. The blues • The 12 bar blues is the most common form of blues. Improvisation means make it up as you go along. The word improvisation was very important to the slaves. It began in Africa when Africans kidnapped other Africans from villages and sold them into slavery, they started to sing so they can express their feelings. The call and response singing came from African slaves. In blues the call is made by the singer who sings the first half of each line and the response is made by the guitarist or other instrumentalist.

3. The slave trade • Other Africans would kidnap their own kind because Europeans would usually trade sugar, tobacco and cotton for the slaves and the Africans were really in need of it, so they had no choice but to kidnap other Africans. On the ships it would be loaded with slaves and the slaves were shackled next to each other, the slaves would catch diseases and many of them would die and some slaves had to sleep next to dead bodies. The slaves were transported on a ship in the Atlantic ocean.

4. History of blues • Blues played a very important part of the Africans slaves lives. They used to sing while working on the plantations, singing was one thing that the slave masters could not take away from the slaves. The songs were usually about their life and what they were doing, they sung to express their feelings. Out of 35-40 million Africans were kidnapped, tricked and trapped into slavery. Slave masters did not want African slaves to play traditional music because they did not want them to war against them. Every time the slaves would sing they would remember where they used to live before they were captured.

5. 12 bar blues • The 12 bar blues is the most popular chords progressions in popular music. Chords are two or more notes played together at the same time. It is called the 12 bar blues because there are 12 bars in it. 12 bar blues is one of the most popular chords in the blue style music. Many instruments are used in blues music. They include the saxophone, piano and the guitar. The piano is usually the melody, the guitar can also play the melody. The trombone and trumpet are also used often as well. Acoustic Guitars and drums were usedas well.