Music Around the World: Week 8: Musics of Sub-Saharan Africa

Monday, May 21, 2007

Week 8: Musics of Sub-Saharan Africa

Today, we ventured into the music of Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on West Africa. Make sure you read the chapter in your book to understand the general principles of musics in Africa (widely shared characteristics) and larger concepts such as how music is related to social organization. We talked about aesthetics, form, and polyrhythm in your listening examples:
Agbekor
'Lambango'
'Nag Biegu'
Read the descriptions in your book and on the music library reserves.

We had two presenters today:
Jennifer presented on her group the African Arts Ensemble www.myspace.com/africanartsensemble
Eugene presented on the djembe and djun-djun

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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

Monday, May 21, 2007

Week 8: Musics of Sub-Saharan Africa

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Concert Ethnography

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