1. One thing that I found especially interesting was the African drum language. Having the music woven into the everyday culture is fascinating. My first thought when we were learning about it was that it reminded me of Disney movies. In Disney movies, generally at some point, there is an entire crowd singing and dancing in the town square. There is song in many aspects of life that most would consider non-musical. Those parts are always fun, but you know that they do not generally happen off screen. I love how the peoples of Africa weave it into their everyday lives and languages.
2. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Each culture has a different idea of what is pleasing and beautiful. What my Western ear enjoys now is quite different than what it would enjoy, if I lived somewhere else in the world. Chinese opera is an example. My Western trained ear would be driven crazy to be part of an opera where each singer would pick his/her most comfortable key. I have grown up in a music culture where that does not happen. Different cultures find beauty if different aspects, and sometimes it is hard to appreciate what you are not used to.
3. There are many things about this class that I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed having blog assignments instead of essay assignments. It was nice to find something that I found personally interesting and research it more. I also absolutely adored listening to Dr. Weeks tell about his adventures in traveling to Africa, The Middle East, and Asia. Those were some of my favorite parts, and I would have loved for there to have been more time for more. I know you said that at one point, the textbook had a unit on Japan. It would be nice if, at some point, it could be covered again. I really would have enjoyed getting to learn more about it in class. (For learning about Japanese culture, NOT anime.)
4. I really enjoyed the segments on hula dancing in the Hawaii final presentation. I would like to learn to hula dance one day (as well as travel to Hawaii for partially non-educational purposes.) There are many beautiful forms of dance. I danced for many years, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I do it now when I can, but I am a full time double-majoring music student, so free time is rather sparse. I would like to learn more about dancing in other cultures though. There are certainly some beautiful ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment