The biggest take-away for me from the readings I have done is how much Reimer adapted his philosophical belief system from 1970 to 2003, the year his third revision of A Philosophy of Music Education was published. From the reading of the 3rd edition, we are really given a blending of the two philosophies (aesthetic and praxial) yet, we may not have necessarily understood the implications of the blend. It seems that Reimer is quite humble in his estimation that his former writings do not quite hit the mark on cultural orientation for the music experience, but I am sure that we can all agree that he definitely exemplifies his acceptance of social and cultural contexts in the 3rd edition.
As for Elliot, I am still not sure that I can walk away knowing that I have indeed reached the level of “musicer.” I realize that Elliott is trying to establish a hierarchy, but I think that perhaps the high inclusion of cognitive challenge to establish music as experience limits his philosophical position.
When Reimer rephrases Ryle: “Your capacity to understand (and therfore estimate properly the value of) my musical thinking-in-action is one in type with knowing how to think musically in action yourself (Reimer, 57) it opens a very large window of questioning for me. For example, does this mean that we can say that someone is not a good enough music in knowledge to be a good enough listener of “my music” or “your music?” I.e. is this a way to justify “bad” music – in that we only need to say that the listener just isn’t experiences/knowledgeable enough to understand. This could lead to a few less grammy nods…
The take-away from a teaching perspective is that, as educators, we can go beyond the knowing areas of the music educator – beyond the sufficient – and explore outside the constraints of one’s background. Therefore, observed from a learner’s perspective, this means that one can initiate both technique and creativity at the onset of learning.
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Reading sources:
Bennett Reimer, A Philosophy of Music Education: Advancing the Vision (2nd ed. Prentice Hall/Person Education: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2002), 11.
David J. Elliott, Music Matters: A New Philosophy of Music Education (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 33.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The Influence of Blue and Ragtime on Jazz
Due to limited historical data, it is difficult to determine when was the impetus of Jazz, however it can be determined through careful comparison and study that Jazz was highly influenced from both Blues and Ragtime. Jazz in its many forms can be said to be a product of Blues and Ragtime.
The initial label of “Blues” came from the 1862 memoirs of Southern Carolina slave, Charlotte Fortner. In her response to her life, she considered her days of slavery to be her “blue” days. From this initial label, Blues grew to encompass the music of slavery and eventually solidified characteristics of call and response, falling or moaning vocals, use of b3, b5 and b7 harmonies, 8 or 12 bar melodic form and rhythmic interplay. Similarly, Ragtime (1890 – 1920) had much influence on the birth of Jazz. Music from composers such as Scott Joplin (“Maple Leaf Rag”) and Fats Waller (“Ain’t Misbehavin’”) hold identity of 16 bar themes, syncopated melodies, improvisation, and polyphonic textures of harmonic and instrumental identity.
As the timeline of commercial music history began to progress, one can hear that both the influence of ragtime and Blues united to create the genre that is today known as the Jazz. Initially, the young New Orleans Jazz genre was heard in the standard form of King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band’s recording of “Dippermouth Blues” (1923). Up until this time, improvisation and composition were viewed as separate identities. In the recordings of “Dippermouth Blues,” both the Okeh version of 1925 and the Gennett version of 1923 exemplify a soloing structure that incorporated spontaneous composition as part of the improvisation structure. It is at this musical juncture that the term Jazz emerged as a description for music with an emphasis on spontaneous composition and improvisation.
With the incorporation of set spontaneous composition and improvisation, “Buddy Bolden’s Blues” “Dippermouth Blues” and “West End Blues” (and most definitely, Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”) can be labeled the beginnings of Jazz, however, in my opinion “St; Louis Blues” can be found on the Blues side of the musical fence with its tethered Blues vocal traditions or moaning lyrics, call and response melodies, and Blues form in combination with the freely improvised trumpet.
The initial label of “Blues” came from the 1862 memoirs of Southern Carolina slave, Charlotte Fortner. In her response to her life, she considered her days of slavery to be her “blue” days. From this initial label, Blues grew to encompass the music of slavery and eventually solidified characteristics of call and response, falling or moaning vocals, use of b3, b5 and b7 harmonies, 8 or 12 bar melodic form and rhythmic interplay. Similarly, Ragtime (1890 – 1920) had much influence on the birth of Jazz. Music from composers such as Scott Joplin (“Maple Leaf Rag”) and Fats Waller (“Ain’t Misbehavin’”) hold identity of 16 bar themes, syncopated melodies, improvisation, and polyphonic textures of harmonic and instrumental identity.
As the timeline of commercial music history began to progress, one can hear that both the influence of ragtime and Blues united to create the genre that is today known as the Jazz. Initially, the young New Orleans Jazz genre was heard in the standard form of King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band’s recording of “Dippermouth Blues” (1923). Up until this time, improvisation and composition were viewed as separate identities. In the recordings of “Dippermouth Blues,” both the Okeh version of 1925 and the Gennett version of 1923 exemplify a soloing structure that incorporated spontaneous composition as part of the improvisation structure. It is at this musical juncture that the term Jazz emerged as a description for music with an emphasis on spontaneous composition and improvisation.
With the incorporation of set spontaneous composition and improvisation, “Buddy Bolden’s Blues” “Dippermouth Blues” and “West End Blues” (and most definitely, Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”) can be labeled the beginnings of Jazz, however, in my opinion “St; Louis Blues” can be found on the Blues side of the musical fence with its tethered Blues vocal traditions or moaning lyrics, call and response melodies, and Blues form in combination with the freely improvised trumpet.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Where does music begin?
If we are honest with ourselves, we define personal boundaries on music every time we hear sound. Whatever the promoter, or amplifier (i.e. car radio, television, elevator sounds or person), our sonic filters make a decision to either absorb the sound or not. However, the linear idea of sound initiation goes back farther than the amplifier and starts with the composer.
The composer is the initial decision maker on what sounds will be used. Particularly, the composer is not the creator of sound, but the vehicle that chooses which sonority to utilize and at which point in the music notation or production. With this in mind, it is the composer that has the ability to push the sonic envelope by being on the musical fringe or stay within the known for-profit sector of music. It is the composer’s choice to work within the developed framework of the music marketplace or risk by venturing into new music streams that may not have a for-profit sector.
Since every person has some type of unique music within them - scientists have proven that DNA mapping is actually a sound – I submit that some composers have a built in need to release music no matter if it is for public consumption and/or economic reasons. Many people would call this built in need one’s passion. If one squelches passion, he or she is essentially denying the unique identity made within. Composers are generally people that cannot afford to let passion die within; they usually find someway to vent the music- be it in a form the public finds acceptable or a form that may only be acceptable to the composer himself.
The composer is the initial decision maker on what sounds will be used. Particularly, the composer is not the creator of sound, but the vehicle that chooses which sonority to utilize and at which point in the music notation or production. With this in mind, it is the composer that has the ability to push the sonic envelope by being on the musical fringe or stay within the known for-profit sector of music. It is the composer’s choice to work within the developed framework of the music marketplace or risk by venturing into new music streams that may not have a for-profit sector.
Since every person has some type of unique music within them - scientists have proven that DNA mapping is actually a sound – I submit that some composers have a built in need to release music no matter if it is for public consumption and/or economic reasons. Many people would call this built in need one’s passion. If one squelches passion, he or she is essentially denying the unique identity made within. Composers are generally people that cannot afford to let passion die within; they usually find someway to vent the music- be it in a form the public finds acceptable or a form that may only be acceptable to the composer himself.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Absolute vs Referential Expressionism
For all of you die-hard music education philosophy fans out there, here’s a reminder of the debates that continue to circulate... yes, it’s been a long week!
Absolute Expressionist’s says:
It’s all about the music. I am an objective observer; I have nothing to do with the musical object. If the composer provides the musical object to interject unpredictable sounds in the music, I will let it cause emotion in me. All I do is permit my emotions to be activated by the music. Music has meaning; it comes from the music and the resultant sounds it creates. All I have to do is listen to hear the outcome of what the musical object produces. I don’t need to know a thing about the music’s context or be an educated music listener. So, let’s get on with the music. Let your music affect me, composer!”
A Referential Expressionist says...
Music has no value unless I say it does. The music is not about itself but it is about me and how I understand it to speak to me and those around me. I will shun music that is a copy cat. Music must be more than pleasure and beauty. It must reveal the divine nature and promote unity among his people. Yes, I demand many answers from the music. Is it simple? Are the musical lines clear and to the point? Can it be enjoyed by everyone? In my opinion, if there is art in the music, I will be able to tell you – actually, anyone should be able to perceive the artistic value in a piece of music. After all, it isn’t art unless I determine that it is art.
Absolute Expressionist’s says:
It’s all about the music. I am an objective observer; I have nothing to do with the musical object. If the composer provides the musical object to interject unpredictable sounds in the music, I will let it cause emotion in me. All I do is permit my emotions to be activated by the music. Music has meaning; it comes from the music and the resultant sounds it creates. All I have to do is listen to hear the outcome of what the musical object produces. I don’t need to know a thing about the music’s context or be an educated music listener. So, let’s get on with the music. Let your music affect me, composer!”
A Referential Expressionist says...
Music has no value unless I say it does. The music is not about itself but it is about me and how I understand it to speak to me and those around me. I will shun music that is a copy cat. Music must be more than pleasure and beauty. It must reveal the divine nature and promote unity among his people. Yes, I demand many answers from the music. Is it simple? Are the musical lines clear and to the point? Can it be enjoyed by everyone? In my opinion, if there is art in the music, I will be able to tell you – actually, anyone should be able to perceive the artistic value in a piece of music. After all, it isn’t art unless I determine that it is art.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Music Performance– Part IV – Scientific point of view
When studying the basic science of sound, one discovers that sound once sound is released, it is actually a waveform vibrating in the air that is then interpreted by our ear and translated to our brain as sound. Not only does our ear “hear” the vibration of the sound, our body consequently “feels” the vibration of the sound. In general, sound is not overtly “felt” as akin to touching our skin. Observation of the body’s reaction to sound on a molecular level, evidences the molecular structure reflecting or absorbing a sound wave. Further scientific evidence such as the use of Music Therapy as a viable medical science displays the societal acceptance that music, or sound, holds frequencies that are able to affect the body’s molecular structure and promote healing, and the converse, disease.
Cymatics is the study of waveform phenomena. This study is relevant to the aesthetic experience of music since sound is waveforms. A simple experiment of filling a pan with a thin layer of sand and drawing a violin bow across the pan edge demonstrates how sound moves objects, in this case sand. Without directly touching the sand itself, the sound vibrations from the violin bow creates a wave pattern in the sand. Using this basic understanding of cymatics, we can begin to understand how sound can effect the body.
Submitting that the body is a large complex organism, it can be inferred that such a small absorption of sound waves, such as I encountered in the concert, would not have had such a large affect on me. However, if we think about the consistency in which our society regularly encounters sound, the high absorption of numerous sound waves can be cause for some type of affect, be it positive or negative. Thus, from the point of the scientific community, there is plausible evidence that my personal experience could have been an acute form of large grade cymatic experience.
For further study on cymatics, http://www.cymaticsource.com/
Cymatics is the study of waveform phenomena. This study is relevant to the aesthetic experience of music since sound is waveforms. A simple experiment of filling a pan with a thin layer of sand and drawing a violin bow across the pan edge demonstrates how sound moves objects, in this case sand. Without directly touching the sand itself, the sound vibrations from the violin bow creates a wave pattern in the sand. Using this basic understanding of cymatics, we can begin to understand how sound can effect the body.
Submitting that the body is a large complex organism, it can be inferred that such a small absorption of sound waves, such as I encountered in the concert, would not have had such a large affect on me. However, if we think about the consistency in which our society regularly encounters sound, the high absorption of numerous sound waves can be cause for some type of affect, be it positive or negative. Thus, from the point of the scientific community, there is plausible evidence that my personal experience could have been an acute form of large grade cymatic experience.
For further study on cymatics, http://www.cymaticsource.com/
Friday, August 22, 2008
Music Performance– Part III
The music that was coming out of my saxophone was not of the listening sort. It was as if the music held much deeper intonations than just musical pitch. It was as if music had life: a living and breathing presence moving about me. This presence was surrounding me in a blanket of peace and speaking deep into my spirit. Each note spoke in harmony to my inner being; sounds described who I was and the places that I had been. Darker tones cried out of past sorrow and mourning that my life journey had waded through while the brighter tones decreed a joy and playfulness that came from the restoration; salve to a deep wound.
As I continued to play, the music created more views: pictures that I had always yearned to learn about myself and answers I wanted to know. One by one little pieces of a greater puzzle began to piece together within me. As the music continued, I saw more details. The entire puzzle was never solved in those short five minutes of music, nor will it be until my last note is played. But that day, that ‘one day in Argentina,‘ was the beginning of a puzzle that would continue to be pieced together throughout the rest of my life journey.
Since others reading this post may not have had such a dramatic, aesthetic experience during a music performance, to assist the development of aesthetic understanding, it would be advantageous to include other praxial methods. As outlined below, similar practices or experiences found in the scientific community, and formal culture experience, would be a praxial approach to defining the explanation of my personal experience.
As I continued to play, the music created more views: pictures that I had always yearned to learn about myself and answers I wanted to know. One by one little pieces of a greater puzzle began to piece together within me. As the music continued, I saw more details. The entire puzzle was never solved in those short five minutes of music, nor will it be until my last note is played. But that day, that ‘one day in Argentina,‘ was the beginning of a puzzle that would continue to be pieced together throughout the rest of my life journey.
Since others reading this post may not have had such a dramatic, aesthetic experience during a music performance, to assist the development of aesthetic understanding, it would be advantageous to include other praxial methods. As outlined below, similar practices or experiences found in the scientific community, and formal culture experience, would be a praxial approach to defining the explanation of my personal experience.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Music Performance– Part II
I was on stage with my soprano saxophone in hand, looking out at the crowd-packed auditorium, and knowing deep down inside, I was made for this moment. In that moment, it was like I got a “download of who I really am – the deep-down, who-are-you-when-you-get-to-the-true-you.” It wasn’t a voice coming out of the darkness or a flash of light. It was like a tiny switch had just turned on and I realized what my life was about and why I was created.
Now, not everyone reading this may believe in creation and a creator. My discussion is not to debate the issue, but to explain my experience. Here I am, horn in hand and getting ready to play a feature solo on the program. I hear my music cue, put my mouthpiece in my mouth and begin to play. Sound came out of the horn, as it normally does, but contrary to what everyone else heard at that moment, I saw the music.
It is said that as a performing artist you may come across an experience once in a while in which you get to watch yourself perform. In the theatre world, it is called the “third eye.” When someone once told me about this, I thought that it was impossible. But, with this “aesthetic experience,” I now have to admit that this performance anomaly does exist. I experienced it. I cannot dispute what I saw. It was my reality for that moment. I couldn’t touch it, but I was surrounded by it. (...stay tuned for more next time)
Now, not everyone reading this may believe in creation and a creator. My discussion is not to debate the issue, but to explain my experience. Here I am, horn in hand and getting ready to play a feature solo on the program. I hear my music cue, put my mouthpiece in my mouth and begin to play. Sound came out of the horn, as it normally does, but contrary to what everyone else heard at that moment, I saw the music.
It is said that as a performing artist you may come across an experience once in a while in which you get to watch yourself perform. In the theatre world, it is called the “third eye.” When someone once told me about this, I thought that it was impossible. But, with this “aesthetic experience,” I now have to admit that this performance anomaly does exist. I experienced it. I cannot dispute what I saw. It was my reality for that moment. I couldn’t touch it, but I was surrounded by it. (...stay tuned for more next time)
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