ETHN 100

Maira Clancy
April 24, 2009
Listening Journal # 10

I really enjoyed listening to this piece, because I am a fan of James Brown but have never heard this song. James Brown embodies soul music, and so automatically I was ready to groove and be moved by some soulful, emotional music. This is a high fidelity, high quality recording, which makes me realize that James Brown was purposefully sending out a message with his music that would easily be accessible to everyone, not just his concert goers.

There was a lot of thought put into this composition. I can tell by the sophisticated instrumentation: there are hiphop-like drums, which lends a funky backbeat, along with the interlocking bass groove and the orchestrated horn arrangements. These, put together as the background music for James Brown’s vocals, make the listener want to dance (or at least it does for me). This puts me in a good mood, which makes me more receptive and fond of the message that he’s trying to convey. I believe this was James Brown’s intention when he came up with the instrumental voices and the roles they would play for his composition.
Brown’s decision to have little kids singing the simple, repeated phrase of “I’m black and I’m proud” during the chorus was extremely vital to the effect of the song on the listeners. And with politically charged music like this song, the effect on the listener is the most important outcome of the song’s release because music can be used to persuade others and let your side be understood. The slightly off key voices of the little kids pull at the audience’s heart strings because people respond sympathetically to “cute” things. The singing voice of a child is also somewhat inspirational because they don’t seem to care so much about the aesthetic quality of their voice; they care more about the words they are singing and the passion with which they sing those words. For children, singing seems to be more care free, and that freedom gives a sense of hope for listeners. Also, James Brown seems to be going for a community feel with the excited shouting of the children. He seems to be drawing ideas and stimulation from some of the participatory practices in Africa (such as Mbira music), where everyone can join in whenever they want, no matter how old they are or how much experience they have as musicians.

As I stated before, his chorus consists of a call and response between James and the kids, with him yelling “Say it loud” and them responding with “I’m black and I’m proud!” These are the only lyrics of the chorus, which usually is the most important or memorable part of a song in Western music, and with such simple, repeated phrases, the message is going to “get stuck” in the listener’s mind (another great example of the importance of lasting effects in political music). In the second half of the song, James Brown starts to talk-sing. This makes him seem like a professor almost. Actually, my first thought was Martin Luther King Jr. standing at a podium and giving a speech, addressing many people. This is James Brown attempting to educate the public on the matter of being African American. The end of the song just fades out, which is a common studio trick to end a song but have it replaying in the listener’s memory, cycling through the ending, maybe for the listener to be reminded of the beginning again, and go back through the whole song in their head. This was an ingenious way to capture the attention of his audience and really impact them on this matter.

Maira Clancy
April 17, 2009
Listening Journal #9
Response to Missionary Music: “Shorten’ Bread”

As Turino writes in his track list, this recording is clearly a prime example of presentational music. There is a vast distinction between female and male voices, where the girls mostly sing the very high parts and then men sing the lower parts. Of course there are probably exceptions to this for this particular recording, but when it is listened to there is an obvious divide in gender. The soprano parts and the baritone parts work around each other and work off of each other, but they are clearly different and very meticulously organized. The harmonies are so “in tune” with each other (for Western ears, at least) that it would be seemingly impossible for those harmonies to occur naturally, without practice or thought, which makes it a presentational performance. People in the audience, watching this choir, are probably not explicitly encouraged to jump in and sing along, because they wouldn’t know the words, melody, or rhythm. It would most likely detract from the quality of this recording. Also, in order to be singing with this choir, one would have to attend this missionary school, which not everyone did or could do. And also, you’d have to know how to speak English (or at least sing in English) in order to participate, which takes a lot of practice and education, and so not everyone could join in. This piece is meant to be enjoyed by an audience, presented through very skilled and talented students who’ve studied the music of the piece and have trained themselves to sing it in a particular arrangement.

At 1:02 seconds, higher voices sustain notes to make chords and create a background layer for the lower voices to sing over. At 1:42 seconds, the arrangement utilizes the dynamics of volume to layer higher, quieter voices. Then, everything is disrupted by the other choir members (the lower voices) all at once, which intentionally created tension in the song. The singers have to be very aware of how loud they are singing, as well as how loud others are singing, in order for dynamics to take full effect on the audience. At the end of the piece, near 2:15 seconds, a more full and elaborate harmony is voiced to resolve the piece, which was almost like a grand finale – a beautifully sung chord that’s more rich and complex than the others. This leaves the listeners with a lasting impression that they have practiced this song many times and really know how to sing in an American style choir.

Maira Clancy
April 10, 2009
Listening Journal #8
Response to Nhemamusasa (at Bira)

The song on this recording is an interesting example of how a piece can be both presentational and participatory at the same time. There is a simple, constant rhythm that is being kept by what sounds like a Western “egg-shaker” (a simple, handheld maraca-esque auxiliary percussion that looks like an egg, filled with little beans/beads). This seemingly unchanging layer, or part, of the song gives the listeners and participants a cyclical background to which they can contribute and become a part of. The rhythm seems less threatening to join because it is repetitive (as is the whole song), so the repetition of the rhythm and of the entire song in general encourages anybody to chime in at any time. People yelping, singing, whistling, and clapping in the background creates an atmosphere of community, which is a main goal of participatory music. The song seems celebratory in nature (because of the enthusiasm of the participants, the scales and notes used, etc.), so maybe this suggests that the Shona people feel uplifted by uniting with their neighbors, friends, and family in song. Also, I felt very in the moment while I listened to this recording, because about 2/3 of the way through there was a bustling of whistling and cheering, which made me wonder what exactly happened at that moment to excite everyone so much, and so I kept listening to that section over and over again. My curiosity about that certain point during this musical experience made me feel connected to the song, which also added to the participatory aspect of the piece.
However, like I mentioned earlier, there are certain elements of this song that make it seem to be presentational as well. For instance, the main melody (or what strikes me to be the main melody) is carried mostly by one man. He is yodeling beautifully, and his powerful voice and skill set him apart from the other participants, and so the main melody seems to be separate and distinguished. Also, a little before half way through the entire song, there is (what I believe to be) a three part vocal harmony that sounds absolutely perfect, which makes that part of the song a bit more rehearsed (and presentational), but it could just be a coincidence that the three men sang a chord that I liked a lot and felt like they spent more time on that part than the other parts. I would need to know more about the context of the situation before I’ll know the answer, like have these people ever practiced vocal harmonies or does it just come naturally? Also, another reason this song feels slightly presentational is that the Mbira players comprise half of the song’s layering, but to play Mbira takes skill, knowledge, practice, experience, etc. The Mbira players are distinguished by their fluency on a tricky instrument, just like how the clappers/whistlers/singers are distinguished by livening up the song with energy. Then, half way through the piece, the Mbira parts start to grow louder and intensify, making it more of a driving force than it already had been (not that it wasn’t a driving force before, because it certainly was). The ability of the Mbira players to shift roles in the song with volume gives them the power to control the song a bit. Granted, the singers/clappers could do this too, but because the Mbira players are playing a uniform instrument, the effect is more obvious when they grow louder because of the similar, blending timbres of the instruments.

Maira Clancy
Ethno100: Fraser
Music Journal 7:
Response to “Styles of Yodeling”

The slow, gradual buildup of this song is, what I find to be, the most beautiful aspect of this composition. What really strikes me as incredible is the pipe-like quality of the sound of the first woman’s voice. Her constant switching back and forth (along with the other singers’) from full voice to an almost falsetto voice seems incredibly hard and must have taken years of practice to perfect.

I’m really intrigued by the yodeling of these people. It’s interesting how, before any new singer comes in on the recording, there is a very short pause amongst everyone. Maybe this is for the singers to step back and really realize the work of the other musicians so that when someone else come sin, they can make it sound as flawless and natural as possible, so they might need a second to think over the arrangement of voices. I love the fact that women are the more “suitable” musicians; this fact makes me feel almost empowered. In the western world, female musicians are often times considered rare or even more attractive because they are females who can play music (who would’ve thought? Just kidding) which seems out of the norm. These women are just respected for the music/art that they create and they make their tribes happier for it. Also, they must receive a certain amount of respect for their ability to possibly communicate with the forest more beautifully.

Maira Clancy
March 11, 2009
Fraser Ethno100
Listening Journal # 5 – Response to:
Gamelan Sekaten: Ladrang “Kembang Lintang,” from Music in Central Java #6

The background for this song is extremely atmospheric and adds a lot of cultural personality to this composition. The busy, bustling sounds of the country can be heard to complement the tonal rings and chimes of the gongs and it says so much about the environment in which this music was produced.
The song starts out slowly and minimalistic with instrumentation, with seemingly random strikes of different gongs building up upon each other until an even slower hand drum comes in to get the piece rolling. Then, the bells start to speed up and they come together in very dissonant, odd harmonies that make me feel like I am trapped in the ticking mindset of a crazy person. This music is beautiful because it reminds me of a cuckoo clock from Indonesia, which gives the song an eerie, dream-like quality to it.

Maira Clancy
March 6, 2009
Fraser Ethno100
Listening Journal # 4 – Response to:
Talempong pacik: “Sidi” from Gongs and Vocal Music from Sumatra: Talempong, Didong, Kulintang, Salawat Dulang, Music of Indonesia Vol. 12.

I love how this song sets out in the beginning with the same pace that continues through the whole song. Within seconds of the song’s start, layers of different gongs chime in (literally), and they set up an entire percussive and melodic orchestra that never slows down nor falters. The interlocking of the lower and higher pitched gongs with the simple yet driving rhythm of the hand drum is really beautiful and works really well for me.
However, I am not a big fan of the wind instrument in this song. I believe it is made out of a palm leaf of some kind and the pitch is varied by the motion of your hand blocking or allowing the passage of air through the “horn” of this traditional instrument. It sounds like a mixture between a snake charmer’s clarinet and a kazoo – the tone is pretty irritating. Also, it seems so difficult to control the pitch that one produces that the melody played seems out of tune with the gongs. I just don’t think this instrument blends well with the resonant and metallic timbre of the talempong gongs.

Minangkabau 1 (from BlackBoard) Before Reading: The instruments sound like hollow bells being struck like gongs or glockenspiels– I will assume these are Talempongs, as that seems to be the Indonesian instrument of favor in our studies. It sounds like there is a large ensemble of these Talempongs, with several playing each specific part in the music (rhythm, melody, harmony, bass, etc.) The arrangement sounds much more westernized than most indigenous music we’ve listened to in the past– it follows a melodically simple chord progression that is recognizable in most cheesy western music. I also hear some harmony in melody, from the highest-pitched talempongs; there are either two sets playing homphonically in thirds, or the resonance of the talempong simply picks up the overtones of thirds. Regardless, this piece certainly evokes the “island vibe” that chintzy four-star hotels utilize by their pool bars– “Indigenous Indonesian Music For Dummies”, if you will. After Reading: I couldn’t help but laugh as I saw the chart on the instrumentation of ‘orkes talempong’– the four functions outlined (melody, harmony, bass, rhythm) were the exact four I hypothesized earlier! The instruments were, naturally, Talempongs, and a large ensemble of them as well (orkes talempong, akin to an orchestra.) The piece sounded so Western to me because it is a Talempong Kreasi– a genre that essentially creates ‘new style’ music with indigenous instruments, like the Talempong, in order to appeal to a broader national (and international) audience. Talempong Kreasi utilizes a diatonic scale and typical harmonic structure, all Western devices, to “remix” classic indigenous Minangkabau music.  It is the epitome of cultural reformation to suit the cosmopolitan audience.

As a pianist with years of indoctrination into the formats and ideas of European and American music, I found it odd to listen to a piece with such a limited range of notes. I believe 5 separate gongs are used, two to keep a rhythm and three in a varying pattern. If my compositions were limited to five notes, and improvisatory sections to three, I would probably end up with a terrible-sounding piece! Somehow, the performers vary the rhythms and patterns enough to keep things new and interesting, and to keep the audience listening.
The other thing I’m not used to is rhythm being in the same register as improvisation. In Western music, repetitive, tempo-keeping phrases are usually found in the lower register (left-hand piano, tuba, bass, etc.) or in the higher register if something low is meant to be heard. In this piece, the repetitive two-gong phrase is in the same register and at the same loudness as the other three gongs. This similarity allows the audience to hear all the ways in which the rhythms mesh and play off each other, something that might be absent if the players had a wider range of notes to work with.
It’s hard to keep track of the progression of the piece since everything sounds much more similar than I’m used to. I have a feeling that if I was playing this type of music I’d have no idea when to stop.

Listening to Vishwa Mohan Bhatt’s recording, I was immediately struck by the voice-like sound of his instrument. The use of the slide seems to give his phrases a smoothness that is unlike the sound of the veena and sitar we heard in weeks prior. I also find the frequency with which he plucks and strums the drone strings of the mohan veena.