It's time once again for the annual Chicago Blues Festival, the world's largest FREE festival celebrating the blues. I've chosen a classic song of the genre, "Everyday I Have the Blues".
-- transcript of podcast --
It's June! And more specifically, coming up is the second weekend in June. And more specifically, that means it is time for the 2012 Blues Festival, held each year in beautiful Grant Park here in Chicago. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year and I try to free up as much of my schedule as I can to catch as many different performers as possible.
If you remember from last week's podcast, I talked about the importance of preserving our country's folk music heritage. Blues music is another distinctly American art form worth cherishing- especially as each year seems to be marked with the passing of notable blues legends.
So since I'm in a blues frame of mind, I thought I would choose a standard tune from the genre for today's episode of the podcast. The song is "Everyday I Have the Blues" written and first recorded by Memphis Slim back in 1947. It has been recorded numerous times since then by artists such as Joe Williams with the Count Basie Orchestra, Professor Longhair, Fleetwood Mac, Tony Bennett in a duet with Stevie Wonder. The song is also very closely associated with B.B. King, who has recorded it several times himself.
The arrangement I'm playing for you today is actually a P/V/G version, which stands for piano, vocals, and guitar. Typically, these scores use three staff notation, with the vocal part notated on top with guitar chord symbols, and then the remaining two staves for the piano notation. Students who have played pop arrangements before will probably be familiar with this type of notation, but I still find it's helpful sometimes to highlight just the beginning of each system so that students can keep their place more easily when jumping from line to line.
Another challenge students will face is the walking bass line found in the left hand. If this were an arrangement created specifically for students, the left hand would more likely have repeating patterns outlining the chords used in each measure, but the walking bass line is more authentic, and definitely more interesting. Students should be encouraged to play this bass line in a slightly detached manner to emulate the sound of an acoustic bass.
The first four measures serve as an introduction with some very thick and widely spaced chords. Students should feel free to eliminate one of the notes in the right hand to make it more playable if this is needed.
As I've said before, the traditional 12 bar blues format is a great starting point for improvisation. Once the notation is learned, students can feel free to begin experimenting with their own riffs that can be played over the given walking bass parts. Listening to one of the several recordings of the song on You Tube can be great for getting ideas.
"Everyday I Have the Blues" is available in digital format as an instant download. It is five pages long, although the recording sounds much longer because of an extensive repeat that I chose to include; I was having fun.
A link for purchasing this piece can be found on the website for this podcast, www.RepertoireReview.com. You will also find a link for more information on the Chicago Blues Festival. If you are anywhere near the Chicago area this weekend, you should seriously think about checking it out.
This is Luke Bartolomeo, and I'll see you again next week when we explore another piece from the contemporary piano teaching repertoire. Until then, Happy Practicing!
 | Everyday I Have The Blues By B.B. King and Joe Williams. For piano, voice, and guitar (chords only). Blues; Jazz; Standards. 5 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.139740) |
