Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Blog 10 - Opera Composer Donizetti
This particular song is started by the singer, Sumi Jo, with a solo and the instruments join in very softly soon after and build their way up. As common in opera, the Sumi Jo uses the vibrato technique, where her voice continues to waver in pitch. To my surprise, there is a supporting choir in the background. Because they are not that loud (as they shouldn’t be because they are not intended to be the main focus of this opera) from what I can tell, they are not using the vibrato technique that Sumi Jo is using. They come in only at certain rare occasions.
I would definitely consider this a type of popular music because there is no possibility that this is a group of amateurs. These musicians are professionals that play for mass audiences. I also find it very interesting how at around 4:52, though the song is not over yet, the audience begins to clap. My initial reaction was that this audience was not educated enough in this type of music to know when to applaud. However, I soon realized that this couldn’t be the case. This is a very formal performance and it is highly unlikely that the entire audience would applaud at the wrong time. I believe their applause was due to their realization of Sumi Jo’s incredible singing talent, which could not help but to be recognized right then and there. It was also funny to see the violinists’ reactions to the unexpected applause in the middle of the performance, as they did not seem too pleased about the sudden interruption.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Blog 9 - Avatar vs. Na'vi
Though the music in the movie “Avatar” that is used as film score and the music known to the culture of Na’vi are very similar, there are differences that need to be noted. However, I must admit, these are not easily distinguished.
In order to see the difference, it is necessary to look deeper into the music than what is at the surface. For example, the reasoning behind the music of the Na’vi music opposes what the music in Avatar is used for. Na’vi music imitates natural noises that are heard, whether that may take place in the surrounding environment or in a person. The drums might mimic the beat of a heart, seeing as everyone living has a heartbeat. But as is seen in the music video below, it has a nature-feel to it, as if it might be played in the forest or outdoors somewhere.
In the case of this example of Na’vi music, there is a sort of drone that varies in pitch and is not as consistent as the type of drone that I am prone to think of when I think of a drone. However, it does exemplify how natural it is supposed to sound.
The music of the movie Avatar seems a bit more serious, and fittingly should, as it is centered around war and love. This song above does not seem as natural, but tends to have a bit more of what we know as classical music in it, at certain points, while still maintaining the natural feel as well.
Though the basis of the music in Avatar may have been from the Na’vi music culture, it is definitely still turned more towards its own purpose of having the serious-war feel, while the Na’vi keeps to the natural sounds of the world around them.
In order to see the difference, it is necessary to look deeper into the music than what is at the surface. For example, the reasoning behind the music of the Na’vi music opposes what the music in Avatar is used for. Na’vi music imitates natural noises that are heard, whether that may take place in the surrounding environment or in a person. The drums might mimic the beat of a heart, seeing as everyone living has a heartbeat. But as is seen in the music video below, it has a nature-feel to it, as if it might be played in the forest or outdoors somewhere.
In the case of this example of Na’vi music, there is a sort of drone that varies in pitch and is not as consistent as the type of drone that I am prone to think of when I think of a drone. However, it does exemplify how natural it is supposed to sound.
The music of the movie Avatar seems a bit more serious, and fittingly should, as it is centered around war and love. This song above does not seem as natural, but tends to have a bit more of what we know as classical music in it, at certain points, while still maintaining the natural feel as well.
Though the basis of the music in Avatar may have been from the Na’vi music culture, it is definitely still turned more towards its own purpose of having the serious-war feel, while the Na’vi keeps to the natural sounds of the world around them.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Music Ethnography - Fellowship Church
Introduction
For my music culture, I was curious to see how another church conducted their worship in another fashion than I was accustomed to, so I visited Fellowship Church of Grapevine, Texas. I normally attend the First Baptist Church of Richardson, but Fellowship has a Saturday night service that is more directed towards the younger generation and sparked my interest.
Methodology
My friend from high school, Preston Patridge, introduced me to this church. I graduated high school with him and he attends UNT, making it easy for us to get together to go to this unique church. In order to further analyze this music-culture, I used several sources. The main one I used was attending the actual worship at Fellowship Church. I took notes during, but I also participated in the worship. The second best source of information that I received was from a personal interview from Preston who attends this church regularly. I also went online to find the website to Fellowship’s main band called Ragamuffin Soul.
First of all, it needs to be known that this church is directed towards the younger church-going generation. This service was on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. in Grapevine, Texas. Due to the focus on this contemporary audience, the atmosphere is much more laid back. This is necessary to know before fully explaining how this church functions.
Ideas About Music
Keeping in mind the modernity of this culture, the origin of the music that Fellowship Church offers in its worship services has a combination of other music cultures, including mainly current ones. Overall, it has a western style because of the similar instruments they use, including the usual guitars, drums, and singers. There were four singers in the front of the stage, one of them leading. They switch off leading the service week by week. To use an example as to how laid back the nature of the performance is, on my visit, the lead singer of this service that introduced the church had a little trouble with her words and admitted to jumbling up her words often and saying “stupid stuff”. It is just that casual and easy-going. The genre it can be most closely associated with is rock. However, the keyboard also adds some of the traditional style of church worship that has been used for a much longer. This “worship” that is mentioned is the intent of their music in this time and space. Granted, there are many forms of worship, but this type of music is used for worship. Worship transcends the act of singing any song or playing any instrument. It’s a personal time between the person worshipping and the God they are worshipping, not caring what others may thing of them but focusing solely on the One who matters. Worship is a very important aspect of this church and is therefore performed at every service, whether that may mean on Saturday night or early on a Sunday morning. It can be performed as often as desired. Normally, they play three to four songs per service at least.
Activities Involving Music
Their main band is called Ragamuffin and has their own album, which can be found on iTunes (Preston Patridge). They can also be found online at http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/. The pastor also keeps a blog, in which one of the subcategories is music, which can be found at http://www.edyoungblog.com/music/. However, the church’s music capabilities are not limited to stage performances by professionals. Members of the church play on their own as a hobby, worshipping Him on their own or with a group of people. Worship includes more than just singing, though. Some may dance and jump up and down; others may raise their hands, or just simply clap to the beat. Any and all of these are gladly welcomed to the performance, but are acted upon only with the intent of praising. Seeing how comfortable people are there makes the atmosphere very welcoming for visitors of any sort, no matter what race, ethnicity or gender you may be. Fellowship Church does have a central region in Dallas, though. Its main campus is in Grapevine, Texas, but it also has other smaller locations located Plano, downtown Dallas, Fort Worth, and another out of the area located in Miami.
Repertoires of Music
Because of this intimate time of worship they create, they compose the music according to what they believe this generation will relate better to and enjoy more. Therefore, composing in the current day is important in order that they may take more meaning away with the words than they would be able to in the fashion of traditional church music. Much more emphasis is placed on the lyrics than many other types of music where entertainment is the main purpose.
Material Culture of Music
However, the band on stage is set up like that of a secular band. The singers are in the very front holding microphones, behind them was the keyboard on stage-right; then moving from right to left was the electric guitar, the bass guitar, and the drums in the left corner. The nature of this church allows the dress to be as casual as desired, but is all prompted by personal choice, performers and audience alike (Preston Patridge). To ensure that everyone has the chance to sing, even though they may not know the song, the lyrics are displayed on a couple, large projectors in the front so that everyone can sing along, if they so desire. This is especially the case at Fellowship Church because much of their music they compose themselves. At least for the Saturday night service that I attended, they did not have music books or, as they are normally known in church, hymnals available for the audience to look at because the use of the screens replaced the need to stand and hold a book while trying to worship.
Conclusion
Though this music culture may seem to have a very common style of today’s secular music that is used for the main purpose of entertainment, it really holds much deeper meaning to all the participants than it may seem to when initially seen, whether you’re engaged as a musician or as an attendant.
For my music culture, I was curious to see how another church conducted their worship in another fashion than I was accustomed to, so I visited Fellowship Church of Grapevine, Texas. I normally attend the First Baptist Church of Richardson, but Fellowship has a Saturday night service that is more directed towards the younger generation and sparked my interest.
Methodology
My friend from high school, Preston Patridge, introduced me to this church. I graduated high school with him and he attends UNT, making it easy for us to get together to go to this unique church. In order to further analyze this music-culture, I used several sources. The main one I used was attending the actual worship at Fellowship Church. I took notes during, but I also participated in the worship. The second best source of information that I received was from a personal interview from Preston who attends this church regularly. I also went online to find the website to Fellowship’s main band called Ragamuffin Soul.
First of all, it needs to be known that this church is directed towards the younger church-going generation. This service was on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. in Grapevine, Texas. Due to the focus on this contemporary audience, the atmosphere is much more laid back. This is necessary to know before fully explaining how this church functions.
Ideas About Music
Keeping in mind the modernity of this culture, the origin of the music that Fellowship Church offers in its worship services has a combination of other music cultures, including mainly current ones. Overall, it has a western style because of the similar instruments they use, including the usual guitars, drums, and singers. There were four singers in the front of the stage, one of them leading. They switch off leading the service week by week. To use an example as to how laid back the nature of the performance is, on my visit, the lead singer of this service that introduced the church had a little trouble with her words and admitted to jumbling up her words often and saying “stupid stuff”. It is just that casual and easy-going. The genre it can be most closely associated with is rock. However, the keyboard also adds some of the traditional style of church worship that has been used for a much longer. This “worship” that is mentioned is the intent of their music in this time and space. Granted, there are many forms of worship, but this type of music is used for worship. Worship transcends the act of singing any song or playing any instrument. It’s a personal time between the person worshipping and the God they are worshipping, not caring what others may thing of them but focusing solely on the One who matters. Worship is a very important aspect of this church and is therefore performed at every service, whether that may mean on Saturday night or early on a Sunday morning. It can be performed as often as desired. Normally, they play three to four songs per service at least.
Activities Involving Music
Their main band is called Ragamuffin and has their own album, which can be found on iTunes (Preston Patridge). They can also be found online at http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/. The pastor also keeps a blog, in which one of the subcategories is music, which can be found at http://www.edyoungblog.com/music/. However, the church’s music capabilities are not limited to stage performances by professionals. Members of the church play on their own as a hobby, worshipping Him on their own or with a group of people. Worship includes more than just singing, though. Some may dance and jump up and down; others may raise their hands, or just simply clap to the beat. Any and all of these are gladly welcomed to the performance, but are acted upon only with the intent of praising. Seeing how comfortable people are there makes the atmosphere very welcoming for visitors of any sort, no matter what race, ethnicity or gender you may be. Fellowship Church does have a central region in Dallas, though. Its main campus is in Grapevine, Texas, but it also has other smaller locations located Plano, downtown Dallas, Fort Worth, and another out of the area located in Miami.
Repertoires of Music
Because of this intimate time of worship they create, they compose the music according to what they believe this generation will relate better to and enjoy more. Therefore, composing in the current day is important in order that they may take more meaning away with the words than they would be able to in the fashion of traditional church music. Much more emphasis is placed on the lyrics than many other types of music where entertainment is the main purpose.
Material Culture of Music
However, the band on stage is set up like that of a secular band. The singers are in the very front holding microphones, behind them was the keyboard on stage-right; then moving from right to left was the electric guitar, the bass guitar, and the drums in the left corner. The nature of this church allows the dress to be as casual as desired, but is all prompted by personal choice, performers and audience alike (Preston Patridge). To ensure that everyone has the chance to sing, even though they may not know the song, the lyrics are displayed on a couple, large projectors in the front so that everyone can sing along, if they so desire. This is especially the case at Fellowship Church because much of their music they compose themselves. At least for the Saturday night service that I attended, they did not have music books or, as they are normally known in church, hymnals available for the audience to look at because the use of the screens replaced the need to stand and hold a book while trying to worship.
Conclusion
Though this music culture may seem to have a very common style of today’s secular music that is used for the main purpose of entertainment, it really holds much deeper meaning to all the participants than it may seem to when initially seen, whether you’re engaged as a musician or as an attendant.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Blog 8 - Difficulties with Analyzing this Music Culture
While writing out my ethnography, I thought all the questions I had answered would be well over enough information to write 1,200 words, but as it turns out, much of it overlaps. Some of the different questions in separate aspects of music seem to have the same answer. The transitions they make are very smooth, but then I keep jumping from aspect to aspect with no direction. It flows really well, if the aspects weren’t taken into account, but that is one of the key points to organizing this paper. So now, I have two main paragraphs that include of the aspects each, and it needs to be organized better than that.
However, it was nice that the interview was able to go so smoothly. The person that I interviewed, Preston Patridge, is a friend from high school that is currently going to North Texas and is also the one who introduced me to this church. Other information that I searched for was easily found online as well.
But my main problem right now is that I need better organization and I need more words. I am at about 800, and though I do not feel completely stuck quite yet, I feel like it is quickly approaching and that more information is going to be needed.
Thankfully, with a little time and effort, these problems of organization and lack of words can be fixed by digging a bit more and really diving into this music culture. The culture deserves more depth than that anyway.
However, it was nice that the interview was able to go so smoothly. The person that I interviewed, Preston Patridge, is a friend from high school that is currently going to North Texas and is also the one who introduced me to this church. Other information that I searched for was easily found online as well.
But my main problem right now is that I need better organization and I need more words. I am at about 800, and though I do not feel completely stuck quite yet, I feel like it is quickly approaching and that more information is going to be needed.
Thankfully, with a little time and effort, these problems of organization and lack of words can be fixed by digging a bit more and really diving into this music culture. The culture deserves more depth than that anyway.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Blog 7 - Fellowship Church
For my music ethnography, I visited Fellowship Church in Grapevine for their worship service. I normally attend First Baptist Church of Richardson, but I wanted to analyze a different type of worship other than what I am normally accustomed to. As opposed to normal Sunday Church services, they have a service on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m.
Their songs are not the popular songs that are known in Christianity, but instead, they make their own songs. They have songs on I-tunes under the artist name of Fellowship church. They contain the same elements as most other Christian worship bands with a guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar, drums and singers. However, they do not have the same lead singer every service. They have a group of singers and they switch off in leading. Here is the link to their worship team.
http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/tag/dex-alexander/
The time and space makes a difference in the audience because the Saturday service provides a way out for those who have a tougher time getting up in the morning and therefore, attracts many young people. Because of this, their service is much more upbeat and lively than what you would normally think a church service would be. Like many other music cultures we have studied, the audience here participates, if they choose, with the music. It is very common to see many of the front-row people dancing and jumping to the music, while people further back will raise their hands or close their eyes. Sometimes, people might even just shout out the words instead of singing, but a definition of singing does fluctuate.
Here is an example of their music style in the Fellowship Church culture.
Their songs are not the popular songs that are known in Christianity, but instead, they make their own songs. They have songs on I-tunes under the artist name of Fellowship church. They contain the same elements as most other Christian worship bands with a guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar, drums and singers. However, they do not have the same lead singer every service. They have a group of singers and they switch off in leading. Here is the link to their worship team.
http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/tag/dex-alexander/
The time and space makes a difference in the audience because the Saturday service provides a way out for those who have a tougher time getting up in the morning and therefore, attracts many young people. Because of this, their service is much more upbeat and lively than what you would normally think a church service would be. Like many other music cultures we have studied, the audience here participates, if they choose, with the music. It is very common to see many of the front-row people dancing and jumping to the music, while people further back will raise their hands or close their eyes. Sometimes, people might even just shout out the words instead of singing, but a definition of singing does fluctuate.
Here is an example of their music style in the Fellowship Church culture.
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