Music and Play

This week while I was reading about the importance of music and play in a child’s young life, the first thing that came to mind is Disney. They are all catchy songs that you can catch students singing and humming around. One example is Heigh-Ho or the “work song," from Snow White. Here it is, enjoy!

Music & Collaboration

Title: Hava Na Shira
Performers: The Folksmiths
Culture/Origin: Israeli Folk Song
Orchestration: Voices (Ensemble)

This is a song this week that made me think of collaborating with grade schools. It's a very catchy tune, and it's something that is very easy to teach. Students from a university could teach this to students, and the students will easily be able to pick it up. I'm actually using it in a Kindergarten lesson plan for that purpose. If students are advanced, they can even add in the harmonies. Enjoy!

Structure

This week's readings on structure made me think of many different songs, because every song has some sort of structure. The lack of formal “structure” is itself having structure. A song that came to mind particularly is a Scottish folk song called “Banks and Braes.” I sang this song both in middle school and when I was in the Ohio BoyChoir. Here is a link to the song, as performed by Brigid Mhairi. It isn't the best recording, but it gets the point across. This song is in strophic form. It has the one melody that is repeated several times with different words.

Authenticity in World Music Education

Title: Niska Banja
Performers: Liberty High School
Culture/Origin: Serbian Folk Song
Orchestration: Piano, Choir

When I was in honors choir in high school, I remember that the women sang this piece. I really liked it and decided that I would look to see a little more about it. It appears to be an authentic Serbian Folk Song. There is actually a dance that goes with it, although the sheet music only calls for clapping. The lyrics are very interesting, and not necessarily what one would expect when you just hear the song first. Here is the song as performed by Liberty High School and here is the lyrics and background of the song.

Nature

Title: The Insect Song
Performers: Gerry Axelrod
Culture/Origin: United States (Late 70's)
Orchestration: Singer and Guitar

While reading this week, the part of the Campbell article that struck me was section on Environmental Music. How often do we sit and just listen to the music of our surroundings? As I sit here, I hear the low roar of the highway, the hiss of the gas meter, and the click of the keys. It all seems to come together to form this one masterpiece that is, "Cleveland at 1AM." For the listening example, I found some of our own "World Music" in the United States. "The Insect Song" from Songs of Nature and the Environment (1978). It really sounds like something that could be from another culture, the way it's kind of said instead of sung and the guitar underneath. This piece can almost be used for something like a kindergarten science class also. It is very educational, and some of the others are too.

Acculturation

Title: We Bow to Your Cross
Performers: St. Peter in the Loop Schola
Culture/Origin: Carpatho Rusyn Mountains
Orchestration: Choir/Chant

This song was located on my church website. It is a hymn that is used during liturgy on special occasions, and I thought it would be appropriate for acculturation. This first version of it was the traditional Rusyn chant that was used in the church: Here it is! Here is the new one that was a Galician influence and we still use it today, in fact it is the more widely used one in the United States. This just really interests me because it just happened to become tradition strictly because it was an influence from another culture.

Harp

Title: In Praise of the Burmese Harp
Performers: Inle Myint Maung and Yi Yi Thant
Culture/Origin: Burma
Orchestration: The arched Harp

This song was located on Smithsonian Folkways. The instrumentation was an Arched Harp, which consists of sixteen strings suspended between a long, curved wooden neck and resonator covered with deer skin painted red. It can be tuned in many different ways and it does have a Western Harp sound, it is just tuned modaly. It definitely represents the chordophone (string) instrument. The pleasant relaxing sound is really quite amazing. Enjoy!