The Last Wrap Up Post

1. What is something you learned about another culture this term that surprised or intrigued you?

Culture of Navajo Nation and the Native Americans were what surprised me the most because I didn't really know much about them at all until I started the class. How almost everything they do is in relation with the mother nature, and the connection that they had spiritually through rituals and chants and dances were really something new.

2. What is something that you realized about your own culture through our discussions.

I didn't really know that a lot of Korean traditional dances and rituals had to do with shamanism. Trying to find root/ start of our culture for the presentation, I found out that shamanism was the start of it all.

3. What is something that this course has inspired you to learn more about.

How a lot of the countries all over the world share many things in common culturally and musically. Looking at Tibet presentation today, I thought that it was a combination of middle east and far east right at the center of Asia. This makes total sense because Tibet was almost in the center being influenced by China, Middle East, and maybe a bit of Western Music. I would really want to learn more about all of the cultural connections among the countries that are close to each other.

Cool Stuff 4

This is the last cool stuff that we get to post!!!:(

First of all sorry for not being able to post the actual videos or

links....for some weird reason, I wasn't able to get either one

of them to work...

The post that I just put up is Mission Impossible theme song

played with Indonesian traditional Instruments and modern

day electric guitar and etc. I thought it was a really AWSOME

combination of fusion ensemble, and plus it's Mission Impossible

theme song!! which makes it so much better!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h5dcjRIQ-E

The second video is chinese contemporary music video. I know this

singer because she's also active in korea and the main actors in the music

video are famous korean actors. This video is interesting because it shows

parts of Chinese opera scenery in the music video itself. Also, Korean, Chinese

and Japanese music videos tend to show a happy or a sad love story-like a short

soap opera. The video that I am posting is the first part of the little soap opera

music video and the second part of it is a music video of another song. I am posting

up both of them so that you know the ending!!The music is in

chinese so I can't understand it but the music video is kind of really sad...

hope you guys like it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1hkfnZyl40&NR=1 (part1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dvn_gX4sJ0&feature=related (part2)

The third video I'm going to put up is kind of a continuation of what I have

presented today in class. There was a video that I really wanted to show, but

couldn't because it didn't really fit with the time limit that we had.

It's videos sword dance and crane dance. Korea likes to make soap operas that

are based on the history of Korea. Most of it is all true with some fictional

things added in for the purpose of entertainment. These videos are part of a

soap opera called Hwang Jini and she was a really famous and well known Gisaeng

in the history of Josun. She was very talented in almost everything that she

got her hands on and eventually became more skilled than her teachers.

The videos show how they practice and a performance of sword dance and crane

dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGeC5vrIyDY (part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9wO3Xi0rk&feature=related (part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn5C1cTfWIU&feature=related (part 3)

Cool Stuff 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy3U9ihJo4o

I just searching for music in india and found this video.

I thought this was cool because it looks like disney movies,

that has people singing in the movie, giving it a musical

like feeling. The dances and the clothing in this video is really

beautiful too!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-8SgnHEmxc&feature=related

This video is really interesting. I wish I knew how to read the title...

It's written in Arab......Anyways, this video is really unique. It's a

duet of an Oud and a Violin. They seem to blend with each other very well.

I was actually surprised to hear that they do blend, but I guess both of

them being a string instrument, it's not too hard for them to blend with

each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evAv3kDy_jc

This video is a video of a middle eastern pop singer. After watching and

listening to her sing, I kind of felt like the song had lots of vibration instead

of a just one steady note; sort of like the Indian music that we have listened

to in class. Enjoy!!

Music and Gender

I want to say that there's no gender in music, and I really do believe that there is no gender in music, but there is something that is favored more in one gender than the other.

In U.S., brass players are mostly guys, there are some good mix of guys and girls in woodwind sections, and there are no guys in most bands or ensembles who plays flute; maybe one or two

very rarely. On the other hand, traditionally in Korean traditional instrumental ensembles, every single member was all guys. Now days, there are some girls here and there, but it used to be that no girl can join the ensemble. Also, I have seen more guys play flute in Korea- both western style flute and Korean style flute- than the girls. This to me seemed like the cultural/gender favoring on over the other.

In Korea, about 40 years ago, the gender issue in instruments were pretty severe. Only girls were allowed to play piano, and guys were not allowed to play or even touch the piano. It was a girls thing and if a guy played it, it was not a guy-ish thing to do. My dad used to tell me that he really wanted to play the piano when he was little, but he had to only watch his sisters play because he was a guy and was not allowed to play piano. Eventually this thought disappeared and he took a little bit of piano lessons when he was in college. During the time when he was taking piano lessons, it really meant a lot to him.

I think every place in the world there are some sort of gender problem with the kind of instrument that you want to play, but rather than thinking that it is because this is meant to be only played by woman or by man, it would be better for people to think that one is more favored in one gender than the other. Dividing instruments in between genders is like starting a fight of women/men's right all over again!!

Cool Stuff 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkemGswLwTk

This was recorded in UC Santa Barbara.

I know that we have talked about African rhythms in Latin American

music and this video is about that exact thing. It's a bit long, but it's

totally worth watching!!! Beautiful Guitar playing too!! I hope you enjoy it!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OFZWGpqTaY&NR=1

This is a video of the Arturo O'farrill Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra.

I think this is the jazz orchestra that I have heard last summer

in the Sculpture Garden of National Art Gallery. They have very

Latin America/ African feel to their music and I think part of it

is that the Conga adds in that African feel to a mostly Latin feel?

music. Sometimes they have shows that has instruments that are

not usually used in Jazz ensembles. I remember one that I saw at Sculpture

Garden, they had this Mandolin looking instrument but it was black

and just really different...I don't really know the name of it but it wasn't

Mandolin because it was too big to be a Mandolin...Anyways the music

is way cool!!! I hope you guys like their music too!!

http://home.earthlink.net/~minermusic/iwonder.htm

This site shows and talks about the STRING instruments of South America

and this one particular song called I Wonder As I Wander.

It also talks about that Armadillo Guitar that Dr. V showed us in class!!!

I don't think I will ever be able to play with it or hold it.....I'd probably chicken

out.. Just the thought of playing a dead animal..........ACK!!!hahaha

Also it has the picture of the harp that we talked about in class too!!! It does

have a really big bottom!! I hope this site would be interesting to you guys!

Experience of Music and Religion

Back home, at church, youth group did lots of singing of contemporary Christian music. When we had our youth group service, we actually had some of the members of our youth group form a band and they would lead us through praising on Sunday morning before the sermon started. Then when the sermon’s over, we do a little bit more of praising and the pastor prays for us, and that would be the end of youth group service that day. I wasn’t part of the youth group band but I know that they had practice every week twice a week, and had one more rehearsal right before the service had to start. The music sounded almost like pop but you could tell that they were Christian music because the lyrics were based on either the bible or our own experiences of being a Christian. Occasionally, we would volunteer in places and have a concert, or go out and compete for Christian Contemporary Band competitions.

Cool Stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHDvwWBJ0NQ

The link above is a link of slow Agbekor.

We've talked about Agbekor and Ewe in class, so I was looking

for different types of Agbekor. This one seemed a bit more slow

than the other Agbekors. Also, I really like the sound of the

drums and the bells that they are playing. Both the bells and the drums

have very clear and clean sound. I am not exactly sure how I

would explain the sound but I think you will understand if you hear

the sound of the instruments they are playing. It really has a very

CLEAN tone to it and I think it's really neat! Also, that's just what

they want the audience to hear too, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1HqZHZhyz8

This clip is about Navajo women and their pageant.

It was played on PBS. This video kind of gives you an outlook of

what the Navajo women do on daily basis. The person who would be

chosen at this pageant needs to have true dine' intelligence and beauty.

It's not really like the other beauty pageants that are held else where.

Also, I am not really sure if you can say that this is a beauty pageant

because in this pageant, the women have to do things that they really

don't have to do in other pageants. If you want to know what I am talking

about you should watch the video!!!:)

http://music.calarts.edu/~kozadonu/instruments.html

This site has name and some pictures of the instruments of Ghana.

Axatse is a really familiar one that you may see often in the States also.

I used to play in the pitt section of the marching band and we had two

axatse. All the members of the our pitt section didn't know what it was

called so I remember everybody calling it (including myself) Shakyes....

I don't know why we called it that but we did and always referred to it

as a "She".....as if "she" was a person....hahahaha just one of my good

funny memories from high school. Anyways, I hope this will be a help

to you!!

Music and Family

Music for me is everything but for my family it’s just something they can enjoy as a hobby.

My younger brother plays saxophone. He really enjoys playing and he is pretty good for his age. He started playing when he was in fifth grade. He played in area band; which was something that he did after school when he was in elementary school. When he went to middle school he started taking lessons. He is now a sophomore in high school and he plays in the school’s top band. He also played in the marching band this past season.

Also, he likes listening to the Carpenters and the Beatles from the old days. This I can’t really blame anyone because he started listening to them because I started listening to them… He also likes to listen to almost every genre of music including Korean pop-music. The only music that he doesn’t really listen to is orchestral music and hardcore rock or rap.

My mom can’t really play anything. She can play very little of piano. She’s not talented or amazing at an instrument but she has lots of friends who are professionally involved in music. She has friends who have graduated in Manhattan School of Music, Berklee School of Music, Julliard School, and friends who have studied in Germany and France. Most of her friends are either Piano majors or Orchestral Instrument majors. When I met them over the summer in Korea before my freshmen year in college they gave me advices to survive through the music school. They also have said that being a music major is just like being in medical school because you don’t really get much time to yourself. To some extent I do agree with them. Anyways, my mom like going to concerts and to musicals. Also, she likes Lady GaGa’s music and some Korean pop-music.

Now, my dad….. Honestly, I’ve only heard him listen to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi, and The Beatles. He’s really not very music related person. He doesn’t really like pop-music. I know that he played piano when he was little, but I’ve never heard him play so I don’t know if he’s good. When I was very little and when we were still in Korea, every morning he used to turn on Mozart. This is when I was like 4 or 5 years old, and what I remember is, I would get up in the morning and walk out to the living room and there would be an entire collection of LPs that my dad used to collect since he was in his teens, and he would pick one out of the collection that he has and put it on. He doesn’t do that any more because he left all of his LPs when we were moving overseas in the storage room in the basement of our hospital. Over Christmas, he made me burn CDs of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

Family as a whole, we only listen to classical music when dad’s around because he doesn’t like pop music. When we are on a road-trip, without my mp3 or my iPod, I would have died of boredom because my dad doesn’t listen to music in the car. We listen to pop-music and classic both when it’s just me, my brother and my mom. My mom likes more variety genres of music than my dad does so it’s better to be in the car with her than da

Non Western Music Autobiography

Non Western music has been part of my life for a long time.

Because I was born in Korea and was raised there for 10 years,

when I was attending elementary school, I learned some traditional

folk songs and instruments. Also, I learned lots of korean music

that was written for children. I still remember most of them.

After I came to the states, I have done lots of shows that involved

Korean traditional culture. The shows didn't really involve me being

on stage- except for the traditional clothing fashion shows- but more

of putting it together and coming up with the ideas of what to put on the show.

When I visit Korea now days, I go to lots of places where they do shows

of Korean folk dancing. Usually these dance shows involve lots of

Korean instruments and props. They are very fascinating to watch and listen.

My favorite folk music/dancing show is called Poong Mool Nol Ee.

It's group of people doing acrobatic moves and dances while playing percussive

instruments like drums or small hand gang and etc.

They are really loud and it really pulls the audiences in to the show.

As I grow older, I appreciate these cultural music and shows a lot more.

I think it opens my eyes and my thoughts and my views to a lot more things.

It's also another experience that I can't have in the States so the experience

of these shows and music becomes more precious for me.