I first read the poem out loud to myself and found that it has a very slow, mellow tone to it. Hearing Hughes perform it confirmed my way of reading it. While listening to it, I heard the speaker slow down and emphasize certain sounds and words such as “oon.” This changes the poem by making it seem almost like a melody. Reading it to myself allowed me to visualize the scene and what was going on in the poem. I liked the lines “He made that poor piano moan with melody” and, “He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool” because I  was able to picture and visualize the sound of the piano and the playing of the piano player. I didn’t get this from hearing the recording. The recording did however allow me to hear the pride in his voice when he says “Sweet Blues” as well as his emphasis on certain words. The end of the poem gets more serious when the speaker says, “I ain’t happy no mo’ and I wish I had died.” When Hughes performs this, I was able to hear the seriousness in his voice which made this last stanza stand out to me more. The rhyme scheme of the poem is irregular but I like that in this poem because it reminds me more of a song rather than a poem itself.  The rhyming words within the poem emphasize this song like poem as well. The story within the poem is also very interesting.