Microtones: Blue Notes/ Long Notes

Blue Notes:

Definition: A blue note is a lowered 3rd, 5th, or 7th or otherwise microtonal pitch characteristic of blues music that falls “between the piano keys” and may aid in giving blues its darkly dissonant sound.

Key instruments that utilize blue notes:

• Harmonica
• Voice
• Guitar

Note, these key instruments for playing blue notes are all in the Muddy Waters example! Blue notes are certainly a part of Muddy Waters’s music and Champagne & Reefer is no exception. Champagne & Reefer is characterized by a number of seventh chords, feature a harmonica solo filled with blue notes, and vocal phrases that include blue notes most prominently near the end on words such as "thirsty" and "high."

Long Notes:

Definition: Pitches in traditional Celtic folk music that are “bent” are often called “long notes” but can be called “blue notes.” A common way of using this form of microtone is to sustain a pitch bending upward but never reaching the pitch that is expected a step up.

Key instruments:

• Voice
• Irish whistle/Pennywhistle

While the Julie Fowlis example doesn’t use a large number of these long notes they are somewhat evident in Fowlis’s vocal style and the instrumental solo of the pennywhistle. Particularly bent pitches can be heard in the irish whistle as it plays m. 2-3 and the vocal part on the last note, m. 11, in the melody notated in the following link:

http://tradtune.com/346418/Oganaich_Uir_A_Rinn_M'_Fhagail.htm

Comparing Blue Notes & Long Notes:

The following Youtube video, created by a maker of irish penny whistles gives some audio examples of how these microtonal styles may be compared.

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfWhAyhA8JE 

What to listen for:

• From 2:23-3:30 listen to the video (or Track 3 of the accompanying disc) for an example of "bent" pitches or long notes on the penny whistle and notice the microtonal nature.
• From 4:48-5:19 listen to the video (or Track 3 of the accompanying disc) for an example of how jazz styles and the penny whistle can actually be similar and even work together in the creation of music depending on a given artist's personal style and choices.