Music in My Culture

We have spent a lot of time with the music of specific cultures: historical Western Europe and the United States, Africa and India. You have read about the lives of composers and musicians from these cultures and saw their affect on society, in general.

Here are some definitions of culture:

• The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group - Wikipedia.com
• The behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group - Dictionary.com
• The customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group - Merriam-Webster.com

and my favorite:

• The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations - Merriam-Webster.com

In light of the definitions, how would you describe your culture? What are some of your shared values among your friends and family? What type of traditions do you have? Is there any special music that accompanies these traditions?

Use this last blog to share your culture and the music from it. Provide links to examples.

(Note: Everyone has a culture. "I don't have culture" or "I can't describe my culture" or anything like that is not acceptable.)

New Artists of the 21st Century

It seems as if a new musical artist is born everyday - or every hour.

When websites such as YouTube can give a musician a viral start to their career without having a professional studio or manager, it makes you wonder how important are these old standards of the profession. How important is years of training and a conservatory education? Let's not dwell on those topics, instead....

I want you to find those new artists.

Find a musician who began their career and became either famous or semi-famous through YouTube. Research them. Try to find out all you can. Do they have a website? Who is their fan base and how do they reach out? Do they have a Facebook following or Twitter feed? What kind of music do they perform? Provide an critique of at least 1 song and provide the video or link.

Happy Hunting!

Rigoletto from Mantua

Watch the film Rigoletto from Mantua presented by PBS Great Performances.

Based on what you have learned about writing about music, write a review of the film.

You may want to pretend you are writing a review for a newspaper or magazine. Describe the performance, music, scenery, staging, and your favorite parts. Do you give it a "two thumbs up"?

(Hint: Don't write a "play by play" description. We have all watched the film. Give us you own thoughts and reflections.

Classics on the Net - Sharing the Classical Experience

For our Blog this week, you are being sent on a scavenger hunt. Go out to the World Wide Web. Find a performance of a musical selection from the Baroque, Classical, or Romantic Period that you find enjoyable. Share the piece with the class as a Comment.

Your Comment must include:

1. A link to the video
2. The Composer's name (not the performer's name)
3. The title of the piece
4. A full description of the piece and critique of the performance.
5. Why did you choose this one?

The musical work must be from the Baroque, Classical, or Romantic Periods. So, you may want to look up the composer before you post it.

Hearing Music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Your author, Roger Kamien, discussed listening to music from this time in the Beyond the Classroom section of your reading.

Click Here to access the website you will explore for the reflection: St. Donatian Mass by Jacob Obrecht.

"On 14 October 1487 at seven in the morning the Saint Donatian Mass composed by Jacob Obrecht commissioned by Adriane de Vos in memory of her husband Donaes de Moor was first sung at Mass in the Jacobskerk in Bruges."
 
Consider the following questions and write a Blog comment with your answers to these and/or other questions you might have. Read your classmates comments.

• What are the performing forces? Only voices, only instruments, or a combination of the two?
• What is the texture of the music?
• How would you characterize the rhythm? Does it seem to float, or flow smoothly, or is there a clearly defined beat?
• Do you hear the instances of imitation between the parts?
• Is the text sacred or secular? In what language is it sung? Are there instances of word painting that enhance the meaning of the text?
• Finally, think back to the class discussion on preservation. Would you consider this as preservation or is it only performance?

Manuscript Preservation

During the reading over the Middle Ages, you were asked to take a few moments and think about preservation of information. In today's culture where every Facebook comment or text message is stored on some hard drive, or super computer, somewhere, and will never be completely deleted, is preservation important to us?

Discuss the power of preservation as seen in the current work by HMML and the effect it will have in the future. Should the works of the past be preserved? Should current literature, music, film, and art be preserved?

You may even want to dig deeper into the topic by researching manuscript preservation and the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library.

Use the Comment section to post your thoughts.

Syllabus Survey

Course Introductions

In any course, it is important to feel comfortable with your fellow classmates. Use this ice-breaker as an opportunity to read about each other and have some fun.

Post an introduction as a comment to the class Blog. Be sure to include:

• Where you are from
• Why did you choose this course
• Your musical background (if any) 
• Dreams for your future.

Hearing the Elements

Using what you have learned about the Musical Elements, write a short (1 page) critique of your favorite piece of music. You can choose any composition to write about. However, I do ask that you keep it PG-13, at least.

Follow the ideas and principles found in the reading you did about Music Criticism to start your ideas flowing.

Here are some starter questions that come from the Beyond the Classroom section of your reading.

• What individual musical elements do you hear? What words might you use to describe each one?
• Does the music use instruments, voices, or both? Which specific instruments or voices do you hear? How many of each do you notice?
• Do any elements change as the composition progresses? If so, which elements change and in what way do they change?
• If you listen to a song, how does the music express the words through its melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo, dynamics, and accompaniment?

Post your critique as a comment to this post. If you can, include a YouTube video or mp3 recording of the example (hence the need for the PG-13 rating).

Your critique is due by 11:59 PM on Sunday of Week 1.