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Lesson

Melting Pot: Becoming the Blues

Listen What I Gotta Say: Women in the Blues (6th–8th) / Melting Pot: Becoming the Blues

The blues is like a sonic melting pot, incorporating a variety of cultural and musical influences from a variety of time periods. Spirituals, a type of song that developed from Protestant hymns in the late 18th century, served multiple functions for enslaved Africans in the American South, related to worship, communication, and community-building. Another tradition that influenced the development of certain kinds of blues music was a type of military music called fife and drum. In this lesson, students will actively engage with audio and video recordings that illustrate how the blending of musical characteristics and performance styles shaped the rhythmic and harmonic frameworks within which blues music developed.

Lesson Paths & Learning Objectives

  1. Before the Blues: Spirituals

    • Identify some common characteristics of spirituals.
    • Explain how spirituals influenced the development of the blues.
    • 20+ minutes

  2. Combining Influences: Fife and Drum

    • Explain the historical context of the Fife and Drums Corps.
    • Describe how and why the Fife and Drum Blues tradition developed.
    • Identify similarities and differences between traditional Fife and Drums Corps and the Fife and Drum Blues.
    • 20+ minutes

  3. Fife and Drum: A New Generation

    • Perform rhythmic and melodic patterns commonly used in the fife and drum blues tradition on instruments.
    • Demonstrate understanding of the minor pentatonic scale through performance.
    • 30+ minutes

More +
Less -

Bibliography

Text

Allen, William Francis, Charles Pickard Ware and Lucy McKim Garrison, eds. 1995 [1867]. Slave Songs of the United States. New York City, NY: Dover Publications.

Charters, Samuel. 1961. The Orangemen of Ulster, liner notes. New York City, NY: Folkways Records, FW 3003.

Charters, Samuel. 1972 [1962]. An Introduction to Gospel Song, liner notes. New York City, NY: RBF Records, RF 5.

Charters, Samuel. 1972. Roots of Black Music in America, liner notes. New York City, NY: Folkways Records, FA 2694.

Courlander, Harold. 1960 [1956]. Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Vol. 1: Secular Music, liner notes. New York City, NY: Folkways Records, FE 4417.

Evans, David. n.d. [1972]. "Black Fife and Drum Music in Mississippi." . Folkstreams.

Library of Congress. n.d. "Spirituals." The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America. Library of Congress, Accessed March 08, 2025.

Mellizo, Jennifer. "Blues Compare and Contrast Worksheet," 2020, worksheet. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

Parrish, Lydia. 1992 [1942]. Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.

PBS Online. n.d. "Religion and Slavery." Africans in America. PBS.

Rosenbaum, Art, Freddie Palmer, Carletha Sullivan and Brenton Jordan. 2017. Spirituals and Shout Songs from the Georgia Coast, by The McIntosh County Shouters, liner notes. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, SFW40214.

Smithsonian Folklife Festival. 2012. "Rising Star Fife & Drum Band." Folklife Festival Blog. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution.

Waterman, Richard and Harold Courlander. 1959 [1951]. Negro Folk Music of Africa and America, liner notes. New York City, NY: Folkways Records, FE 4500.

Welding, Pete. 1993 [1969]. Mississippi Delta Blues Jam in Memphis, Volume 1, liner notes. El Cerrito, CA: Arhoolie Records, ARH CD 385.

Audio, video, and image credits appear in order of slideshow sequence

Audio

Amerson, Rich, Earthy Anne Coleman and Price Coleman. "Rock Chariot, I Told You to Rock." On Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Vol. 2: Religious Music. New York City, NY: Folkways Records, FW04418_104, 1956, streaming audio.

Fisk Jubilee Singers. "Roll Jordan Roll." John Storm Roberts, producer and recorder. On Black Music of Two Worlds, recorded ca. 1913. New York City, NY: Folkways Records, FW04602_503, 1977, streaming audio.

Fisk Jubilee Singers. "Rockin' Jerusalem." On The Gold and Blue Album. New York City, NY: Folkways Records, FW02372_103, 1955, streaming audio. directed by John W. Work.

Fisk Jubilee Singers. "Joshua Fit de Battle." Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon, producers. On Wade in the Water, Vol. 1: African-American Spirituals: The Concert Tradition, recorded 1993. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, SFW40072_106, 1996, streaming audio. directed by Delise Perkins-Hall.

Oñatibia, Juan. "France: Wine Dance Entrance." Henry Cowell, producer. On Folk Music of the Mediterranean. New York City, NY: Folkways Records, FW04501_404, 1952, streaming audio.

Unknown artists. "March, A Drummer and Fifer." Laura Boulton, recorder. On Songs and Dances of Switzerland. New York City, NY: Folkways Records, FW06807_202, 1953, streaming audio.

Strickland, Napoleon and The Como Drum Band. "Shimmy She Wobble." On Mississippi Delta Blues Jam in Memphis, Vol. 1, recorded June 1969. El Cerrito, CA: Arhoolie Records, ARH00385_106, 1993, streaming audio.

The Orangemen of Ulster. "Orange Procession - Easter Saturday." On The Orangemen of Ulster, recorded 1960. New York City, NY: Folkways Records, FW03003_204, 1961, streaming audio.

Video

Michael, Kelsey, Marinna Guzy, Michael Headley and David Barnes, videographers. Rising Star Fife & Drum Band, Marinna Guzy, editing. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, 2012. Video.

Images

Bearden, Romare. Empress of the Blues, 1974, acrylic and pencil on paper. Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. Museum purchase in part through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment.

Unknown photographer. "The Story of the Jubilee Singers," 1875, photograph, carbon print. Washington, DC: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Pictured: Ella Sheppard Moore, Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Unknown photographer. "Taylor, young drummer boy for 78th Colored Troops (USCT) Infantry, in uniform with drum," ca. 1864, albumen print on card mount. In Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division.

Unknown photographer. Fisk Jubilee Singers, 1872, albumen silver print. Washington, DC: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 5.8 x 9.2 cm. (2 5/16 x 3 5/8 in.). Seated: Minnie Tate, Greene Evans, Isaac Dickerson, Jennie Jackson, Maggie Porter, Ella Sheppard Moore, Thomas Rutling, Benjamin Holmes, Eliza Walker.

Nalangan, Danielle. "Drawing of Africa," 2023, digital graphic. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

Courlander, Harold. "Road Leading to Small Cabin, Alabama," photograph. In Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Vol. 2: Religious Music. New York City, NY: Folkways Records, 1960, p. 2.

Benton, Thomas Hart. Field Workers (Cotton Pickers), 1945, oil on canvas. Washington, DC: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, 8 3/4 x 13 1/2 in. (22.2 x 34.3 cm.). Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966.

Steber, Bill. "The Fisk Jubilee Singers 2012–13," 2012, photograph. Wikimedia Commons.

Nalangan, Danielle. Musical Melting Pot, 2023, digital graphic. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

Davies, Diana Jo. "Ed Young Southern Fife Drum Corps," 1966, photograph. Washington, DC: Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution. Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections.

Bufford, John Henry. Yankee Volunteers Marching into Dixie, 1862, lithograph. In Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection. Washington, DC: National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

Gardener, Helen Hamilton. "Fife and Drum Corps, Helwan, Egypt," 1904, black and white photoprint on paper mount in album. In Photo Lot 97 DOE Mid East: NM 90351 Gardener Album 10 04011800. Washington, DC: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

Bailey, Jacob N. "The U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps," 2011, photograph. Wikimedia Commons.

United States Postal Service. "American Bicentennial: Fifer," 2012, postage stamp. Washington, DC: National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution. © 2012 United States Postal Service®. All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission.

Unknown artist. "Union Regimental Drum Corps from the American Civil War," ca. 1861, photograph. Wikimedia Commons.

Strachwitz, Chris. "Napoleon Strickland, Fife, Unidentified Girl-Bass Drum, and Otha Turner, Drums," 1969, photograph. In Mississippi Delta Blues Jam In Memphis, Vol. 1. El Cerrito, CA: Arhoolie Records, 1993, p. 4.

Losberger, Christophe. "The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band @ Blues Rules," 2018, photograph. Flickr.

Michael, Kelsey, Marinna Guzy, Michael Headley and David Barnes, videographers. "Shardé Thomas at the 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival," video still. In Rising Star Fife & Drum Band. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folklife Festival Blog, 2012.

Heidelberg, Ayanna. "Transcription of Shardé Thomas's Song," 2020, musical transcription. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.