Wrappin' It Up One thing that I learned was that all music does not sound the same. This sounds obvious, but it surprised me what things some people do or do not conciser music. Most of the songs we listened to from other cultures confused me. I kept trying to count them in Western tempos but it never matched up. The instruments were also so cool to me. At first I wondered if America really had a culture. It took me a while to realize that the pop songs that I hear on the radio and the country and the rap and the blues and the spirituals are all apart of our culture. I felt quite proud that though the United States is young, we have had such a great influence on the world's modern music. I really liked hearing the different segments of the different kinds of music. I wish that we could have gone a bit more in depth into the technical of each instrument and learned more about Chinese opera. When writing the blog about the Chinese music, I res...
Posts
Cool Stuff! no. 4 (Southeastern and Far Eastern Asia) A few years ago when I was a freshmen in high school we were given the assignment to write a compare and contrast paper. I chose to write one about opera, specifically the difference between Bel Canto and Peking Opera. To be honest, until I wrote this paper, I had no idea that there was a specific technique to singing Peking opera. Over the years I completely forgot about this paper and my findings, so I thought it would be fun to look up more information about it. While in Bel Canto opera, we rely on breath control and the resonance of the opera house to project our voices over the orchestras, Peking uses a technique called Jingju utilizes a shrill upper register to be heard over the orchestra. Laosheng, or older men, sing in a natural voice while the younger men (xiaosheng) sing with falsetto. One similarity between Bel Canto and Peking is that a good upper register is valued. Fo...
Music and Family For this blog I interviewed my dad. I knew that he had played some music in his past and I know that his side of the family is the musical side. A lot of my cousins are really good at dancing and some of them sing as well. What kind of music did you listen to as a child? Rap. What was you favorite song? I had many, my favorite was biggy smalls. Is that still you favorite song? No. How often did you listen to music as a child? I listened to music all the time. Did you play any instruments as a child? Yes I played the saxophone (alto and tenor) I also played a little piano. Do you still? Why? No, I have had an instrument to play for a while. I do play around on the piano when no one is at home. Did you sing at all as a child? If so, was it performing or just at home? Yes I song in Competition with choir. Do you listen to music more now than you did as a child? I listen to less music now ...
Cool Stuff! no. 3 (Arabic and Indian Cultures) This section was probably the first I had heard Arabic music or listened to Indian music beyond the background track of a documentary. One instrument in particular that interested me was the Mijwiz. I thought it was strange how it was like playing two flutes side by side. It is still somewhat bizarre to me that they are held together by a string rather than just being made together. Maybe it would effect the sound that way. Or maybe it's just easier to make separate. Apparently it plays over an octave. When played, the two melodies are played in unison. Another instrument that I found interesting was the Qanun. When we watched the video of that one guy playing it, it surprised me how complicated the instrument looks. All of the strings and the levers and the metal picks that are worn on the player's fingers. One of the Indian instruments I found interesting is the Sarod. It doesn't have ...
Cool Stuff! no 2 (Black America & South America) I was never previously antiquated with South American music, African American music, however, that I know at least something about. My dad is black and very interested in ancestry and some day would like to visit Africa. My parents had me and my siblings watch a lot of movies about slavery and racism. One of the things that showed up the most in these movies was gospel and spirituals. One of my favorite spirituals has always been "Swing Low Sweet Chariot". When I was younger I learned a Spiritual called "Lift Every Voice and Sing". This spiritual is the black national anthem. At first I didn't know that this was the black national anthem, and after my mom told me, I never though much about it. After looking up the words for this blog and reading them I realized how much pain were behind the words and the significance of it. The words are: Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring Ring with th...
Music and Gender Gender has not affected me or my music much. The only instruments I have ever played or wanted to play were always acceptable for either gender to play. After a rather traumatic move from Indiana to Minnesota which resulted in many cars damaged due to deer choosing to cross the street at inopportune times, I joined the choir at my new high school. The choir was rather large with the biggest section being the altos and the smallest section was the bass’s. The Basses sat behind the sopranos, and the tenors sat behind the altos. Our choir had a yearly tradition of each section of the choir competing in games for a trophy likely bought on ebay. It was during the two day retreat that was supposed to make us all bond. Each section would pick a game to host and the other sections would play the games, each section racking up points until one won. I always hated the soprano’s game, it was the same one every year. The sopranos would all be Princesses an...
Cool Stuff! no. 1 (Native American and African Music-Cultures) Native American music was originally used to pass along all sorts of information, such as their history. There are some descriptions of Native American music written by Europeans, however, these descriptions are written with great prejudice . The phrase powwow has become an over and misused one. I found this out a few months ago. I was talking to my mom and said something about a powwow when she stopped me and asked if I even knew what it was. I had absolutely no idea what the real meaning was, so my mom showed me. This was the video she played for me. I did not really know anything about Sub-Saharan African music, or Sub-Saharan Africa in general until recently. Modern Sub-Saharan African music includes Polyrhythm, a layering of rhythms. They also have call and response music. They use the pentatonic scale. These are a few videos I found after searching "Sub-Saharan African Music": Th...