What constitutes a culture? What components define a culture?

1. What constitutes a culture?What components define a culture? • Ethnic groupings • Regional determinants – geography, environment • Religion • Legends • Customs • Food • Arts - Music & Dance • Language

2. Defining Culture Culture isn’t just a list of artifacts and materials used by people. It is a dynamic process – learned, shared, changing. It consists of what is meaningful in people’s lives. How has our culture (or others) changed through the years?

3. What purpose do music and dance serve in a culture? • Social • Religious • Artistic expression • Oral history • Music, dance and art are symbolic representations of a culture – that which is meaningful in people’s lives.

4. FNA 101 The content of this course is intended to be a stimulus for fostering critical thinking regarding your own interactions with and perceptions of the arts in your world.

5. Music & You • How do you connect with music &/or dance in your life? • How does music &/or dance improve the quality of your life? • How much do you value or seek out music &/or dance? Are there obstacles?

6. Despite it being present in every human society, music is probably the most mysterious of all the arts. From 10,000 year old cave drawings we can speculate that the art of painting evolved from the desire to represent nature. Dance can be thought of as a refinement and stylization of everyday movements and activities. But music does not seem to be closely related to anything in life. Is it necessary?

7. Music • Is it a universal language? • If music communicates, what does it communicate? • Why does music exist?

8. Some past answers: • Change or enhance one’s mood • Provides a strong memory association • Maintains cultural links • Suzanne Langer – comes from the need to represent human emotions, to contemplate them

9. Music: A Universal Phenomenon • Sound is interpreted as either music or noise, depending on the meaning a culture gives it. • Context is the setting and purpose of a musical performance.

10. Universal Phenomenon Without an understanding of the specific “musical language”, one cannot understand a musician’s intent. Without knowledge of what to listen for in the music of another culture, one might apply one’s own cultural standards and norms. This is not appropriate or even helpful. Knowledge = meaning in music, dance, and all arts.

11. Elements of Music • Texture • Rhythm • Timbre • Harmony • Form • Dynamics • Melody

12. Types of Music in the U.S. Jazz Rhythm & Blues Rap Folk Blues Spirituals Bluegrass Gospel Rock Country

13. Categories of Music • Traditional (Folk): integrated with the social life, sustained through oral tradition • Popular: melody line, harmonic support, accompanying rhythm section • Classical (Art): distinguished by its unique forms and textures, prominence of instruments, many of which require advanced technical skills

14. Traditional music & dance A society can relate to traditional music & dance without formal education about them. It is a part of life and can reveal details about a culture’s history, religious beliefs, and even politics.

15. American Folk (Traditional) Music • Primarily a vocal genre with easy-to-sing melodies • Creators of folk songs are generally unknown • Sustained through an oral tradition

16. American Folk Music Includes: • Ballads, Work Songs, Lullabies, Spirituals, and others • Regional and Ethnic Styles like Appalachian & Ozark Mountain music • Examples of American Folk Songs: • I’ve Been Working on the Railroad • Home on the Range • Short’nin’ Bread • Over the River and through the Woods • Shenandoah

17. Composed Music in a Folk Style • Protest & Rally Songs, Ballads, Lyric Songs • Became part of commercial, popular music • Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Kingston Trio, Simon & Garfunkel

18. Instrument Classifications • Membranophones – stretched skins • Idiophones – self-sounders (strike, shake, rub, etc. the material) • Aerophones – air stream causes a vibration • Chordophones – have strings that are plucked or bowed • Electrophones – electronically produced sounds

19. Taxonomy of Cognitive Learning • To better understand expectations in FNA101 for tests and presentations • Developed by Benjamin Bloom • Hierarchy of mental skills employed when processing cognitive information

20. Level 1 • Knowledge – recall of previously learned material, generally in the same form • Behavior example – Given a statement from the book, identify it as true or false

21. Level 2 • Comprehension – grasp meaning of the material – involves translation or interpretation • Behavior examples: • Gather information from several sources and put together in an accurate and comprehendible oral presentation • Given a list of musical instruments, identify each according to category (membranophone, chordophone, etc.)

22. Level 3 • Application – employ generalizations, abstractions, rules of procedure • Behavior examples: • Perform rudimentary gamelan percussion parts while adhering to the structure of the music • After listening to a piece of music determine if it is an example of syncopation or not

23. Level 4 • Analysis – identify and organize the components • Behavior example – Given several excerpts from North Indian instrumental music determine which section of a piece each excerpt represents

24. Level 5 & 6 • Synthesis – form a new and unique whole (creative behavior) • Evaluation – make judgments on the effectiveness of (artistic) material • We will not generally be involved at these levels in FNA101