The Empress of the Blues - Pinetop Smith - Big Mama Thornton - Each of these names tells us something about the performer. Create your own blues persona. Include your name, your instrument, and the title of your signature song. What are the opening lines?

Why do you think so many blues songs have the word "blues" in the title?

Blues music is moving into the mainstream. Today the majority of blues fans are white. In blues' "heyday" - from its origins until the 1950s - many upwardly mobile African Americans were embarrassed by blues music. During this same time period, many whites were repulsed or frightened by the blues.

With an eye on historical events, explain why you think these attitudes existed.

Explain why you think these attitudes have changed.

Describe how the relationship between developments in technology affected blues music. Consider how this relationship also affected the musician and the listener. Some of these developments include - but are not limited to - electricity and phonographs. Can you provide examples of other developments in technology that affected the blues?

Culture does not spread simply because people like it. Cultural diffusion is also connected to business and trade. West African rhythms emerged in the field hollers of the Mississippi Delta and developed in the blues music that is popular worldwide. Describe the role of economics (or social change) in the growth and spread of the blues.

Even though some of the world's greatest blues artists have been women, female performers have not always been welcome. What factors may have contributed to this phenomenon?

Pick a blues song that you know (or make one up). Use paints and crayons to show how that song makes you feel.

What do you know about the blues now that you didn't know before you read this magazine? What surprised you?