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.