Final Blog Postings

Hi folks.

So I've had a bit of a change of heart. Your final blog postings aren't due until tomorrow night--Thursday, January 28. And then you'll need to do your final five Comments (and email me your five or include them in a comment to me) by Friday, January 29. The 11:00pm rule still stands.

Your final Blog Entry will be in two parts:

Part I--Cool Stuff

Not unlike past Cool Stuff posts, you'll need to provide us with at least three items. Unlike past posts, though, only some of them need to branch off of our Music-Cultures for this week (Indonesia and China). Some of your posts may wander off into other territories that you find especially intriguing, such as the Music-Cultures that your classmates are presenting or Music-Cultures that we're not even getting to. Just don't post clips or pictures that you already showed us in your class presentations--we need new stuff.

Part II--Wrap-up

Answer the following three questions. Give each at least a few sentences of explanation.

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.

And, just because one of the many micro-sub-topics of this class is "Wow! You can make music with that!", here's The Jeep.

Blog Topic: Music and Gender

Your next blog topic, due Wednesday, January 20, is "Music and Gender." For this blog, I want you all to just muse on how music and gender have intersected in your own musical experiences. Were there certain instruments played more by more boys, or more by girls, in your marching band? Did the bass section act differently from the soprano section in your church choir? Did you find that middle school boys and middle school girls tended to listen to different stuff on the radio, or was it about the same? And, of course, do you find that you experience music differently in Converse's almost-all-women environment than in a mixed gender setting?

I'm sure I've told you all the story about my mother-in-law, Karen. She grew up in Dayton, Ohio, in the 1950s, the second of four children. She really wanted to play the drums (if any of you have ever met Karen, this should come as no surprise--she's one of the most physically active folks I've ever known), but girls just didn't do that in Dayton in the 1950s. So she took piano lessons, like a good girl. And her two sisters played the flute, another acceptable "girl" instrument. (Odd-but-entertaining side note: Karen's mother, Isabel, fondly remembers hearing another piano student from a rival Dayton piano studio from the same time period--young Doug Weeks.) 

Fast forward to Flint, Michigan about ten years ago. Karen, all grown up, decided it was never too late to live the dream. She found a marimba at a pawn shop and signed up for private lessons at the Community Music School in Flint. Over the next few years she practiced diligently, getting good enough to play on a number of student recitals, use four mallets at a time, and give herself carpal tunnel syndrome. The marimba now lives in their guest bedroom in their home in Asheville, NC, where her granddaughter Tally often gets the mallets out of their bag and bangs out various "melodies" on the marimba. And no one thinks that this is weird at all. Girls playing the marimba? Or any other sort of percussion instrument? Totally normal! It's the 21st century in America!

So this is just an example from my own world of how gender can affect someone's personal interaction with music, and how that gender/music link can drastically change over the course of 50-60 years. I'm sure that you have stories of your own to tell. So, please, do so. On your blog. By 11:00 pm tomorrow evening. 

Many Reminders

1. Cool Stuff Friday is tomorrow! Same rules as last time--three+ items, each with at least a few sentences of explanation. Africa and Latin America are both fair game for this round.

2. No class tomorrow. You are welcome.

3. Go to the Quartet for the End of Time Concert this Sunday at 4:00 in Daniel! Go Go Go!!! I just got home from their dress rehearsal, and it's a veritable multi-media extravaganza. Drs. Barker and Robbins are both speaking about POW camps and music and such, Brent Glenn is reading the text that Messiaen provided for each movement, and Teresa Prater has created original paintings to go with each movement. All really quite amazing and powerful. But the REAL reason to go is that they're pretty much playing in the dark, and all of the stair lights are now covered in blue gels. OooooOOOoooOOOoooooo.....

Music and Religion

Your blog topic for Wednesday, January 13, is “Music and Religion.” As we talked about Native American music last week we frequently brought up different ways in which the music and religion of that Music-Culture interact. We discovered that the music and the religion of Native Americans are closely intertwined—song creation is attributed to the Deities, performers will act out the part of Deities (Yeibichai) when singing some of the songs for various ceremonies, and the songs are a most important means of transmitting religious ideas from generation to generation. We also discussed the ways in which stylistic traits of their music can be traced back to their religion—an importance on the cyclic-ness of Nature is reflected in the ubiquitous repetitive format of their songs. These are just a few ways that we discussed the intersection of music and religion in the world of Native America.

As we go through our other Music-Cultures, we’ll frequently return to this music-religion link. First, though, I’d like you to think about the way that music and religion intersects in your own life. You should consider the music-religion link under two rather large umbrellas:

1. Use. How is music actually used in religion in your experience? And what is the purpose of that use? What sort of performing styles are expected, and are there any rules that should be followed? And stuff like that—the practical and practicing side of music and religion.

2. Aesthetics. In your experience, do the prevailing religions of your surroundings influence what is found aesthetically pleasing in music? Is there any way in which the values of those religions inherent in the way music is built or experienced?

Yes, I know, these are pretty huge ideas. I don’t really expect you to exploit every corner of this topic, but I do expect you to think about it at length before you start typing. I also realize that many of you have been linked to more than one religion over the course of your life, or, perhaps, have led a mostly-secular existence. Take the topic and run with it, and see what happens. And yes, I know that several of you have already touched on the Music/Religion link in either your Musical Autobiography or your Music and Family blog. What I'm looking for here is not necessarily an evaluation of your personal experiences (although some of that is ok, too) but more of a general evaluation of music issues concerning a religion you're familiar with.

Comments, Round I

So yes, I know this is late in the game, but that is what syllabi are for.

Ahem.

You will also be periodically asked to Comment on your classmates’ Blog Entries. Comments may only be a few sentences long, but must contain content beyond a simple “Way to go!” Tell the Blogger why you agree with what she’s said, or why you think she’s full of baloney. Point out something she says that you hadn’t considered before, or point the Blogger to a new way of considering her material. All Comments must be written in language that your Grandmother would consider helpful. Comments are also due by 11:00 PM on the days they are assigned.

And, in other rules, you'll need to leave Comments on at least five folks' blogs for each round of Comments, and you'll need to let me know (either by leaving me a comment or by emailing me) which five (or more) you've left.

Let the games begin!

Cool Stuff! and Cold Stuff, too.

Friday’s topic is “Cool Stuff!” As we’ve discussed in class, your assignment is to roam the web (or make use of a good scanner) and find interesting items that pertain to the two cultures that we’ve studied this week—Native America and Africa. You’ll need to find at least three separate items to post, and they need to be posted in such a way that others can experience them as fully as you have (i.e. any links must actually link, any downloaded pictures must actually load, any musical selections must actually play, and so forth.) Also write up a few sentences about each of your items--why you thought it was interesting, what led you to find it, what relevance it has to our class (or anything else). Feel free to get help from anyone you can if you consider yourself technologically challenged.

And be careful if it snows tonight. If it ends up being one of those dreadful SC Ice Storms and all the power goes out, blogs will obviously have to be delayed. Regardless, I'll see you all on Monday in Daniel for Dr. Weeks' Fabulous Slide Show!

Blog Assignment: Music and Family

So I just finished reading the 27th Musical Autobiography and, let me tell you, you folks all have quite a range if experiences. I think you manage to hit every continent except Antarctica. It's especially interesting for me to see how many World Music experiences you had in school or children's choruses, since we had none of that sort of thing about when I was young. I'm looking forward to you all sharing your experiences with the class as we go along through the term.

And now on to your next blog topic: Music and Family. Specifically, Music and YOUR Family. Let us know how your family has used music, and what sort of music they've used, and what sort of effect it's had on your family as a whole (or on individual members therein). It might help to refer to Titon's Music-Culture Model that we went over the first day of class. What sort of Beliefs does your family have about music, and what sort of Activities are involved in music-making? What Repertoires show up in your household, and what Material Objects are involved? Anecdotes are always great communication tools, and, yes, you can get involved with Western Art Music here, since you'll be treating it Ethnomusicologically.

I do know that this might end up overlapping into your Musical Autobiographies a bit, but try to avoid that as much as possible. You all have at least seventeen years under your belt--surely you can come up with 300-500 MORE words about music. And family.