KWL on Chinese Music

I have always been a fan of hearing music from other cultures and I really enjoyed the performance of traditional and contemporary Chinese music at our last class. Hearing this music and the ensuing discussions, however enlightening, I feel only lent itself to more questions! I feel this is good, though, as it will drive me to seek out new information.

Before entering the class, I did not know much about Chinese music. One of the most interesting things that I learned was how heavily Chinese music is based on the pentatonic scales. In fact, the instrument that was demonstrated for us did not even have the 4th or 7th notes of the scales and the instrumentalist as required to "bend" pitches to make these notes if they were required as passing tones. I also found it interesting to observe that the use of this scale did produce the characteristic "Chinese" sound associated with the phrase "Chinese Music", however, when used in jazz, the pentatonic scale does not produce this characteristic sound. Upon further reflection, though, I feel this is most likely due to the inflections that were added to the music by the performer.

I also know now that not only do the Chinese have their own notation system which, in many respects, seems to be simpler than ours (although more complicated/limited in others), but each instrument has its own specific variant of that system. I really found this piece of information to be fascinating, although, it created the question of why this is so?

I feel, as I said earlier, that this class left me with a significantly higher amount of questions than answers because each answer spawned another question! Combining what I know with my own personal interests in the field of music, I am quite interested to know how their theory system works from both a purely theory standpoint and from the historical point of how it developed. Actual music is called a "universal language" by some (myself included), however printed music differs significantly and I am curious as to why that is. I feel that a study of the development of the Chinese notation system could offer an answer to this question.

I further would like to know about the way that music is used in China. I am curious about the role that it plays in the lives of the Chinese. Do they idolize their pop stars as Americans do? Do they have pop stars in the same respect that Americans do? How respected is art music? How does music function in the daily routines (i.e. religious functions, ceremonial functions, etc.)? Is the study of music related to the study of their language, or vise versa, since Chinese is one of the tonal languages of the world?

Clearly, I do have more questions about Chinese music and I, unfortunately, can offer far fewer facts about it than I would like to learn. I would, however, like the opportunity to explore more about this fascinating style of music and find ways to incorporate what I learn about it into both my own playing and my educational philosophy as I feel that this music is so diverse and unique from Western music that it is only right to include a study of it into any curriculum.

Inclusion of World Music

Of the several reasons to include world music in any curriculum, I feel that the most compelling reason to do so would be the "world-mindedness" argument. It is said that the world is getting smaller and, thanks to the internet and other new communications technology, this is absolutely true. I have stated in class that I feel that music is something intrinsic to the human experience and that a people can be better understood through their music. With the world getting "smaller", children having a greater understanding of the world community is, I feel, a very key component to any education.

I feel that the "world-mindedness" argument also supports another in my philosophy of music education: all music is equal it value. Is there any aspect of a Mozart symphony that makes it any more valuable that an African drumming song? I would argue not and that they are both equally valuable and meaningful to the cultures that they came from. This also ties in nicely with the idea of a "human-culture" that the "world-mindedness" argument supports: we are all human and, therefore, no musical work should be valued above any other musical work. There is much that American students can learn from world music and that knowledge can help them to make better assessments about Western Music.

I would say that the weakest argument that was presented in class, in my opinion, would be the "social rationale", in that world music would help us better understand our mixed society. While this is a key aspect of inclusion, I feel that this could be used to include so much world music that American music would be overlooked (one of the challenges I will list). Finally, I just don't feel that it is as strong of an argument as the "world-mindedness" argument.

One of the greatest joys of including world music in the classroom would be knowing that your students will have a greater understanding of the world and the people around them. I feel that this is one of the main goals of education--to prepare your students for lives as productive and understanding members of society.

Lastly, I would have to say that the greatest challenge (as mentioned above) would be to include the massive amounts of world music that could (and should) be included in a course without sacrificing education time for American music. I feel, though, that with careful planning, this would certainly not be a problem.

In summation, I feel that there are many fantastic arguments to include world music in a curriculum and I welcome the opportunity to do so.

OMEA Conference

This OMEA conference, I attended a session on Egyptian music and its uses in the general classroom. I found this to be not only a fascinating session, but also a sobering experience that reminded me exactly how much I still have to learn about multicultural music and its integration into the classroom.

One of the first things that I found exceptionally fascinating about the session was how different actual Egyptian (and Middle Eastern music in general) is from its common perception in the United States. As was mentioned in class, I have always perceived Egyptian music to be closely associated with the harmonic minor scale (especially the augmented second). This, however, certainly is not the case. I was also completely unaware of the rich percussion and vocal heritage that this music enjoys. The final aspect of the music that I found interesting was its functionality. This, though, I feel, is not from a lack of exposure, but a lack of thinking about how it would be used in daily Egyptian life (specifically spiritual life and ceremonial life).

I also found the strategies for inclusion of this music to be excellent. I particularity liked the idea of preparing an Orff arrangement to go with a cultural story. This could be an excellent use of scaffolding, especially if the students are already familiar with Orff instruments. Overall, I was very impressed by the session and am looking forward to the opportunity to include multicultural music into a classroom.