Your homework for Wed. 10/2:
Read:
- Change the World” (Interview with Babatunde Olatunji) http://www.drumcircle.com/
articles/baba.html “Arthurian Philosophy” http://www.drumcircle.com/
articles/philosophy.html “Rythmaculture” http://www.drumcircle.com/
articles/rhythmaculture.html
- Drums of Passion The famous Babtunde Olatunji album
A comment here about what you found most interesting or stimulating in the reading and listening.
I found the fact that "Drums of Passion" has sold over 50 million copies very interesting. I was unaware that drum circle music was so popular around the world. I very much enjoyed listening to the music; i couldn't help but to move back and forth to the beat.
ReplyDeleteIn his car ride interview with Hull, Olatunji said, "Rediscovering ourselves. And from there moving forward," and I spent a lot of time thinking about that. The statement was in the context of re-balancing our technological society. With the accelerating integration of humans and computers, people everywhere are asking " What does it mean to be human?" and I believe that drum circles are the perfect experiential answer.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the interview with Babatunde Olantunji, I felt that one statement really struck me: 'The engineer said, “A strange man in a strange land shouldn’t sing a strange song” because every morning I would play my hand drum just to amuse myself.'
ReplyDeleteI honestly wasn't really sure how to respond to this statement. I feel like the engineer was really putting Olatunji down by saying this, and I'm inclined to think that it's stereotypically said by people that don't understand the importance of music and its roots.
In addition to my earlier comment, I feel that it's really important that we as music students understand why we're continuing to study and how it has shaped our lives.
ReplyDeleteMost intriguing to me was Hull's and Olatunji's confidence that hand drumming would blossom into an integral part of our culture by 2005 (10 years from 1995, when the car interviews were conducted). Do you believe that hand drumming has been thoroughly "integrated into our cultural expression"?
ReplyDeleteUntil recently (as in 8 days ago), I was completely ignorant to hand drumming. Perhaps this simply reflects a deficiency in my childhood, but perhaps hand drumming has not been sufficiently actively promoted amongst children. It is most definitely not currently taught alongside "football or basketball".
I found it really interesting that Babatunde Olatunji contributed to the Grateful Dead's music, I grew up listening to the Dead and never realized what went into their music. Also, it's really cool that we are slowly creating our own type of Rhythmaculture. I know its not possible, but I wish I could travel into the future and hear what the "american" Rhythmaculture would sound like.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same vein as Will. When I read that Olatunji believed that drum circling would become integral to our culture, I was surprised because I find it very unlikely. To me it seems that America is developing its own "Rythmaculture" that is actually quite separate from traditional ways.
ReplyDeleteOlatunji and Hull had no idea what sort of technology would come out of a measly ten-fifteen years. Ipods, youtube, smart phones, etc. have caused a sort of musical upheavel that has raised music to a ubiquitous level. You can listen to music everywhere now, and we do. We have songs for everything and in that way we have a "rythmaculture." Especially with new pop and rap songs that are driven so heavily by the rhythm.
So I would agree with Olatunji when he says we are moving back to a more rhythmic and communal place in music (that is shown through the music we listen to and how we all listen to the same thing). But I believe that our generation, with our technology and our culture, will most likely not return to traditional music but be more interested in the new things and rediscovery of the old.
Personally, I like Olatunji's simple definition of the "spirit of the drum": it is "a feeling that makes you say to yourself, 'Yes, I'm glad to be alive today. I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad I'm a part of this world.'"
ReplyDeleteIt's comforting.
My favorite part is the Arthurian Philosophy "Rhythm has the power to heal. Everything that exist vibrates with its own rhythm."
ReplyDeleteI not only agree to that, but I believe that music in general has the power to heal. Whether it's a song or an instrumental soundtrack, the melodies and rhythm are able to to comfort us in ways that other things can't. And as far as everything existing vibrating to its own rhythm, I also agree, because in a way...its a sign that you are living. (Insert semi-tangent) As humans, we have a tendency to always question what our purpose here in life is (exactly what Yo-Yo Ma talked about during his lecture), and sometimes the simple answer is just to live. To go with your own body's rhythm, and live.
I found Olantunji's comment about people returning to their roots in body percussion most interesting. At first I didn't believe "Rythmaculture" existed in America, but there are actually many examples in modern dance and the music that inspires the movement. Hip hop, contemporary, and especially step are newer dance styles that rely heavily on body percussion. These styles of music are heavily rhythmic like Joey mentioned. I think this is why many modern audiences identify with this music, because like Olatunji said it helps us "rediscover ourselves". We like the spirit of the drum that leads us to want dance and use body percussion.
ReplyDeleteI was really struck when Hull commented on how religion uses music to "vibrate the members of the group beyond intellect and individual concepts of God to that unnameable place that every religion attempts to name." I've often pondered about where music comes from and how to define that "unnameable place," and although I'm no closer to an answer, I'm glad to know that others are asking themselves the same thing and trying to investigate as well. I also liked Hull's thoughts about living vibration; he promotes the idea that to vibrate is to be alive, and to make music is to, in a sense, vibrate, therefore linking our very existence with music. There is always some kind of visceral reaction to that certain note or that mysteriously meaningful chord change in addition to an emotional reaction, indicating some primordial connection between humanity and music (whether it be tonal or rhythmic).
ReplyDeleteA response to Will - although drumming hasn't really been integrated into the educational process, it plays a significant role in other aspects of life. My mom is a psychiatric nurse, and often times the patients will be led through a music therapy session that's run very similarly to our seminar class (there's also a harpist that shows up randomly and plays on the unit). It seems drumming is something most people encounter later in life rather than in childhood.
I, like Sarah, also found the "Arthurian Philosophy" to be interesting and genuine. The notion that vibration is connected to life is something I had not previously thought about, but all of Arthur's arguments make sense. When things (people, animals, nature, and and in our case our instruments or sounds) are moving (vibrating) they are alive; when they are still and motionless, they appear dead. It's incredible how this simple concept occurs every day in a performer's life. After all, aren't we supposed to make our music come alive? Producing vibrations through our instruments in specific ways is what makes our sounds come alive and transform into music. Rhythm is then the easiest ways of understanding natural vibrations.
ReplyDeleteContinuing from what Joey said after reading about the inflow of talented musicians to America's performing scene and their effect on our own rhythmaculture because, "They give us knowledge, tools and the blue prints we need to create, what in two hundred years from now, will be a Rhythmaculture that will be distinctly American. It won’t be just a mixture of African and European cultures. It will include Asians, Arabic, Polynesian, Mexican, and Native American as well." I came away wondering how America doesn't already have its own culture which I feel stems from the 1920's...true, different types of music are everywhere in America today with the technological explosions of the past decade: pop and rock concerts, classical concertos, country and blues, dub step, techno, and many more being part of the melting pot described by the author, but if there is or ever will be An American rhythmaculture, it's Jazz. Home-grown in New Orleans, and spearheaded by Satchmo, that's where I think our rhythmaculture lies, we made swing our American thing, and you still hear it at amusements parks across the country, because it makes us feel good - and it's ours.
ReplyDeleteI found it really cool how-just like Yo Yo Ma- one person can influence the music world so dramatically. Baba used his passion to kick start African Americans into being extremely proud of their heritage. It also just so happened that he was causing the movement in a time where many things were changing and this only helped him to gain popularity.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Will's post. I was totally ignorant (and I thought I wasn't) about all the music that there was in the world. In my high school year's I did however start getting into hand percussion music, mainly after I said this phenomenal group perform in Earlham College. If I remember their name I will post a video. Every since the beginning of the drum circle rotation, I was pretty bummed that we can't have the class for much longer.
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