Diverse Cultures and Their Musics

Kecak Dance History In class, I was really intrigued by the kecak dance that we watched a video of. I was curious about its history, so I decided to do some research on it. I assumed that it was an ancient tradition, but it actually didn't begin until the 1930s. A musician and painter named Walter Spies was traveling in Bali and became fascinated with the culture. He collaborated with Indonesian dancer Wayan Limbak to make what is today the kecak dance. Spies was inspired by a different, and much older, traditional Balinese dance involving young, female dancers who are believed to be in a trance-like state due to a spirit entering them. It is accompanied by male chorus. Though the kecak dance was developed for Western audiences, it still definitely holds depth and meaning. It is mesmerizing to watch the dance, and I imagine it must be such a powerful experience to be a part of. Below is a video of a kecak dance from a documentary as well as a video of a women's group. Women d...

The following interview is with my former band director, Jonas Nix. He was my director for seven years and we are very close. He directs the concert, marching, and jazz bands at North Central High School. When he began working at the North Central schools around 10 years ago, the band program was basically nonexistent. This year, the marching band, which has been in operation for five years, won 2nd at state. This interview mainly focuses on his relationship with band throughout his life. My questions are in bold and clarifications are provided in brackets. What is your first memory of music? So, three things stick out from when I was a really little kid. I don’t know how early they are or what order they came in, but the first one was how much I loved watching Disney movies – especially for the music. Whenever we were in the car with my parents they would play Disney movie music and my mom, who was a singer, would sing. I loved music from The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Be...

Koili Devi, Nepali Singer: Koili Devi was the first female Nepali singer and composer. She is known for her very sweet and melodic voice. Devi emerged via the radio in the 20th century as part of the first generation of professional Nepali singers. She was incredibly prolific, and received several prestigious Nepali awards during her career. In reading about her, it initially surprised me that a woman was able to emerge as a strong figure in a very new Nepali music industry, but then I remembered how revered musical women are in Indian culture. Since India is so close to Nepal, the same mindset is probably present. I remember learning in class how there is a strong tradition of respected female music teachers and performers in India. Koili Devi doesn't seem to be well known on an international level. I think this is probably because Nepal is still a developing country and doesn't currently hold a great deal of international influence. The video below is Devi singing Aja Ko D...

Music of the Inca Empire: In class, we learned a lot about the music of post-colonial South America and how the musical traditions of native peoples, Spaniards, and Africans blended. I was curious to know more about what music was like around modern-day Ecuador before the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century. The instruments used by those living in the Inca Empire were primarily percussion and wind instruments. Strings were introduced later by foreigners. My favorite instrument I have learned about is the pututo. It is a large seashell used for announcing arrival of people and commencement of events. This is very much like the brass horns that were being used in other parts of the world. Though these indigenous people did not yet have access to brass, they found a way to produce the same result with a very different medium. There must be a very special technique involved in getting a substantial sound out of a pututo. I definitely couldn't pick one up and make any sort of sound...

My earliest experience with making music was in a children’s choir throughout elementary school. In that setting, there were no ideas at all about the role of boys or girl because, as children, we all sang the same part. In fourth grade, I began to play the piano. I remember that my teacher had very few male students, but piano was never viewed as a “girl’s instrument.” My teacher was a man and everything I played was written by men. Additionally, though it was very common for girls to learn piano in the 20 th century, the pianists who were most present in the general public awareness of the time (Rubinstein, Horowitz, Rachmaninoff, etc) were all men. Still, I never felt that I shouldn’t play piano because I am a girl. In sixth grade, I began to play the clarinet in band. There were perhaps some lingering ideas about how it was a bit funny for a boy to play the flute or for a girl to play the tuba, but the idea was never present within the classroom that they shouldn’t be ...

Talking Drum/Luna Drum: I was really intrigued by the story Dr. Weeks told in his presentation about the musicians who recited tribal genealogy with their drums alone. I looked more into it, and it's done with the Luna drum that we learned about in class. It is also know as a talking drum, and the music is used for storytelling and other forms of communication. The drum "talks" by combining pitch and rhythm to match the tonal nature of many West African languages. In reading, I found out that the wood for the drum is only taken from trees that grow along roads. This is because these trees have grown up to the sounds of passerby conversation, and thus are better suited to be made into talking drums. Sometimes music is referred to as a "language," and I'd say this is the most overt instance I've seen of music really exhibiting language-like properties. The video below does a good job of showing how talking drum players use their instruments to convey wh...