Week 3- Listening

Title: Báidín Fheilimí

Performers: Na Casaidigh

Culture/Origin: Ireland

Orchestration: Voice, Guitar, Whistle, Pipes, bodhrán

Reaction:

In her article "Deep Listening to the Musical World" Patricia Shehan Campbell outlines the 3 phrases of musical listening.  I felt this song would be good a good candidate this idea of musical listening.  While it may not be a song for the beginning listener, it does have many qualities for good, musical listing.  I found this piece to be the most relevant for Campbell's second phase of musical listening, Engaged Listening.  There are multiple instruments and parts to this song creating a challenge for a good listener.  By asking a student to play a long with one of the less predominant parts to this piece of music, the student could learn a great deal.  For instance, I had a bit of trouble defining the orchestration of this piece, but by listening closely to one part at a time, I found it easier to identify the different parts.  Not only will a student acquire better dictation skills with rhythm, but students will be able to better learn the difference between different musical instruments that may sound quite similar.

Week 2- Authenticity

Title: Follow the Drinking Gourd

Performer: Patricia Eredia
Culture/Origin: America- African American Slaves

Orchestration: Voice and Guitar

Reaction: When I think of Follow the Drinking Gourd, I remember learning it in elementary school and later about the meaning behind it.  The "drinking gourd" referred to the north star and slaves were told to "follow the drinking gourd" along the Undergroud Railroad to reach the North and receive their freedom.  African American Slaves had many of these spirituals to get them through the long, endless days of forced manual labor, and they would unite with these songs.  While I have never met Ms. Patricia Eredia, I feel her performance can be at least somewhat considered "authentic."  While she is clearly not a slave seeking freedom in the North, she puts emotion into the song.  Additionally, the whole audience gets involved with clapping much how the slaves would unite due to these songs.  Paticia uses soul in her performance, and thats what the slaves' spirituals were all about, soul, and the will to unite and move forward another day.  

First World Music Listening Blog Post

In response to "Chapter 2: Thinking About Instruments" from Thinking Musically:

Title: Turkey Plates in a Party Store
Performers: GarageBand Instruments
Culture/Origin: America
Orchestration: MIDI sounds, GarageBand Loops, and Digital Audio

My Response: Well, I actually composed this song myself for Music Tech last semester, but I found it relevant to the chapter on instruments because I use jazz loops, middle eastern influenced loops, as well as a turkey gobble, all of which use different instruments.  The organization of the instruments in my composition give it the feel of possibly shopping at a grocery store for Thanksgiving dinner and remind the listener not to over look my favorite holiday.  (You can find a mini-rant of mine about not over looking my favorite holiday in an earlier post of mine in this blog.)  While I realize the idea behind this blog for MUED 305, World Music is to discovery music outside our usual listening purview, I found myself thinking about this piece all throughout the reading of this chapter.  I mean, where else are you going to find a piano and a cello homogeneously working together rear-ended by a heterogeneous turkey gobble?