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 * __ Resources related to my big Blues unit/extravaganza __**

** //“The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits. It’s better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues.”// ** - Willie Dixon, Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame member and probably the most accomplished blues songwriter ever.

**Materials for day #1**: **Introduction and a look at The Delta**

Writing a blues song seems simple, but a good one is not easy to create. This page includes instructions and musical accompaniment that will help you create yours.
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Visit the prezi used during my presentation by clicking here.


 * Materials for day #2:** **BB King**

Demonstration of Vincelette's single string guitar and effects of string length/tension Demonstration of bending and vibrato ala BB King Today we will be using some of the things posted on Mr. Vincelette's blues glog Reading/listening activity, followed by written response:

If time: Watch and listen to video of BB King and Buddy Guy. See and hear BB King in his prime Visit the official BB King website


 * Materials for day #3**: **Phases in the evolution of the blues**

Thought to get things rolling: //The sound of the Delta blues seems very different from the sound of modern blues, and blues music is now known around the world (instead of just in the southern United States). How did these changes come about?//

//One strange path to popularity voicethread:// media type="custom" key="17025542" //Time spent listening to/reading Les Paul biography information:// 

Groups spend time working on their songs,… Some shared with the class and performed with guitar

If time permits listen to/read about Chuck Berry (and discuss why he was a rarity):


 * Materials for day #4**: **I'd Rather Go Blind**

Information related to great female blues performers:



Google doc for compiling blues lyrics
 * Materials for day #5**: **Performance Day**

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__**Vocabulary, Concepts, Performers discussed during this unit.**__ //Rolling Stone// magazine ranked him at #3 on its list of the " 100 greatest guitarists of all time ". According to Edward M. Komara, King "introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that would influence virtually every electric blues guitarist that followed." King has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
 * ** Term or ** ** phrase ** || **Related info/links** || **Images** ||
 * ** Share cropper ** || System of farming common in the southern U.S. after the end of slavery, for further info see Wikipedia article ||  ||
 * ** Great migration ** || **The Great Migration** was the movement of 2 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Midwest, Northeast and West from 1910 to 1930 ||  ||
 * ** Mississippi Delta ** || The Delta is strongly associated with the origins of several genres of popular music, including the Delta blues, jazz, and rock and roll. The music came out of the struggles of lives in which poverty and hardship were ever present for mostly black sharecroppers and tenant farmers. ||  ||
 * ** Culture ** || Def: the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another. ||  ||
 * **BB King** || **Riley B. King** (born September 16, 1925), known by the stage name **B.B. King**, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter acclaimed for his expressive singing and fluid, complex guitar playing.

Click here to listen to interview from NPR's Fresh Air __ I __nterview with the founder of Alligator Records ||  ||
 * **Koko Taylor** || Born **Cora Walton** in Shelby County, Tennessee, Taylor was the daughter of a sharecropper. She left Memphis for Chicago, Illinois in 1952 with her husband, truck driver Robert "Pops" Taylor. In the late 1950s she began singing in Chicago blues clubs.Taylor influenced musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, Janis Joplin, Shannon Curfman, and Susan Tedeschi. In the years prior to her death, she performed over 70 concerts a year and resided just south of Chicago in Country Club Hills, Illinois.

Click here for bio info on Koko Taylor Click to hear Koko's version of, //Bad Case of Loving You ,// and //I'd Rather Go Blind// || ||
 * **Blues** || **Blues** is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads . ||  ||
 * **Buddy Guy** || **George "Buddy" Guy** (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation. Guy is known, too, for his showmanship on stage, playing his guitar with drumsticks, or strolling into the audience while playing solos. He was ranked thirtieth in //Rolling Stone// magazine's list of the " 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time ".

Related link #1 Related link #2 (see video at bottom of page) || ||
 * **Innovation** || The introduction of something new or different ||  ||
 * **Major scale** |||| [[image:major_scale_screen_shot.png width="601" height="86"]] ||
 * **Chord** || A combination of usually three or more musical tones sounded simultaneously. ||  ||
 * **Vibrato** || A slight, rapid, and regular fluctuation in the pitch of a note produced on a stringed instrument by a shaking movement of the hand stopping the strings ||  ||