Week 6

1. Title of piece: Hand Clapping
2. Performer(s): Students from Kenyan Connect School
3. Culture of Origin: Kenya
4. Instrumentation: Voice and Body Percussion

The video that I chose for this week is a a series of clapping games from Kenya that are performed by students from the Kenyan Connect School.  There are five different hand clapping games shown in the video clip.  The selected games show the importance of play as well as the role of socialization and working together.   Play is said to be a cultural "cause and effect" in the simplest form, culture and play each contribute to the other (Campbell & Lew, 2005).  Based on this video, I believe that this captures what Campbell and Lew were discussing in the reading this week.  The video clip shows the connection between culture and play in the Kenyan community.  In order to be successful and meet their common goal, these children must work together to preform the hand clapping games.  They are also working on developing their musical skills.  All of the hand clapping games include chants.  They are also using body percussion to accompany the chants and are having to use a high level of coordination to follow the rules of each hand clapping game. 

I enjoyed watching all of the hand clapping games in this video, however I found the third clip interesting because it took your traditional hand clap and turned it into a game.  In the third clip, one of the circle games involves turn taking and an elimination aspect.  The children stand in a circle and pass the clap around the circle.  At the end, two children are then trying to hit the other child's hand.  They have three tries to do it, if they do not succeed they are out.  If they do, the other child is out. 

Campbell, P. S., & Lew, J. C. (2005) Children's natural and necessary musical play: Global contexts, local application. Music Educators Journal, 91(5), 57-62.

Week 5

Title of Piece: Variations on a Korean Folk Song 

Performer(s): Auckland Symphony Orchestra

Culture of Origin: Korea

Instrumentation: Winds, Brass, Strings and Percussion

One of my favorite instrumental pieces is "Variations on a Korean Folk Song."  Based on the simple pentatonic melody of "Ahrirang" and bringing in multiple variations of the melody throughout the piece, I believe that this piece highlights many of the points that Campbell discussed in this week's reading.    Campbell (2004) discusses the importance and significant of recreation in the reading and that it is not the only worthy goal.  I think that this is a very valid point that is made in the text and is important when thinking about and teaching world music to our students. Taking the original melody of "Ahrirang" and then creating multiple variations taps into the text about using music as a starting point for creative endeavors and exploration.  John Barnes Chance took the original pentatonic melody of the simple Korean folk song and then wrote five variations on that theme.   Campbell (2004) provided examples which included creating a song in the structure of another (i.e. call-and-response), extending musical selections, or adapting different musical elements.  Developing a piece with a theme and variation takes a good amount of creativity and focus.  I believe that re-creating is important in the realm of world music and plays a vital role in the use of this genre of music in schools today.  

Campbell, P. A. (2004).  Teaching music globally: Experiencing music, expressing culture.  New York, New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.  

Week 4

Title of the Piece: Baba Yetu
Performer: Iowa All State Music Festival Choir
Culture of Origin: Swahili 
Instrumentation: Voice, (Body) Percussion, Piano 

Baba Yetu, performed by the Iowa All State Music Festival Choir, is loosely translated to the Swahili version of the Lord's Prayer.  While also written for the computer game, Civilization IV, this song captures many of the points from the Koops (2010) reading this week.  Koops (2010) discusses the the models of authenticity, which include: authenticity as continuum; historical and personal authenticity;  authenticity as reproduction, reality, and relevance; and beyond authenticity.  Often times, teachers will modify or change an arrangement to make them fit into the context of the lesson/unit/performance.  Doing this drastically alters the context of the piece and also takes away from the overall learning and experience of the piece for the students.  Koops (2010) outlines four different models of authenticity, each having their own plusses and minuses when teaching students music from other areas of the world and striving to be as authentic as possible while doing so.   

When teaching music from another culture, it is imperative to address the cultural and social contexts of the music.  Teaching music without having any emphasis and attention placed on the cultural aspect can create many issues, including creating an unauthentic experience for our students.  In order to create a fully authentic and culturally rich musical experience for our students, we need to ensure that as teachers we recognize the historical, cultural and social significance and importance of the music (Koops, 2010).  Exposing students to different music is an important part of our job; it is also part of our job to provide them with a solid understanding and appreciation of the importance of culture through music.  I believe that as music teachers, we play a vital role in our students' musical experiences and exposure.  We help open their minds and provide new opportunities and knowledge for our students.

Koops, L. H. (2010). 'Can't we just change the words?': The role of authenticity in culturally informed music education.  Music Educators Journal, 97(1), 23-28.  

Week 3

Title of Piece: A Rumenisher Doyne
Performers: Klezmer Conservatory Band
Culture of Origin: Israeli/Jewish
Instrumentation: Winds, Percussion, Strings, Clarinet solo


The structure of this piece is divided into four sections.  The first section showcases the improvisational solo on the clarinet.  The clarinet soloist uses various techniques within his/her playing, including using the use sliding pitch in the opening.  The use of semi-tone intervals are also a key characteristic of klezmer music.  The second section, is a moderate tempo dance like theme.  Listening to this theme, I thought of the Carmen selection from the Wade text because it reminded me of the habanera rhythm from Latin America.  Oddly enough, they are noted to be similar, but stem from different origins.   The third section is the return of the opening melody.  The fourth section is another dance section, but is different material from the second theme.  This ending theme is one of the most familiar styles of klezmer music.  Within the fourth section, the phrases are eight beats long and there are two different themes.  Each theme is presented once and then the cymbal crashes signify the return of the A theme, followed again by the B theme.  The ending of this piece is standard to a klezmer dance, with the clarinet playing the scale and the band playing unison notes to end.

When discussing music, the context is very important, especially the cultural context.  It has been noted that much of the Israeli music comes from traditional Jewish and non-Jewish traditions that were then infused together to create a distinct musical culture in Israel.  The specific cultural context for klezmer music is for dancing, primary found at weddings and other social events and gathering within the Jewish community.  I was also drawn to this particular selection because of the discussion around improvisation in world music.  Wade (2013) states "there are two misconceptions about improvisation that we in ethnomusicology have to counter regularly" (pg. 133).  Wade explains that the first misconception is that of "free" improvisation, where the music is thought to be 'composed' or 'created' during the performance is not based upon anything else.  The second is that improvisation is not composition and that the process of creating music during performance is vastly different from the process of creating music before a performance.  While I think that these concerns around the idea of improvisation are valid, I think that there is a signification contribution that improvisation contributes to the field of music.  Listening to this piece several times over the course of the week, I think that the first misconception is very much false.  While the opening clarinet music may have been derived on the spot, it fits in with what the other members of the klezmer ensemble is playing and challenges the soloist to play pitches both inside and outside the designated mode.  

Wade, B. (2013). Thinking musically: Experiencing music, expressing culture.  New York, New York. Oxford University Press.