I grew up right here in Spartanburg, South Carolina. I have yet to leave the country, much less the East coast. I have hardly ever been far from home. I have not experienced much of any different cultures. I grew up in a very strict household. I was sheltered from a lot of things, including a good bit of music and definitely different cultures. The only non western music I have experienced was in church as a child. Our church had different missionaries come in to play music and lead worship.
One time that I really remember was when a missionary came up from Mexico. He had a family of 9. They each could play different instruments. The family was singing Christian songs, but in Spanish. There was a different style to the music. It seems like a mariachi band, but I am not completely sure since it was a while back. The Father of the family was playing a Spanish guitar which was a little bigger than a normal guitar, I did know that much. It had a different sound than a normal guitar. The music was fun and played at a fast pace usually. I really enjoyed it. Their family came back to our church several times so I was able to experience that music several times.
There was also a missionary who came into our church from India. The missionary’s family was pretty large. The family played many different strings while others sang. The style was definitely the most different style of music I had ever heard. They did a traditional dance while singing and playing. Most of the songs were slow and relaxing. They also played something that I thought as a child was a clarinet. I’m sure it was more like an oboe, thinking back on it. The “costumes” of the family were very unique and colorful. The family was really into their music. You could tell from their attitude and the way they were dancing with the music that it was something that embraced what they truly believed in.
I am very excited to learn about music from other cultures. I believe this class will help me achieve that goal. :)
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3 comments:
Fine Blog, Miranda.
The Mexican oboe/clarinet-thing that you remember may have been a chirimia--I have one in my office that I brought back from Guatemala. The Conquistadors brought over their instruments when they invaded Latin America, and, since that all happened during the Renaissance, a lot of folkish instruments now used in Latin America can trace their roots back to Renaissance Europe. The Chirimia is a descendant of the shawm.
Now, how's that for making connections between your classes! :-)
I think that is so awesome how missionaries from other countries worshiped at your church. I wish my church did something like that. It's good to have a variety in church music, that way people of all cultures will be reached. It's cool how although there are many cultures, we still have the chance to praise one God : )
I also had an interesting musci experiene with missionaries. My uncle and his fameily do missionary work and brought back some music from Spain. My brothers and I got out a spanish dictionary tried to translate the songs. As good as the songs were in the recordings, the translations made absolutley no musical sense.
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