Wrap-up Part 2 (or II or dos or whatever)

Golly Ned! What to say? I'll give it a shot so here goes. In answer to the 3 questions:

1. I guess I learned most about African music. I always knew about the drumming, but never really sat down and listened to it. I also was intrigued by the Native American water drum and found it interesting when I found the African analog of it.

2. As far as knowing my own culture is concerned, I guess I didn't learn anything particularly new. Instead, I just got more confirmation on my own views on the difference between genuine "right" and "wrong" and cultural versions of "right" and "wrong". I guess I'd better explain that in a little more detail. I belong to a church that is world-wide. When the church moves into different cultures across the world, there is a tendency to say that the American way of doing things is the way that God, who just happens to have grown up and lived right down the street here, wants things to be. I believe that to expect Latinos to grow up having taken piano lessons is silly. It's not in their culture. They grow up learning guitar. Why can't they use a guitar in church and serve themselves instead of having to have an Anglo come in to play the piano for them? I just feel that there is a disconnect here and it needs to be looked at. Now - off my soapbox.

3. The cultures presented in class didn't really jump into my psyche and insist on being a new passion. I still maintain a sincere interest in different musical forms and instruments. The course gave me new information about some cultures and I will be able to talk more intelligently about some of them than previously. The world is a wonderful place to explore and learn about. I really hope to visit some of these cultures and learn about them by experiencing them. Thank you for the opportunity to learn more.

That being said, the video I posted in my previous log showing the belfry of the Liverpool Cathedral in action excited a passion I hadn't realized existed. Oh dear, I hope this doesn't mean I'm going to get involved in Change Ringing! There is a ring in Hendersonville and 2 in Charleston and I have a friend that used to do it on tower bells. I've got the resources!

Final Blog Part 1

This last posting will be in two parts just because.

This musical journey will begin in China, where 20 years ago a very intriguing discovery was made while excavating for a new building. An ancient tomb was discovered and in it was a set of 63 cast bronze bells arranged on racks ready to play. This first video is about the discovery.

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

The duplicated sets have been used in concerts with other Chinese instruments. This next video shows one of these concerts. One duplicate set toured the US, giving a concert in Upper Darby, PA, when I lived there. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the entire concert, but the bits that I heard were fantastic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGH24QepCRE

One of the more unique presentations of bell ringing is English Change Ringing. In this type of ringing, a relatively small number of bells (4 - 12) are rung in patterns that continually change in one of a number of specific patterns that take up to 4 1/2 hours to perform. This video shows a bit of the ringing and explains a little bit about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCJw7oOTp3U

The tower bells used in change ringing are very large and very heavy. This next video shows the belfry of Liverpool Cathedral which houses 13 bells, the largest of which weighs about 4 tons. The bells are hung in such a way that the ringers, who are several floors down, can pull on the ropes to ring the bells without undue force. This is actually a very dangerous pastime. Incautious ringers have gotten themselves hung up in the ropes and you never want to be in a bell chamber when the bells are being rung. The noise from the bells can cause deafness or something even more serious. But it is a magnificent sight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5r4m7RGfRA

Handbells were originally developed so that ringers could practice their changes in a nice, warm location (usually the pub) instead of a cold, drafty bell tower. The extra advantage was that they wouldn't drive the neighbors crazy with their practicing! This next video shows a change rung on 20 handbells (that's a lot for change ringing!) performed for a wedding in England. The ringers are using the English style of change ringing on handbells which is different from the way that Americans would do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2vxa5DMMBI

Lastly, and certainly not least, I am giving you a video present. This is a clip from a concert given by Carolina Bronze, an auditioned community handbell choir centered in Greenville, at Daniel Chapel at Furman a couple of years ago. In the part where you can see the entire group, I'm 3rd from the right. Yea, I like ringing bass bells! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pwKEUKSgn4

And Even More Cool Stuff!

First up is a video of Munir Bashir and his son Omar Bashir playing the oud. Bashir was an Iraqi master of the instrument and held a doctorate in musicology. His academic studies led him to respect this music and decry its commercial use. Enjoy this wonderful music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3G7VW1RMks

Next is an interesting work by the current master of Bollywood music, A R Rahman. This piece was performed at a festival in Sydney and represents a fusion of the traditional sitar music of India and modern music. Rahman can be seen playing the piano. He is an Oscar winner for his score for the recent hit, "Slumdog Millionaire".

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

Lastly is an example of Greek Rembetika music. This music originated in the mass exodus of ethnic Greeks from the coastline of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) in 1922. These 2 million Greeks were forced out of their homes by the advancing Turkish army and settled in the slums of cities in Greece since the land was too small to hold them all. This music has been called Greek Blues. This recording is by Rita Abatzi, one of these emigrants. The name of the song is Yia Pes Mou Afti Pou Agapas (Tell Me About the Woman You Love). The recording is from an old 78 and dates back to the 1940s. She stopped recording after World War II and died in 1967. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQM8-AXFyns

Music and Gender and other musings

Well, first of all, I empathize with Dr V's mother-in-law, Karen. Drums were definitely not acceptable for a girl when I was growing up. It was shocking to see a girl playing any brass instrument so I mentally scratched my head when the principal horn player my junior year was a senior girl. And she was very good, too.

I was given a flute to play. My parents at one time considered the violin, but ended up settling on flute. I got no choice in the matter. They gave my sister a clarinet, another acceptable "girl" instrument. It really didn't surprise me when both of us switched to other instruments in junior/senior high school. I migrated to oboe which was played by both boys and girls but my sister went to string bass, a "boy" instrument.

I remember the controversy during the Women's Lib movement when pressure was put on the New York Philharmonic to allow women to be members of the orchestra. Professional music in this country was definitely the domain of the male.

A lot of things have changed during my lifetime and those of you who are younger have no idea what things used to be like. My first stint in college was not in music (OK, I did marching band my freshman year and they were so bad I never went back!) but in chemistry. Of our final graduating class of 15, 5 were women. I don't know for sure, but I don't think that any of the women went on to get PhDs. Many of the men went on to get PhDs, MDs or whatever. I got a Masters but life circumstances hindered my attempts to get a doctorate. My first job out of college, I got paid less than a man did in the same position and that practice pretty much followed my up until my last job in science. For the most part, my immediate bosses knew what I could do and appreciated me but I had some problems with those higher up who assumed because I was female, I couldn't do the job. I remember one job where I was the token female member of the group. I didn't stay there long.

When I went back to music, I went back to oboe and had to rent one (yep, it was that bad!) to play again because I never had one of my own. I found that the gender differences in performing groups had changed with women and men playing nearly every instrument. The hardest hurdle for women has been conducting the symphony orchestra. Even today, there are no female conductors of a major symphony orchestra, although a couple are getting close. Also, there are few female composers whose compositions are played frequently. Actually, there is an area where this is not the case - handbell music. I believe there are equal numbers of prominent female and male composers of handbell music.

In my lifetime, I've seen a lot of changes. My grandmother had to drop out of school in the 8th grade to take care of her father and siblings when her mother died - she was the oldest girl. My mother had a full-tuition scholarship to what is now Southern Illinois University in teaching, but her family was too poor to pay for living expenses so she had to settle for secretarial school. I've been to 4 different universities working in 4 different programs and 4 different degrees. Times have really changed.

I rejoice in the changes but I also see a lot of room for more improvement. There is still gender discrimination to some degree in nearly all areas. There are still old school ideas out there in the minds of some older people (not all). The old idea that "a woman is only going to get pregnant and have a baby and quit working and all of our investment in training her is going to waste" is slowly getting changed to see that a woman raising a child of either gender is in a position to shape the attitudes and future abilities of that child and the next generation.

My musings have wandered a bit afield of being only about music, but everything intertwines. A fine woven tapestry is not made from one color of yarn, but many different colors. And all of those colors combine to create a work of beauty. There are similarities (it's all yarn) and differences (colors and maybe textures) but everything is necessary and depends upon each other to function properly in the finished product. All of the experiences we have in life influence the way that we view life. The struggles that I have had will be different from the struggles that many younger women will have but the fact is that we all have to struggle with something. It is the grace and wisdom that we get when we overcome our difficulties that define us.

Additional Brazil!

I debated last night about including this song, but I enjoy it so much, I wanted to share it. I have it in several different versions, but this is my favorite one. It is called Sambadouro by Ivan Lins. If you use Last.fm, you can listen to it there at Sambadouro. This version is by Sergio Mendes. If you aren't dancing by the end of it, there's no hope for you! Enjoy!

Fun Music from Brazil!

I've been in love with Brazilian music for years. One of my earliest exposures to it was with Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66. (I recently found a CD of old Brazil '66 hits and got it!)

One of the most recognizable forms is the Samba. Samba is best known for its connections with Carnival, the pre-Lenten celebration. Think Mardi Gras. Samba societies abound in Rio de Janiero and they spend all year preparing for the parades of Carnival. A well-known example is heard in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0wt-NSv2ao. More information can be found at http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/samba_782/en_US

Another common form of music from Brazil is the Bossa Nova. It dates from the 1950's and has enjoyed world-wide popularity coming from the pens of such noted composers as Jobim. A sample video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32_tkje6NjU (this is fun) and more information can be found at

http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/bossa_nova_697/en_US

The last major musical form of Brazilian music is Choro. This is not as popular as the other two and so I had to look a bit to find some videos. I found some imbedded in a blog at

http://choro-music.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html

An overview of Brazilian music and these forms can be found at

http://www.coastonline.org/mml/topic/topicsSearch_detail.php?id=288

Have fun! This stuff is great!

Religion & Music

I guess I can't think of religion without thinking about music. The two are inseparable in my mind and in my experience. I have heard of religions that do not use music, but they are not common.

As noted in earlier postings, I have participated in church music for most of my life in one form or another. I have sung in choirs, I have directed choirs. I have rung in bell choirs, I have directed bell choirs. I've written music for both. I've played piano and organ as well as other instruments in church. I noted earlier that I sometimes think my father chose his church by the quality of the music program. It wasn't the only factor, but it was a factor.

The way that music is used in religion varies widely. I don't have personal experience with non-Christian traditions, and although I have read a lot about them, I will comment on the Christian sects with which I have had experience.

Christianity for the most part uses music to emphasize certain parts of the worship service. It is used in praise of God (however God is defined), to teach the words of God, and to emphasize specific teachings of the religion. Perhaps the most important function of music in worship is to set the tone for the service so that the participants will be more receptive to the words that are spoken. Music can be nonverbal (prelude and postlude) or verbal. It can be sung by the choir (anthems) or by the congregation (hymns).

Hymns are extremely interesting and many studies of hymns have been done. I personally have a collection of over 300 hymn books of many different religions in several different languages and notations. I very much enjoyed the symposium last year about Singing Billy Walker because I had studied about him many years ago. I have compared some of the hymns from one book to another and have observed differences between them. The same hymn may appear in different books with modified words, different numbers of verses, or completely different words.

The presentation of music in different churches is also very different. I work in a Methodist church directing the handbell program, something that is not common in my church. I find it ironic that the church headquarters in Salt Lake City have recently started a handbell choir, and although it does not enjoy the stature of the other more established organizations (such as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), the handbell choir still exists and over time will take a more prominent place within the church. At the same time, I sometimes see things performed in other churches that I'm not comfortable with. I realize that many will disagree with me, but personally, I have a very difficult time listening to rock music in church. And some of the churches that use praise bands have a hard time understanding why many of us really enjoy the "old" music. Some churches sing nearly everything and others use a couple of hymns and a lot of speaking. And we all call ourselves Christian.

Does music make the religion? I think it plays a very significant role in some cases, but I do believe that religion definitely makes the music. Where reverence is emphasized, the music is quieter and more reflective. Where praise the emphasized, the music is louder and more energetic. And there are many places in between. I have contended for many years that we listen to the voice of the god that we hear and I think that applies to the music, also.

You might have guessed that I think about this a lot and I do. Both music and religion play significant roles in my life and sometimes reflecting on how they work together is appropriate. I believe that they are completely intertwined as I have heard angels sing with mortals on more than one occasion. I believe that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ like heartfelt music, too. It's nice to be able to serve in a way that I enjoy.