Listening Blog #2

Listening Blog #2

Russian Orthodox Chant

Let my prayer arise

Russian Orthodox Monks-unknown

Russia

Vocal

I am a member of the American Orthodox church and I have always been fascinated with the simplistic sound of their music.  An Orthodox service is entirely sung, and though there is a choir to help lead the singing,most of the service it is sung by the entire congregation.  There are different sections where the priest does a call and we respond.  There are also portions of the service where readings are chanted by the other members of the clergy.  After researching I have discovered that though it sounds simplistic, it is actually based on a set of eight tonal scales.  This particular piece is in the sixth tone or the Plagal Second Mode. Let my prayer arise is used only during the first week of Lent, usually on the second day.  It is based on Psalm 141:2 "May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice." (BibleGateway.com)  Orthodox hymns are time specific, based on the Eastern Orthodox Church calendar.  Many times our Easter does not line up with Easter as it is on the Western calendar.

We have been looking at classification this week.  This song falls firstly into the category of vocal music.  Though it wasn't mention as much as other instruments, Wade discusses different ways the voice is used as an instrument on pages 45-47 of his book. (Wade, 2013).  This particular example uses voicing is based in the sixth tone, as I mentioned above.  This piece classifies even further into the area of spiritual associations.  "We find throuhout the world the idea of an instrument's giving voice to a sacred spirit." (Wade, 2013, p. 51)  We can even classify this song one step further using the Russian Orthodox chant categories of canonical, music found in approved liturgical chanting books, and uncanonical, music based on freely composed melodies.  This piece is canonical, specifically it is classified into the 8 tone system.  (Simmons, n.d.)

BibleGateway. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from 

            https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2B141%3A2&version=NIV

Simmons, N. (n.d.). A brief history of the monophonic chant tradition of the Russian

            Orthodox church. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from

            http://www.synaxis.info/psalom/research/simmons/chant_history.html

Wade, B. C. (2013). Thinking musically: experiencing music, expressing culture. New York:

            Oxford University Press.

Listening Blog #1

Listening Blog #1

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Shosholoza

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

South African

Acapella, Horn

Ladysmith Black Mambazo was the first non-western musical group that I fell in love with.  My husband did a missionary trip to Africa when he was in high school and brought back with him a traditional african booboo and a beautiful, hand made Kora.  He taught me all about the importance and roll of music in the African culture. 

According to the website ethnomusicology.org, “Ethnomusicology is the study of music in its cultural context. Ethnomusicologists approach music as a social process in order to understand not only what music is but why it is: what music means to its practitioners and audiences, and how those meanings are conveyed.” 

The study of "why" music is what it is, and the emotions music stimulate drives me as an educator.  The only way to truly experience a piece, and portray those authentic ideas to your audience is to know why, where and the history of the song that was written.

The piece, Shosholoza, highlights the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.  The workers there originated the song in the mines of Africa.  You can hear the constant and easy to find beat that I imagine was used to keep the diggers in time with each other while avoiding boredom after repeating the same motions over and over.  This song gained fame in 1995 at the Rugby world cup in which the South African team won.  The word Shosholoza comes from the Zulu language and means to go forward. (Marika, 2016)

References

Marika, M. (2016, June 28). Shosholoza's story of good hope. Retrieved October 21, 2017, from https://www.brandsouthafrica.com/people-culture/sport/features/shosholoza-capeReferences

http://www.ethnomusicology.org/?page=whatisethnomusicol#

Ethnomusicology.org. (n.d.). Retrieved October 21, 2017, from http://www.ethnomusicology.org/?page=WhatisEthnomusicol