12th Street Blues

Description

Violin 1, Violin 2, Violin 3, Viola, Cello, Contrabass, Piano — 12th Street Blues is a fun piece that introduces the young orchestra to the basics of blues in an accessible and enjoyable way. Teaching opportunities include triplets, staccato articulations, dynamic changes, and simple shuffle rhythms at the end of each phrase. The harmony is based on the blues scale, allowing students to work on playing C-natural and F-natural accidentals: the flat 3rd and 7th step in D major. The optional piano accompaniment offers harmonic and rhythmic support. The B section includes a fun shout at the end of each phrase and the piece ends with a shout as well. 12th Street Blues will be a fun piece for students and orchestra alike. This easy introduction to the blues scale features the quintessential 'walking bass' line in low strings and piano. But every section gets to play the soulful melody at some point with a theme that reinforces F-natural, C-natural, B-flat finger patterns. Simple unison triplets, shouts, bow lifts, and staccato articulations make this a fun piece to learn and perform!