Music Around the World: Featured blogs

Friday, May 18, 2007

Featured blogs

Here are this week's featured blogs. Read them to get a sense of what I am looking for in your final papers (due last day of class and worth 15% of your grade). Start with an opening statement that takes a thematic approach to your concert report. Please do not give me simply a list of instruments and pieces played, but give your own thoughts and supported by issues you learned in our class.

1. http://carroolly.blogspot.com/ Good opening paragraph that makes a statement as to the content of the essay. She supported that statement with material from the film. She connected the scenes of the first half of the film to the changes in music and culture in the second half. How did the Roma express both the hardship of their lives and their happiness despite persecution?
2. http://staceysethno5.blogspot.com/ Related how the film was able to communicate the hardships of a people persecuted or at least looked down upon within the nations they lived while at the same time being an important part of the culture as musicians (the train scene).
3. http://joeytanzere5.blogspot.com/ Noticed how "gypsies" were persecuted in Nazi Germany just as the Jews were, but they get less attention, have less visibility, and less political clout.
4. http://madelineeethno5.blogspot.com/ Excellent writing and tied the whole essay together from beginning to end.
5. http://vaheoethno5.blogspot.com/ Understands the larger concepts of the class--to discuss how culture is used both for celebration of human relationships and as a justification for persecution.

Concert Ethnography

Due: June 6, Wednesday, at the beginning of class, 15% of final grade Submit a 4-5 page (double-spaced) musical ethnography on a live world music concert you attended this quarter (see http://www.ethnomus.ucla.edu for a schedule of FREE UCLA concerts). Include a title page, with the title, your name, student ID, and major/year along with a concert program, handed out during the concerts, stapled to your paper IF POSSIBLE. Start with a statement of what your essay will address--some concept we covered in class such as identity, representation, context, aesthetics, ritual, etc., that ties all your information together (just like you've been doing in your blog assignments). Then, the ethnography will describe the music being played, the context or setting, the musicians, the audience, as well as your own experience, using the relevant analytical terms and techniques learned in class. You may also compare the music with another type of music (one studied in class) for further analysis. Pay attention to the (1) types of instruments being used (2) types of vocal music used (solo or chorus?) (3) Musical features such as call-and-response, complex meters, heterophonic textures, all the types of musical elements were learned in class. Other questions: Do you hear Western-style harmony in any of the pieces? What about the tempo and rhythms of the pieces? Does any one instrument seem to be featured or are they all more or less equal? Do you hear monophony, heterophony, or polyphony? Pay attention to the performers—are they mostly students or professionals or a mix? Is the audience composed of other students, relatives of the performers, or people who appear to share the same cultural heritage, or a mix? How do they respond to the music? Is the audience quietly listening, or are they clapping along and responding out loud? Anything else of interest should be noted. IF POSSIBLE, interview someone from the ensemble—why do they participate in the ensemble? How did they become interested in the music? How do they learn the music (by written notation or by aural transmission)? Would you want to perform or participate in this music? Why did you choose this particular concert to attend? Demonstrate your knowledge of class material by using information from the lectures, guest lectures, films, and textbook. Compare the original context (what one might find in the country of origin) to the one you attended (in a university setting, with students and professors, mixed audience). How do the audience, setting, musicians, and music differ? You can use outside sources IF WE DID NOT COVER THE MUSIC IN CLASS such as books, articles, recordings, interviews, videos, etc. Use the appropriate manner of in-text citation and of listing your references cited at the end (see the journal Ethnomusicology as a guide). The TA or I will be happy to look at preliminary drafts and advise you on any aspect of your project. Please proofread your paper and avoid mistakes in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and vocabulary usage (they do count!).

Assignment: Week 8

In class, we discussed general principles of African music through aesthetics such as dense texture, and the relationship between social organization and musical organization (community participation vs. professional musicians). Think of a popular music artist/group or genre that you listen to...Can you list three to five aesthetic qualities that characterize the artist/group's music or that genre? What type of identity/image does that artist/group try to project through their music? In other words, how does the music sound reflect the artist/group's image/identity?

Music Around the World

Friday, May 18, 2007

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Assignment: Week 8

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