World Music

Title of piece: "Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky" Performer(s): Members of the Roslin Orphanige Culture of Origin: American children's game Instrumentation: Singing voice and clapping Musical play holds an important role in social development of children.  Chooi-Theng and Campbell point out in their article that "children use play as a vehicle for cultural learning, and their play can serve as an important indicator and reflection of their development" (Chooi-Theng Lew & Campbell, 2005, p. 58).  This song, in particular, demonstrates the cultural importance and the developmental stage of learning to take turns.  Children know that for this particular game-song to work properly, they must wait their turn to clap their neighbor's hand.  As music teachers, it is important that we tap into the natural tendencies that children have to learn through music.  If we are building from children's natural abilities and desires, then it adds val...

Title of piece: Thumri Performer(s): Nina Burmi, Sanju Saha, and Pandit Ramesh Mishra Culture of Origin: India Instrumentation: Voice, Tabla, and Sarangi This performance is from the Darbar Festival in London, England which is home to some of India's finest classical music.  This piece is an example of improvised Indian classical music.  The creativity used in this piece is truly amazing.  The intricate melodies that the performer composes in her mind as she is singing are breath-taking.  I also find it intersting that the instrumentation (especially the tabla player) is able to echo and copy the improvised melodies sung by Nina Burmi. This piece would be an excellent showcase for students when teaching about improvisation in the classroom.  Campbell points out in her book that "The music section of The National Standards for Arts Education recommends the meeting of two separate standards, improvisation and composition and arrangement, calling for s...

Song Title: "Praise of Ghengis Khan" Performer: Unknown Culture of Origin: Mongolian Instrumentation: Voice, Morin Khuur The topic of authenticity is a complex one when dealing with world music in the music classroom.  Many music classrooms have limited resources available and limited time.  These two hurdles combined leave it difficult for a teacher to find authentic instruments to use and to find time do adequate research to perfect music techniques found around the world.  Koops points out in an article that several music education researchers believe that authenticity in world music is impossible to achieve in the music classroom.  The above video of a Mongolian throat singer would prove this suggestion to be true.  It would be difficult for a music teacher to master the art of Mongolian throat singing and then to teach the technique to students for a performance.  It would be possible, though, for a music teacher to find someone w...

Title: The Blood Still Works Artist:  Triumphant Worship Center Gospel Choir (Fairfield, California) Culture of Origin: Traditional Gospel Music Instrumentation:  Piano, Choir, Soloist, Drums Context in musical structure affects the performance outcome in many different ways.  Things such as available technology, aesthetic values, and performer-audience interactions play in to the context of music (Wade, 2013).  The listening example that I chose for this week's blog post is of traditional black gospel music- one of my favorite genres in which to be a part of a live performance.  I have had the opportunity to experience this genre in-person about a handful of times in my life and each time has been one of the most musically energetic and enlivening experiences!  Context plays a huge part in one's experience with this type of music, though.  There is a great deal of interaction between the audience and performers.  The two groups feed off ...