What Are Blue Notes?

I wanted to share a music article with you that I wrote awhile back. Are you familiar with the term Blue Notes?

Blue notes are specific flattened tones used in jazz and rock melodies. They create a specific quality of sound known as "blue."

When I play a simple melody line from a nursery song, like London Bridges, it is easy to pull out the melody of a familiar tune. If I wanted to color in more sound, like adding color to a painting with crayons and paints, then I would throw in an Eb note that moves to the E note.

Blue notes like to return to their neighbor tone one half step higher. Blue notes and their half step higher tones add a special feeling that first sounds a bit dark, then it has a lighter sound to the song.

 Neighboring tones lead to chord tones. Let's talk a little more about these neighboring tones when the melody goes back and forth with a non-harmonic tone that is a half or whole step placed in the melody.

An upper neighboring tone is a note that is chromatically and/or diatonically above another note. When we talk about a lower neighboring tone, we say that is a note diatonically or chromatically below another note.

Why do we use these specific tones? Well, they serve as a way for the piano player to improvise. When we flat a tone that will provide the melody line with that tension and release sound. Remember that neighboring tones are non-harmonic. Usually you will play them on a weak beat.

Here are a few written examples of music notes to play in a measure. Start with single notes in your right hand.

Example One:

B, B, Bb, B, D.

Example Two:
D, Eb (blue note), E, C, D, C.

Blue notes are flattened tones on the 3rd and 5th steps of the major scale that always return to the neighboring tone one half step higher. They make a huge difference in sound. Begin by playing these notes in a row to hear what I am saying: C, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G.

Just within one measure, you will find places to add blue notes for improvising. The choice is yours. Here is what I mean. Play these single notes for one measure that receives four beats to the measure. So that means you will be playing some eighth notes along with quarter notes; Eb to E, Eb to E then play Gb to G.

Have fun creating new melodies with Blue Notes.

You may be interested in Backpocket Band Software

 Best,





"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

Related articles

• Aural Awareness by Miles Donahue
• How To Play Triplets Against Eighth Notes

How To Indentify Music Phrases

• Identify Music Phrases

For a tune to make sense, it needs a structure, just as writing needs sentences and punctuations. Tunes are built from groups of notes that sound as though they belong together as an idea. These groups are known as PHRASES, and are usually separated by a tiny silence when the music is sung or played. (Great place to breathe!)

Musicians often disagree about where phrases start and finish. This is because there is often more than one possible INTERPRETATION. When you play music, try to hear which notes belong together. Phrases may be the same length, or start on the same beat of a measure. Songs may have a phrase for each line of the words.

• IDENTIFYING PHRASES: Musicians often disagree about where phrases start and finish. This is because there is often more than one possible INTERPRETATION. When you play music, try to hear which notes belong together. Phrases may be the same length, or start on the same beat of a measure. Songs may have a phrase for each line of words.
• ANSWERING PHRASES: In some music, pairs of phrases of the same length sometimes seem to match each other. The first phrase seems to ask a question, and the second phrase to answer it. (Does this sound like a pattern for the Blues?) For example, the second phrase may seem to answer the first by ending on the tonic when the first phrase did not.
• RHYTHM PATTERNS: Phrases often have a strong rhythm structure. A pattern may be repeated or varied within a phrase, between phrases, or even throughout a whole piece.
• MELODIC PATTERNS: Phrases often contain patterns of notes that are repeated exactly, or changed by transposing them to a different pitch or varying the intervals.
• SHOWING PHRASES: Composers usually do not show phrases in their music. Instead, they show how to play notes within phrases, using signs such as SLURS and STACCATOS. It is up to each player to decide how to phrase the music. Signs such as BREATH MARKS or BOWING can help do this.
• PHRASES THAT MODULATE: Sometimes a phrase may end in a different key from the one it began in, such as the relative minor or major key. This is called MODULATION. For a tune to modulate clearly, it has to use a note that is in the scale of the new key but not in the scale of the original key. The end result is very professional sounding to the listener’s ear.

Each artist has the unique gift of using dynamics in the song they are performing. What an incredible gift we have to color in the lines, to add our interpretation of musical phrases and give our audience a music idea to listen to. (Phrases that are smooth as glass or as crunchy as peanut brittle!)

For more information on music phrases and music resources that can benefit your playing, please visit my website. Thanks, LadyD

http://www.LadyDpiano.com