This is a long entry because I haven't posted in so long. So here goes.
What it all means is that music is a viable, beautiful, global means of communication, self-expression, self-alienation, transcendence, salvation, and any other religious ot interpersonal word you would like to insert here.
What it all means is that surprisingly enough, there is something out there that everyone in the world can unite under - that we are all experiencing this beautiful thing called life, and our life is not to be wasted for we have precious little time. Today in religion class we discussed Derrida's idea that life has no value unless it is more than life - and music makes my life worth more than life simply living.
What it all means is that the female Greek singer who has more sorrow in her voice than I will ever know in my life has something in common with the young African tribal men learning how to fight to the sounds of a valiha.
What it all means is that the children playing "mama lama cuma lama" in a circle have more in common with the Pogues playing Irish punk music than either of them will either recognize or possibly even understand.
What it all means is that music is a positive, beautiful force, the common heartbeat of the world that pulls us all together and unites every human. It is a unique expression of the human spirit of each part of the world, and this class has exposed each and every one of us students to the immense possibilities for the creation of music, the utilization of the most modern technologies and the most primitive (basic instruments, and of course, the human voice, the most basic of them all) in producing noises, sounds, and the rhythm and music of the world.
One of the most memorable things from ethnomusicology class for me personally was the time that I spent in Hugh’s house. For whatever reason unbeknownst to me, I was entranced every time I walked into the music room. Anyone else who has ever been there knows exactly what I am talking about when I say that the walls were CDs and records. There were no actual walls. There was no actual ceiling or floor – you are completely surrounded by music. Some of the things that I heard in that room were just gorgeous (Trio Mediaeval), some were just bizarre (the laughing tracks), and some – most of them, actually – were just plain fun to listen to (the Music of Islam, the female Austrian singer whose name I can’t remember, Garmarna, etc.). There are so many things that I have missed out on that I feel like I need… I hope that someday I too will get an awesome grant that allows me to assemble collections like yours, Hugh. And who could forget the instruments all over the walls… paradise.
As far as life-changing moments, I don’t think I had one of those in this class. There were lots of things that I found absolutely fascinating and definitely worth the look, but I don’t know that any of it changed my life. I still think that African and Middle Eastern musics are my favorites, that the blues is probably something that I won’t ever completely understand, and Elvis was incredibly hot, but I didn’t learn or see anything that changed my life. I was exposed to a number of things and types of musics that I am interested in pursuing outside of class once I have the time, especially more of the Middle Eastern musics and even some African and Chinese. I think watching the klezmer video was part of the inspiration for our final project, too, so that definitely was worth it. The image of the Greek woman singing that song in the bar (I can’t remember her name, so excuse me) will be emblazoned in my brain for a while, and I can still hear the melody running through my head every once in a while when I am feeling particularly down.
In response to Hugh’s response, I would agree in that I’m not sure how much I got out of the technological aspect of this course. Sometimes I wish we had had more assignments, though I don’t know that I would have had the time to complete them adequately. I would have loved to have had an assignment where we would have to go to Hugh’s house and find some music that we were interested in and write a little something about our reactions to it – I really feel that his collection is a largely untapped resource. Incorporating the different technologies into the classroom was difficult, and I’m not much of a computer person so I would kind of tune out those parts. Audacity piqued my interest, but that’s not really a social software. The social software we were introduced to, which I’m assuming are things like this blog and Flickr, are really neat, but they’re not things that I would explore on my own. I don’t have the time or the interest, though Flickr does seem like something that could be useful. I agree with your point about linear structures – something else that we covered in my religion class. This class would not have worked in a truly linear structure, as but I feel like it could have used some kind of greater definition.
If Hugh’s goal was to get people to explore, think, experiment, and work on their own, I feel that he accomplished that because I have definitely done that. I don’t know if I have done that to the extent that he would have liked, but I think our final project will show that our love for all types of music has increased immensely.
My exposure to unfamiliar types of music in this class has definitely opened my eyes to the broader world of the musical experience. I would love to be able to travel the world and explore different types of native musics and just revel in the simplicities and complexities of things that are unfamiliar to me. A basic African drum rhythm and a simple Middle Eastern flute line are enough to make me stop, listen, and appreciate what I am hearing. In that respect, my personal goal in taking this ethnomusicology class – a greater appreciation and knowledge of the different musics from different parts of the world. It has demonstrated once again to me that music is a banner under which the world can unite, constantly pulsing and living inside each of us.