(Sales exercises) The Story of Memphis Blues Music

By Phoenix Delray

  The early 1900s saw the birth of Memphis blues music, and the sound of the Memphis blues has resonated through the country ever since. Some of the greatest blues musicians who helped to make the city famous for its music were Sleepy John Estes, Memphis Minnie, and Frank Stokes. Beale Street in Memphis was the area that Memphis blues music centered around, and most of the performances were given there, and most of the musicians made Beale Street their home.

There were many instruments that helped to make Memphis blues music what we know it as today. Guitars were used, along with jugs, harmonicas, some percussion, and even piano, although most instruments were more like hand made instruments. Some of the handmade instruments were from household objects such as spoons, stove pipe, washboards, and cans hit with sticks. In the very beginning of Memphis blues music, large gourds were even used to make home made guitars out of. They were flattened on one side, and then the musicians would carve a sound hole into it. Banjos were also sometimes made this way, and even though they didnt last for more than a few days before they rotted, the instruments sure worked.

Jug bands were a large part of the development of Memphis blues music. They were common in Memphis for years up until around the time of World War II, then after that, the electronic instruments began shooing the homemade instruments into history. The jugs that were used were held to the mouth, and blown across the top to make different pitches. Different jugs made different sounds, and most were made from stone or glass. Also, buzzing the lips a couple of inches away from the top of the jug also created different sounds and pitches.

Many African Americans who were living in the Mississippi Delta region and other poorer areas of the south left their homes in the early and mid 1900s to go to Memphis in search of a better life in a more urban setting. Many of the musicians who came to Memphis, and slowly the sound of Memphis music began to change. The Memphis blues music became a combination of the jug bands and homemade instruments and the songs of the African Americans, who often worked out in the fields and would sing songs all day while they worked hard.

Some of the most famous musicians who performed Memphis blues music were Howlin Wolf, Willie Nix, Ike Turner, and the famous B.B. King. They formed the genre known today as the Memphis classic electric blues, rhythm and blues (or R&B), and the beginnings of rock and roll. Without these musicians and many more like them, Memphis blues music would certainly not be all that it is today.

To know more about Memphis Blues Music please visit our website.

Board Games Based On Performance
By Victor Epand

  With the huge popularity that exists nowadays with video games that can offer great music and graphics along with an interactive storyline, pressure is placed on traditional board games to keep the attention of the players as well as these games with controllers might provide. Games like Guitar Hero, which test not only the hand-eye coordination of players, but their musical skill, will often give players a world to escape into that makes time fly with the level of concentration that they give. Other games, like Dance Dance Revolution, give players something physical to compete with and this keeps all players active, holding their attention.

Board games are starting to get the message and are re-inventing themselves in ways that are designed to get players up and moving around, performing actions. This stops players from merely sitting around a table, using their intellects to win a game. Now, players are forced to use other skills as well in a variety of ways. This stimulation, both mental and physical, is good for anyone trying to enjoy themselves with a friendly competitive game and, as the popularity of these performance-based board games grow, more and more games will surely be moving in this direction.

The American Idol board game is one of these games that will test players in more ways than just a simple race around the board. Based on the hit television show where contestants compete against each other by singing various songs, this show is a competition determined to discover who the best singer out of the group is. The board game works much on the same level, having all of the players race around a board to collect points and move on to the finalist area. When two people reach the finalist area, they will each sing along to a song to determine who is the stronger singer and the winner of the game. While this game isn’t overly challenging, it gives players the chance to do something more than race around the board.

Stepping it up, however, the American Idol All-Star Challenge DVD game makes players work a little harder. Made by the same people who make the Scene It game, this game uses a DVD to help players complete the tasks and sing the songs they need to sing in order to compete. This game is all-around more inclusive, having players not only sing, but perform dance routines to earn performance stars, by which the game is judged. While points are not always rewarded on who actually sung the best, the game does allow people to actually get up and do something, making them work for the prize.

Other games also have heavy elements of performance involved. Cranium uses a number of factors during its competition, not simply trivia and knowledge. Players of this game could be forced to either draw or sculpt a clue out of clay or perhaps to make a performance for their team to guess. These performances can work like charades, where they have to silently act out a clue. They can take the form of a celebrity impersonation or even a musical clue, where they have to hum a song to make others guess it!

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for board games, chess boards, and dungeons and dragons miniatures. You will find all these things and more if you visit performance board games, chess boards, and dungeons and dragons miniatures.

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