Module 1 Listening Journal

According to Starr and Waterman, “critical listening is listening that consciously seeks out meaning in music by drawing on knowledge of how music is put together, its cultural significance, and its historical development.” (Starr, Waterman pg. 7). Through critical listening, audiences are able to find a deeper meaning behind a music whether through emotions, connections to society or even musical content. During my rehearsals with my ensembles, we discuss the concepts of critical listening toward our rehearsals and performances in order to allow for a better connection to the musical nuances and musical depiction. The downside to American popular music is it is “designed to not call critical attention to itself.” (Starr, Waterman pg. 7) Through critical listening we are able to formally analyze the musical process of the music we listen to as well as perform. While lending a critical ear to “Soldier’s Joy,” performed by Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers provides a musical performance of popular fiddle music. The piece is believed to have originated in Scotland. This is supported by the idea of the basic melody or theme with variations. The basic melody is comprised of two contrasting phrases that are repeated through the variations. Using the basic melody and variations, the tune is often performed without the lyrics and used for social dancing. Listening to the two different performances of this tune, provides us with a different approach toward the same melody. The form of “Soldier’s Joy,” is AB providing two contrasting melodic ideas that become intertwinded through out the entire performance. Through the style of the piece, it is inspired to provide social dancing with strong beat patterns and rhythmic drive. Another aspect noticed in “Soldier’s Joy,” is the idea of tune families, or songs that are closely related that lyrics can be interchanged. One of the borrowed lyrics, “Chicken in the bread tray scratchin’ out dough,” is borrowed from another older fiddle song. For me personally, this lyric stands out from the infamous Charlie Daniels Band, “Devil Went Down to Georgia.” Charlie Daniels references “Soldier’s Joy” in his folk song about the devil challenging a fiddle player in Georgia where the main character plays famous fiddle songs. As the song continues, the singer begins to reference Aesop’s fables and finally ending with references to “alcohol and narcotic morphine as a means of escape (the soldier’s joy of the title) adding a tinge of dark, sardonic humor” (Starr, Waterman pg. 25) to an upbeat dance style of music. Several songs in our listening this week provide a basic background of African Americans foothold in American Popular music. “Coo Coo” by Dink Roberts, “Long John” by Lightning Washington and fellow convicts, and “Stagolee” by Mississippi John Hurt begin to form the basic concepts of rhythm and blues. “Coo Coo” provides the listener with picked accompaniment on a banjo as well as interlocking parts which create a polyrhythmic structure. “Long John,” similar to rhythm and blues, contains ideas of call-and-response patterns as stated by Lightning Washington and responded by the fellow convicts. The lyrics reference the book of John (pg.32) with ideas of freedom referencing the ideas of a “Christian Credo” that was adapted by slaves (pg.27). While “Long John” provides call-and-response, “Stagolee” has a guitar picking pattern that is similar to “Coo Coo’s banjo accompaniment. Syncopation is extramly prevalent in African American music, crating a sense of groove and forward momentum (pg. 28-29). All three of these songs are performed by “songsters,” which came before the concepts of blues. These elements provide a similar form to rhythm and blues artists. Many audiences are able to hear similar concepts to the music of early rock n’ roll. Another listening example from this week that allows for critical listening is the music of Mexican Mariachi music. The mariachi tradition began in the western region of Mexico in a culture known as Jalisco. Mariachi music is typically seen as a form of social/entertainment music. As musicians began to move to Mexico City, mariachi bands began to grow in size by incorporating trumpets and more stringed instruments. “La Negra” performed by Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, is on of the best known mariachi bands in Mexico. The songs lyrics are formed in couplets, which is a poetic form made up of four stanzas, where each line consists of eight syllables (pg.42). “La Negra”, is in a triple meter and provides the us of polyrhythms which is indicative of Spanish music. When listening to the approach and technique of the musicans, you are able to hear a strong sense of vibrato and changes in tempo. Another musical technique that is used in “La Negra” is the use of “rasqueado” which is when they use vigorous strumming to propel the music forward. Also, the musicians call out gritos (yells) to provide excitement for the audience as the music continues to grow (pg. 43).