The Healing Properties of the Blues

By Sandra Foster

The timeless nature of the exercises in this workbook allows them to be used endlessly for self-improvement, for practice with client systems or for professional presentations. The overview of the Blues Problem-Solving Method can be integrated into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum as a companion discussion in human behavior and practice courses. Practitioners and trainers may use the Workbook to integrate the concepts into in-service training or direct services.
The most important use for this Workbook is the actual learning activities. Users will welcome them as invaluable aids in a wide variety of education, counseling, and training sessions. They are inexpensive, participative, timeless, and adaptable. The objective, materials required, approximate time required, procedure, discussion questions, and source are included to aid in the selection of the appropriate activity for the appropriate occasion.
Though the activities in this Workbook are based on the African American experience, they can be easily generalized to other groups. Some exercises may be used as is with any group. Others may require substituting the worldview to fit the activity to the desired ethnic or cultural group. iii
The activities contained in this Workbook represent a small sample of what can come from the blues. Users are encouraged to delve into the rich history of the blues experience found in the films and literature included at the end of this Workbook, or probe the spirituals, work songs, folk narratives, gospels, sermons, dance styles, humor, folk tales, jazz, or oral history for more ideas for creating your own exercises. As you develop activities, please forward them to me so that I may include them in the next version of this workbook. I thank you in advance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781796080544

Book preview

The Healing Properties of

the Blues

Moaning * Mourning * Morning

SANDRA JEAN FOSTER

Copyright © 2020 by Sandra Jean Foster.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

This book is a reference work based on research by and the professional and life experiences of the author. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of or endorsed by the publisher.

References are included at the end of the book to help the reader get directly to the content. Readers may want to search Google or other search engines to get more details from each reference.

Cover Photo by Alex Jones

Author Photo by Anthony West Moreland

Rev. date: 01/07/2020

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

804448

CONTENTS

About The Author

Purpose

How To Use This Book

Foreword

Part One

The Birth Of The Blues

The Challenge

The Remedy

Part Two

Healing Properties Of The Blues Overview

Blues Music As Distraction, Relaxation, Meditation, And Vibration

Quiz: Healing Properties Of The Blues Overview

Blues As A Problem-Solving Method

Stage I: Moaning - Problem Identification

Stage II: Mourning - Solution Focused

Stage III: Morning - Sustainability

Example: Watching The News Blues By Sandra Jean Foster

The Blues Problem-Solving Method

Part Three

Practical Exercises For Implementing The Blues Problem-Solving Method

Revisiting Your Beauty Council Of Elders

Morning Interracial Relationships

Moaning, Mourning, Morning Domestic Violence

Tribeless Men Moaning, Mourning, Morning Through Manhood

Confronting Conflicting Images In Films/Movies/Sitcoms

Interpersonal Relationship In Blues Lyrics

Integrating The Blues Problem-Solving Method Into Social Work Practice

Conducting A Blues Problem-Solving Assessment

Productive Cultural Expectations

How To Treat A Lady

A Conversation Between Races

How To Write A Traditional Twelve Bar Blues 1-4-5 Progression Song

The Healing Properties Of Music: A Reflective Self Study

Blues Themes In Memphis Minnie Songs And Zora Neal Hurston Novels

Authors Guide For Creating Blues Moaning, Mourning, Morning Exercises

References

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

author%20picture.jpg

In 1998, Sandra SaNa Foster, PhD, founded the SaNa Band. The band performs in public and private venues throughout the United States. SaNa has been featured in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Clark Atlanta University magazine, Bass Player magazine, and on Good Day Atlanta TV program. The band has released five CDs on www.cdbaby.com/sana.

SaNa performs on shows with artists namely Sandra Hall, Beverly Guitar Watson, Uppity Blues Women, Lola Gulley, Donna Hopkins, Denise LaSalle, Albert White, Chick Willis, Tommy Brown, Clarence Carter, Frankie Lee Robinson, Deacon Bluz, Herman Hintson, James Armstrong, Theotis Ealey, New Orleans Jazz Band, and Wilson Meadows.

As an associate professor in the Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work, Dr. Foster was inspired by Elmer and Joanne Martin’s work on social work and the black experience. They explore the content of spirituals and the blues and encourage practitioners to integrate their findings into practice. Hence, this workbook. The Healing Properties of the Blues, traces the birth of the blues from its African roots to its’ American fruits and demonstrates how to use the blues as a problem-solving method.

Enjoy …

The Healing Properties of the Blues

Moaning * Mourning * Morning

Purpose

The purpose of this workbook is to show you how to use the blues problem-solving method of moaning, mourning, morning in your personal and professional life. It traces the blues from its African roots. That way, you get a feel for why the problems of separation and loss, troubled intimate relationships, and racism became the primary focus of the method.

The concepts of distraction, relaxation, meditation, and vibration are presented to help you understand the healing properties found below the surface of blues music. Practical exercises are provided to help you use the blues problem-solving method with diverse individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

The timeless nature of the exercises in this workbook allows them to be used endlessly for self-improvement, for practice with client systems, or for professional presentations. The overview of the blues problem-solving method can be integrated into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum as a companion discussion in human behavior and practice courses. Practitioners and trainers may use the workbook to integrate the concepts into in-service training or direct services.

The most important use for this workbook is the actual learning activities. Users will welcome them as invaluable aids in a wide variety of education, counseling, and training sessions. They are inexpensive, participative, timeless, and adaptable. The objective, materials required, approximate time required, procedure, discussion questions, and source are included to aid in the selection of the appropriate activity for the appropriate occasion.

Though the activities in this workbook are based on the African American experience, they can be easily generalized to other groups. Some exercises may be used as is with any group. Others may require substituting the worldview to fit the activity to the desired ethnic or cultural group.

The activities contained in this workbook represent a small sample of what can come from the blues. Users are encouraged to delve into the rich history of the blues experience found in the films and literature included at the end of this workbook or probe the spirituals, work songs, folk narratives, gospels, sermons, dance styles, humor, folk tales, jazz, or oral history for more ideas for creating your own exercises. As you develop activities, please forward them to me so that I may include them in the next version of this workbook. I thank you in advance.

FOREWORD

James H. Patterson

Director: Jazz Studies, Clark Atlanta University

Director: African American Jazz Caucus

Director: HBCU All Star Big Band

Band Leader: James Patterson Jazztet

My first step in time on the soil of the African continent was a wonderful moment in my life. After arriving at the airport in Dakar, Senegal, en route to Banjul, de Gambia, and back to Dakar, Senegal, West Africa, immediately, my heart skipped a beat. I felt a vibrating charge that was so long anticipated in coming. After decades of desire, I thought that day would never arrive. This was my first tour to the motherland (returning on dozens of tours since). This was a performing, reconnecting, sharing, and learning experience. Experiences about true reality of the truest lived reality about the singing, swinging rhythms, movement (dance), and sounds of this ancient culture still alive in the twenty-first century.

The question is: What is African Music?

Answer: Folk music, music of the people.

Africa is the origin of mankind. We can now find the organic rhythms and sounds that have been in practice for centuries old. Not fused with other genres for commercial gain, this music is connected to the vibrating DNA (organs and overall body pitch) and, if severed for an extended period, can misdirect the human body psychologically, socio-culturally, and spiritually.

The African roots of the blues (jazz) are where we must begin to heal this culturally-ailing physical being. This book is a sociological and sacred approach