Sounds from around the globe

  It is widely known that the country of Japan is beautiful, full of amazing people, culture, and cuisine. But, along with almost every other country in the world, music is a big part of the culture in Japan. Two forms of music that are recognised as the oldest forms of traditional folk music - shōmyō , or Buddhist chanting, and gagaku , or theatrical court music. There are 3 key instruments used in Japanese music: a shamisen, which kind of resembles a guitar mixed with a banjo with the head of a violin. A Shakuhach, which is a sort of flute carved out of a bamboo stick, and a Koto, a large stringed box that is plucked. The Yoshida Brothers are 2 musical artists that are very popular both here in the US and in Japan. Their music has actually been featured on the Nintendo Wii. They play the shamisen, and use it to create songs in the genres of rock and jazz.

  For this blog I choose to do the history of hip hop music. Throughout history Hiphop has been one of the most influential types of music in the black community. It all started in the 1970s in the Bronx, New York City. In the summer time it was a big time for block parties, where the whole neighborhood would come together and gather to just celebrate the community. That was where Dj Kool Herc thrived, he began Djing these parties. He would get everyone out of there seats by taking records but playing only the solo drum beats from the songs. This became the foundation for hip hop. One of the main factors of hip hop music is the bassline and the drums which is exactly what was highlighted by Djs at the time. Then on August 11 1973, Dj Kool Herc’s little sister asked him to Dj her back-to-school bash for the neighborhood, it was here where he did something that no one had ever seen before. At the time Djs would one use one turntable, but Dj Kool herc introduced using 2 turntables to ...

  One thing I found interesting was the native american instruments specifically the drums. The main thing I find interesting about the instruments is that they are made, and craved organically. I feel like nowadays most musical instruments can be formulated by the computer. But in making their own instruments I feel like it creates a deeper more personal connection to the material. In this video you can see the process of making an authentic native american flute. You can really see the attention to detail, and how important it is to pay attention to those details to get the best quality out of the flute. Secondly, a thing I found interesting was how their music is all in vocables. A lot of the time when someone listens to music they often connect to that music through the words. However, in native american music most of the time there are no one words to connect to it is simply the music itself that forms the connection between it and the people. You can see in the passion on the...

Hi, my name is Nia Jackson. I’m from Cincinnati Ohio, and my main reason for coming to converse was to be on the Acrobatics and Tumbling team. Other than that I am a part of the Women’s College, and I also plan on being a part of the Black Student Union here at converse.  Although I am not a music student here, music is a big part of my family life at home, even though my parents were never big in the arts. I have three older brothers, who all are pursuing music as a profession. My oldest brother play the drums, and he moved overseas to singapore about 10 years ago to be a part of a band. He also works a lot in production on music as well.  My second oldest brother is a trained opera singer. He has his master in vocal performance, and teaching. At the moment he works at a college in Chicago and teaches private vocal lessons. Aside from that he also has performed in many groups. Next year he will be attending the University of Illinois to get his masters in teaching I believe. ...