Traditional and Cultural Music

[Meredith Pizzi]

Discuss with the board the traditional and cultural music in your home community.

[Amy DiLabio]

To be honest I find this question particularly difficult for me to answer. The music within my community is eclectic. Different styles of music can be heard depending on the age of the listener. There isn’t one predominate cultural style of music that stands out to me. However, depending on where I am within the community, the genre of music can be distinguished. For example, in one part of my community there is a low income development; when I am there I tend to hear mostly rap music. At the music school where my children take lessons , classical music is what is mostly heard and discussed. In the center of my town is a community based art school and across the street a community based theater. In these places a variety of music can be heard and appreciated. During the summer there are several community gatherings and most times live music is present. In all occasions that I have attended there has been a variety of music performed. One time there was a cover band performing, another time a Blue Grass band performed. I live in an area that would be considered the suburbs, but in one direction with in close proximity is a more rural farming area and in the other direction a big city, Philadelphia.

[Alyssa Kereki]

I agree with Amy that this is a difficult question to answer. I have not lived in this area for very long, but I do know that the cultural style of music varies based on location. My neighborhood is on the border between the city and the country, so I typically find that rap and country music are most prevelant based on that division. I have also worked with a group of teenagers with Down syndrome from this area who preferred music from the Disney channel over mainstream radio music. Teenagers that I have met from the “country” side of the area only listen to country music and are not very fond of rap. To add to this mix, I just had a group of teenagers tell me that their favorite music genre was 80’s rock. As far as I know, my city is not exposed to music from different cultures unless they attend the philharmonic orchestra performances. However, even the professional orchestra holds numerous “pops” concerts where they feature music by country artists and other rock stars. I have noticed, though, that there are quiet a few local radio stations devoted to Christian music. I do not think this is coincidental since the joke in my town is that there is a church on every corner.

[Leigh Giglio]

I also find this a hard question to answer, as well, especially since each person is individual with what type of music they “like” to listen to. With the ability to now have any type of music at your fingertips via apps or through technological devices, it’s even harder to see a community preference. I have observed that in my town we do have two creative arts halls/auditoriums that bring in various professional and community type musical events. Community events might be the local high schools band, orchestra or choruses, as well as dance school performances or the local community Orchestra and Chorale where the music may focus more on classical or pop muisc. As for professional groups, we have military bands/chorales, country singers, cover bands and jazz groups that I have noticed that have come to perform. As far as radio stations, there is a variety of country, pop, rap and 80’s music. Being in the south, we do tend to have a lot of contemporary Christian music to listen to, as well.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Thank you for your honesty in posting on this topic. I have found that it can be challenging to identify and incorporate all the different musical styles and preferences heard within a community. What I like to do is to listen more for the unique musical elements used (such as lush harmonies or particular meters) and bring some of that ‘sound’ to the songs I create for my groups. For instance, you might hear some rap influence in the syncopated chants that we did. Meredith’s newest Cd (composed and recorded by her and her staff) include some songs that are definitely “Country” inspired.
In my own area, we have some groups that are like the United Nations! My job is to find the unifying musical qualities that everyone can respect and respond to.
(You might want to look at the new blog on http://www.RaisingHarmony.com on magical musical moments.)

[Tamara Strom]

I also agree that this is a challenging question, as each person’s musical preferences are unique! My community is an affluent suburb of New York. There is not a great deal of cultural diversity, with the vast majority falling into the category of white, upper middle class, therefore I don’t find that ethnic music is as popular. However, I travel to other communities for my job, and when I work with families of African American descent, I try to include traditional spiritual music as well. To return to the community music preferences, I would say pop music, classic rock, folk, broadway, and classical, though again I feel that it is a huge generalization, as it will vary immensely by the individual and by the age group.

[Cindy Humphreys]

Most of the students I work with come from a lower economic group, many of them labeled “at risk.” The town is a small mid-west city that has a strong Polish heritage. It is not unusual for my students to listen to Polka music and attend a local Polka festival each summer. Accordion music is still played by many of the older people in the community. As far as contemporary music and preferences, country, and classic rock are popular. I appreciate you asking this question, because I have never considered the Polish influence, and I don’t know anything about it. Perhaps I need to be more sensitive to the culture and incorporate it into some songs. Just think how surprised and delighted the grandparents would be!

[Laura Montesano]

I mostly work with the Mexican population of Boulder County, and I often invite the parents to share with me some of the songs that they sing with the children. One that comes up more often than not is Pin Pon- which is about a “handsome doll that is made out of cardboard”, and this song just goes on and on and on – there are no repetitions and the language is VERY involved (at least for the children I’m working with….as well as for my Spanish skills! 🙂 So no, this is not the case for all Spanish children’s songs, but many of the songs that the families have shared with me are bit complex in their language, and have few repetitions. So often times I will take a familiar tune (perhaps that doesn’t have any words in the original composition) and add some very simple lyrics. For example, today I used the Mexican Hat Dance tune, and instead we used our shaker eggs and sang “bail-ar bail-ar bail-ar, vamos a bail-ar….” (“Dance, dance, dance we are going to dance…”).

I do have another family that sings a lot with their little boy, and they seem to know more simple Spanish finger-plays, so we’ve used those only we’ve adapted them a bit to add more movement- which works well.

I admit, when I do attempt to incorporate the musical elements of their culture I’m often doing more upbeat songs, we haven’t explored the more introspective type or sedative music…that gives me something else to consider and include.

[Lisa Spall]

I totally agree with the others that it’s hard to identify the cultural music in this area. There are so many different preferences, mostly around popular and/or american kids music in the population I serve particularly. In my town, I’ve definitely noticed a strong Asian demographic in the southern Boston region, and I think I may be able to assume quite a few Greek people live here since I’m down the street from a HUGE Greek church. That’s solely demographically what I’ve noticed, but the music seems to vary as much as the integrated population. The first language at home for one of my students is Arabic, so I wrote a hello song with some simple Arabic words for “Hello, how are you?” and he smiles and giggles whenever he hears it. I really try to pay attention to the details of my student’s home and social life. If they hear a different language or style of music most of the time, I try and incorporate it into my practice to see their reaction. Learning a few new vocab words never hurt anyone!

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Thank you to all for examining this issue in terms of your practice and also your place as a music therapist in the community. One thing we want to encourage through http://www.RaisingHarmony is song sharing. We have so much to give each other! Cindy, we also have a large Polish population here on Long Island, many of whom speak little to no English. It is so touching to see how the parents and grandparents try so hard to learn English, and how grateful they are when I try and incorporate a word or two of their language in the music.

[Robin Jacobs]

Bluegrass, Country (Scotty McCreery, recent American Idol grew up near Raleigh), Appalachian folk music, Celtic and rhythm and blues are all popular and mainstream here. A local non-profit’s mission , Music Maker Relief Foundation, promotes and supports many unknown or forgotten musicians who helped establish the southern rhythm and blues traditions. Carolina Beach Music, is integral to the music culture here. It has it roots in the 50’s and 60’s rock, R&B and pop music. People dance the “Shag” to the music. It’s similar to swing dancing. The North Carolina Symphony has provided education concerts across the state to 3rd through 5th graders each year since 194f6. Teachers are invited to a workshop before school starts which provides a curriculum for them to use in advance of the symphony coming to their school.

[Angie Carter]

I am terrible and very ignorant to music around me. I wish I would take more time to experience and learn more about what my community has to offer. I’m exposed mainly to Laurie Berkner and now with my own children Top 40 chart music. I have a parent with Latino heritage that I recently asked to share some of the music that she shares with her son. This is most certainly an area in which I need to be more assertive!

[Wei Ming Loi]

I live in a multi-racial society with 4 main races. Thus, there is really no one kind of traditional and cultural music available. The Chinese have the pentatonic scale, the Indians ragas, the Malays gamelan, the Eurasian mostly influenced by the Malay music. However, as Singapore is greatly influenced by the western society as it used to be a British colony, English and Chinese pop music is the most common available music in the society, with Jazz as an alternative genre to pop for many. With the “Mozart Effect” popularization a few years back, classical music has also been widely exposed to infants and pregnant women.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

It is great to hear that everyone is thinking about music and culture. For those of you who would like to dig more deeply into the connection between music, language and culture I recommend “Music, Language and the Brain” by Ani Patel. It is a very heavy read, but looks from a neurological perspective at how language and music develop along with culturally specific language and musical grammar.
(An aside to Robin…keep an ear out for my niece’s band “The Zinc Kings”. They are an old time band based in Greensboro. She is the fiddler.)

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