A reminder that the homework for Friday is to read
- Music for People Bill of Musical Rights http://www.musicforpeople.org/
rights.html
Then write a comment here on what you find most interesting, and/or confirming, aggravating, right, wrong, etc.
Excellent work with the comments on the reading for Wednesday, as I told you in class.
The reading for Monday is the most complex: Christopher Small's lecture Musicking: A Ritual in Social Space http://www.musekids.org/
YW!
EE
I believe that the fifth right from the Bill of Musical Rights spoke the most to me. It states "Sincerely expressed emotion is at the root of meaningful musical expression." To me, that statement could not be more true. If a person has experienced a certain emotion that they are trying to convey through the music that they are playing, it is exponentially easier to do than for a person that has never truly experienced that emotion, such as the emotion of romantic love. Sincere emotion is the key to making the music that you are playing meaningful. This is the reason why I personally love playing the blues on guitar, because I can express emotions through my playing that I have experienced firsthand.
ReplyDeleteThe first musical bill really struck me: "Human beings need to express themselves daily in a way that invites physical and emotional release."
ReplyDeleteHonestly, the past couple of days have been really difficult for me. My music classes have been the cause of a lot of stress for me, so I've almost felt that I've reacted the opposite of what this states. Although music can be a very good outlet for stress relief, my argument is that it can also be the cause of some unnecessary stress.
Obviously I believe most in the fourth bill - "The human voice is the most natural and powerful vehicle for musical self-expression. The differences in our voices add richness and depth to music." The human voice, in my opinion, is such a powerful way to express music. The words combined with the music, the acting one is able to do, and the expressiveness and uniqueness of the human voice charge music emotionally. I've always believed the voice is the greatest musical instrument. :)
ReplyDeleteI had always know there was an energy in music, but I didn't know that there were different kids of musical energy (fire, oooo, and yea). It makes sense though, because you wouldn't play with the same kind of passion in a Mozart symphony than you would during The Rite of Spring. The oooo energy kind of put me to sleep, but that's not necessarily a bad thing; just because you're asleep doesn't mean there is no energy acting upon you. I actually found it so soothing and relaxing as to change my mental state and allow me to fall asleep, when usually I'm too busy or flustered to chill and take a nap.
ReplyDeleteAnd Joey......we'll have to have a little talk tomorrow haha. Expressive, maybe, but greatest......hhmmmm......
Okay.....
ReplyDeleteA lot of the rights "spoke" to me. The first one I strongly agree. Even if it doesn't involve music (sports for instance) you're still getting the physical and emotional release that music can also give. The third one was kind of negligible in a way, because I relate it to the saying for a musical group "You're only as good as your weakest person," which I fully agree; however, in this case, a number is just a number, it's the experience and other things that matter more (if that makes any sense). I disagree that the human-voice is the "most natural and powerful vehicle for musical self-expression," and it's not because I play an instrument. If anything, dance can be set on par with the voice, because moving is natural to the body, and people also use it for self-expression as well. Dance can be just as powerful and natural as the voice is. The fifth one, I will agree with Adam, is right on the spot. It's something that I hope to achieve, as a musician (and a dancer), to be able to sincerely express an emotion. I'm indifferent on the sixth one because I'm not opposed to people NOT moving, but certainly moving you're body can help you express emotion (because sometimes, you just can't help moving your body to the beat).
The ninth one is really important to me as well. "There are no "unmusical" people, only those with no musical experience." That can be applied to many things such as acting and dancing (which I also tell people all the time). Whenever someone says "I'm not a..." or "I can't..." I always tell them that they can, and that's they just haven't had enough experience. I strongly agree with the tenth one because improvisation allows us to truly explore who we are as individuals. In connection to the fifth right, the way to "sincerely" express yourself is to first find and understand who you are as a musician and to find your, "vibration," which brings me to the last bill, being responsible for your vibrations you send to others. As humans, we're social creatures, so we are easily affected, emotionally, by each other.....I thought wayyy to much on this...=P
I really liked the 3rd right I've never looked at all of the different ways to play music, and it just struck me that each person has their own way of creating music and that means that there are billions of ways to create music. Its so great that when each of those "voices" are put together they make one voice, the big three (band, orchestra, and choir) wouldn't exist without each voice and imagine what an ensemble would be like if there was only one way to make music, how boring and bland and icky would that be???
ReplyDeleteAfter last night and jazz at the duck, I really agree with the penultimate musical right that " Music improvisation is a unique and positive way to build skills for life-expression". As music comes in so many different forms, it's important to remember that at the root, we ourselves create it - and it is anything we want it to be...only limited by the depth of our imagination. And especially for me, improvisation is a special place of being where I feel like I can express myself openly, and enjoy making music the most.
ReplyDeleteI was most struck by the 2nd right. I think that was due mostly to the language Darling used; "joyful" and "healthy". I know I can easily forget that music is supposed to be not only fun but joyful. It is also therapeutic however and actually a healthy way of communication. This made me think of the many varieties of music therapy we discussed last class. I thought it was also interesting that Darling said it was musical self-expression but it helps to communicate, implying it has positive effects on the health of the individual and the heath of relationships. The right also states that music is available to everyone, which ties into the 9th right which I also found interesting. Like Sarah said, I have met so many people who say they can't dance or can't sing, but in reality they just haven't had the experience. I think that is a beautiful way at looking at the musical world. A musical community does not have to be a community of musicians.
ReplyDeleteObviously I believe most in the fourth bill. NOT. I dare anyone (how about you Joey) to overpower an organ with your voice (if voice truly is the most "powerful vehicle")--better yet an obnoxious, loud trumpet player!
ReplyDeleteJokes aside, the bill that really stuck me was the ninth bill: "There are no 'unmusical people', only those with no musical experience". I agree with Sarah's insight; it's easy to say "I'm not..." or "I can't". It's much harder--but also much more rewarding as I'm sure we can all attest--to make music. Such excuses are not a reflection of a lack of skill or ability or opportunity but rather, a lack of effort or desire.
Watch it slide-boy, there ARE unmusical people - trombone players who hang over past the perfectly refined trumpet at the end of charts :-P.
ReplyDeleteEveryone has a right to music, and everyone has a way to produce music. Music permeates everything I do in one form or another and I believe it works the same for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI agree the most with the nineth statement whether we know it or not we all have music within us. Like YYM mentioned in his master class, we all have a heartbeat and that heartbeat is the rhythm of the music that is our lives. (corny huh?) We all have different levels of experience, but we all have the capability
ReplyDeleteOk, I didn't read the directions carefully. This is one of my three required comments, but I'm posting it a little late. I'll be more prompt about my others. So moving on from personal confessions:
ReplyDeleteAt first, I was really surprised when Dr. Edberg said that someone was offended by that Bill of Rights. They all made sense to me, and I thought they did a good job at defining the essence of music and the musician. However I gave it some thought.
I personally have a problem with number 7. The European tradition of music is not one sound. The European tradition of spans hundreds of years through which its music evolved dramatically. Not only does European music from different eras sound completely different, but music within the same era (or even the same composer) can sound radically different.
I understand that the purpose of this right is to call out ignorance and blindness of cultures and music worldwide, but I think this can be done without belittling and homogenizing the great accomplishments of European music.
I'm also chiming in belatedly:
ReplyDeleteOf the various points under the Musical Bill of Rights, my favorite is the ninth: There are no unmusical people, only people without musical experience. This underlines the idea that music is a fundamentally human endeavor, and comes not from some abstractedly abstruse musical world but from our experience as human creatures, communicating and creating with one another. It reminds me of something Yo-Yo Ma said in his lecture (that maybe someone else said before him?) - that he is a human first, a musician second, and a cellist third. (I may have misquoted, but that was the general idea.) In any case, being a musician is not something apart from being human, and any human has the capacity to be a musician.
I loved the following point: " Music improvisation is a unique and positive way to build skills for life-expression". Improvisation in general is used to talk about jazz and more popular music, but using it for classical playing gives it so much more meaning. As a good improviser I can say that it allows my daily activities to be somewhat spontaneous. Not only this but as an improviser, it allows you as the musician to explore your musical liking and explore opportunities outside of the usual musical realm we classical players tend to stick to.
ReplyDeleteI was most impacted by this particular point: there are no unmusical people, just people with no musical experience. In the classical music world we work so hard to master our technique and we frequently surround ourselves with talented and hard-working performers so it's easy to forget that we are all really just like everyone else. We may spend more time focusing on our study and our ability to perform music but each person has been given the ability to cognitively understand music. Each individual can relate to music in an unique way.
ReplyDelete