The True Pied Pipers and Their Little Drummer Boy
This sounds like a tonewheel organ on acid. I kind of like it….
Pop! goes the pygmy (music, that is)
Well, we all know that the modern musician looks for inspiration in the strangest of places, and this was in no way an exception. What fascinates me is the fact that so many people not only used the same idea, but the same sample as well. Before doing the reading, I had thought that the topic would be about how the pygmy people had incorporated pop music into their lives, much in the same way as the Indonesian pop craze. Oh how wrong I was….
It’s all Indonesian to me…..
so this past week we went out to the Gamelan room to go and do some playing. As we probably all know by now, not all gamelan ensembles are made equally. In fact, almost no Gamelan ensemble is made the same way. However, certain types of gong ensembles share certain qualities that pertain to all ensembles of the same type. One example of this is the Javanese gamelan. These sets, which are usually sedentary due to their size, all have a collection of gongs (including the kenong, kempul, kethuk, and bonang) and at least one drum, as well as vibraphones (gambang, gender, and sienthern) and usually a two-string fiddle. The two scales which are used are either the slendro (which consists of a nearly equidistant pentatonic scale) or the pelong (which is a seven-tone scale of a seemingly random collection of notes). The two types of music, loud and soft, are distinguishable by the use (or lack) of other instruments besides the gongs, including vocals. Now the Balinese Gamelan is different from the Javanese because it was built to be mobile. The gamelan Beleganjur is not quite so much a studied art form as it is a means of spiritual and ritual expression. One of the main purposes of this music, during cremations, is to create a cacophonous soundscape during the procession from the house of the deceased to the burning ground. This music, although composed mostly of the same instruments (in regards to the gongs), tends to be a little more rushed and disjointed–while the other form of gamelan compliments vocals, this form seems to be more of a competition of who can make a louder noise.
Music is in the eye of the beholder…
What makes a person say that something is music? According to the Islamic peoples, the following three excerpts that we listened today, the Call to Prayer, are not music, although it may seem so to the average American (or probably to any non-Islamic person, for that matter). Most people will think: “Well, it has a tone, it has a melody, it’s being sung! it must be music!”. However, the Islamic people think of it differently. Although the words are being sung, it is the importance of the words, and not the melody itself, that is important. The music is just a vessel for meaning, just as a fancy label on a bottle will not change the wine inside. Enough parroting back what I’ve heard in class, however. This is about what I think, not about what I’ve been told…..Well, here’s my opinion.Although to me it sounds like music, especially if I’m not told anything about the piece. However, If told this is a religious Islamic piece, I will automatically cross off the idea of it being a song out of my mind (there is a difference between a song and music). This is because, like Priests who chant out the communal rites in the Catholic Church, or the cantors at the synagogues, it is a religious experience, a chant, making it something much more than just any song.Listening to the pieces, I found that the first one was rather artfully done; less is more in my opinion, and if the words are what’s important, then this is the way to go–no instrumentals to distract from the words themselves, and a clear voice that carries throughout the area. The second piece I found would be a little harder to understand, but I can see why they would need to sing through a megaphone. after all, it is a message that they are trying to get out to the world: “It’s time to show your love for Allah with the rest of your community”. This third selection, however, I felt a little offensive (and I’m not even Muslim). This was because the call to prayer is a religious piece that has a specific message and a specific way of delivering said message. By putting it as a ringtone with fancy music in the background, you’re essentially demeaning it into an alarm clock, which I think is completely besides the point of having a call to prayer; otherwise the Muslims would have church bells just like the rest of us Anglican folk. Essentially, I think that by having it as a ring-tone, you are turning it into music, because the words don’t become quite as important as the fact that “hey, I should be finding a place to pray!”. Of course, there are exceptions (I don’t think there any mosques here in Oberlin), but to have that in a place where the real thing is readily available I think is a disrespect for the people who get their butts out of bed before sunrise to call you to join everyone else in the area to prayer. It takes the sense of community out of the whole experience, in my opinion.
Iconic and Indexical music
The first piece that I have chosen for you as an example of iconic music is one of my favorite pieces from Strauss: The Thunder and Lighting Polka. The reason that I chose this piece is because when you listen to it, the “thunder” of the drums and the hurried rush of the strings, coupled with the crashing “lighting” of the cymbals helps to really create an image of a storm in your mind. The legato section also gives the image of wind, and perhaps distant thunder. Unter Donner und Blitz The second piece that I chose was Onra’s song The Anthem, which was used by Coca Cola during the Olympics. Whenever I listen to this song, I think not only of Yao Ming and China, but also of getting ready to come to Oberlin, because I kept balancing my packing and olympic watching time. The reason that I chose this song was because not only does it have some personal connections for me, but also, the rest of the class might be able to relate to it as well, since the commercial was widely played, and have other memories attached to it (perhaps something involving Lebron James or Micheal Phelps?). The entire song is linked below, and the commercial is also linked here for those of you who have forgotten.Onra Coca Cola A note about why the two versions are slightly different:Coca Cola asked Onra (a French electromusic composer) to write them a song for their new commercial. Onra took an old version of an eighties Chinese pop song and remade it. Coca Cola, after listening to the results, decided that they didn’t like it, and sent in a musicologist to “fix” it, removing the beatbox. Onra did not approve, and so Coca Cola terminated his contract, went back to the musicologist, and created a “new” song by changing the words and gluing together bits and pieces of Onra’s song.
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