Nigerian clapping game: Module 6

1. Title: Unknown

2. Performers: Small Children

3. Origin: Nigeria

4. Orchestration: Hands and Vocals







For my final blog for our class, I have decided to post a short video of Nigerian children having fun in playing a clapping game.  These kind of games can teach children skills such as coordination, teamwork as well as organization.  These kind of game also develops music skills such as rhythmic beats and timing.  In watching this video, it reminds me of being a young child in grade school and playing similar games on the playground during recess.  These kind of games help teach socialization with working together to coordinate moves for a successful game!



As teachers, we can learn about other cultures in observing children’s interactions and musical play with these kind of games. It can be used as a vehicle to teach our students about the music and other values of different cultures. Perhaps in class we could have a heritage day in which students’ research, demonstrate and teach other students the game of their particular culture. This kind of activity could serve as an excellent venue to tie in socialization!

Mariachi Los Camperos- Popurri: Module 5

Origin: Mexico

Title: Popurri

Performers: Mariachi Los Comperos

Instrumentation: Strings, Trumpets, Vocals,  Guitars

Mariachi is a form of folk music from Mexico. Mariachi began as a regional folk style called “Son Jaliscience” in the center west of Mexico. It was originally played only with string instruments. Modifications of the music included influences from polkas and waltzes. Starting with the addition of trumpets and the use of charro outfits, the musical style began to take on national prominence in the first half of the 20th century with its promotion at Mexico presidential inaugurations and on the radio in the 1920s.

I really enjoyed watching this video. I loved the interaction with the audience as well as how much it appeared that the musicians on stage were enjoying what they were doing. The band was full of energy! On the topic of Authenticity, I believe that this video shows authentic Mariachi music. As an educator, I would show this to my class.

The music of the mariachi band is an excellent genre of music to employ different creating strategies. Students can learn that it is a mixture of local musical elements as well as European and African elements as well. From Europe, it borrowed many of the dance forms such as the waltz and the fandango. Students may be asked to create their own waltz in a similar style to what they heard and discussed in class. A teacher could designate a single player in groups to create a principal melody in the  Waltz/Mariachi style. Other members of the group could create counter melodies as well.  From Africa, it borrowed dance rhythms and  other melodic ideas. Students can be asked to create their own rhythmic patterns on their instrument that are similar to this style listened to and discussed as well. Mariachi song forms (such as the bolero, canción ranchera, son, huapango, joropo, and danzón) are dictated by the rhythmic patterns that are performed usually by the guitar section of the group. 

With the knowledge of the style and rhythms of Mariachi music, students can have fun and enjoy creating music from this wonderful culture! 

Module 4 Blog-"A Sheinem Cholem" (Yiddish)

Title of Song: A Sheinem Cholem

Performers: The Meshorerim Choir

Culture of Origin: Jewish Religion/Israel

Instrumentation: Vocal, Piano, Percussion


Reflection:

This week I’ve chosen to share a video of a performance by The Meshorerim Choir. This performance took place in Spring Valley, NY which is right over the border from where I live in New Jersey. The lead vocalist in this video was a child who was singing in Yiddish. He was backed up by five adult singers who were also accompanied by a Piano and Percussion. It was not clear on the video if the instrumental music was live or was played off of a cd.

Jewish music stems from ancient prayer chants of the Levant some 3000 years ago. The musical notation that developed and that we find in the bible today is one of the most ancient forms of notated music. Jewish music has been constantly adapting to new conditions and yet retaining its identity in many widely differing ethnic, social and religious environments.

 The study of Jewish music encompasses many genres of religious and folk music used in using Jewish texts and themes. The study of Jewish music combines the elements of musicology, ethnomusicology and culture. Jewish music today encompasses a wide diversity of musical traditions.

Yiddish is the historical language of the Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the pre-existing language of the nascent Ashkenazi community with an extensive Germanic based vocabulary. Yiddish is written with a fully vocalized alphabet based on the Hebrew script.

In my reflection of the authenticity of this video, a few things came to mind. For starters, the dress of the children and adults seem authentic from what I have seen growing up in Northern New Jersey/Rockland County in New York which has a large Hasidic Jewish population.  It also appears to me that this child has been involved in his Jewish Education at his Temple since he was a young child. He seems to be near the age when he will be preparing for his Bat Mitzvah. I hope that this child performer is not just concerned with the performance but the cultural meaning and significance of what he is singing.

Reading the Koops article made me think more about music being “culturally informed”. Koops stresses the importance of correctly representing the time, place and value system of the people who created it in the first place. I believe that the performers in this video were culturally informed of all the correct aspects as stated before by Koops. As I move forward in both this class and my teaching of music in the future, I will try to keep Koops four models of authenticity presented in that article in mind.

Module 3 Bog: Anoushka Shankar - Indian Classical Raga

a.      Classical Raga   b.     Anoushka Shankar   c.      India  

 d.     Sitar, Violin, Shehnai, Tabla, Mayuri Vina 

This video is an amazing performance by Anoushka Shankar. This video is based largely on improvisation by these talented musicians. The only theme that was formally composed was the main theme and the rhythmic structures. These are usually based on an eight beat model called the afaik. You can see in the video that each member of the group takes turns in the improvisation during the performance. Shankar starts off the song on the Sitar. During the course of the song, the other instruments in the ensemble take over the main melody and take things in a different direction. The feel and mood of the performance changes when each instrument solos as well.

Indian Classical music is believed to have originated from the Vedas, the oldest of scriptures of Hinduism. It evolved as an aid to self realization and its original principals were expounded in the Samaveda which is one of the four Vedas. 

It is often difficult to understand the cultural context of the Non-Western musical and rhythmic systems. Many of us in the Western hemisphere have grown up with the musical forms of classical music, jazz and rock and roll.  

The musical structure is different than ours in Western music. The two major differences between the two are tuning and scales. The music of India does not emphasize harmony and does not feature counterpoint. Most Indian music features a solo voice or instrument on the melody. The melody is usually accompanied by percussion or a drone. Indian music does not contain any chord progressions as well. Instead, the complexity of this music lies in its melodies and rhythms. 


The term raga, for which Indian music is based, was first discussed  in the Brhaddesi which is a work from the 10th century. In the 13th century, the theorist Sarngadeva listed 264 ragas. At this time, the Islamic presence was beginning to be felt in India. Muslim rulers extended their patronage to music. In the courts of the emperors, music flourished. 

The Hindi word “rag” is derived from the Sanskrit “raga” which means “color” It is linked to the Sanskrit word “ranj” which means “to color”. Raga may be thought of as an acoustic method of coloring the mind of the listener with an emotion. It is not a tune, melody, scale or mode from the English language. It is a combination of different characteristics.

The notes of the rags are called “swar”. “Jati” are the number of notes that are used in raga. The raga also has an ascending and descending structure as well. All notes do not have the same level of significance. The important notes are called “valdi” and “samavadi”.

In addition to the main characteristics of raga, there are some others as well. For instance, rags have traditionally been attributed to particular times in history. They have also been characterized into families of male and female rags as well.

French Music- Module 2

For this week’s blog post for module 2 in our class Music of the World, I decided to share with you this video of music from France. This video does not have a selected title for performer listed. The instrumentation for this song is an Accordion, and percussion instruments such as a drum set and tambourine. The song is a waltz in ¾ time with a fast tempo. I could imagine that this song would be played at a party for people to dance on the dance floor.

In tying into the readings about music cultures and traditions handed down from generation to generation, French Music is played in the streets of villages and cities of France. The French people love to gather around the different performers and their instruments to sing and dance into the night often while enjoying a cool glass of the local white wine or red wine. I had this experience myself when I visited France on a performance trip two years ago.

The classification of instruments in France is the same as many other European countries as well as in the United States. Examples of these classifications are Woodwind, Brass, Strings and Percussion. Some examples of instruments in French music are the Harp, Accordion, French Horn, Bass, and Piano just to name a few. There are specific similarities between particular instruments that lead to classification in a particular instrument family. For example, an instrument like the accordion may fall into its own classification system. Accordion is a free reed aerophone instrument, along with the harmonica, harmonium (Indian), reed organ (which operates with a vacuum), harmonium (which operates under air pressure) and a few others.

Traditional Irish Music by "The Ghillie's"- Module 1 Blog

The above song is “Drowsy Maggie” which is a traditional Irish Song performed by the group The Ghillie’s. The orchestration of this song is Harp, Guitar, Violin, Flute and a traditional Irish Hand Drum.

This piece ties into what was discussed in our readings during Module One of our class Music of the World. The members of this ensemble that are performing are “Music Makers”. Music makers can be one person, a group, professionals or amateurs performing. It is not clear whether the members of this video’s ensemble received formal training or if this music was taught and handed down from generation to generation. My guess is that since this is a traditional Irish song, it was handed down by generations. You do not necessarily need formal training in a music education program to perform music. They are not reading any music during this performance.  The members that are in this video can be performing for themselves or for an audience. Of course, any audience that is taking part in this performance are associated in the group of listeners. Listeners are the world’s largest participants as consumers of music. Ethnomusicologists study music that emphasizes cultural, social, cognitive, biological in addition to the particular repertoire of a country of culture. 

Module #7 Reflection Blog

This is the seventh and final post of what was several weekly blogs during the course of the class “Technology Assisted Music Learning”. The following paragraphs will reflect on what I learned during Module 7 of the class. I am looking forward to reflecting on technology in music and music education as we progress through the last week of this class. It's almost the end!  

Personal Learning Network or PLN, is where a student uses several internet resources and social media to become better educated. For our class, it is designed to help us become more educated not only in technology but music education in general. For the seventh week of our class, we continued to contribute and grow our PLN. We also continued using several internet resources such as Feedly, Twitter and we continued to contribute to the Digital Musicking Group on Google. During this seventh week of our class, I am gaining a greater understanding of the PLN and how it works.  This was my contribution to the Digital Musicking Group for week 7:  http://techinmusiced.wordpress.com/category/ipad-apps/ 

During this week, we continued to use www.lynda.com which is a free resource that is open to students in our Masters in Music Education program here at the University of Florida. We are going to be using Lynda and other video resources to help us create our Web Quest projects which will be due in the final week of this class. We also used several tutorial videos from Lynda.com to help us with our administrative project. We had to create on Google a calendar, newsletter and short slide show. These are resources we could use when administering activities in our department. The tutorial videos were a great help and I could not have completed the project without them!

During the week of Module 7, we had to read pages from  Chapters 6 and 8 from Dr. Bauer’s book “Music Learning Today.” During these readings, Dr. Bauer talked about ways in which technology can facilitate musical assessment and professional productivity in our classrooms. We had to discuss this topic in our weekly discussion assignment. I use technology both in a personal and professional manner. I frequently use email to communicate to parents and colleagues as well as a school fusion page on our school website to post announcements and assignments. I have even started to use Twitter to communicate to students and parents as well. This fall, I will begin to use EdModo which is a school approved program where students can receive notifications about rehearsals. Once a student signs up, they will get a text message alert on their phone if I post about a rehearsal change or cancellation.

As for using technology for assessment in my classroom, we use it for our critiques of concerts. After a concert, we watch the video and the students fill out a rubric based upon what they felt was good or not so good both for their own performance as well as the group.

Module #6 Reflection Blog

This is the sixth of what will be several weekly blogs during the course of the class “Technology Assisted Music Learning”. The following paragraphs will reflect on what I learned during Module 6 of the class. I am looking forward being further educated more on technology in music and music education as we progress through the last two weeks of this class. Time is flying by!

Personal Learning Network or PLN, is where a student uses several internet resources and social media to become better educated. For our class, it is designed to help us become more educated not only in technology but music education in general. For the sixth week of our class, we continued to contribute and grow our PLN. We also continued using several internet resources such as Feedly, Twitter and we continued to contribute to the Digital Musicking Group on Google. During this sixth week of our class, I am gaining a greater understanding of the PLN and how it works.  This was my contribution to the Digital Musicking Group for week 6: http://www.thinkingautismguide.com/2011/10/learning-to-play-musical-instrument-is.html

During this week, we continued to use www.lynda.com which is a free resource that is open to students in our Masters in Music Education program here at the University of Florida. We are going to be using Lynda and other video resources to help us create our Web Quest projects which will be due in the final week of this class.

During the week of Module 8, we had to read Chapter 7 from Dr. Bauer’s book “Music Learning Today.” During this Chapter, Dr. Bauer talked about several music technology, teaching and composition topics such as Copyright, Creative Commons, Public Domain, and Backward Design to name a few. During our discussion topic, we were assigned to create a top 5 list of what we felt was important from our weekly readings. Here is my top 5:

5. Instructional Logistics- With the increasing amount of technology that is available for schools, do the schools have the facilities or money to purchase this technology and make it accessible?

4. Fair Use- Educators may use copyrighted materials without permission of the copyright holder under certain conditions, designated in the copyright laws.

3. Public Domain- Instead of being owned by an individual who has exclusive ownership, these works can be used by anyone.

2. Creative Commons- This is a not-for-profit organization that provides free licenses that specify what can and cannot be done with an original work. The licenses are designed to be applicable throughout the world.

1. Copyright- This is a form of protection provided by laws of the United States to the authors of original works or creations. Music Educators must always observe copyright laws.
 

My top 5 list is teacher-centered. It is important that every music teacher be aware of the items that I listed in my top 5 with Copyright Laws being #1. It is very easy in our line of work of photocopying and arranging music to forget that these examples do exist.

 

Module #5 Reflection

This is the fifth of our several weekly blogs during the course of the class “Technology Assisted Music Learning”. The following paragraphs will reflect on what I learned during Module 5 of the class. I am looking forward being further educated more on technology in music and music education as we progress through the last few weeks of this class!

Auralia is an online ear training program that is geared for students from Elementary School through High School. For this week's project, I put together a review of this program. I downloaded the trial software for my review. I found it easy to learn and user friendly during my navigation through the program. The audio examples in many of the exercises are excellent as well. It is only $99 for a student subscription which isn't too bad for a family to purchase. You may use the program both on a home and school computer. I would use this program with my students if we were working on ear training and dictation in a Music Theory class. I gave this program an excellent rating in my review! Please check out the Auralia website: https://www.musicfirst.com/auralia-first 

Personal Learning Network or PLN, is where a student uses several internet resources and social media to become better educated. For our class, it is designed to help us become more educated not only in technology but music education in general. For the fifth week of our class, we continued to contribute and grow our PLN. We also continued using several internet resources such as Feedly, Twitter and we continued to contribute to the Digital Musicking Group on Google. During this fifth week of our class, I am gaining a greater understanding of the PLN and how it works. This week, we also added Diigo (www.Diigo.com) to our PLN. It is a resource in which we can share different articles on music, education and technology. I posted 10 different resources to my Diigo page and shared them on the Diigo Digital Musicking Group for my classmates to review. Here is the link to my Diigo page: www.Diigo.com/user/MLioneEHSBand

During the week of Module 5, we had to read parts of  Chapter 2 and Chapter 5 from Dr. Bauer’s book “Music Learning Today.” During Chapter2, Dr. Bauer talked about several technology aspects such as graphics, video, instructional software, tutorials and practice. These are all aspects that I have seen in the programs we have worked with in this class during the first five weeks. I found it insightful when Dr. Bauer said in Chapter 2 about video, " Many videos are available online that can be useful for music learning. From tutorials to explain anything from the beginning techniques of playing an instrument to famous performances of famous musicians, to examples of music practices all over the world, video sharing can be a tremendous benefit to students and teachers". I relate to what Dr. Bauer is saying here because we recently in my High School band class, we watched the CNN documentary on the British invasion of the 1960's. I think my students got a better understanding of the music and musicians of that time period in music history rather than simply reading about it out of a book.

Module #4 Reflection

This is the fourth of our several weekly blogs during the course of the class “Technology Assisted Music Learning”. The following paragraphs will reflect on what I learned during Module 4 of the class. I am looking forward being further educated more on technology in music and music education as we progress through the last four weeks of this class!

Audacity is a free online source for digital audio recording and editing computer software application. Before this week’s assignment, I never had any experience with this kind of program before. I found this program not too difficult to pick up after watching some of the tutorial videos.  Audacity is a program that I could use with my students in teaching a music technology or recording/editing class. Even after working on this week’s project, I feel that I need more experience over time with learning all of the functions of this program.  

Personal Learning Network or PLN, is where a student uses several internet resources and social media to become better educated. For our class, it is designed to help us become more educated not only in technology but music education in general. For the fourth week of our class, we continued to contribute and grow our PLN. We also continued using several internet resources such as Feedly, Twitter and we continued to contribute to the Digital Musicking Group on Google. During this third week of our class, I am gaining a greater understanding of the PLN and how it works.  This was my contribution to the Digital Musicking Group for week 4: http://apps.texasbandmasters.org/archives/pdfs/bmr/2005-06-silverman1.pdf

During this week, we continued to use www.lynda.com which is a free resource that is open to students in our Masters in Music Education program here at the University of Florida. We watched several videos that were tutorials on different aspects of Audacity. After watching the tutorial videos, I felt that I had a better understanding of the tasks we were asked to perform in the project. Lynda aided me greatly in watching the tutorial videos on Audacity this week!

During the week of Module 4, we had to read Chapter 4 from Dr. Bauer’s book “Music Learning Today.” During this Chapter, Dr. Bauer talked about several technology resources such as Smart Music and Band-In-A-Box. The one drawback to these programs is that they do cost money to subscribe to. I have not had personal experience with Smart Music. I do have music teacher friends to use Smart Music and say it is a great program as a resource in their classroom for playing tests and having their students practice technical exercises and concert repertoire. I found it interesting on page 84 when he said, “Smart Music may increase students’ motivation to practice.” This was a great point that Dr. Bauer made. In today’s society, practicing is something that has been in decline for many music students. In today’s visual appeal, program like Smart Music may help in competing against video games and other social media forms to gain a students’ interest and attention to practice more!

Module #3 Reflection

This is the third of what will be several weekly blogs during the course of the class “Technology Assisted Music Learning”. The following paragraphs will reflect on what I learned during Module 3 of the class. I am looking forward being further educated more on technology in music and music education as we progress through the next few weeks of this class!

Soundation (www.Soundation.com) is an affordable music technology program that is a viable alternative to the more expensive program such as Garage Band. I really enjoyed learning about this program. Having some experience with Garage Band in the past, I found this program similar in use and not difficult to pick up. Soundation is a program that I could use with my students in teaching a  composition class.  I am not sure about if I prefer the program over Garage Band yet. I need more experience over time with both programs to see which one I prefer.  Here is my Soundation composition: http://soundation.com/user/michael-lione

Personal Learning Network or PLN, is where a student uses several internet resources and social media to become better educated. For our class, it is designed to help us become more educated not only in technology but music education in general. For this third week of our class, we continued to contribute and grow our PLN. We also continued using several internet resources such as Feedly, Twitter and we continued to contribute to the Digital Musicking Group on Google. During this third week of our class, I am gaining a greater understanding of the PLN and how it works.  This was my contribution to the Digital Musicking Group for week 3: http://www.thecrescendo.com/userfiles/pdfs/pullout.pdf

During this week, we were introduced to www.lynda.com which is a free resource that is open to students in our Masters in Music Education program here at the University of Florida. We searched in the program for “Digital Audio Principals” with David Schroeder which contained several tutorial videos. Some of the videos we watched were Sound and Digital Audio, Digital Audio Workshops, Cables and Connectors and MIDI.  After watching these videos, I feel that I have a better understanding of these topics in Music Technology.

During the week of Module 3, we had some readings from Dr. Bauer’s book “Music Learning Today.” In Chapter 3 on page 64, Dr. Bauer talked about Garage Band which is similar to the Soundation program we worked with for our project. I found it interesting on page 64 when he said, “Yes it is easy to use on a basic level by very young students and by individuals who do not possess a formal musical background.” This ties into what I was reading earlier in the week about the other 80% in our schools. Many students love music and listen to it without always being part of our traditional school groups of band, choir and orchestra. With programs like Soundation and Garage Band, it can open up a whole another group of music students in our school programs!

Module #2 Reflection

This is the second of what will be several weekly blogs during the course of the class “Technology Assisted Music Learning”. The following paragraphs will reflect on what I learned during Module 2 of the class. I am looking forward being further educated more on technology in music and music education.

                Musescore and Noteflight are two affordable music writing programs that are viable alternatives to the more expensive programs such as Finale or Sibelius. I really enjoyed learning about these programs. Having some experience with Sibelius and Finale, I found these programs similar in use and not difficult to pick up. Musescore and Noteflight are programs that I could use with my students in teaching a theory or composition class. I do not personally own the expensive programs so I will try using these programs if I need to re-arrange parts for my band class. I am not sure which program I prefer yet. I need more experience over time with both programs do see which one I prefer.

 

Personal Learning Network or PLN, is where a student uses several internet resources and social media to become better educated. For our class, it is designed to help us become more educated not only in technology but music education in general. This week, we continued to contribute and grow our PLN. We set up several internet resources such as Feedly, Twitter and we joined the Digital Musicking Group on Google. I am gaining a greater understanding of the PLN and how it works. I am really starting to get into the whole Twitter/# craze. I tweeted twice this week about good exercises for teaching dynamics as well as a picture of my Marching Band getting ready to perform at the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade this Monday!  This was my contribution to the Digital Musicking Group this week: http://beingmusicalbeinghuman.com/2014/02/12/school-music-vs-real-music/

                During the week of Module 2, we had some readings from Dr. Bauer’s new book “Music Learning Today.” In Chapter 3 on page 46, Dr. Bauer talked about music creativity. I found it interesting on page 46 when he said, “Creativity is usually and assumed part of being musical, and music educators certainly have the opportunity to develop student’s ability to think creatively.” I think that this is a concept that sometimes as educators we lose focus on. Especially at the High School level, we are always performance driven with different concerts and festivals that we lose the concept of teaching technique and creativity. The rest of the reading talked about several topics such as MIDI, Improvisation, Composition, Audiation and Instructional Constraints. I think the one thing that many music teacher face in their districts in financial constraints especially when it comes to technology. However, there are many other cost-effective alternatives out there such as what I learned this week with Musescore and Noteflight. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to create wonderful music!

 

 

Note Flight Song- A Bicycle Built for Two

I really found it pretty easy to learn how to use the Note Flight program of music notation. I have had some experience in the past with Sibelius and Finale. Some of the controls in Note Flight were similar to those programs. I was amazed at how good note flight is. I can see that it is an effective alternative to creating music if you cannot afford the other expensive programs. I am going to use Note Flight in the future when I have to write any arrangements for my band class!

 

Module #1 Reflection Blog

                This is the first of what will be several weekly blogs during the course of the class “Technology Assisted Music Learning”. The following paragraphs will reflect on what I learned during Module 1 of the class. I am looking forward being educated more on technology in music education. I do not have a great deal of technology experience in this subject.

                Incredibox was a fun music creating website that I did not know of prior to this module. It has several preselected beats and vocals that you can use to create a basic song. I found it to be user friendly and easy to pick-up. This would be a great program to use if you are teaching about composition to students in 6^th or 7^th grade. I know that my students would like how each sound has the guys on the screen dress in different styles. As for this program relating to my teaching, I am going to use this program in my final grade 7 cycle class in the spring when we talk about musical form and creating a composition. I think that it will be a fun and interactive lesson with this program. Here is the link to my Incredibox creation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR6Uhi_C9ug

Personal Learning Network or PLN, is where a student uses several internet resources and social media to become better educated. For our class, it is designed to help us become more educated not only in technology but music education in general. Each week, we will continue to contribute and grow our PLN. We set up several internet resources such as Feedly, Twitter and we joined the Digital Musicking Group on Google. At first I found the PLN confusing but the more I studied about it and experimented with the different aspects, the more I am beginning to feel comfortable. This was my contribution to the Digital Musicking Group this week: http://www.amparents.org/my-childs-teacher-recommended-smartmusic-now-what/

 

                During the week of Module 1, we had some readings from Dr. Bauer’s new book “Music Learning Today.” In Chapter 1 on page 5, Dr. Bauer talked about many of our young students today being “technology natives” meaning that they have grown up with social media, internet and cell phones since their birth. Ones that have not been with these electronic Medias from birth are called “technology immigrants”. I find myself somewhere in the middle of being a technology native and immigrant. I am in my early thirties and I think people my age spent the first 15 years of their life without this media and the last 15 years with it. Chapter 2 of the book begins to talk about several electronic Medias that we are going to be using during the course of this class. Some examples of these are: Computers, Blogs, Digital Audio, Video and Instructional software.

 

Michael Lione-Listening Journal #8

 

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 15 in the book American Popular Music.

                The one recording I listened to was “Bodysnachers” by Radio Head. This song was first recorded in 2007. This song was one of Radio Head’s biggest hits. The song opens with a guitar riff and outlines the main melody of the song. The lyrics of the song talks about a person that is incarcerated inside of his own body. The lyrics seem to be in the first-person subject. The singer talks about not being able to connect to the people around him. The guitar is heard throughout the song and takes the lead and reverb in several instances. During my listening, this song has aspects that resemble rock music from the 1950’s and 1960’s. Although I have never heard this song before, I really enjoyed listening to this song. I will try to listen to more Radio Head music in the future!

Michael Lione-Listening Journal #7

 

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 13 and 14 in the book American Popular Music. The Chapters focused on Digital Technology, MTV, as well as Popular Mainstream, and Hip Hop.  During the course of my readings, I also listened to several different songs that were written around the same period. I learned about several musicians from these eras such as Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Madonna, as well as Peter Gabriel.

                One of the first recordings I listened to was “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel. This song was first recorded in 1986. This recording was one of the biggest hits of Gabriel’s long career. The song begins with a trumpet fanfare. The tempo of the song is a straightforward tempo and does not waiver. I thought that some of the lyrics were interesting in the song. Some of the words in the lyrics you hear are big dippers, steam trains, fruitcake and honeybee. The form of the song seems to be built on 12 bar and 8 bar sections. Some of the instruments that I heard on the recording were flute, snare drum, keyboard, guitar and synthesizer. Some of these instruments are heard in random four block sections. From a visual perspective, the music video to “Sledgehammer” was one of the most complicated to produce and famous music videos of all time. Even almost thirty years later, this music video still is impressive! Please check out this link to the music video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJWJE0x7T4Q

                “Thriller” was first recorded by Michael Jackson in 1982. This song is considered by many to be the greatest pop songs of all-time and contains an iconic short movie/music video as well. The lyrics of the song talk about being in the dark close to midnight and scary things lurking in the night. The tempo of this song is up-tempo throughout. The dominant instrument that we hear during the song is some kind of synthesizer. You also hear a heavy bass part as well. The syncopation of the instruments along with Jackson’s vocals give it a funk feel to me. Much like “Sledgehammer”, this song had an iconic music video that helped in the development of MTV in the early 1980’s. In comparing these two songs, they are very different musically but they were both big hits so they had an appeal to the general listening audience. Please check out this link to the music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG6oy46qKE4

                                During the course of my readings and other listening, I learned that many of the popular songs from other genres as well. I listened to the music of Nirvana. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was recorded by Nirvana in 1991 and was their most popular song during the band’s short career. This song was also the first alternative rock song to crack the top 10 in the 1990’s.  The song contains 4, 8 and 12-bar sections. The form of the song is ABC and is repeated at different times of the song. Cobain uses different vocal hooks to keep the audience engaged. This year marks the 20^th anniversary of Cobain’s suicide in 1994. I remember being in 7^th grade when I heard the news and my female friends at the time being so sad!

                  

Chapters 11  & 12 Listening Journal #6

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 11 and 12 in the book American Popular Music. The Chapters focused on Rock Music, Disco, as well as reggae, punk rock and rap.  During the course of my readings, I also listened to several different songs that were written around the same period. I learned about several musicians from these eras such as Elton John, Bob Denver, Bob Marley, as well as Willie Nelson.

                One of the first recordings I listened to was “Crocodile Rock” by Elton John. This song was first recorded in 1972. This recording was one of Elton John’s earliest hits of his long career. The song contained the basic sounds and feelings of American Rock N’ Roll but it also incorporated John’s own personal touch as well. The lyrics of the song talk about nostalgia. One such example is the lyric “I remember when rock was young, me and Suzy had so much fun”. Musically, the song starts with a synthesizer/organ solo and contains an upbeat feel and straight tempo. The chorus contains an organ sound from John that sounds like a kazoo. The musical form of this popular song was AABA which is the standard form for popular/pop songs.

                “Stairway to Heaven” was first recorded by Led Zeppelin in 1972. This song is considered by many to be the greatest rock song of all-time. The lyrics of the song talk about mythological beings. The lyrics give a sense to the listener of a sense of mood of mystery and enchantment. The lyrics are sung in the standard 4 and 8 bar phrases. The song starts out with a guitar solo and features many tempo and key changes throughout. This song is almost 8 minutes long which doubles the standard 3 and a half minute song played on the radio. Stairway to Heaven does not follow the usual musical form of a popular song. I remember in High School Jazz Band that “Stairway to Heaven” was one of our favorite songs to play!

                                During the course of my readings and other listening, I learned that many of the popular songs from other genres as well. I listened to the music of Trombonist Willie Colon. “Pedro Navaja” was recorded by Colon in 1977. The song begins with an instrumental introduction which gives us a sense of some kind of place and time. The instruments seem to enter into the song one after another. Some instruments that I heard on the recording were Trombone, Congas, Bass and Piano.

               

Chapters 9 & 10-Listening Journal #5

 

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 9 and 10 in the book American Popular Music. The Chapters focused on American Pop, the British Invasion, the music of Motown as well as Urban and Folk music of the 1960’s. This week marked the 50^th anniversary of the Beatles coming to the United States and the start of the British Invasion so it was fun to read and listen to these songs. During the course of my readings, I also listened to several different songs that were written around the same period. I learned about several musicians from these eras such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, as well as Bob Dylan.

                One of the first recordings I listened to was “Please, Please Me” by The Beatles. This song was first recorded in 1962. This recording was one of the first Beatles songs to be played on radio stations in the United States. The song starts off with an instrumental intro before The Beatles begin to sing the lyrics. It sounds like John Lennon takes the lead vocals. This song is up tempo and features an ABAB structure. There are no temp changes in the song as well. The other members of the group back up Lennon on the lyrics “Common, Common”. This song is only about two minutes long. Towards the end of the song, you hear a conclusive cadence.

                “Good Vibrations” was first recorded by the Beach Boys in 1966. The Beach Boys were America’s answer to the British Invasion of bands as the time. The lyrics of the song talk about how the singer loves her hair, clothes, perfume etc. The form of the song is ABAB. Some parts of the song seem to be recorded in a minor key. Some of the instruments in the recording that I heard were an Organ, Flute, Cello as well as percussion. In comparing this song to “Please, Please Me”, they are quite different. First, the instruments that Brian Wilson used are not common in many Pop Songs. This kind of instrumentation really helped create the Beach Boys unique sound. “Good Vibrations” has a few tempo changes while “Please, Please Me” is a straight forward tempo from beginning to end.  Despite these songs being different, I enjoyed listening to both of them and could see how they appealed to audiences back then as well as almost 50 years later!

                                During the course of my readings and other listening, I learned that many of the popular songs of Soul. I listened to the music of several Soul Artists such as James Brown and Aretha Franklin. One of the first Franklin recordings I remember was “Free Way” in 1985. The Song climbed to Number 1 in R&B and Number 3 in Pop the same year. It was a straight-forward up beat song. I really like the timbre of Franklin’s voice as she sang freely with a lot of energy in her voice!  I can remember as a child seeing the music video with a big pink Cadillac in it back when MTV actually played music videos!

Chapters 7 & 8-Listening Journal #4

 

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 7 and 8 in the book American Popular Music. The Chapters focused on the emergence of the big solo singers after World War 2 to the beginning of Rock N’ Roll from 1946-1959. During the course of my readings, I also listened to several different songs that were written around the same period. I learned about several musicians from these eras such as Frank Sinatra, The Weavers, Nat King Cole as well as Ricky Nelson, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley from the Rock N’ Roll era.

                One of the first recordings I listened to was “Nature Boy” by Nat King Cole. This song was first recorded in 1948. This recording was the first to feature Cole with a full orchestra accompaniment. This was the era of the big solo singers such as Frank Sinatra and Cole. This song has a free flowing tempo from start to finish. The song starts off with an instrumental intro before Cole starts to sing.. This song is short and feature an ABAB structure. Cole begins each verse for a small falsetto at the beginning of each phrase and seems not to take a breath at all. His voice seems to have a lot of timbre and versatility in pitch as well. Some instruments that you hear in the recording are a Flute, an Oboe and a French Horn.

                “Hound Dog” was a cover song first recorded by Elvis Presley in 1956. This song was on the opposite side of the same record as “Don’t be Cruel” which topped the charts for eleven weeks in a row during the summer and fall of 1956. However, “Hound Dog” proved just to be as popular as “Don’t Be Cruel”. The tempo of the song is straight forward. The drum set helps keep the steady tempo and does a 16^th note triplet fill at the end of each verse when Elvis says “Ain’t No Friend of Mine”. There is also a guitar solo during the course of the song as well as vocal back-up singing during the guitar solo.

                                During the course of my readings and other listening, I learned that many of the popular songs of early country music as well as the mambo craze of the 1950’s. “Mambo” was a popular Latin dance in the United States just before the rise of Rock N’ Roll. This dance was a branch of some Cuban tradition. Two popular Mambo dances I listened to were “Mambo Number 5” and “Mambo Italiano”. Mambo songs have straight-forward syncopated rhythm sections. Many mambo songs also had syncopated saxophone and trumpet parts.

               

Chapters 5 &6 -Listening Journal #3

 

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 5 and 6 in the book American Popular Music. The Chapters focused on the Race Records and development of the Blues during the 1920’s and 1930’s as well as the swing era from 1935-1945. During the course of my readings, I also listened to several different songs that were written around the same period. I learned about several musicians from these eras such as W.C. Handy, Bessie Smith, Blind Lemmon Jefferson as well as Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Count Bassie from the swing era.

                One of the first recordings I listened to was “That Black Snake Moan” by Blind Lemmon Jefferson. This song was first recorded in 1926. This song has a pretty straight tempo from start to finish. You hear a guitar riff in the beginning before Jefferson starts to sing. It is the only instrument heard on this recording. Jefferson seems to be strumming chords on the guitar throughout this song. Jefferson starts each phrase of his first few lyrics with a type of moan that is punctuated at the beginning of each phrase. The lyrics seem like a brief repeated ideas. His voice seems to have a lot of timbre and versatility in pitch as well. Like many race/blues songs, the lyrics seem to tell a story about a black snake being in the room and some pretty woman better come and get the black snake soon. Hhhhhmmmm, seems like a sexual innuendo. This kind of innuendo with lyrics is a common theme that we will see in lyrics of popular music in the coming years.

                “In the Mood” was recorded by Glen Miller and his orchestra in 1939. To many musicians and historians, this song is considered the most popular song of the swing era. The song starts with a 16^th note sax riff to start before the trumpets and rhythm section start up. The main melody of the song is the Saxophones with the trumpets doing some short responses of an eight note followed by a half note. There is also a saxophone and trumpet solo during the course of the song as well. The tempo of the song is straight forward in a moderate tempo and the band uses dynamics as well. “In the Mood” was also a popular dance tune of the 1940’s at many proms and social dances throughout the United States. Listening to this song takes me back to my high school jazz band days when we played this song. It was always one of my favorites to play. Comparing “That Black Snake Moan” to “In the Mood” is like comparing apples to oranges. I was much more into listening to the swing era music than the blues.

                                During the course of my readings and other listening, I learned that many of the popular songs of the swing era are still the standards played by big bands today. There also were recordings of country music as well as Latin music in swing. “Brazil” was one of the most popular Latin jazz songs of the swing era. There still seems that there were no racial mixed bands yet. It would be several decades before this would become a reality.

               

Chapters 3 and 4 Listening Journal #2

                This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 3 and 4 in the book American Popular Music. These Chapters focused on the early development of Jazz from 1917 through the Tin Pan Alley songs of the 1930’s. During the course of my readings, I also listened to several different songs that were written around the same period. I learned about many of the early Jazz musicians such as King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington as well as many of the famous Tin Pan Alley composers like Irving Berlin and George Gershwin.

                One of the first recordings I listened to was “Tiger Rag” by the Original Dixie Land Jazz Band. This song was first recorded in 1918. This song is a high energy song from start to finish. You do not hear a strong identifiable melody throughout the song which was unlike much popular music of that time. The only time that you heard any solo instrument was during the stop-time sequences. This sequence happens when the band stops abruptly for a few beats and one instrument plays a brief one measure solo. During the song, you also hear the clarinet and trombone doing glides or glissandos from a lower octave to a higher octave. This element of the music really captures a sense of the time it was recorded in. “Tiger Rag” seems to have more of a structure and less improvisational than many of their African American counterparts of the era.

                “Dipper Mouth Blues” was recorded by King Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band in 1923. King Oliver was an important figure in the early days of Jazz in the United States. He also served as a teacher and mentor to Louis Armstrong, one of the greatest figures of all-time in popular music. This song makes a strong contrast compared to “Tiger Rag” from the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. “Dipper Mouth Blues” has more of a laid back and flowing feel than “Tiger Rag”. The structure of the song also seemed like it was more improvisational than the “Tiger Rag”. I also like how King Oliver incorporated the Cornet into this song. He was backed up on Cornet by a young Louis Armstrong. I preferred this recording over the Original Dixie Land Jazz Band “Tiger Rag”.

                My favorite “Tin Pan Alley” song I listened to was “I Got Rhythm” by George and Ira Gershwin. The song was first published in 1930. To me the lyrics are a great insight into how simple life was at that time. “I’ve got Rhythm, I’ve got Music, I’ve got my gal who could ask for anything more?”. Those lyrics about sum it up. It says to me, why is this person so happy? The form of the song is AABA and has a steady tempo from start to end. My first exposure to this song was when I was in 8^th Grade and saw the movie “Mr. Holland’s Opus” for the first time in 1995.

                During the course of my readings and listening, I learned that bands of this era were either all white or all black. There were no mixed racial bands. Even though African Americans were gaining gradual acceptance in the music world, they still suffered hardships from society. I also learned about some of the early pioneer women who sang Jazz in some performing groups from the video posted on our class module. I really thought that these women were talented and had beautiful voices that blended perfectly with their respective bands. I loved the sound of their voices and how well they “Scat Sang” so well. Louis Armstrong was also famous for scatting as well.

               

Chapters 1 & 2 Listening Journal

This week’s Listening Journal focuses on Chapters 1 and 2 in the Book American Popular Music. The Chapters focused on the early development of popular music in the United States from around 1840 to 1917. During the course of my readings, I also listened to several different songs that were written around the same period. The course of this timeline of history took us from the early traveling minstrels up to ragtime. I also learned about several early popular music artists such as Stephen Foster, John Philips Sousa and Scott Joplin.

                Early American music was influenced by the British Ballad tradition. “Barbara Allen” was one of the earliest popular songs from this time. The recording of this song I listened to was sung a cappella. By listening to this song, I can see that this could be considered an early influence of what will in later years become county music. The strain of her singing voice and pronunciation of words lead me to come to this conclusion. This song talks about love which will be a common theme in many popular song lyrics for years to come. In the recording I listen to, Jean Ritchie sings twelve four line verses.

                “Soldier’s Joy” was another song that I listened to during my readings. This song used a popular instrument of the time called the fiddle. I found the lyrics interesting as I listened and followed along in the book. The lyrics “25 cents for morphine, 15 cents for beer, 25 cents for morphine, that’s gonna take me away from here” blew my mind. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought by just looking at those lyrics that they were written in the 1960’s during the Vietnam War.

                During the Chapters, I also listened to many other early recordings that influenced the development of music in America. I listened to early recording of African American, Latino and Brass Bands. Brass Bands lead to the development of community and school bands that are still a major part of our culture today. John Philips Sousa was the major figure of the Brass Band movement. He toured all around the United States and the World towards the end of the 19^th Century and the beginning of the 20^th. One of my favorite Sousa marchers that I have both played and conducted with my High School Band is “El Capitan”. I love the way Sousa composed the 16^th note and dotted 8^th note runs. I also like the use of dynamics that he uses as well. The B section is more of a laid back feel but it does have its impact hits before having an exciting a forte ending.