I attended the African Drumming and Dance Ensemble on Thursday April 3rd in Opperman Music Hall. As someone who does not consider themselves very knowledgeable about concerts, I was very curious as to what I might have to gain, learn and even just expect out of this concert. I chose to attend the African Drumming and Dance Ensemble because it was one of my favorite presentations during class and the music felt uncomplicated and from the soul. I was also not sure if it was going to be similar to what I had seen in our class presentation or something entirely new. I hoped it would help me tie together everything we have learned about the role music plays in culture, tradition and life in general.
When the ensemble began, I quickly noticed all the musicians were dressed in Traditional African clothing and found it very interesting that through music many of these non- African natives were able to learn, absorb and most of all respect the culture that they were creating music from. The beauty of music is that it transcends distance, time, language, culture and makes barriers overlap and just by the wardrobe of the ensemble I was able to tell that that notion had really shined through. This ensemble was a great example of how culture and tradition can be passed through music, it shows how African music is an indicator of how people in the African culture feel, behave and express themselves in similar ways, it is a representation of the culture as and reveals a lot about the internal workings of the culture. It touches on the traditional aspect of culture as well because the clothes and music have been passed down from generation to generation and plays a part in the identity of the African people because they are representing themse...
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...ether to create music. It was very different than western music in the sense that it seemed and felt very community based and the reliance on each other is what keeps the music flowing. I feel as though this concert really brought together a lot of the themes we have learned in this class, not only in our section about Africa but each section and it helped bring to life what tone, rhythm, timber and form really are for someone who is not very musically inclined. Throughout time, community, through music, has been able to manifest itself in any place and I feel as though this is what this ensemble proves, it shows the individuals as part of the whole, working together to communicate the story and struggle of African people. So, this shows that music is a form of communication, forever bringing new ideas, thoughts and aspects of a different culture to a new audience.
Music nurtured the African American tradition and their struggle towards equality in the same century.... ... middle of paper ... ... Greensboro, N.C.: Morgan Reynolds Pub. Carter, D. (2009).
...xcited to have this experience. Part of the drama of the concert at first is felt when the musicians come in and sit down and begin tuning up their instruments. I would not be able to comment on the performance of the orchestra. During the performance, I seen the audience were moving with the music, but I felt like that everyone seems knows more music than what I learned throughout this semester. After I went home and did some of the research on these music I finally understand why these people like to attend the orchestra concerto, it was because that every piece of music has a history behind it. The Los Angeles audience seemed to me to be people who know music and who will listen to something new in a respectful way. All the same, when the more familiar sounds of the last piece were heard, I could feel a little sense of relaxation and fun coming into the room.
The band played together in such harmony and joy, and they exchanged looks as if they're talking to each other and understood by looks. As it turns out the guest go the nigh George Gazone was the professor who taught the band members music. Garzone Played the Saxophone like no other, he’s solos were magical it was fascinating watching him and the admiration his student have for him. The music sounded beautiful, yet seems the band are not well prepared for the evening. There was a lot of improvisation and as if every band member wanted to show off his skills which was really good. Improvisation is an element of jazz I was looking for, also, there were a lot of call and response between the band members different ones at each piece they played.
The Laidlaw Preforming Arts Center’s spring concert for the Wind Ensemble was a great production to show the community the talents students have. Most of the pieces had a nationalism feel to them, but each one was much more different than the next. The student of this band did an exceptional job of conducting and playing during this concert.
All of the musicians, writers, and artists shared a common purpose. This purpose was to create art that reflected the Afro American community. Through this era, African Americans provided themselves with their cultural roots and a promise for a better future. Music in this era was the beginning. It was the beginning of a new life for musicians and African Americans.
Over the course of this class I feel like I have become a much better writer. When I go back and look at some of my Journal entries and assignments that I did at the beginning of the semester, I can’t help but tense up at some of the things I wrote. Sometimes the things I was writing didn’t flow well, or I might have even have missed glaring grammar mistakes.
Composition 1 taught me crucial writing skills and helped me grow as a writer. At the beginning of the semester, my papers utilized a considerable amount of passive voice, lacked transitional phrases, and the context was not always fully developed. But throughout the class, my writing became more clear, organized, and comprehensive. Passive voice allows the object of an action to be the subject of a sentence. In my first paper, the formal summary essay, I wrote, “The term describes situations, dating back to the 1980s, when excessive numbers of blacks were found to have been exposed to highly polluted areas.” The use of “were found” and “been exposed” distort the meaning of the sentence. Passive voice confuses the reader and makes comprehension
“How Musical is Man?” was published in 1974. This book was written by John Blacking, a musician turned social anthropologist. His goal in writing this ethnography, and several other papers during this same time period, was to compare the experience of music-making that takes place within different cultures and societies throughout the world. In this book, he discusses and describes the musicology of the Venda people in South Africa. Though he does go to Africa to research and learn about the Venda people and their music, he specifically states that his book is “not a scholarly study of human musicality” (ix), but rather it is a summary (written from his point of view), which is both expressive and entertaining, of several different issues and ideas that he has seemingly been contemplating for some time.
This piece was what really let me know that it was the right decision to come for the performance due to the mind blowing feeling that my mind and soul were being touched by the melody and that the piece was telling me a story about times in the past. I found myself cheering for the performers with the rest of the audience and felt that I was getting the full jazz experience. The rhythm was uplifting and the saxophones really controlled the voice of the
Musical concerts are undoubtedly an incredible opportunity to experience a great aesthetic pleasure by listening to the musicians perform in front of your eyes. The power of music can hardly be overestimated – it can transfer a number of messages, thoughts and feelings through the performed sounds. Therefore the one can comprehend the music in the best possible way only when it is heard live. Musical concerts are often revelatory and highly impressive experiences to me. This essay thereby aims to provide my reflections and impressions of the concert of Gregory Porter & the Metropole Orchestra which I had the opportunity to attend in Nashville, TN.
Throughout the semester, various styles of music and the aspects of culture associated with these styles have been analyzed. Musical elements such as dynamics, texture, form, timbre, melody, instruments, etc., have been used to thoroughly explore each kind of music from different areas of the world, with an emphasis in music from Africa, India and Indonesia. These aspects of music go far beyond just music itself. Culture also plays a huge role in music and the accompanying musical elements. Each country and culture has a different style and distinctiveness that add to what makes the music of that certain culture unique. Music in Africa may differ dramatically from music in Indonesia or India not only due to those certain elements but also due to how it is interpreted by people and what it represents for those people. In addition to this, what one may consider music in one culture may not be music to another. These differences have been made apparent in the several demonstrations that we have been exposed to in class.
There are several different ways in which music can generate empathy. One way that music is used to create empathy is through the reconciliation between black and white people in South Africa. Cynthia Cohen claims that “music is well-suited to the work of building peace, because it can facilitate communication, understanding, and empathy across differences of all kinds” (Gray, 2008, 76), and for reconciliation in South Africa, this rings true. People presented their cultural music to the other side and they listened to gain a better understanding of that person’s perspective. During the time of reconciliation, it was important to show all views about apartheid, because “a poor understanding of what happened before us always leads to a. Poor
The environment was quite welcoming, and people felt comfortable with each other. This allowed for the audience to fully enjoy the music without any disruptions. Another factor that made me enjoy the jazz festival was the feel-good music that was played at the festival which served to encourage the audience to get up and dance. Thus, diversification is a significant lesson to grasp when observing music because all music has different origin from another genre and acknowledging this gives the person to become more diverse as an individual.
For me personally, music appreciation is defined as looking at different pieces of music and musical forms, and learning to find appreciation for them. This appreciation is formed not only by listening to several pieces of music, but by learning to understand what you may be listening too. This involves introducing yourself to many pieces of music and learning to interpret, what makes each piece different and unique. Understanding the historical background and societal changes that have taken place during the creation of the musical piece, is also an important factor to consider. Music is not only creative, but it also makes up part of a societies history. Music is an art form that connects different societies and cultures together, it possess the amazing ability to make us into one.
Music has played a role in society since the dawn of man. Said to be the beginning of communication in early civilization, music and dance have influenced how we think, act and treat members of our own society. Song and dance is used in rites of passage ceremonies such as births, weddings and funerals throughout the world. Jamaican and Yoruba cultures have made many contributions to our society. The uses of this music as a vehicle for political issues, values, and beliefs have been used by many musicians from different cultures. I intend to discuss the Contribution of these two contemporary cultures music and their effect on society.