Wrap up

1. What is something you learned about another culture this term that surprised or intrigued you?

While I found a whole lot of things in this class spectacularly interesting, I would say that the Islamic recitation was surprising. I would have definitively considered this song, and I still have a hard time convincing myself that its not singing. I also cant get over the Chinese face changing dancers, and the African thumb pianos!

2. What is something that you realized about your own culture through our discussions.

Since our country is basically a huge melting pot, it was great to see the music that influenced our country from all these different cultures.After this class I feel like I can separate the specific cultures that impact different musicians in America.

3. What is something that this course has inspired you to learn more about.

Where do I begin?! Basically everything we covered sparked an interest in me to learn more. I feel like I have added a few more travel destinations to my list now.  Just to name a few: Indonesia, India, China, etc...

Cool Stuff!

I loved the Chinese Opera videos we watched in class. My favorite part was where the guy kept changing masks, so i decided to look some more stuff up about it. I came across this news reel of the performer He Hongqing, who is reported to be the fastest face mask changer.

This next video has all sorts of spectacular goodness in it, fire breathing, face mask changing, fan dancing , and some extremely long and amazing feathers!

I really enjoyed listening to the Gamelan and watching the shadow puppets when we looked at Indonesia in class. I came to find out that there weren't that many great videos of shadow puppet performances, but I found this one that's pretty good. It doesn't show the puppets, but it shows the musicians and singers which is interesting.

Follow up

I wanted to post the song that my dad mentioned. "Ohio" is a protest written and composed by Neil Young in reaction to the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970, and performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I agree that looking into the past is completely relevant, and this is just one example of the way that people gave a voice to victims of the times through music.

And here's a video of photos from that horrible indecent.  I recommend listening to the song above while these images play (the audio has been disabled).

Music and Family

Interviewee: Stephen T. Sawyer (born: August 16, 1952)

Interviewer: Miranda Mims Sawyer

What kind of music did you listen to as a child?

Well let’s see.  I listened to soul music, classical, rock and roll.

Do you have an example of those?

I liked to listen to Tijuana brass, Chicago, Sam and Dave, Wilson Picket, and Percy Sledge.

What’s the first type of music that you can remember listening to as a child?

Probably gospel.  On Sunday mornings.

Did you go to church or hear it on the radio?

I would hear it on the radio, in church and on television. They were all filled on Sundays with gospel music.

And that's what your parents liked to watch?

(mm-hmm)

Did you ever go out dancing to any of the music you like to listen to?

Yea, when I was a kid in grammar school and high school. We used to have sock hops.

Sock hops?

Sock hops.

What kind of music would they play there? 50’s?

50’s and 60’s. They played a lot of the old music like "Run Away Girl", and a groups like that from the late 50’s , early 60’s. But they had bands. We would go, and take our shoes off in the gymnasium and go dance.

Was it all live music?

(mm-hmm)

 That's pretty cool. So do you think that  what you listened to was the acceptable music of that time?

Oh, back then all the older generation didn't like it at all, especially rock and roll,  and Elvis.  They were more Frank Sinatra, Perry Cumo, Bing Crosby and all those guys.  But yea, that was a big deal when Elvis started and the black music had a lot to do with it too.

Right because that's where he got a lot of his music from.

Yes, that's were a lot of it came from. But Soul music was a big thing.

Did your parents try to keep you from listening to it?

No, they'd just say “Turn it down.” My mother used to get confused, (back then I listened to a lot of Aretha Franklin and Wilson Picket) and holler at me and say  “ Turn down that Aretha Wilson music.”  She would always get them mixed up.

Wasn't Wilson picket a man?

(mm-hmm)

She couldn't tell the difference?

She just didn't pay attention to the names. She just knew that she didn't appreciate all the loud music. She didn't really listen to music.

No?

She was a reader. She would read all the time. She liked it quiet.

Did you play any instruments?

I played clarinet in grammar school and we started a little band and I played bass. (Mimes playing bass, “dom dom dom dom dom”)

So you played bass?

Yea, and mamma didn't sing tenor.

Did your band play in public or was it just for fun?

We played at a couple little sock hops.

What were you called?

The Trademarks. Hang on Sloopy was one of our favorite songs if that gives you an idea of the kind of music we played. We played covers, nothing original.

Did you get paid?

(haha) We got in.

I know you said something about listening to African American music, but other than that, do you think you were exposed to any other cultural music that wasn't your own?

Well, I liked a lot of the earthy gospel and you know like the "Mamas and the Papas". The late 60’s, early 70’s groups back during the war, the Vietnam war." Simon and Garfunkel", "Jefferson Airplane".

Do you feel you liked these bands because of the message that they were trying to get across?

Yea, it was a big deal. The war was a big deal. I mean the general public was totally against it.

Do you feel like the music that they played this is a good representation of that era or your generation?

A lot of it did. Woodstock was a big example.

What kind of influence did music have on you?

I liked soul music because I liked to dance to it. I used to go to a lot of dances to meet girls.

Now when you say dance what kind of dancing do you mean?

Back then it was line dancing, fast dancing; we did the Boogaloo and other stuff.

Do you feel like that genre was better for dancing than the others?

I think it had its own rhythm to that beat. It wasn't jumping up and down and twirling and all that but it was more dancing to the beat and line dancing.

Did you see African American bands, or just reproductions of their music by Caucasian people?

Oh I used to go, those were the groups I would watch. There would be an auditorium show with 5 or 6 African American bands at one time. “black bands”. All at one time there would be , Sam and Dave, Wilson Picket, Percy Sledge, I cant remember them all. But they would play one after the other.

What kinds of crowds were there?

Mostly black. They were wild. They would get in their seats, they would dance in their seats.

Did you feel out of place?

We were out of place. We were tokens.

Did they treat you like outsiders?

No, everyone just had a good time. There were a lot of drunks, because pint and half pint bottles would fly out of the crowd. A lot of people got hit down on the floor.

Do you think if you hadn’t got to those shows and been exposed to that music, you would have turned out differently?

I think it had a lot to do with it , but I don't know if it  was the music or the times. I think the times had a lot to do with the way we all turned out. The music reflected the times and the times were very unstable. I mean a song that was real popular that was about a tragedy was: "Four dead in Ohio”, it was almost like a riot. It was about students protesting the war and they got killed for doing it. And Woodstock was a big deal too.

Do you think that the music from that time period helped shape the face of music up until now? Do you think that it was an important aspect?

Yea, sure. There were all different sorts of music, like bubble gum music, of course you didn't have rap, there wasn't such a thing, but there was a lot of instrumental music that I liked. I always liked brass and string bands too.

Do you think that music now a day is a lot different, as far as what it means?

Yea, I don't hear as many songs that have much of a story, except maybe country.

Do you think that it's a story worth hearing?

In some cases it is, and some it isn’t. Country music is more about heartbreak between a man and a woman. But back then it had a lot more to do about not going to war, and how we shouldn't be there, because we were just dying for no reason. And nobody wanted to go, nobody supported it. There were crooked politicians. I know there always crooked politicians, but when head of the country is called out, then you know you got a problem.  The music then was all about freedom. Psychedelic and freedom of choice, freedom for everyone to do what they wanted. The hippie scene coming out of California spreading throughout the country had a large impact on me, especially in my early teens.

Do you think it was successful as far as the era?

I think it molded. The same people then aren’t the same now.

Do you think that this musical scene lead to the way to were we are today?

I think it all builds. We are all some of our own experiences.  What goes around comes around, but it seems like it was more innocent back then. Everything was more innocent, more earthy.

Do you have any thing that you want the younger generation to take away from your experiences with music throughout your life?

Just slow down, and listen to the things around you and the music that's there. Live in the day and don't let it pass you by. Go back and listen to older music and maybe you can learn something. I think all that music back then is worth listening to, you can always get  something from it.

So you think that that music is still releant?

A lot of it is. You know now it's a different war, but its still war.

Cool Stuff!

When looking up traditional Latin American instruments, I came across the pan flute. While I know its low brow, I'm going to have to post an episode of South Park.  I couldn't get it on youtube, but the entire thing is streaming online, and its completely free.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s12e10-pandemic

And here is an actual person playing the pan flute.

I found this other guy that plays too, Gheorghe Zamfir. I can't say for sure, but I'm almost certain this song, "Einsamer Hirte" was in Kill Bill. I loved this song when I saw the movie(s) and still love it! I like the fact that this guy is Romanian too, and his appreciation and love of this type of music.

This next video can't come close to the last one, but I needed to post it due to the superb classic feeling of the filming and production.

Music and Gender

When I was in elementary and middle school, I played the violin. Most of the kids in my class were female, but there were a few males. I remember that the boys that played bass were known as being more “tough” than that of the boys that played the violin. I think that the ones that played violin were even picked on for playing that instrument. Perhaps a violin was too small to be considered masculine? I also remember that there were only males that played bass.  It makes sense to me because the bass has a lower quality of tone than that of a violin, and the violin could be portrayed as having a more girly, or “pretty” sound. That is pure speculation on the subject, but one must consider the confused sexual identity of the male gender in its pre-adolescence splendor.

When I was in high school, almost all my friends were connected to a band in some way. Mostly they were all male bands, with a few females thrown into the mix from time to time. Some did have both genders but it was rare. I can’t even remember one that consisted of all females. All the bands that I am thinking about had a closely related sound that consisted of a singer, 2 guitars, drums, bass, and sometimes keyboard. The females that I would see play would sing for the most part, but some would play guitar, keyboard, or bass.  I think my music choices were mostly based on what people around me listened to when I was out, and then what I would listen to at home. Unfortunately as a teenager with a musician boyfriend, whatever he listened to I would listen to most of the time.  On the other hand, the social environment in Asheville was great to listen to lots of different kinds of music. On any given night there would be some sort of drum circle or acoustic guitar on the street to listen to; the street musicians were male and female.

Being at Converse hasn't necessarily determined my musical listening choices, but some of the people within my classes have suggested musicians that I wouldn’t have come in contact with otherwise.  Since I currently do not play an instrument, I can't say how being in a school with almost-all-women has affected me in that way. As an artist, I can understand how gender can play a huge part in expectations and roles of women within a specific group.

Cool Stuff!

The first thing that  want to share is photographer Zig Jackson's website. He is of Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara descent. Some of his work touches on his heritage, but a large part of his photographs have a more political basis. He points out the spectacle of being a Native American in modern day society and the amount of infiltration contemporary American culture has had on his peoples' traditions.
http://www.zigjackson.com/index.html

I decided to look up something that related to the Cherokee Indian tribes. My great great grandmother was full blooded Cherokee, so this culture has always interested me. This is a clip from a Cherokee war dance. Just as a side note, you have to love the irony of the guy in the backpack that just walked right through a war dance.

I was looking into some traditional African instruments that we had discussed in class. While watching some videos of people playing thumb pianos, I stumbled across this video. i think its great because it shows a variety of instruments and the music itself i great!

The sound on this next video is great too. I'm still baffled as to how one person can make all these sounds simultaneously on the same instrument. Not only is this song great, but the way the inside of this instrument looks is amazing!