Cristina Blog Entry

               Hello everyone, I hope y'all doing great!. This week in class we have been focusing on Arabic and Indian Music. I have always been fascinated by Arabic and Indian in general, but I never look at it more in-depth. I wasn't sure how to start, but I figured it out. So, today I will be talking about Arabic music, traditional instruments used in Arabic music, and the different dances. Please set back and enjoy it.  Arabic Music Maqam System          The maqam system is a theory of Arabic music that goes back to the ninth century. Arabic music is based on 8 commonly used melodic models or maqams. This system is composed and improvised, weather vocal, and instrumental. It is mostly taught orally, and by listening to traditional playing. It is also to create a mood or motion for the listeners.            These particular tones are organized in seven tone scales, and each one h...

            Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog. I hope everyone is doing great! I am quite sad that this is going to be our last blog because I actually really enjoyed learning and writing about what we learned so far.  Moving forward ... I really don't have any family around where I live but today I will be interviewing my mother. I wanted to see her point of view on music seeing that she grew up in Mexico. So anyway I'm going to set up my blog in dialogue because I have three younger brothers and it is never quiet to reconded around the house ;) - Phone rings- (It's kind of hard to reach my mother because she is always working ... But here we go!) Cristina: Hello! ...  Mother: Hi, it feels like you are going to ask me a favor... (She knows me really well. She always knows when I want something or when I asked her for a favor!) Cristina: Yes, I actually need a favor. I have a blog I have to write where I have to ask you a few question...

Swing Music  Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! I hope everyone is doing great. This week in class we are getting the chance to teach a genre to the whole class. With that being said, today I will be talking about Swing Music. There are so many things that I  personally found intriguing and hope to share with everyone today. I hope you like it and enjoy it! Before The Swing Era (I want to give you a little bit of what was happening before this period happened before i introduce you to swing) America was in the depression era. Money was in short supply in the country at that time. There was very little work, especially for musician. Many record sales dropped so musicians that were more talented or had connections started to get jobs on the radio studies. This is when radio started to become a household appliance. This era was known as the "Golden Age Of Radio". Even thought the economic condition of the time was critical; microphones and jukeboxes were made b...

 Music Of Malawi       Hello, welcome back to my blog! I hope everyone is doing well. Today, I will be talking about Malawi, Africa but before we start I'm going to introduce you to a bit of history. Malawi consist of three cultural heritage which is British, African, and American. With this in mind, this music has been spread throughout Africa. Malawian music beginner in World War II. When the war was over the guitar and banjo were more popular traditional music. Over the years; this type of music started to spread and blend together with different types of music styles. Moving forward, I hope you enjoy the rest of the blog! Gule Wamkulu (translate to "Great Dance") One of the many things that intrigued me about this dance is how spiritual they are with this dance. Gule Wamkulu has been inherited from past tribes. They are performed in initiation ceremonies, funerals, as well as the placing of a new chief, and many more events. Many of the Chewa, considered the...

Music and Gender intake in Jazz      Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! Today, we’re going to talk about how gender stereotypes played a major role in music. And how it’s evolved over the years. In my personal experience, I played the flute in the middle school band. Every person who played the flute was a female. Remember back in the past, I remember how the saxophone, the trumpet, and more were mostly male. My personal music type is all over the place, but I'd like to talk about Jazz and a little bit of its history. But before we go more in-depth, I read an article about “Gender Expectation in the Music Industry.” In the article, I readed how women in the music industry are disrespected and were not understood because of society’s standards. She describes that society misunderstands the message about women, their identity, and their worth.  Back in the 1800s women’s positions prohibited them from performing music in public. The place of a woman was at home...

 Traditional/Folk music of Bolivia  Hello, welcome back! Today we’re moving into traditional Bolivia's folk music. But before we get into it we’re going to learn a little bit about Bolivia history. In an article I read it states that Bolivia is largely covered with the mountains of the Andes. Which has many uphills and downhills of tropical regions. Like many other Andean nations, a lot of folks and traditional music are combined with Spanish music. Even though the music is similar, it also has its own variety and dance styles and rhythms. Throughout the many years, carnivals and festivals have been held to reflect many dances and songs. Also, an artist called Los Jairas took folk music to the radio and made them popular all over Bolivia. Traditional Instruments The following song (shown below) is named Par Par Paimota by Los Jairs. When I first heard this song at the beginning, it reminded me of the many songs we’ve heard in class. Little is known about Los Jairas, but I was ...