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What it all means...
I guess this class has taught me that I don't know all that much about World music. We got through so many different styles and cultures, but there are so many more that exist. Even the cultures we did explore, we only looked at them briefly. The class has also taught me about a variety of things that didn't exist. Dangermouse and mashups. Flikr. Arctic Music. Etc. Etc.
The class also showed me the complexities of the modern situation regarding music distribution. Copyrights, lefts, ups, and downs. Podcasts, RSS feeds, webradio... ETC. ETC.
The most important thing I learned was the universality of music. I knew it was universal.. but now I KNOW its universal. When I saw a very old Chinese Gin-Ju player and thought.. that could be Jaco Pastorius! It was quite a moment. Also, hearing the blues played in Africa was one of those moments. One of the biggest "Aha!" moments came when I was practicing for the performance today. Everyone was a bit down in the dumps about exams and all the work we had to do. We got the chords together for Float On and launched into it. It was a glorious moment and everything clicked. In that moment I learned a bit about how music is not about instruments or cultures or notes on paper. It was all about the people in that room, at that present moment.
I would like to conclude with a quote by John Coltrane: "The main thing a musician would like to do is to give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe. Its what everyone tries to do and a musician just does it through their music."
Posted by jonesp at March 31, 2005 02:59 PM