What I have learned

1. What is something you learned about another culture this term that surprised or intrigued you?

2. What is something that you realized about your own culture through our discussions.

3. What is something that this course has inspired you to learn more about.

1a. I learned a lot about the geography of the different countries. Something that was interesting to me was African music and the way they express themselves through music in everyday life. It wasn't just something that someone specialized in...it was something that everybody was 'naturally taught from day one! I also enjoyed the post man song, I will never forget that one.

2a. I thought the day that we talked about the Blues was so cool. I did not know that much history of the blues and learned a lot about our culture and really who's to give credit for a thriving genre.

3a. I would like to learn more about the blues and the scales and improvisation that is used. I would also like to study more indian music. The different instruments used to create an ensemble really make the entire genre more different. I would be interested in playing with a sitar and drum rather than 3 other stringed instruments like we do today.

Cool Stuff Tres

This video shows how intricate this dance is. I would really love to see how this dance style originated. It is sort of cool because the dancers are in synchrony with the musicians. Enjoy.

Wow. This is a very different set up of an orchestra than what I am used to. This is the information for this video in case you are wanting to listen to more!

chinese music in the Golden Hall of vienna erhu

vienna new year's Concert 1998
Erhu and Orchestra
"Reflections of the Moon on the Water of Erquan"

Composed by Hua Yan Jun
Arranged by Wang Zu Jie
Soloist: Song Fei
China Central Chinese Orchestra
Conductor: Chen Xie Yang

I thought I would take us back to the Sahara. Pretty nice beats I would say. 

Field Study

My grandmother's experience with music has instilled in all of us an interest and support toward our musical endeavors.  My grandmother was one of a set of twins and was the 6th-7th member of a family of 8 children.  She was born in Tipton, Iowa and lived in a small farmhouse of modest means.  She did not have the opportunity to have private music lessons or attend music performances other than local offerings at the high school gym (Tipton, Iowa).  My grandmother joined the army when she graduated from high school in order to receive an education.  She became a registered nurse and served in the army until she met my grandfather.  She always loved music and had an appreciation for all types of music.  In listening to music in her youth she most probably listened to music played on records that were available in the 1940 - 50's.  My grandmother was born in 1924 so current ways of listening to music were not even invented at this time.

     My grandmother did love the music that was offered during these years.  She loved the "big band" music in addition to Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra.  She liked to watch the Lawerence Welk Show and enjoyed listening to various ensembles as presented by performers at various Bob Hope shows.  These shows were offered to members of the armed services. My mother said that as a teenager she remembered that my grandmother enjoyed listening to Elvis Presley music.  My grandmother and my grandfather attended a live performance of Elvis Presley shorlty before he died.  They were disappointed in his performance as he was rather bloated and not as quick and professional as they thought he would be.

     My grandmother always instilled the importance of music in her children and grandchildren.  My grandmother took piano lessons from a neighbor in Vermillion, South Dakota starting in the 2nd grade.  My mother took lessons every year as did my three aunts.  When my mother entered high school, she learned how to play the clarinet.  She was a member of the high school band.  My three younger aunts also played instruments and participated in the high school music programs.  My grandmother continued to take private piano lessons up until the last few years.  She is now 85 years old and has arthritis making it difficult to play. She still continues to attend local music performances and has a great appreciation for those that can play and perform in the field of music.  My mother attributes her love of music and ongoing interest toward all that my grandmother instilled in her as a child and youth. 

I am very grateful to her for all that she has made possible.

More Cool Stuff

This is so cool. If you watch it all the way through you can really hear when they transition into another key and rhythm. It is expressive the way they show spirituality through their body and through their voice. This is a traditional dance from Chetugu, Zimbabwe. Enjoy.

This is a video that describes the way music is used in Africa. They dance, drum, use the mbira in this video and more. The man who is speaking explains the spiritual aspect that music has on the people.

This is my favorite video out of all. It shows how music is apparent all the time in their lives. This is what these kids do on their free time. Go out into a field with friends and have a good jam. One boy has a shaker, the other two are playing with their thumbs like we watched in class.

Music and Gender

I have been very involved in music throughout my entire school career and have participated in many ensembles where there were co-gender classes. Actually, Converse is my first ever 'all girls' school.

I will start back from as far as I can remember. I started playing the violin in fifth grade at my public elementary school. I chose the violin because I was very little and I liked the sound of it. Most guys played the cello. The ratio of guys to girls in the class was like 1:5. I guess it wasn’t that ‘cool’ for a guy to play an instrument.

For sixth grade, I auditioned to go to School of the Arts in Charleston, SC. This was a school that focused on the arts, so there was a diverse population of both guys and girls in my class. Our bass player was actually a girl, believe it or not. My teacher was a woman. When I transferred to Moultrie, a public middle school, I was around the same sort of diversity. Entering into high school, I decided not to play in the orchestra because the teacher who was also the conductor (if I can even call him that) was terrible. I know this because he was the same teacher for Moultrie Middle School. I joined the choir instead. The choir was made up of various choirs such as Ladies Honors, Senior Show Choir, Junior Show Choir, Men’s Choir, Gospel Choir, and so on. Since our high school consisted of 3,000 people or more, there were plenty of boys and girls involved in the different arts. Since stringed instruments aren’t aloud in marching band, I stuck to choir. It was an audition process to go on to the next choir. I was in Ladies Honors for a year which was just women obviously, and then Senior Show Choir for two years.

I definitely enjoyed singing with Ladies Honors and the music that we created with our ranges was beautiful. Senior Show Choir was completely different. We sang show tunes, musicals, and of course the classics of Eric Whitacre, and more. We did a little bit of everything since we had the talent. We also danced and had partners.

Men give a whole different perspective to the arts. As I got more involved in different ensembles, I worked with more men. I appreciated the input and talent they gave to make the ensemble even better. I do think that different instruments appeal to men more than women or vice versa, but that should never determine if a women or man should or shouldn’t play the instrument. I have a good friend of mine who plays the fiddle with me and he recently started playing the penny whistle. He loves it and is very good at it. Plus it works out for the both of us to have another instrument in our ensemble. I play multiple instruments including the mandolin, bodhran, piano, and violin. Though the drums are thought of as a ‘man’ instrument, this never stopped me from trying them. 

Cool Stuff

Old aborigonal playing didgeridoo to techno music at Circular Quay, Sydney. This is very original and I think it is awesome how different instruments can act for different genres depending on the person and their influence of music.

This is an incredible art. Let's get this started in the US!! It is interesting how they use the 'pole' in other cultures. In America it can have the connotation of a pole dance. In India, it is used as an art form. 

I guess you can really make a drum out of anything. This guy is a street performer. He shows use in pots and pans, trash cans, and more. It is really interesting to see him do different rhythms.

Music and Religion

I have attended many different religious settings where each place of worship had a different type of music. I believe that to one extreme, music goes hand in hand with spiritual worship. Music and religion have one thing in common, they are intangible. Music connects people through emotion and senses.

I will tell you some of my personal experiences with music and religion. I have always been playing at a big community church down the street from my house called Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian. I was in the youth choir during my younger years, as well as the instrumental ensemble they offered. I shared music with brass instruments and wind instruments, as well as other string instruments. We, of course, would play for the Easter and Christmas services, usually receiving some sort of reward when we were done. Being a musician myself, I think it is safe to say that my emotions are stronger when I am the one playing my instrument than just being the one listening to the music. This past Christmas service, we had a new music director. He cut the instrumentalists and there was not a lot of music during the service. Standing in the pew singing along with others was great, but it affected me in a different way.
When I am not playing in church, I am usually not there. I attend a service at the Charleston Tibetan Society. There is a long-time practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism who leads the worship. We sit on little throw pillows on the floor. He starts by leading us all in a meditation chant. This is an incredible experience and there are no instruments producing the music. It is all sung by the human voice. People express themselves and use their vocal chords to do so. In this sort of religious setting, I feel like music symbolizes unity within a religion between the gods and the people. Singing a meditation in unison is expressing the belief in that specific worship place.

On the other extreme, I believe that there is music written out there that does not however belong in the church. This does not mean it is less spiritual to the person who wrote it. It is just more personal.

As far as connecting world music to world religion, I have to state that music is like an expression of the soul. And if you really believe in something such as a higher power, then it is all in your right to meaningfully express to that higher being through music and through your soul.

That is my sermon for today.