Afro-Peruvian Dance Music

In a survey of Western European classical music, I imagine one would find lots of pieces written neatly in 4/4, 3/4, or 2/4 time signatures. Perhaps something more exotic such as a 6/8 might be found as well. However, Wade (2013) reminds us that "concepts of musical time differ greatly in different traditions" (p. 71), and when studying world music, we must not assume that time sounds or functions the same as perhaps our ears have been trained to understand. My first experience with music challenged my perception of time was the Afro-Peruvian landó, a style of music developed by the descendants of African slaves who arrived in Brazil (CITE). This piece in landó-style is entitled "Samba Malató."

Landó is characterized by solo-chorus, call-and-response, layered percussion, and polyrhythms (Feldman, 2006, p. 110). In basic landó form, the rhythm involves two strong beats, two beats of syncopated rhythm, and two more strong beats. Refer to this diagram:

An easy way to feel this rhythm is to say the phrase "this is how you... play lan-dó," with the "how" and "play" as the eighth notes in beats 3 and 4 above.

Using this basic 6-beat pattern, standard notation practices usually classify landó as either 6/4 or 12/8 (Feldman, 2006, p. 111). However, in watching the video above, one may have a difficult time experiencing either of those time signatures or even identifying where the downbeat is (in case you're curious, it's the dó of landó sung by the cajón player). Feldman suggests that such notation of 6/4 and 12/8 provides different possibilities of understanding landó's musical time (p. 111). Beyond that, listening to the vocal line provides an ambiguous feel of duple and triple meter. Needless to say, understanding the pulse, meter, and rhythm of this song can be difficult.

The classification of time in music is important, as it allows musicians to perform together linked by a common pulse (Wade, 2013, p. 76). As Wade also points out, some pieces are intentionally free of strict rhythm or follow textual pulses (p. 73-74). Yet despite adherence or ignorance of time and pulse, such classification opens a common link to better understand a type of foreign music, as it provides insight into how other musicians organize music in the passing of time (p. 99).

Even in rhythmically ambiguous pieces and genres, such as the landó, meter and rhythm are important. However, when it comes to understanding world music and musical culture, strict adherence to such terms could become a hinderance to deeper learning. For example, Wade (2013) provides the example of Southeast Asian colometric meter, specifically the ketawang form in which the largest gong signals the passing of time on the 16th beat of the 16-note grouping, signaling both the ending and the beginning of a cycle, not simply on the downbeat as many of our Western ears are accustomed to (p. 83). In a different way, landó purposefully muddies the rhythmic structure, hailing to its African ancestral rhythms and their rampant use of polyrhythm (Feldman, 2006, p. 111). Thus, while the classification of time is certainly useful information to understanding world music, such rigid structures cannot be the only means to understanding how others musicians and musics pass time. To do so would limit one's understanding of the true nature of music such as the landó.

References

Feldman, H. C. (2006). Black rhythms of Peru: Reviving African musical heritage in the black Pacific. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.

Wade, B. C. (2013). Thinking musically: Experiencing music, expressing culture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Vocal Music of Xinjiang, China

For my first post, I wanted to draw upon my own experiences of world music pedagogy. I chose the traditional Chinese (Xinjiang) folksong "Dance of the Youth" that my former choir, the Cincinnati Children's Choir, prepared for an exchange with the Children's Choir of the China National Symphony Orchestra for our tour of the country in 2014. The song hails from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China. This arrangement is written for SSA (treble) choir and a one piano, four-handed accompaniment.

In terms of pedagogy, this piece was initially difficult to teach because it is written in Mandarin Chinese with no phonetic translation. Thus, I was tasked to work with a native Mandarin speaker in order to best convey the pronunciation of the text.

Admittedly, I had little context of the piece's translation, its origin, or the context in which it is performed in its native culture. This speaks volumes to the importance of ethnomusicology in relation to world music pedagogy. By not making an effort to learn about the piece in a deeper way, I was promoting a Western view of foreign music, which Reimer (2003) supports by criticizing Westerners for viewing music in a "'low context culture'--a culture in which particular contexts of particular pieces are far less important than the qualities of the pieces themselves" (p. 181). Yet in order to make this piece of music "meaningful and useful" to my students (Wade, 2013, p. 1), I should have looked further to understand the many facets that made this piece of music come to be. This is where ethnomusicology is so valuable: it "frame[s] a perspective for many ways of thinking both about people and about music all over the world" (p. 1). For example, I could have searched for the meaning of the text or discovered whether the "Dance" of "Dance of the Youth" referred also to an accompanied dance. Perhaps the song was originally a folk dance and words were added later. Perhaps it played a more significant role in the culture, perhaps as a rite of passage or for sociopolitical purposes. According to Wade (2013) all of these questions are important pieces that contribute to a deeper understanding of music (p. 1). Bond (2014) supports this statement, arguing that without such contexts, students are deprived of a "multilayered musical experience that potentially strips the music of its meaning and value" (p. 12), which is quite possibly the disservice I imparted to my students when I taught the piece.

Upon a quick search, I've already found more information. I found a Chinese choir performing the same arrangement (which some of the pronunciation differs from my own teaching, which may warrant some investigation). I also found a recording of what seems like a pop singer performing the song on a television show. I have included both videos below. Obviously, there is a broader understanding the song that I missed, and this week was a wake-up call for my future teaching strategies.

References

Bond, V. L. (2014). Culturally responsive teaching in the choral classroom. The Choral Journal, 55(2), 8-15.

Reimer, B. (2003). A philosophy of music education: Advancing the vision. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Wade, B. C. (2013). Thinking musically: Experiencing music, expressing culture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.