Year 9 MuseScore – Writing the Blues
Task Sheet, Instructions and Guide
NAME__________________________
Assessment Overview
You will be required to:
1. Create a 12-bar blues Lead Sheet using original lyrics and melody.
It should contain:
• A vocal line for your blues lyrics and melody
• Your choice of a chordal instrument to play chords as accompaniment – Guitar or Piano
Extension:
2. Include a second instrument and notate a jazz “solo” using a blues scale.
It should include all essentials of a score:
• Title
• Composer/Arranger
• Metronome Marking
• Time Signature
• Key signature
• Correct clefs
• Correct notes and rhythms
• Your choice of articulation (make it appropriate and musical….)
• Your choice of dynamics (make it appropriate and musical….)
• Chord symbols above the chordal instrument
• Lyrics
Layout:
• 3 systems of 4 bars each (anacrusis will go in the first system)
DUE – MONDAY WEEK 11 – End of Day
Submit a PDF copy of your Lead Sheet via Immi
Submit this Booklet in Class
What is a Lead Sheet?
You should first create a basic 12 bar blues lead sheet in MuseScore in
the key of C.
It should look like this:
To create the System Break. Select the chord in BAR 4 and press ENTER on your keyboard.
You could also press the SYSTEM BREAK button in the Layout Palette.
What is a System?
Chord Symbols
Above the Chords in the Treble Clef, you should include the Chord Symbol.
1. Select a note in the Chord
2. Add – Text – Chord Symbol
3. Write the letter for the Chord (C, F or G)
What are Chord Symbols and Why do we use them?
ADD ANOTHER 12 bars - ADD – BARS – INSERT BARS AFTER SELECTION – 12 BARS
COPY and PASTE your first
12 bars of music. (You can
also select/highlight the 12
bars and press (R) on the
keyboard to REPEAT the
selected bars.
LAYOUT
Insert a DOUBLE BAR LINE
to show where the end of
the 12 bars section is, and
where the new 12 bar
begins. Insert a PAGE
BREAK, so every page has 12
bars only
Choose one (or more) of the Bass Lines below and input this into the BASS CLEF of your score.
Extension - Embellish the rhythm of the Treble Clef – For Example:
New Page with another 12 Bar Blues
Blues Walking Bass Line in the Bass Clef
Change of Rhythm in the Treble Clef
Writing Blues Lyrics
We can break down the 12 bar blues into 3 lines of 4 bars. This means for the purpose of our 12 Bar
Blues Lead Sheet – we will need 3 lines of lyrics to create our blues song.
• Think of something that makes you sad. Like - Homework, Having the Flu, Brussel Sprouts.
• Add this between the words THE and BLUES - The Homework Blues, The Brussel Sprout Blues.
• Think about why this makes you sad, the problems associated with it, and a solution.
Brainstorm Ideas
2) Lyrics require three (3) lines only, that need to fill the space of the musical form. The lyrics may be
short, however there will be many ‘rests’ to fill the time.
Form - AAB.
A = The title and the problem (Bar 1 – 4)
A = The title and the problem (Bar 5 – 8)
B = The solution (Bar 9 – 12)
3) Begin with two rhyming words i.e. “frog” and “log”
4) Write simple sentences.
We will repeat the first two lines.
I saw a frog.
I saw a frog.
It sat on a log.
Write the Title, Problem and Solution
5) Embellish the lyrics. Add descriptors to the lines for length in the musical phrase. When? Where?
How? What did it look like? Make sure the rhyming word still is at the end of the phrase.
I was walking on a trail and I saw a little green frog.
I said, I was walking on a trail and I saw a cute, little green frog.
It was hard to find because it sat on a really big log.
6) Play with more sets of rhyming words.
7) Speak the words in time while listening to the 12-bar blues form. Each lyrical line (AAB) must begin
with the matching musical line (Bar 1, 5 and 9).
Count the number of syllables in each phrase – This is how many notes you will need.
Speak the words and listen to which words have a stronger emphasis. Underline these words. These
words will often be on a strong beat in the music – (Beat 1 and 3)
Try and split the sentences into BARS
Example:
I was | walking on a trail and I | saw a little green frog.
I said, I was | walking on a trail and I | saw a cute, little green | frog.
It was | hard to find because it | sat on a really big. | log.
9) Attempt the rhythm in the bars below. Remember, only 4 crotchet beats in every bar!
10) Add pitch/notes to your rhythm using notes from the Blues Scale in C shown below. Write the
letter names you intend to use under the rhythm. Your lyrics melody should begin and end on the note
C. Try to avoid large jumps in pitch, you should aim to move mostly in STEPS (Notes next to each
other in the scale). Use repeated notes in your lyric melody.
ADD ANOTHER 12 bars - ADD – BARS – INSERT BARS AFTER SELECTION – 12 BARS
COPY and PASTE your first 12 bars of music. (You can also select/highlight the 12 bars and press (R)
on the keyboard to REPEAT the selected bars.
LAYOUT
Insert a DOUBLE BAR LINE to show where the end of the 12 bars section is, and where the new 12 bar
begins. Insert a PAGE BREAK, so every page has 12 bars only. You should now have 3 pages.
11) In the treble clef, delete the chords and notate the lyrics into your 12-bar blues lead sheet in
MuseScore using notes from the Blues Scale.
Extension:
Writing a Melody/Solo using the Blues Scale
Create another 12 bars of music and delete the notes in the Treble Clef. Keep the Chord Symbols and
the Bass Clef pattern. Create a solo for the piano in the treble clef.
Similar to writing our lyrics. We will think about our melody lines as three phrases – A, A, B.
Each phrase will be 4 bars long. You need to create a rhythm for A and a different rhythm for B. The
repeat of A can be the same, or slightly different (1 or 2 notes).
Create your rhythm in the bars below. Remember, only 4 crotchet beats in every bar!
A1
Some Tips
• Use Minims, Crotchets and Quavers, including rests.
• Try starting and ending each phrase with longer notes.
• Repeated notes work well.
