Mr. Jones' Classroom
Fernando Jones’ Master Class on Zoom
Brought to You by the Music Center at Columbia College Chicago
Reading Assignment (Click to download)
Order I Was There When The Blues Was Red Hot. (Click Here)
From Bill Boris, Associate Chair
Columbia College Chicago, Music Department
Guitar and Bass Players: Fernando Jones will be presenting a Blues master class, "Mali to Michigan Avenue", which will focus on the history of Blues and Blues guitar on Friday, Oct. 16, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm via Zoom. There will be a waiting room and I will admit everyone. Attendance is required for all guitarists enrolled in private lessons, but all are welcome! Fernando created "Blues Camp" and for the past 11 years has hosted these camps all over the world. He has written and published on the history of Blues and is one of the country's foremost advocates for Blues and its central role in American culture.
For guitar players in private lessons: Attending these workshops is required and part of your grade. Last week, only about a third of guitar players in private lessons attended the vocal/guitar workshop; I take attendance at the workshops and forward the attendance sheet to your instructors, and your attendance (or lack of attendance) affects your grade. The required master classes and workshops are clearly listed in your syllabus. I hope to see you all there on Friday.
Lecture Overview and Prerequisites
Section 1: Historic Overview (30 Minutes)
Mindset for the Zoom lecture: A mature audience of musicians willing to learn truth of America and it’s roots music, Blues, in pursuit of a better understanding what the Blues is; and most importantly – why it exists and should be preserved and performed with respect and a accountability of our ancestors who made it possible to Rock and Roll.
I. What is the Blues? Why does it exist?
Presentation: A combination of videos, sound recordings and commentary
a. Race / Class / Supremacy
• The Europe / Africa Slave Trade (1600s) to Juneteenth Celebration (1865)
b. Understanding of the Blues as a music and culture?
• The Blues: Ancient Timbuktu, Mali Roots to The Chicago Blues
c. Mr. Jones’ Students (Projects Demonstrating excellence)
• Mississippi Delta Trip
• Chicago Record Companies and Night Clubs
Q&A (5 minutes)
I. Question and Answer session between Jones and audience with Prof. Boris
a. Questions chosen by moderator from “Chat"
Section 2: Chicago Blues Guitar & Bass (45 minutes)
a. Bass and Guitar Tips
• Commentary on Comping, Soloing and Grooving
Q&A (5 minutes)
I. Question and Answer session between Jones and audience with Prof. Boris
a. Questions chosen by moderator from “Chat"
Section 3: Over-all Q&A (10 minutes)
Pre-Requisite Assignments
Order Book: I Was There When The Blues Was Red Hot.
Listen to “Crazy Blues” by Mamie Smith
Listen to "Say it Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)" by James Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb_1NNdf_30
Watch "Us vs. Them" (Gov. George Wallace)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ezt2l8iDsk
Watch "War" by Bob Marley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPZydAotVOY
Listen to Buffalo Soldier by Bob Marley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eksV02us5DQ
Be familiar with these terms below:
Supremacy
Freedom
Humanity
Roots Music
Roots of the Blues
African Slavery Trading (King James of England)
The Middle Passage
Sharecropping
Timbuktu, Mali
Mississippi Delta
History
Great Migration (American)
Juneteenth Celebration
Emancipation Proclamation
United State Constitution
The Civil War
People and Places
Gov. George Wallace
Jefferson Davis
Abraham Lincoln
Muddy Waters
Howlin’ Wolf
KoKo Taylor
Chess Records
Vee-Jay Records
Songs
All can be found and listened to or viewed for educational purposes on YouTube
"Rolling Stone" by Muddy Waters
"Respect Yourself" by the Staples Singers
"Southern Man" by Neil Young
"Buffalo Soldier" by Bob Marley
"Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Born Too Brown "by Fernando Jones
• • • • •
Courses on the books that Mr. Jones has taught.
Jones has also guest lectured in other classes in the Music Department and in others across campus.
Columbia College Chicago
32-1628 The Chicago Blues Scene: From the Past to Preservation
Fernando Jones, Instructor
Course surveys the past, present, and future of the Blues and the impact Chicago, as the Blues Capital, has had on the world culturally, sociologically, and economically. This course will give students the opportunity to study the living tradition of the Blues through readings, videos, live performances, and the music itself. The class will feature workshop sessions where students perform some of the compositions they’ve encountered.
3 Credit Hours
Columbia College Chicago
32-1881 Blues Ensemble: Styles
Fernando Jones, Instructor
This course teaches entry-level music students to play the Blues as an ensemble in a professional setting. Course will examine sociological and historical aspects of the Blues and its current and future role in society. Chicago’s unique position as a world Blues capital will be featured through visits to local Blues clubs and jam sessions. Enrollment in this ensemble requires concurrent registration in private lessons.
1 Credit Hour
Repeatable
Requirements: Audition Required and Permission by ensemble director
Columbia College Chicago
32-2885 Blues Ensemble: Performance
Fernando Jones, Instructor
Intermediate level course is an ensemble for the smaller to medium sized Blues band. The repertoire for the course is drawn from the straight-forward to more challenging arrangements of traditional and contemporary Blues material. Course addresses the application of musicianship skills as they apply to ensemble awareness and effective rehearsal and performance techniques. Course engages the Blues as both an historical and a living entity through the application of historical background of and interaction with artists engaged in the contemporary Chicago Blues community. Enrollment in this ensemble requires concurrent registration in private lessons.
1 Credit Hour
Repeatable
Requirements: Audition Required and Permission by ensemble director
Columbia College Chicago
32-1629J The Blues: Chicago to the Mississippi Delta
Fernando Jones, Instructor
Course requires that students travel to Memphis, Tennessee, and Clarksdale, Mississippi for 5 days to examine the sociological, musicological, and historical relationship between the Chicago (urban) and Mississippi (rural) Blues experience. Through lectures, performances, site visits, and keeping an ethnographic journal, students will gather knowledge about rural Blues and gain a comprehension of its creation and performance from an ethnographic perspective. Some students may perform on the trip, if the composition of enrolled students allows. Students will write a paper based upon their journals and experiences of the trip.
1 Credit Hour
Repeatable
Requirements: Audition Required and Permission by ensemble director
Columbia College Chicago
Private Blues Guitar and Bass Lessons
Fernando Jones, Instructor
Goals
• Keep Blues youthful and exciting, while preserving and building on the past.
• Provide Blues Kids with the basic skills (musically, socially, emotionally and linguistically) necessary to survive and play proficiently and effectively in a global Blues community.
• Learn the importance of the Blues from a sociological and historical perspective with a focus on the future, representing student musicians as scholars.
• Introduce this indigenous American art form to new audiences.
• Use critical thinking skills, while collaborating with others.
• Apply practical skills learned in class in a culminating activity on stage.
• Promote digital learning and embrace technology.
• Make paramount contributions to the future of the Blues musically, socially and culturally
• Represent the next generation of musicians as scholars and proficient players.
• Give each student the basic skills (musically, socially, and linguistically) needed to survive in a global Blues community / industry.
• Introduce students to the art of live professional performances through the lens of the Blues.
Objectives
• Introduce the history of American music through the lens of the Blues.
• Keep the Blues youthful and exciting, while preserving the past.
• Represent the next generation of Blues artist as scholars and proficient players + vocalists.
• Learn the importance of the Blues from a sociological and historical perspective with a focus on the future.
• Use critical thinking skills and collaborate with others.
• Apply practical skills learned in class in a culminating activity on stage.
Learning Outcomes
For Student Musicians To:
• Improve music literacy by playing by ear and reading tabs + chord charts.
• Communicate using cross-generational/regional “Blues” language.
• Use proper dynamics to ensure appropriate volume levels for songs.
• Accompany vocalist with proper volume control, fills and chords.
• Critique and self-evaluate performances and provide feedback to others.
• Perform as “one” in an ensemble setting.
• Demonstrate basic Blues patterns such as 8-bar and 12-bar Blues.
• Demonstrate the call-and-response.
• Play songs effectively without guitar or piano solos.
• Perform a 15 to 20 minute set of music at a professional level with confidence.
• Demonstrate the art of the groove.