Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Blog 6 - Japanese Noh
This was a Japanese Noh performance in Senedagaya, Tokyo on the Hatomori Shrine stage. They performed on September 8th, 2007 for the Autumn Festival. This is an example of the musical ensemble that normally goes along with noh dramas. These type of ensembles are called hayashi. This hayashi had a slow tempo, as is the tradition of Japanese music. However, keeping in mind ethnocentrism, their idea of slow may be different than theirs. If they are accustomed to slow tempos, then this could possibly be a faster tempo performance, but based on our Western music culture, this is very slow. Because of this decrease in tempo, they have more temporal spaces between notes, also known as ma. The sound varies throughout the performance and therefore the ma can be more noticeable at certain times than at others. Though much Japanese music may not be considered pulsatile because of the slow tempo, this piece is pulsatile. From what I could decipher, this was a homophony with the chants as part of the harmony.
Chants are very common in Japanese music, especially in these type ensembles. These exclamations are called kakegoe in hayashis. Though three-fourths of the instruments are drums, they each play their own specific part, none of them playing the same pattern at the same time. It has more of a layered effect that strays away from synchronization.
Noh’s are known to tell stories, which is why it is considered a classical theatre of Japan, instead of plainly a type of music. This may not be factual, but supposedly in this video, the actress on stage is wearing her purple robes of her husband who passed away. After looking into the well, which is the box seen in the front, she sees her reflections and believes it to be her deceased husband. I wish I could better understand the message or story they were trying to give through this theatrical scenario.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Blog 5 - Hindustani Classical Music
Though at first this performance may seem like someone posting their music on YouTube just because they wanted to show off their musical talent to the online world, this is not the case. Ranjan Roy, better known as Maharaj meaning “The King”, is actually a popular musician whose music is played frequently on the All India Radio (A.I.R.). He is an Indian Classical star.
In this video, Maharaj is playing the sitar in a very pulsatile fashion. The sitar is a five-string chordophone that is plucked. There is a bit of ornamentation in this song with the addition of a chime or triangle of some type, but otherwise, all the sound was homophonic and came from the sitar. The song as a whole is of conjunct motion, though there are certain intervals that are not as small compared with the rest of the intervals in the song. In India, Raga is an important principle of guiding the melody that I believe Maharaj uses. Though it is common for Indian music to have a nonpulsatile introduction, also known as an alap, he does not begin this song this way. The beginning is pulsatile, but yet sets the tone for the rest of the song quite well.
In the description of this video, the publisher noted that the original music video of this particular song was three hours long, but had to be cut short for YouTube purposes. Improvisation is common to Indian music, so I am taking an educated guess that this song was improvisation. Also, raga is often over an hour long, and this video fits this description very well.
In this video, Maharaj is playing the sitar in a very pulsatile fashion. The sitar is a five-string chordophone that is plucked. There is a bit of ornamentation in this song with the addition of a chime or triangle of some type, but otherwise, all the sound was homophonic and came from the sitar. The song as a whole is of conjunct motion, though there are certain intervals that are not as small compared with the rest of the intervals in the song. In India, Raga is an important principle of guiding the melody that I believe Maharaj uses. Though it is common for Indian music to have a nonpulsatile introduction, also known as an alap, he does not begin this song this way. The beginning is pulsatile, but yet sets the tone for the rest of the song quite well.
In the description of this video, the publisher noted that the original music video of this particular song was three hours long, but had to be cut short for YouTube purposes. Improvisation is common to Indian music, so I am taking an educated guess that this song was improvisation. Also, raga is often over an hour long, and this video fits this description very well.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Chinese Cultural Exchange
On Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 8:30 a.m., students in the Student Art Troupe of the University of International Business and Economy from China met with our class of UTD students to have a discussion of our different musical cultures.
We began by asking the UIBE students more about their music. They showed us some of their folk music with some personal on-the-spot performances and also a couple songs from the computer. When a couple singers sang a common folk song for us, their pitch varied greatly, but not in the same way as we are accustomed to. The pitch varied within the same word, having very short increments of pitches. They sang from the top of their range to the bottom of their range very quickly, and it was very different from that of the West, or at least in my opinion. However, other songs sounded as if they could be popular here as well. One man played a song on his guitar and it sounded very similar to our culture’s style of music.
When we asked them to tell us about some of their popular music, they gave us a few names and songs. One that I looked up and really enjoyed was Liuhuan’s “You and Me” that was actually used during the Olympics. This is only one example of the popular music they suggested to us. It is common in their style of music to sing using their nose or singing through their nose and another student showed us briefly how it was done. In this video, when the woman begins to sing around the minute and a half mark, it is apparent that she isn’t singing the way most Americans would.
However, when we tried to tell them more about popular music here in the U.S., we focused more upon how diverse our people are and how it varies from one person to another. In my opinion, we never gave them clear examples of our popular music, though one of their students asked about Lady Gaga.
Overall, though our music cultures were very different, they were still more alike than I had originally thought. We seemed to have the same idea of Blues and many of the music sounded similar, with the exception of the language. This discussion with actual Chinese musicians gave me a better idea of what their music is like.
We began by asking the UIBE students more about their music. They showed us some of their folk music with some personal on-the-spot performances and also a couple songs from the computer. When a couple singers sang a common folk song for us, their pitch varied greatly, but not in the same way as we are accustomed to. The pitch varied within the same word, having very short increments of pitches. They sang from the top of their range to the bottom of their range very quickly, and it was very different from that of the West, or at least in my opinion. However, other songs sounded as if they could be popular here as well. One man played a song on his guitar and it sounded very similar to our culture’s style of music.
When we asked them to tell us about some of their popular music, they gave us a few names and songs. One that I looked up and really enjoyed was Liuhuan’s “You and Me” that was actually used during the Olympics. This is only one example of the popular music they suggested to us. It is common in their style of music to sing using their nose or singing through their nose and another student showed us briefly how it was done. In this video, when the woman begins to sing around the minute and a half mark, it is apparent that she isn’t singing the way most Americans would.
However, when we tried to tell them more about popular music here in the U.S., we focused more upon how diverse our people are and how it varies from one person to another. In my opinion, we never gave them clear examples of our popular music, though one of their students asked about Lady Gaga.
Overall, though our music cultures were very different, they were still more alike than I had originally thought. We seemed to have the same idea of Blues and many of the music sounded similar, with the exception of the language. This discussion with actual Chinese musicians gave me a better idea of what their music is like.
Blog 4 - Ay Mardom by Googoosh
I picked Ay Mardom because I was able to find the translation for the lyrics. Reading about Googoosh gave me an idea about her purpose, but knowing what her lyrics said gave me an all-around better understanding.
Ay Mardom has the style of Persian pop style that also contains some Western homophonic texture to it. It begins with basic chordophones that remain the predominant instrument throughout this obviously pulsatile song. About a fifth of the way through, the membranophones come into play, and the middle of the song is homophonic with aerophones as the supporting harmony with the melody still playing. But the majority blend of the string instruments and the percussion is what really makes the song superb. It has a simple duple meter with great accent on the first beat.
I believe she is one of the exceptions to the functions of music that the textbooks points out. Though her songs are mainly known as popular music and she is trying to give hope to many people, by doing so, it becomes a form of art music in the fact that she is more concerned about her “depth of expression” than solely selling it to mass audiences. Her lyrics are far too sophisticated for just money purposes. In my opinion, these two cross because she a professional creating this beautiful music to a large number of people as her way of communicating to people the struggle of an Iranian, or an Iranian woman to be more specific.
Ay Mardom has the style of Persian pop style that also contains some Western homophonic texture to it. It begins with basic chordophones that remain the predominant instrument throughout this obviously pulsatile song. About a fifth of the way through, the membranophones come into play, and the middle of the song is homophonic with aerophones as the supporting harmony with the melody still playing. But the majority blend of the string instruments and the percussion is what really makes the song superb. It has a simple duple meter with great accent on the first beat.
I believe she is one of the exceptions to the functions of music that the textbooks points out. Though her songs are mainly known as popular music and she is trying to give hope to many people, by doing so, it becomes a form of art music in the fact that she is more concerned about her “depth of expression” than solely selling it to mass audiences. Her lyrics are far too sophisticated for just money purposes. In my opinion, these two cross because she a professional creating this beautiful music to a large number of people as her way of communicating to people the struggle of an Iranian, or an Iranian woman to be more specific.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Blog 3 - The N'Awlins Gumbo Kings
On the Friday night of January 22, 2010, the N’Awlins Gumbo Kings played their own art music of jazz at 8:00 p.m. in the Conference Center of UT Dallas. The performers each wore suits, but none completely matching each other. The man who played the clarinet and saxaphone, Mike Sizer, wore an awesome hat to top off the look. The crowd was composed mainly of seniors, who seemed to be somewhat familiar with each other as if this was a regular event to attend. However, there were also a few students in attendance as well, most of whom walked in late. The fact that the performance was on a late Friday night might account for the lack of students who came.
Their stage was set up to where the stationary instruments, such as the drums, bass, and keyboard were located near the back; whereas the mobile instruments, the trombone, trumpet, and saxophone, were found in the front. The pitch of their first song was very versatile. The high and low notes simultaneously created a flowing harmony. Like the rest of their songs, the first one was syncopated with duple and simple meter of a high frequency. The saxophone held the melody for the majority of the opener. Meanwhile, the trombone and the trumpet walked around stage casually, just enjoying the sound. All of their songs were obviously pulsatile. There was no doubt that their music wasn’t strophical because you never heard the same thing twice. It was easy to see that they all had good rhythm because they seemed to deeply enjoy their music, as their faces and body language showed it, which led me to believe they were a form of art music above anything else.
You can get more information about them at
http://www.gumbokings.com/default.htm
Their stage was set up to where the stationary instruments, such as the drums, bass, and keyboard were located near the back; whereas the mobile instruments, the trombone, trumpet, and saxophone, were found in the front. The pitch of their first song was very versatile. The high and low notes simultaneously created a flowing harmony. Like the rest of their songs, the first one was syncopated with duple and simple meter of a high frequency. The saxophone held the melody for the majority of the opener. Meanwhile, the trombone and the trumpet walked around stage casually, just enjoying the sound. All of their songs were obviously pulsatile. There was no doubt that their music wasn’t strophical because you never heard the same thing twice. It was easy to see that they all had good rhythm because they seemed to deeply enjoy their music, as their faces and body language showed it, which led me to believe they were a form of art music above anything else.
You can get more information about them at
http://www.gumbokings.com/default.htm
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