Music and Us

This has been the most fun I've had so far writing a blog post. I have had no shortage of things to talk about and this is a subject I love to talk about. I decided to do a couple songs from the eastern parts of Asia since we haven't focused a whole lot on those places in class and then took a closer look at some different parts of North and South America that weren't covered in class. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it and enjoy at least one selection.

I actually wrote about this piece for another music history class I took my freshman year at Limestone and I just thought it would be fun to revisit it, especially since we haven't covered much east Asian music. The class I took at Limestone spent a little bit of time on music from other cultures, one of them being Japan. This is a classical Japanese piece called Seoto, meaning Sound of the Rapids. It is played by a 13-string koto and a 17-string koto, which is a traditional Japanese instrument. Imagine the African Kora, but lying horizontally on the ground; that's what a koto looks like. It was composed by Michio Miyagi, a very accomplished koto player who lived in the late 19th and 20th century. He went blind by the age of eight, which is when he started to study music. His story is not unique among traditional Japanese musicians; there were many blind musicians in Japan as music was one of the few ways they could make a living without their sight. I apologize for the info dump. That's probably more than you care to know. Please just enjoy this piece as I did when I first heard it.

The next piece I picked is from the Inuit people of Canada. I picked this one specifically because it had a video showcasing a unique style of drumming that I found interesting. The recording is from a yearly festival that showcases Inuit arts. From what I've read on their website, it's a lot like a pow-wow. The piece is called Labradorimiut and it is performed by the Gregoire Boys and the Nain Drum Dancers. The Gregoire Boys are an Innu disco-rock band and the Nain Drum Dancers are a traditional Innu music group specializing in, you guessed it, drum dancing. The piece itself has elements of traditional Inuit music as well as modern western music. I would put this piece more on the modern side though, as it was written by the Gregoire Boys who, while certainly including Innu elements in their music, are a disco-rock group. I hope this is distinct enough from Native-American music to be considered its own thing. I know it's on the same continent, but it sounds so different in my opinion, and it's at least in a different country. I have rambled enough; please enjoy this music.

This next piece is from the Philippines. I thought the song was beautiful and in a different from what my western ears are used to. It is called Dosayan and is a religious piece; it is meant for Kabuniyan, who is a creator/skygod. If you turn on subtitles you will notice the sacred nature of the lyrics. I am not sure what language it is in, just that it is an ancient one that predates the Philippines colonization by the Spanish. Despite being southeast Asian, Filipino culture shares many similarities with Spanish culture because of their occupation of the islands. This recording is by Grace Nono, an ethnomusicologist and traditional Filipino singer. She works to preserve the culture of the Philippines.

The last piece I have picked is from Argentina. It's called Naistumichiu by Chano. It's the most modern song I've chosen with a lot of pop elements. Chano is a big name in the Argentinian pop music scene with this specific music video having 11 million views. His post popular song, Carnavilintro, has gone double platinum with 41 million streams. He used to be the front-man for a popular Argentinian boy band called Tan Bionica until he left in 2016. This piece stood out to me because of it's catchy tune and professional production quality. It sounds a lot like something you'd here from the U.S. with a few foreign touches. I have put the lyrics through a translator and am unable to figure out what they mean, so if you would like to try feel free. Anyway, here's Naistumichiu by Chano.

I hope you liked what I picked out. I had a lot of fun discovering all this new music. I tried to pick things that we haven't covered in class and were all unique. I did a couple Asian countries, but they're both very different so I hope it wasn't too redundant. For the Inuit and Argentina selections: I'm aware we've covered music of the same continent, but I tried to select parts that were different from what was discussed in class. Thanks for reading. That's all folks!

Music and Family

The following is the transcript from the interview I conducted with my mom about her experiences with music throughout her life. She had talked about her prior experiences with me before, but this was a much more in-depth look for me at her life and the music that has influenced it and I wound up learning new things about her.

[Interview starts]

Tue, Jan 20, 10:44 PM (11 hours ago)

[Emma Jane] 0:00
Okay, did you play an instrument when you were younger?

[Mom] 0:05
Yes, I played the piano, kind of but I played the flute and I was pretty good at it.

[Emma Jane] 0:13
Were you self taught?

[Mom] 0:14
No, I played in the band at school.

[Emma Jane] 0:18
Do you have an instrument that you wished you knew how to play?

[Mom] 0:22
Violin.

[Emma Jane] 0:24
Did you sing in a choir?

[Mom] 0:26
Yes, lots at church, at school, at school, high school, chorus, Junior High chorus, church choir. Yeah.

(Here's a song she gave me from her choir days that she enjoyed. I have no idea if this is the version she sang.)

[Emma Jane] 0:39
What kind of music do you not like?

[Mom] 0:47
Probably heavy metal.

[Emma Jane] 0:58
How did you listen to music when you were younger.

[Mom] 1:02
Well, we had eight tracks, and then we graduated to cassette tapes on boom boxes, and had a Walkman with headphones and stereo in my room. And, yeah, that's how I listened to music.

[Emma Jane] 1:21
Okay, um, growing up, did you have any, like, music restrictions, and did you rebel?

[Mom] 1:30
You know, I really didn't have music restrictions.

[Emma Jane] 1:33
That's crazy. Because you were a pastor's daughter. Maybe they just didn't feel the need, like they knew you weren't going to get into stuff or something. How did your taste of music compare to the taste of those around you?

[Mom] 1:56
I don't know. I guess my parents didn't listen to the top 10 hits like I did, but I wasn't really rebellious in my music taste like I said, I liked musicals and Broadway hits and stuff like that. None of that was really different from my parents.

[Emma Jane] 2:20
Yeah. Did you like, did you like different artists or genres than most of your friends?

[Mom] 2:30
No, I was in pretty geeky group of peoples. That was kind of what we did. I mean, I listened to the popular songs of the day as well, but the other stuff is really what I took a lot of joy in.

(She listened to a lot of musicals and this was one of the examples she gave me.)

[Emma Jane] 2:49
Last question, what kind of music would you like at your funeral?

[Mom] 2:54
I guess sacred hymn music.

[Interview ends]

I had no idea my mom was so into musicals growing up and I found it rather interesting she had no music restrictions growing up. I might be responsible for her desire to learn the violin; I have gushed about my instrument to her on a few occasions. Anyway, I had fun conducting this interview and I hope you had fun reading it.

Music and Memory

Brains, in my experience, are weird. They remember things better if there is a tune associated with the memory. I have no idea why this is and I really ought to find a video that explains it. It's the type of thing I'd find cool. Yes, I'm that type of person, but I digress. This post is about music that I have certain memories attached to. Here are three.

This first one I found when trying to memorize the presidents of the United States back in middle or high school. I was getting very frustrated until I realized setting the names in order to a song would help me greatly. I wound up doing very well on my test. I almost didn't include this one because I almost couldn't find the video on YouTube. I was about to give up thinking it had been buried under new videos after all these years, but then I found it. At least I think I did. It's been so long I cannot guarantee this is the exact video, but I'm fairly sure. It's certainly old enough.

The next song I have a memory associated with is In the Pines by Dolly Parton. My family has made several trips up to Dollywood through the years and one time we bought a CD. It had a variety of songs on it. I think this recording I found is the same one burned on the CD. It was the first time I remember listening to Dolly Parton, though I had doubtless encountered her music before that. We played it on the trip home and on some of our other trips to Dollywood. I have no idea where that CD is. It is likely lost to time, but I still remember many of the songs that were on it. This is one of my favorites and has stuck in my memory.

Last is a piece I played my junior year of high school. It was my first time being in an orchestra again after moving and the pandemic and this was one of the pieces on the program that I fell in love with. Dvorak's 9th symphony, specifically the 4th movement. It was challenging and I was nervous since I hadn't played with an orchestra in a year, but I enjoyed it nonetheless and have found myself revisiting it in later years. I have not had the opportunity to play this piece since then, but I hope to one day. It's always fun to revisit pieces you haven't played in a while. The piece being easier to play and noticing things I didn't before is very rewarding to me.

I have a variety of music I could have used here. It was kind of hard narrowing it down to three examples. The longer I thought about it the more memories I dredged up. I normally have a terrible memory, so the fact I could remember so much is a testament to how much music helps with memory.

If you're interested, here's one more video. It's not music, but a video from the YouTuber Sideways explaining how the Remember Me scene in Coco isn't that unrealistic. This channel has a lot of great videos about music that I highly recommend watching.

Music and Me (I can't believe I struggled to type 500 words. Can you tell I was just tagging on random stuff at the end?)

Hello, all. My name is Emma Jane and this is my blog post for the "Music and Me" assignment. I am the oldest child in my family with two younger brothers. I would say little brothers, but that's not a good descriptor for them. In addition to siblings I also live with a variety of animals: two dogs, five cats, and even a rooster. I am a violinist and will hopefully graduate in 2027 with a B.A. in music. I've been playing since I was seven and truthfully, I'm not sure how I wound up sticking with this for so long. Nonetheless, I'm glad to be here. I also play a bit of piano, but my skills in that department are very underwhelming. Forgive my appearance in this picture. I took it last minute after discovering I needed a picture of myself and realizing I had none.

A piece of music that I've been listening to a lot lately is Roommates by Malcolm Todd. I just happened to stumble across Earrings, another song of his, and it led me to check out his discography. This is my favorite. I particularly like the guitar.

A piece that is personally meaningful to me is Piano Man by Billy Joel. It was the first song of his I can remember hearing which led me to explore his other songs, many of which are in my playlist. This one in particular, however, makes me a little emotional, hence why I chose it. It makes me sad and happy at the same time. My mom also loves Billy Joel and went to one of his concerts when she was a girl where she got to see him backflip off a piano.

A song I don't really connect to is 7 Years by Lukas Graham. I remember this song used to play on the radio a lot when I was a kid and my first impression of it was, "This kid way too young to be doing all this." Why is this child drinking at eleven? I'm aware it happens, but at the same time, where are his parents? Telling him to get a wife apparently. Mind you, he's still eleven. He needs to be in school. The lyrics are very bizarre and I cannot imagine what inspired Lukas Graham to write them. It's written as though it's someone's life story. Who's life story? Is this person real? I hope not. I hope they're a fictitious character Lukas Graham made up for this song. The song tries to evoke this sentimental, nostalgic feeling, but I'm just too distracted by the lyrics.

I hope this post was informative and that I gave you plenty of material to comment on. I wrote this while at work so it's quality is dubious. I'm also struggling to meet the word count, which is pathetic, because 500 words is not that many. Also, just for fun, tell me what you thought of the Stranger Things finale. I think the Duffer brothers could have done better. Until next time I guess.