Name: Kerolos Ghobrial

ID: 900183989
Reaction paper 3
Blues is a Story.
In the history of American music, the blues, or blues music, is considered a significant
and popular music form. “Blues music symbolized the rebel voice that refused to be hushed by
racism and segregation. They did so in an unrivalled manner of constancy, honesty, and
simplicity. It was not intended to be political; rather, it was intended to be a raw, honest
expression of human feelings, but it has now entered mainstream popular music as a
representation of culture and solidarity that sparked African American social movements and
affected young and cultural minorities around the world.” (Steinfeld, 2015). We learned in class
that blues is both a feeling and a musical form. Regarding the feeling, to me, blues is mostly
about storytelling. A variety of feelings are conveyed in the blues but they all generate from the
story being told. Some of the feelings that I connect with are humor and sadness. Therefore, in
this paper I will try to show how the form allows for the feeling to come through

The first element of the form that allows for the feelings to be conveyed is lyrics
including the three-line stanza. In poetry, the three-line stanza is a dividing and organizing
technique which places a group of lines in a poem together, separated from other groups of lines
by line spacing or indentation. Stanzas are significant as they allow for some certain thoughts,
moments, and themes to be arranged individually according to the message that the lyrics is
trying to convey. Stanzas have structure both physically on the paper and in terms of the laws
that govern them, such as syllable counts and rhyme schemes.

Call and response are one of the things that distinguish blues music from any other music.
In Blues, the call-and-response technique is a compositional technique that operates in the same
way that a conversation does. The call could be made by one piece of music or by the singer
voice, which is answered by another piece of music or the chorus. These phrases may be vocal,
instrumental, or a combination of both. Sometimes the response is simply a repetition of the call,
and sometimes it’s a traditional statement of affirmation. The call and response is very important
in Blues music as it helps performers to speak to their audience. In other words, they use call and
response as a way to connect with their audience.
 As we learned, improvisation is a type of immediate ("in the moment") musical
composition that combines performance and emotional communication. Improvisation and
soloing are large parts in playing Blues guitar. Not only when playing guitar solos, but also for
example when accompanying, playing fills and different chord-voicings and rhythms. Most of
musicians agreed on the fact that Blues is very simple harmonically, so it is not that hard for
anyone to acquire the basic knowledge to improvise and play a guitar solo. Improvisation in
Blues music is not always about creating something which is totally new, but it is also about
developing interesting lyrics that can inspire the performer while improvising the melodic line.

As mentioned in the introduction, to me, Blues is mostly about storytelling. A variety of

feelings are conveyed in the blues, but they are generated from the story being told. Let’s take
GOT MY MOJO WORKING by Muddy Waters as an example. What I really liked in the lyrics
of this song is that I can see sadness and humor at the same time. Regarding the lyrics, the 3-line
stanza is used with its AAB form. The song is a story of Waters who loved a woman, but she did
not love him. The song shows how he is suffering because she refused his love. The humor
comes when he decided to rely on a witch to help him get er, but he could not. I feel that the 3-
line stanza is the best option in that song as it confirms the painful feelings that Waters has
because she did not love him. These painful feelings are very clear when he repeats “Got my
mojo working but it just won't work on you”. However, I cannot find words that describes how
fantastic Waters’ expressions were while talking about the witch, who will help him get his
beloved woman. He used funny expressions to do so. Nevertheless, I got surprised from the story
of the song as I thought that believing in witches’ abilities and relying on them exists only in the
middle east not in United States and Europe.

When it comes to the call and response in that song, I can say that they were important
elements to convey the message of the song. Before I talk about the call and response in that
song, it is important to highlight that the melody of the song is consistent with the nature of the
story that Water is telling, which played a significant role in delivering the meanings that the
song is trying to convey. Regarding the call and response, what I really liked in Waters’ singing
is that his voice is not very high in singing the call, which gave me the chance to understand the
lyrics and feel what he feels, taking into consideration that the musical line which are interpreted
in the call was not that high in order to allow for the listeners to focus on waters’ singing. When
it comes to the response, it is important to highlight that The Guitar was excellent. The Guitar
notes were a bit higher in the response in order to attract the listeners’ attention. I felt that the
music that the Guitar is interpreted is an extension of the story that Waters is telling. I felt for a
while that the Guitar is Waters’ friend, who can understand and appreciate the feelings that
Waters is trying to deliver to his audience. Also, I really liked the Chorus who were singing part
of the response as they have the same spirit that Waters has in his singing, and they were
connected to the audience.

When it comes to improvisation, I can say that it was very clear in that song. The Guitar
was improvising, especially in the 40 seconds between minutes 1:28- 2:08 . Still, the Guitar was
limited to improvise within a certain set of notes in order to sustain the harmony that exists
between Waters as a singer and the musical lines which are interpreted in the background. That
is why we can notice that the melodic lines which are improvised in that song are highly
repeated. This repetition is not only to sustain the harmony between waters and the other
elements of music, but also to confirm the message that Waters wants to deliver from the story
he is singing. Overall, the improvisation in that song was a great opportunity for the performers
and the audience to communicate and respond to each other.

In conclusion, I really liked my journey with Blues music as it is very close to the Arab
music in terms of the feelings and the message that Blues songs are trying to convey. I really
liked the way that they use to deliver the messages of their songs. They are able to combine
sadness, suffering and humor in one song, which is something unique in their music. Also, the
lyrics of Blues’ songs would touch everyone who will listen or read them as it shows us how
painful their life was.
References

Steinfeld, Susanna. (2015). The Social Significance of Blues Music.

https://tesi.eprints.luiss.it/17909/1/072752_STEINFELD_SUSANNA.pdf

Sutherland, Kenneth. (2007, January 12th). Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Workin' (Video)
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hEYwk0byp