Listening (b)Log Week 6

This week was about the University Elementary partnership to put on a cultural show about Native Americans. So I looked for something having to do with Native Americans. Not only is this beautiful sounding, but I have definitely heard it before, not that I can remember where. Enjoy!

Thinking about Structure

What I really liked in this chapter was the discussion of improvisation versus composition. Just because and improvisation is not written down does not mean it was not thought up, or is less of a piece of music. Going back on it, it could easily be written down later on and used by other people. Improvisation truly is composition. So this led me to think of a truly great improvisation, Jimi Hendrix's start spangled banner. Taking a classic song and adding his own spin to it, and now it is extraordinarily well-known. How could this not be considered a composition?

Listening (b)Log Week 4

This weeks reading was all about accurately representing a culture in a piece of music. And not to give too much away but this musical example ties into my lesson plan. What could possibly be more representative of a culture than it's national anthem? The whole point of an anthem is that it is clearly about the country, and is meant to spark pride in the heart's of citizens upon hearing it. The article we read made me think, that taken out of context and played by musicians who didn't really know the nuances of it might take some of the pride out of the music. If we handed our National Anthem to a group of musicians who hadn't grown up listening to it, or didn't know the words (Christina Aguilera...) they would have a harder time getting it right, or in a way that the country would recognize it. It's a place where authenticity really comes into play. So for your entertainment, here is the National Anthem of Poland. (Hopefully I got you all excited for my lesson plan, cause I was really excited when I came up with the concept!)