Key Stage 3 Music - The Blues

In this topic you will learn how the Blues uses:

• 12 bar blues structure.
• Primary triads.
• Simple melodic phrases.
• Expressive lyrics.

By the end of this topic, you will be able to:

• Play the 12 bar blues on the keyboard.
• Explain how the blues uses the primary triads.
• Identify key music features of Blues songs though listening exercises.
• Compose your own stylistic lyrics to a Blues song.

3

• You can play the root note of the chord in time on your own.
• You identify how the blues uses different chords in a set structure – the 12 bar blues.
• You can identify some elements in a piece of Blues music that reflects where the Blues comes from.
• You can tell me where the Blues came from.

4

• You can play the chords in time using some different rhythms.
• You can play in time with another student with a sense of how chords, melody and bass lines fit together.
• You can identify the key features of Blues music from listening using the correct musical vocabulary.
• You can explain how musical ideas relate to the history of the Blues.

5

• You can play the chords and a bass part in time using two hands and different off-beat rhythms from memory.
• You can play your part in time with others and lead the performance.
• You can compose your own version of the 12 bar blues that sounds stylistic.
• You can tell me the features in a Blues piece of music and how they reflect the roots of the Blues.
• You can describe how the music reflects where it would be performed and by whom.

6

• You can perform the Blues using stylistic rhythms and your own version of the chords with two hands.
• You are confident when performing with others and help to make the performance musical by using dynamics and phrasing.
• You can identify key features in a Blues piece that are from different influences and you can evaluate the pieces you hear.