Week 5-Structure

Title: Amazing Pencil Tap Rap

Performers: (He may say his name, but I can't really understand him)

Culture/Origin: Classroom Boredom

Orchestration: Voice, Pencil, Desk

Reaction: Wade spoke a lot about the idea of composition vs improvisation.  Jazz was mentioned along with multiple other traditions within other cultures such as India and China.  When I was reading about Wade's ideas I thought about goofing off in the back of the bus on music trip, and how someone would start a beat and everyone else would join in.  The next thing I thought was what you see in the video above, pencil tapping, the added bonus in the video above is rapping.  Many wouldn't consider the above video composition, but if you think about it, improvisation is merely on the spot composition.  To be more specific, Wade defines improvisations as, "a compositional process in which a musician exercises relatively great flexibility with given material during a performance."  While I fully agree with most of Wade's definition, I have a problem with the last three words, "during a performance."  Improvisation can happen, as you can see above, during random periods of the day.  Personally, I was fond of tapping out fun beats to keep myself occupied during my less exciting classes in high school.  Sure, it wasn't a Bach Cantata, but it was a fun beat that I created a tune to in my head.  Composition can happen any where at any time, no performance necessary.  Heck, you don't even need tools we consider "instruments."  Why carry around drum sticks when pencils are much smaller and weigh less?

Week 4- Selecting Music with Integrity

Title: Babylon

Performers: Don Mclean and his audience

Culture/Origin: Judaic-Christian Tradition, Pslam 137. 

Orchestration: Voice, Guitar

Reaction: This is the version of "By the Waters" that I am accustomed to singing at Tisha B'av, a jewish holiday in remembrance of the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem.  However, at a reading session at OMEA for the Middle School/Junior High level, I came across a new arrangement of this song, arranged my Catherine Delanoy.  You can view a copy of the score at the website.  In the article we read, "Music That Represents Culture: Selecting Music with Integrity" by Carlos R. Abril, Abril states, "The key [to authenticity] is in determining how much can be lost before the music is no longer a reflection of the culture purportedly being represented."  He also talks about "Cultural Validity."  At the beginning of Delanoy's arrangement of "By the Waters,"  I actually didn't recognize the song.  However, once we got past the beginning section, I realized what the songs was.  At first, I was a little upset by Delanoy's arrangement, but I realized that the song did, in fact, maintain a tone I found appropriate for the song, and while she embellished the beautiful, simple musical lines of the song, the arrangement proves to have excellent teaching tools for middle school students.  Thus, Delanoy kept within Cultural Validity of the song by maintaining an appropriate musical tone, and as long as a music educator looks up the context for the use of the song, that educator will ensure to maintain enough of the musical context to uphold a strong "reflection of the culture purportedly being represented."