Module 6-World Music Listening

Title: Chinese Shaabi

Artist: Young Chinese Girl

Culture: Chinese

Instrumentation: guzheng, backing track

The talent of so many young musicians has been brought to life to me through this World Music course.  This young lady is playing a Chinese instrument called a guzheng.  On this instrument the strings are plucked as well as bent down on one end to bend the pitch throughout the song.  This is a remake of the song "Chinese Shaabi".  As far as children's play in music is concerned, it seems that she has gained many skills in the culture, language and playing of music.  Based off of Lew and Campbell stating that play in music "assist them in their development of language and reasoning skills" (2005. p. 58) would that play still continue to benefit a young person of this maturity? 

Resource

Campbell, P.S, Lew, J. C-T. (2005). Children's natural and necessary musical play: Global contexts, local applications. Music Educators Journal, 91 (5), 57-62.

Module 5: World Music Listening

Title: Caravan

Artist: Primavera Latin Jazz Band

Culture: Puerto Rico

Instrumentation: Flute, Bass, Piano, guitar, drum set, Latin percussion instruments

Campbell stated, "When music is treated respectfully, with ample time given to its study, it is often a source of pride for people from a culture to hear their traditions-or new expressions reminiscent of their traditions-performed by those who have given their time and energy to it" (2014. p. 193).  One of the composers of the song "Caravan" was Juan Tizol, who was born in Puerto Rico.  He included many sounds from that culture in his composition and it is present in both the original recording by Duke Ellington's Big Band as well as the Primavera Latin Jazz Band.  The most important thing about performing music from another culture, or even music from our culture that was written by someone else, is that we give it the attention that it deserves before performing it.  We must understand what is important to that culture and that style of music before we expect to teach our students about that cultures music.  

References

Campbell, P. S. (2004). Teaching music globally: Experiencing music, expressing culture. Oxford University Press.

Module 4: World Music Listening

Title: When our Mother Smiles

Artist: Lim Chi Ye

Culture: North Korean

Instrumentation: Oungum, string backing-track

I found another piece of North Korean music using traditional instruments, but it did not include a title or artist.  Both of these videos feature a North Korean instrument called the, Oungum.  This instrument is a pear-shaped, lute type instrument with 4 or 5 strings.  It can be played using one string at a time or using chords in a fast strumming manner.  

This is something that I have never heard before, and am glad that I came across this style of North Korean traditional music.  The upside to authenticity is that the students get the "actual" experience and can understand a little better what that culture goes through to make their music and how it is made.  The downside to trying to be authentic is that many times we do not have the time or the resources to do so.  While music such as this could possibly be recreated on another stringed instrument in our culture it would not have the exact same timbre and feeling as it does on this oungum instrument.  At a minimum, we can show our students model videos and listening tracks of authentic world music, even if when we rehearse music or do live examples we have to use non-authentic instruments.  It is not the most ideal scenario, but we could cover more cultures this way and give our students the opportunity to perform during class.  

Module 3- World Music Blog

Title: Bali: Music for Gong Gede

Artist: Bali Gamelan Musicians

Culture: Balinese Gamelan

Instrumentation: Various Percussion Instruments

After reading about the gongsmiths and the process that they must go through to create even a single gong instrument, I decided to try and find some cultural music that include many metal type percussion instruments.  I came across Bali: Music for Gong Gede which includes many percussion instruments.  As far as context of this piece, many Balinese gamelan pieces can last for long periods of time and can even include interpretive dance that goes along with the music.  In many cases the context of this music is telling a story of their culture to those that are listening.  In this piece for Gong Gede the beat is provided by the largest gong and the music goes through cycles of fast, slow, loud and soft.  The context of this particular piece was for public ceremonies and special occasions such as temple festivals of the Bali people.