is this a vegetable wrap?

I have never before considered that western music is all about tension and release, although now I notice it more often. However, it fascinates me that that is not how everyone views music. Many of the examples that we listened to seemed to go on for a long time without any particular plot. But then we learned that some cultures just play what ever their soul is musing at the moment. We call it improv, but perhaps that is music in its purest from. We see that mindset of music when a child is singing to him or herself. Not playing to tell, or pursue any particular way, just to create music. Our culture, I think, sometimes blinds ourselves with all our regularity and coordination in music. And although we set up these rules, I believe our culture now, more than ever before, has melded such a coloring pot of aesthetics and music. We have so many combinations of music and instruments from all over history and the world. It has created new colors of music that the planet has never yet been graced with. Now, I have been corrupted, in a good way, to observe with new shades of eyes. I am challenged to hear differently. Most importantly, exposure to other cultures requires me to be patient and hear pieces out. Often the true beauty and richness of a performance is not know until after most people's attention span. Also, I am learning to try to understand different aesthetics. There is music everywhere, any thing and anyone can express their soul in this way. Welcome to life!

Barefoot in the grass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7FDQuyzSFQ
I feel that in this course we have noticed not the diversity of cultures, but the common expression of the human soul. This is the Mountain Project. They observe the music and people of the Appalachia and Himalayas. It is a beautiful blend of cultures. Instruments are similar, dance is similar, and the love for life is the same glorious passion that all humanity shares. Right at 3 minutes, children are dancing barefoot in the grass. This is what life is about.
Go DANCE!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJzCa81JJWc&feature=related
Yay life!! Yay Madala players!! The great thing about percussion is you can just do it. You just hit things and it is beautiful, and you can just play your soul for wonderful long periods of timelessness. This drum is two headed with wheat past or something in the center to provide a different pitch. There are so many different tones and rhythms that can come from a drum. It is exciting!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB0s4MTNCr8
This is a Mongolian Man playing a song about horses racing. He has such a variety of ways to make sounds come out his stringed instrument. He uses his bow in many more ways than I have seen in western string players. It is a really fun piece. You can hear the horses. Listen to the common aesthetic between eastern and western culture music here.

HAPPY TABLA MAN!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joyk_EMtzn0

I found our happy tabla player!! He talks through his hands on the drum. At minute 6 he just speaks the rhythms. This is worth watching in its entirety-it is my new inspiration in life. I also life the way that Ravi Shankar claps with both the palm and back of his hand. This will teach you a whole new way to talk. Yes, it is true. All percussionist make weird noises and talk out rhythms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGCIbn5ZT0g

This piece uses traditional "western" stringed instruments to create music with in Indian aesthetics. You can hear the use of quarter tones in addition to the common whole and half tones of western music. Indian music commonly combines voice, drone, and drums. The drone for this piece is the cello.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRVCwQQWAM0&feature=related
Call to prayer. This is a gorgeous mosque. The caller is up in the minaret, which proves to be an optimal position to let the world hear. Notice the echo and the sound scape.

Me and the one tuba player

I have observed the effects of the factor of gender in music since my mother used to bribe my brother with a candy bar to come to church choir practice. Whether it was church or school chorus, boys were a minority, if existent at all. However, I did notice that with adults the statistics were closer. Many of the girls or young women scrambled to join these choruses, and I suppose it took a brave young man to be around such a gaggle of girls. As with many activities of children and teenagers (or indeed all people) I wonder if pursuing musical endeavors was something people of either gender choose, or if it was something imposed upon them by a proud parent.
When it came to starting band in sixth grade, those of authority used a very peculiar method to determine to which instrument we should devote our lives. They simply went through and demonstrated each instrument and had us list our top three picks. Then, they tested or evaluated us to see which one we would play. Looking back on it now, it makes to sense. And I have a strong suspicion that they placed us where they wanted the instrumentation for their current and future bands. This division into categories so early was apparently done with some bias, as we ended up with the stereotype band.
Most of the flutes were female, trumpets-male, out of our disportionatly large trumpet section of 13 only one was a female. Baratones and trombones were males, but the tuba section always had one female. Clairnets were interesting, always a male or two tucked in one of the back rows of chairs. Out of all the instruments, I think that french horn is the only instrument that is fairly distrubuted betwix the genders.
As a percussionist, I also saw the roll of gender in music. I was preety much the only girl ever in the back of the band room, me and the one tuba player. Had to take charge of the back of the band room where they exile such folks as us. It is curious, that every band I ever have played in, the drums, particularly the timpany and the snare, are played by guys, and the mallett percussion, (the bells, chimes, xylphone etc.) were played by mostly the one or two girls in the section.
I think that society has perpetuated very ridgid identifications of instruments to certain genders. And I think this hurts us. Although distinguished orchestras, symphonies, and other musical ensambles show this bias less, it is still very prevelent. What opportunities have been lost, whoes dreams to play an instrument have been imprisoned by lines of gender. Our society has harbored a bias that completly defeats the freedom that music should allow.
Just a quick note. One of the greates things about being around music people, like all of you, is that you know your instrumet. I love/adore/dance that your instruments often have genders and names.
thanks for life!

http://home.earthlink.net/~minermusic/iwonder.htm
This is a picture of an assortment of Latin American instruments. You can see the harp with the large sound board as well as several versions of the guitar. There is also a guitar made form an armadillo. The panpipes are large and small but overall the most awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNAa_iCHa4Q&feature=related
This is a video of a man playing a xylophone in Ghana. This is just another example of how the instrument can be made from anything. The song is simple and repetitive but very interesting. I love how he is just squatting there and playing the song of his soul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlXi_Iq0XGc&feature=related
This is a small ensemble of Latin American instruments and musicians. Note the skill that is required by the deceivingly simple flute. Watch his fingers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEG7yWBBLkw
This is a guitar and harp. This shows how the sound board of the harp can be used for complex rhythms and tempo. So the harp serves as a drum and harp.

Hear me more

My family and religion are fully intertwined. When music is additionally considered, the strong connection continues. My family and I have chosen for our religion The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This has provided me with a very rich music environment. My mom went to college at Brigham Young University in their music program where she studied along with Mack Wilberg. We often watch broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square and my mom will point out the organist and other musicians and singers she knows. In our local church services we are all kind of roped into the musical functions. My brother is the professional page turner of the area (he gets paid well in chocolates), and my mom and I help to lead the music for Sunday services. In this music culture of this church the entire group of assembled people sing in unison from a common hymn book. The mindset behind the music we use in these services is that music is a form of prayer, of communication, of worship. As such, a choir may prepare a special hymn for a particular service, but it is certainly not a required to especially expected part of the regular services. However, when a choir does perform, it is from a group of volunteers with a specially rehearsed song that was very carefully and thoughtfully and prayerfully chosen. The congregational singing of hymns is provided with a simple accompaniment from either a piano or organ. In smaller meetings, they are begun and ended with a prayer and a hymn. For these, if there is not a proficient piano player someone will play out just the melody on the piano or the group will simply sing without accompaniment. Occasionally services will also be joined with a small woodwind or stringed instrument. I have noticed that the aesthetics of music prefers a very particular feel for the type of hymn. In times of reflection during the service the tone is quieter and slower, often with dissonance in the chords. Usually the first hymn of the service is quick and upbeat, I suppose to wake people up to the moment. But many of our hymns are focused on the words, which illustrate the religious doctrine and belief. The music enhances this as the director shapes the experience and movement of the hymn around the meaning of the verse. Holds and pauses, as well as dynamic changes all serve this aesthetic. We have a very functional hymn book. It contains about 350 songs, but it is very well organized and the music arranged in such a way as to make it very accessible to a wide range of worshipers. I have grown very familiar with this hymn book and its hymns, but the coolest experience for me is when I discover new music. It has been AWESOME to hear hymns from other books and people that I have never before fulfilled my life in experiencing. There are fantastic hymns in other religions and I absolutely love expanding to love these and incorporate them into the many songs that run through my mind. Ideas are expressed in so many amazing ways it is a favorite part of my life to discover new ways that they have been communicated. So if you have a favorite hymn could you share it with me, it adds a whole new dimension to my life and soul.

Whistle as you Work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixhKy_QByfs

These fishermen are crazzzzy more beastly than the postal workers. Just watch them rowing that boat against the tide. Whereas the postal workers had a steady beat the whole time, these workers in Ghana steadily increase the tempo as they dance the boat ashore. These work songs exhibit very complex rhythms and several diverse musical materials. They even have a drum in the boat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkNg1feXsT4

This is a small group of African percussionist singing in unison. The group sings in a narrow range and is comprised of male voices. They have an assortment of instruments including clappers, shakers and drums. While the majority of drums are single membrane, meaning they have only one drum head, there is at least one drum that is duel membrane, resembling a bass drum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jSf3iHVyoU
This short clip show several Native American dancers at a Powwow. They are wearing highly ornamented costumes and move to the hard pulse of the drumming. There appears to be some form of shakers or bells attached to the costumes that accent the movement of the dancers.

If this table had ears....

Tis rather remarkable the adventures this table has felt. The food it has held, the bodies it has supported, the messes is has been covered in, the games and imaginations where is has played part, but the best quality of our family dinner table is the funny range of noises its wood components can make. It has been hit with drumsticks and brooms and banged with spoons, colored pencils, and spaghetti. Many a glass bowl and glass has been launched upon a maiden voyage from this table to spread throughout upon the tile floor. Often the small, dangerously tempting pieces of a board game have spilt their contents upon the table’s kindly surface. And always, it is the sound board of all the marvelously interesting sounds of my home.
If tapped like a maple tree, and the musical sound sap compiled in to the recognizable shapes of recorded music scores, this table would keep the percussion section ridiculously busy. The tinkle of glass, the gush of a splash of milk, the thudding patter of a child’s feet seeking escape from a parents grasp, the gurgling gaggle of green houses for Monopoly spilling out over this wooded field, all these are the common sounds in this sap.
But my family is far from common.
I have fond memories of gazing about during a meal and noticing a funny combination of humming a tuneless strain, the spazatic hum and jittering of conversations, and the subtle songs being sung to no particular audience at all. Often it is just this regular lull of sounds, but sometimes spontaneous cadences arise. Someone bangs the table with their fist, this in turn is followed by a tempo that could use a little work on being regular. Then various other rhythms join the chaos. The parts of the hand and body striking against the lovely tones of the several boards of the table provide endless opportunities for loud noises.
I have had many a happy bonding moment with my family members as we make obnoxious noise or music at the dinner table. But music in my home is a thing that occurs as frequently as living. We have parades throughout the house where we have outrageous apparel and grab whatever instrument is nearby and assure that no one is taking a nap. The few minutes at the end of 2009 I spent with my little brother delighting in all the noises we could make with boomwackers on the outside swing.
These musical moments comprise my memories and are the woodwork of my home. We all have some song running through our head and music follows us wherever we go. We act and believe that anybody and anything can create music, and that music should always be played. After all we spend a lot of time at the table.

A Mother's Patience

A Mother’s Patience
Moms are incredible. Somehow my mother has listened to twenty-two years of her own kids banging, I mean practicing, the piano in addition to many years with her other piano students. We were always so insistent that our particular little ditty needed to be played as loud and as repetitive as possible. Our own version of that song needed to be heard by everyone in the house and any possible person out walking their dog. And that to play a piece the correct and best way required a certain emphasis of the fingers, only properly manifest when the entire Steinway upright started brake dancing. Somehow she survived all this, a feat, in my opinion, entirely due to her apparent dominance at mom school. But she also has this unearthly ability to create the most beautiful music while someone much shorter than the piano banged incessantly on a single note or clambering up on her lap taking hostage the availability of several keys.
My happy infancy was spent thus, with the watering of lullabies into my dreams and whistling or humming the song my mom was learning more than she way able to find time to practice. This comprised the music that I heard, the song mom was playing, whatever I heard at church, and all the strange tunes our little hands created.
However, no place can be a music barricade. Everything is influenced. In crept the trombone and then the clarinet my brothers played. Later, I was diagnosed with percussion-random-beat-on-everything-it is, while two of my younger brothers started making some sounds that I think were suppose to be music out of these strange looking coils of metal tubes, some sophisticated persons call them trumpets and French horns. As it is now, the corner of the piano room houses these strange pursuits along with boomwackers and other hitting devices and the best instrument of all, the tambourine.
This is evidence of the music types that school band introduced into my life. We mostly played from the good old American composers and whatever song was possible for us to play and popular at the time. I remember that we once played a short piece from a Japanese composer about a festival. And occasionally when we were combined in county and regional bands we played really cool sounding music from these great musicians from all over. I really have never made much of a distinction or label for the music I experience.
Other than my mom teaching piano and band, the music of my life is brought though interactions with others who share their music with me. My dad works with several men form Middle Eastern countries who have shared some music with our family through recordings of concerts they have been to in their native land. Last year, my dad extended our musical ears by bring back songs from Hawaii.
I have not yet heard all the music I want to experience, but what I have heard has come through wonderful moments of exposure to another person’s colors in life. Quite honestly most of the music I have are the songs in my head or the lovely mixture of everyone at the family dinner table unconsciously humming some unknown tune. But I guess this is what happens when there is a piano in a home with a lot of munchkins.