Final Post

I really enjoyed learning about the Ecuadorian culture. I'd really love to get my hands on an imbabura harp and play it- it's got a fantastic sound and it would be lots of fun to learn. I realized that our own culture, while not very old, is a complex compound of lots of different cultures' influences and ideas. I learned a lot about the people that come to America, bringing their cultures and traditions- the US is truly a melting pot! I'd really really really like to learn more about the Ecuadorian music- it seems so interesting and, like I said, I'm fascinated with the imbabura harp!

cool stuff

These are some Filipino drums- I thought it was really interesting to see them all lined up and note the differences and similarities between them and between instruments of other countries.

This is a site of an article about students from the Philippines on scholarship learning to play Filipino instruments. It's very interesting to me to see young students reconnect with their culture.

This is a site describing the "Philippine Quartet"- a group of four musicians from the Phillipines from the early 20th century. Really neat!

Music and Society

Music has long been held in limbo regarding the issue of control versus free speech. This has been a problem since the earliest governments engaged in controlling what was "appropriate" for the public.
For instance, the Catholic church held a council in Trent spanning the years from 1545 to 1563. They convened and discussed the censorship of various arts and literature. Among some of the musical aspects they censored, they declared tritones illegal. Known as the "devil in music," tritones are diminished fifths or augmented fourths. It has been deemed "dangerous" since Guido of Arezzo developed his series of hexachords. In the Baroque and Classical eras, it became acceptable to engage the tritone in common practice. However, the tritone's appearances in music were strictly controlled with tight rules and circumstances.

In World War Two, Hilter's rule over Nazi Germany resulted in intense musical censorship. According to this teacher's guide website, the Nazi policy regarding music and musicians included these three points:

1. Loyal Nazi members who were talented musicians were guaranteed a job.
2. Loyal Nazi members who were not talented musicians were not guaranteed a job.
3. Any non-Jewish person who demonstrated a "genius" for music and was a member of the Reichsmusikkammer (Reich Music Chamber) was permitted employment. This exception in policy permitted musicians like conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler and composer Richard Strauss to continue working.

Hitler highly approved of Beethoven and Wagner. Hilter believed that both he and Beethoven had the "heroic German sprit." His approval of Wagner might have wholly rested on his severe hatred of the Jewish people. Wagner wrote an antisemitic bookcalled Das Judebthum in die Musik (Judaism in Music) insisting the Jews "poisoned public taste in the arts." Other Nazi-approved composers included: Bruckner, Strauss, Standelmann, and Hotter, among others.

cool stuff #2

The making of an oud is very similar to the making of classical western string instruments in its construction. Look at the inside of an unfinished oud. The peg box of an oud is also very similar, but I was surprised that in this particular photograph, the oud's pegs have the string names carved on them. Check out the history of the oud, then watch an oud performance!

Music and Rites

I feel that often in our society, we take for granted music that is often standard at certain events. For instance, I could probably play "Canon in D" in my sleep on top of a runaway train filled with pitch-generating metronomes all a half step away from each other (what a cacophony!) that is falling into the Ultimate Pit of Darkness- just from playing it at almost every wedding I have ever attended. However, when you haven't listened to it in a while, (unless you're a cellist and hate every minute of it) it's actually quite beautiful.
If you sit and think about the acts that we accompany with music, it's almost every important aspect of our lives. At celebrations of birth ("Happy Birthday" and its variants about smelling like monkeys), ceremonies about death (hymns are often sung/played at funerals), in religious ceremonies/holidays (Communion, weddings, baptisms, Christmas, Easter), at government-declared holidays (Fourth of July), even at holidays that are made up by corporate America (Valentine's Day... where the sappy love songs reign). We have music for the turning points in our lives as well as the ups and downs.
Most of the time, there are specific styles of pieces that are performed at certain functions, but sometimes there are specific pieces for each rite- such as "Happy Birthday." Also, most of the pieces that are played have a legitimate tie to the occasion. "Auld Lang Syne" is appropriate for New Years as "O Holy Night" is appropriate for Christmas. Most people don't know who the composers of these pieces are, considering that they were written before our generations' times.
The styles of music are very different in accordance to each occasion. While celebratory anthems like "Grand Old Flag" are wonderful for Independance Day, more solemn pieces like some of the intense masses meant for the day of Christ's crucifiction commenmorate times of reflection and sorrow.

Music and Religion

In my experiences, music has been a vital part of religious services. I have experienced music interfaced with religion only through Christian churches. I have seen music is used as: a filler while people are coming into the worship area, an individual corporate worship and praise device, a means of communication, and also during times of individual prayer.
There are also many types of music used for worship. They vary from the highly traditional chants to the contemporary "praise band" worship. Some churches carry variants that lean towards one extreme or the other, but most churches with older congregations tend towards the traditional, while most younger congregated churches tend towards the contemporary. My personal preference is a slight mix of both. Too often I feel that the contemporary sort of worship is a show of individual acts- raising your hands above your head when you "feel the spirit" or perhaps singing on stage... It seems to me that those sorts of contemporary worship services lose the connection to the religion.
However, the traditional-style worship services have their downfalls as well. Though it is amazing that music is used to communicate and sing prayers, offerings, and praise to God (as in the Catholic church), it is often sung in now-dead languages, such as Latin. That makes the "religion" aspect of the music hard to grasp, considering most people aren't fluent in Latin. In addition, the music of the traditional services is commonly played by instruments such as organ or sung with a conventional choir- rarely do either of these appeal to those young worshipers that are engrossed in pop music day in and day out, hence- the attraction of a contemporary worship that is easier to connect with.
I think music is a most appropriate and wonderful way to engage in religion. Praise and worship set to music are prevalent in the Bible, therefore right and good. But to me- in this day and age, music in religious services is a double-edged sword. The connection with the religion seems to be lost in the music, OR, the music itself is lost in the individualized focus.

Malawian Music
http://worldcampforkids.org/Track01.wav
This was obtained from the site of the oraganization that I will be going with to Malawi next January. It's a recording of children singing traditional African music that is indigenous to the Malawian region- most will never receive a formal music education, considering the extreme poverty of the country.

Hip-hop Pow-Wow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzPOEgDe2d8&feature=related
I thought this was hysterical- perhaps a more modern take on a traditional form of dance. I wonder if the spirits accept prayer in hip-hop format?

African Traditional Dancing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paGBMeCdPyE&feature=related
This is a tradition performance of African dance- look for the surprise at the end!

Music and Movement

Music and movement seem to go together naturally. From a very early age, we associate the two inherently. For example, for my entire life, my nickname has been Boogie, because when I was little, I'd dance to any beat I heard- even dripping faucets. The connection between music and movement is inseperable- we move constantly and we always have a beat with us. (If we didn't, that would be bad, considering it would mean we were dead.) Think about it- the easiest way to express emotions when conducting is the manner in which you move your body. Smooth motions that are flowing and gentle will provoke the orchestra to produce the same kinds of sounds. Musicians respond to movement in reflex to the manners of the movements.
Also, the two are internationally infamous. In every culture I can think of, movement and music play important roles. In our studies in the class so far, this is evident in Native American music-culture as well as in African music-culture, dance seems to be an integral part of their life, as does music. According to the Ewe, their ancestors love music and dance- therefore, they hold funerals that feature drumming, dancing, and singing. I was surprised, considering how solemn, still, and formal most Euro-American funerals are.
The music and dancing that is standard in Ewe culture is learned by enculturation- however, the Agbekor is only learned through formal training. In classical European dancing and music, formal training is a must and is very rigorous. I didn't expect to encounter an indigenous tradition that required formal training.

Native American Music

Before I read our chapter in Worlds of Music, I hadn't thought much about Native American music. However, when I read the book and watched the "Pow Wow" DVD in class today that demonstrated the dances along with the music, I realized how integral it was in their culture. On the DVD, different Native American men discussed their music, its origins, and how powerful and significant it was within their culture. In watching the dancers' movements, facial expressions and intensity, it became clear to me that what I was witnessing was not simply an act to attract tourists or something to occupy time, but truly their "connection to the spiritual world" (as one elder on the DVD put it).

Something that really astonished me was the number of the men that were grouped around the drum. As many as ten men (of varying age) were gathered at the drum, each with their own mallet. Although there was more than one man beating the head of the drum, they all hit it at the same time, blasting one single beat together. In addition to their drumming, they all sang. Their melodies are strangely haunting- the contour is a falling sort of sigh that seems to come in waves. Another thing that I love about the singing is the pulsing sort of sound that they produce on sustained notes... It seems like their concept of the intense vibrato that our Western European culture values so highly. It's definitely something that would be interesting to learn more about- I'd like to know its origins and purpose in Native American music.
I also thought the amount of repetition was amazing- in the Zuni lullaby, the grandmother singing continues the pulsing vibrato-like technique during sustained notes, but only uses two pitches throughout the entire piece. However, the words change slightly from verse to verse, causing the slight variation that is so common among Native American music.

Musical Autobiography

As far as musical families go, mine is definitely a quirky one. I couldn't have come from more different musical tastes. My mom's grandparents hailed from Boone, NC. They played the banjo, piano, and guitar and sang country/spiritual songs. My father's parents listened to Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby and lived in New York City. Somehow, I ended up picking up the violin and playing mostly classical music. However, I have had several experiences that have led me outside of Western classical music.

When I was in eighth grade, I attended a fiddling seminar at a local music shop. Considering I started my musical career in sixth grade, that was really my first non-classical experience. A fellow classmate of mine and I learned fiddling licks by hearing and reproducing- a very different learning technique than what I had experienced.

I also played in a rock band the summer before my freshman year in college. Some jazz students from my arts high school were a year older than me and wanted to put a band together with a unique sound. Therefore, they added a violinist- me. We played everything from the Decemberists to The Who. Our name was the Weather and we recorded three original songs in a studio in December of 2007 (and we actually have a couple websites). It was a very different experience and I loved every minute of it.

Last year, I took the MUH 101 class and was exposed to Indian classical music. Since then, I have fallen in love and listen to it constantly. I find it incredibly soothing and complex. It's such a unique sound- tabla, sitar, raga, tala... I can't get enough! I attended an Indian classical concert at the Precollege Building on campus last semester and was amazed. Though the man giving the concert was a little uppity (as some great performers tend to be), his vast experience in Indian classical performance and high regard in his native country were evident in his amazing playing- I was enthralled.

I will be heading off to Africa for a month in January of 2010 to teach HIV/AIDS education in rural villages of Malawi, so I imagine that I will experience some wonderful African musical culture... I can't wait!