Today we created some BLUES IMPROVISATIONS.
Firstly we listened to Goodbye Now and compared its STRUCTURE with HARD TIMES BLUES.
We noticed that both contained verses with instrumental breaks, and that each phrase lasted for eight BEATS.

We also noticed that the instruments played in the recording were different from instruments used today. This was because the recording was made during the DEPRESSION in America in the 1930s, and many people had to use homemade instruments.

We took it in turns to IMPROVISE RHYTHM and MELODY on various instruments. For the MELODY we used the BLUES SCALE.
Eventually we were ready to perform a twelve bar blues improvisation.
One group played the chord sequence from last week.
One group performed melodic improvisations during the instrumental breaks.
Three groups played rhythmic improvisations during the instrumental breaks.

This group played the chord sequence from last week.

This group improvised melodies using the blues scale.

This group improvised rhythms on a washboard (a traditional instrument used by blues musicians),and guiros.

This group improvised rhythms by beating on tin cans rather than drums.

This group improvised rhythms by improvising on 'home made' shakers.

We recorded our improvisations twice and used the play back to assess our performance. We decided that our second performance was better because we kept in time, made more interesting improvisations and all stopped together. Look at the Blog later to watch our final performance.