Reina 3's Blog

BaAka Music: The Elephant Song

reina3 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:19:08 +0000

This piece, melodically, was very simple. The two main differentiating vocals were the background and soloist. Considering the background vocals, the contour was very close in range. Their parts were sung in small intervals, but repetitive, making it attainable to those who want to learn. Harmonically, the background vocals were sung in a consonant, conjunct manner which almost sounded like a sort of droning. The motive was basically what the background was singing; the repeating, recurring droning sound, which sort of provided a kind of arrangement of music without using specific instrumentation. Rhythmically speaking, the meter was duple and had an “andante” tempo. It wasn’t too fast, or too slow; it was straight forward and to the point with its rhythmic delivery. The only real syncopation in this piece was provided by the percussion and the soloist. While the background sang the drone part, they were also allowing the listener to feel the pulse. Therefore, there was no need for the percussion to overbear the singer with a stronger feeling of the pulse, allowing them to embellish the piece with at least 3 different layers of syncopation. The soloist, who used a wide, disjunct approach to his part, also embellished the piece with many syncopated phrases as he sang.

Within this work, one can describe the faceting as the syncopated layers, provided by the percussion and vocalist. I believe for BaAka music, Stone’s theme of faceting can correlate between BaAka and Kpelle music. Both cultures use music as not only ways of expression, but as a common way of life. Yes, music is used to entertain, but is also used to tell stories about generations before, add reverance to a ceremony, and to express to other peoples that they too have ways of doing things within their tribe. Each layer in this song played a specific role in conveying it’s purpose. Like the Kpelle, the multifaceted way of creating the music and purpose not only suggests the differences between these culture, but suggest the similarities between the cultures because of their ways of thinking.

Difference between Online sources and Full-text

reina3 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:39:14 +0000

Many full-text articles are not considered online sources because that’s not where they were intially published. Most full-text information found on an online database is simple a copy of the actual text. An online source is something which was published through an online publishing group. Full-text articles being provided online are just the equivalent to grabbing the actual book and making photo copies of the pages you need.

Popular vs. Scholarly Articles

reina3 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:34:16 +0000

I have found that many of the databases used through Hoover Library tend to have both scholarly and popular articles. However, after researching online, both Academic Search File and Academic OneFile both had more scholarly articles than popular. That doesn’t mean, I found alot of information for my search topic, but after narrowing my search and broadening my topic, I have come to the conclusion that these two databases held the most scholarly information.

The database IIMP leaned more towards the popular periodicals and articles. Although the information helped me to further understand my topic, I wouldn’t necessarily quote them in a research paper. Those articles were more opinionated rather than actual data gained after concluding a specific research topic of their own.

Databases which contain Musical Articles

reina3 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:23:51 +0000

In conducting my research, i’ve found that JSTOR, a general and commendable online database, had the most musical articles for me to choose from. Although it is a very general database, I was able to find information which would specifically benefit my research. Because this database has a feature in which one could make a more narrow search, this was one of the few databases that I was able to find useful information. Another useful database, IIMP, or International Index to Music Periodicals, specifically dealt with musical information, beit scholarly or popular. Again, this database could be further limited by searching for specific genres, artists, countries of origin, and other things.

I wouldn’t narrow my search completely by only using these two databases. In my previous blog, I mentioned two other databases which one could also narrow their search and possibly find more information. Furthermore, you never really know what information is out there, until you try all the stops. It takes a personal opinion to truly determine if a certain database would progress or hinder your research.

Reviewing Online Databases

reina3 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:13:31 +0000

Although full-text articles are becoming very popular, there are still a few online databases that just give abstracts rather than the full-text. Within our library, Hoover, one specific database, Academic Search Complete, I found, offered more abstracts than full-text articles. Other databases such as JSTOR or Academic OneFile had more full-text articles with different options. It all depends on what resources you have access to such as printers or internet, and what one would be willing to do for one’s research.

Chapter 3 of Stone Book Listening Blog

reina3 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:54:44 +0000

In order to successfully decipher the pieces, one from another, one would have to pay attention to the rhythmic motives, in my opinion. I believe that

Activities Component

reina3 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:51:50 +0000

We have discussed various activities that go on during performances of music or even while throughout the pieces themselves. Of this component, there are about 5 subcomponents; story telling, dances, other movements, etiquette, and rituals. In order to fully apply the Activities component to the research of my country, i would need information certainly about their religious beliefs, but also general concern for the arts. I would need info specifically outlining and defining the value that my country, Belize, gives to music. Out of the sources i have so far, I would use the information I found in the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music vol.2, which not only gave information about Belize’s origins, it gives musical history concerning my country. It outlines the specific indigenous cultures which inspired the more contemporary styles of music in Belize today.

More specifically, of the Activities component, this source tells about the ritualistic aspect of the music which also entails the other movement subcomponent. Within these two subcomponents, I can generally conclude that the musical history of Belize focused narrowly around the more traditional styles and keeping with traditions of the indigenous cultures which helped create Belize. I would probably need to research more for the dances, and etiquette subcomponents of Activities, just to get a different feel or to learn if they have specific and different functions than what we as Americans think whenever we think “Caribbean”.

Video clips relevant to my country

reina3 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:35:03 +0000

The only video available for my country, through the library catalouge was a dvd made by WETA. The dvd was a documentary about Central America as a whole. It was a kind of guide through the entirety of Central America, with no central focus on Belize. True, the dvd does speak about Belize, but the dvd is not solely about Belize, therefore, rendering itself unuseful to me.

Recorded music of Belize; Traditional and Contemporary

reina3 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:27:41 +0000

After looking up specific Belizean artists, I was able to find a few cd’s and audio recordings. By looking up “Belize” specifically, i was unable to find many relevant audio recordings with Belizean selections from the library catalogue. I found recording’s of an artist named Andy Palacio, who had a huge influence on the Belizean contemporary style punta rock and still has influence today. Most of the songs on his album are very popular and contemporary. I have read a little bit about Palacio, and although his music is modern, he has not forgotten his roots and does attribute his musical style to his Garifuna, Creole, Mayan, and West African cultural blends which is responsible for creating Belize.

And as for question #2 concerning finding cd’s with at least one track from my country, i was unable to find a cd at the library here on campus. The cd’s given to me via the catalogue had either a specific artist named from my country or nothing at all. I found musical clips on the Smithsonian website we used for a previous assignment. Those were available on cd for purchase and were more of the traditional style of Garifuna music. The notes didn’t specifically have information about the purposes of each piece, but from the cd cover and tack titles, one could draw conclusions about the fuctions and music culture.

Monographs on Belize

reina3 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:09:38 +0000

So after going through the tutoring session in class about the library catalogue and how to use it, I was only able to find a few books about Belize. Many of the books in the catalogue were about treks and trips that people had taken to the “Caribbean” in general. There were books about the indigenous culture of Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala, cook books, but nothing concretely focused on Belize. However, I did find sources and books which gave insight to the social aspects to Belizean culture. Although one of the books is a juvenile book, I believe it could benefit my research quite extensively. Looking into the lives of children is one way to learn the truth of what is current and what has passed. Another non-reference book discussed Belize as it’s pre-nomer British Honduras. It talks about Belize as a precolonial entity under British rule. The two books I just mentioned, will do well in contributing to my research. I chose these two books because although they do not specifically discuss music culture or music history, they both still have answers which contribute to the underlying purpose behind Belizean music and where it comes from.