Post 3

The music at the N'Awlins Gumbo Kings event on Friday 8:00 p.m., January 22nd was truly a night of relaxing swinging jazzy music. It took place in the Success Center Auditorium with good acoustics. The audience consisted of mainly seniors who are out and about for social regular gatherings, students who are taking this music class. There were some outliers, but the age dividing line was apparent. The performers were suited up with all black attire with a casual laidback approach into speaking to the crowd and playing their pieces of work. The supporting instruments were arranged so that the full drum set was placed in the back left, while the base was in the back center, and keyboard in the back right. At the foreground the trombone was in the left, trumpet in the center and a guy with a hat playing the Clarinet. Their second song, like the majority of their music, was syncopated. It had a duple meter and simple meter as some of their other songs. This second piece was an arrangement of soloing instrumentation showing each musician’s character and the unique sounds that each instrument had to offer to the group. It was mainly homophonic, with a monophonic section with the clarinet. The trumpet took the melody in the beginning, then the trombone came in with the melody, then the clarinet did a complete solo, and they all came back together in the end for a larger finish. Between the first two songs there was almost no pause, but after the second song they completely stopped and had the drummer count off for the next piece. The music had a great beat with well coordinated singing in some of the other pieces. This is a type of Art Music, which I enjoyed and hope others can enjoy in the future.

Post 1

Christmas Music is filled with the “Christmas spirit”, which is thought of today in two perspectives. One perspective originated from Christianity, consisting of caroling on streets and singing about the birth of Christ. Much of the Christmas music is about the Birth of Jesus, much of the Christmas music in the 21st century now promotes a religious neutral position, such as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” and “Jingle Bells”. This perspective is based off a more modern American approach, which is the acceptance all religions. The 12th episode of Community makes clear that religion has become an awkward subject, and that American idea of Christmas is now changed with a more diverse nation [http://www.hulu.com/watch/113574/community-multi-religion-christmas-party]. Now around Christmas time the public schools banned teachers from saying “Merry Christmas” due to their “religious affiliations”. While America is changing, Christmas music on the other hand is stable for the most part. Some of the songs are sung by different artists to their own minor changes to make the Christmas music more Christians, particularly the younger generations, such as the Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone), [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXV6HJxUebg], based of the traditional song Amazing Grace [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvO1P4gt5Lo]. Although Christmas music has persevering through the years, the music is usually performed and sung with added ornaments and variations, such as the clip of David Archuleta singing Amazing Grace.
The Culture of Christmas Music has molded me to who I am today. I grew up listening to Christmas music ever since I was still in my mom’s belly. Being that my parents are the first generation of Americans in our family, they grew to like and sing the basic Christmas Songs, and it became their favorite American songs. The Christmas Music brought me and my family closer together. A month ago I turned the television on to my mom’s favorite channel 13 PBS, and we watched Andrea Bocelli perform at the Nokia Theatre. Although technology puts many families away from the table and to their cell phones and computers, Christmas music seems to have the inverse effect on our family. One of me and my mom’s favorite songs was when Andrea Bocelli sung What Child Is This with Mary J. Blige [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlrKQqyM4l0].