Title- Ciocarlia
Link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBuB4CdJDxc
Performers- The Ferenc Santa Jr. Band
Culture- While we tend to have trouble performing upbeats, in gypsy music they are used constantly as seen in this video.
Instrumentation- Violin, (viola?) bass, and hammered dulcimer.
This class seems to always remind me of the improvisation class I took last semester. Our teacher was very insistent on us being able to improvise or alter melodies in a style outside of the typical jazz improv. One style we spent a lot of time studying was Gypsy and I personally had trouble grasping it. For homework we would be assigned to find examples of the style, (such as this video) and incorporate what we learned into our own improvising.
The major trouble I had in this style was playing constant upbeats. After spending a few weeks in this course, I am fairly confident that there is a cultural reason as to why I have trouble with this and the performers can do it with ease. My guess is that they grew up playing music similar to this and upbeats are embedded in their mind just as down beats are embedded in the mind of a tuba player.
The last thought that you shared I think is the key to what we have been discussing in class. A lot of our readings are constantly placing heavy emphasis on the context of where we grew up and individual experiences. It is interesting that you shared the improv class. Even from my own experience I know that when people tell me to improvise something, or just play something I freeze at first and I automatically try to envision music or something in my head. Sometimes we don't realize how much our culture effects a lot of aspects of our lives including how we think and learn.
ReplyDeleteAt first listen, I can immediately see why you might have had trouble with this style. It is a style of performance that I have never heard before. In this particular recording, the main performer seems to be improvising completely, but the style and skill with which the upright bass player plays is pretty incredible.
ReplyDeleteIn music the concepts that are most comfortable to us are those that we are most familiar with. Being entirely unfamiliar with the style of this music, it is easy to explain the difficulty of picking up some of the concepts that are "natural" to the performers who have lived and breathed the music. It would be illuminating to converse with musicians that find constant upbeats, in this example, natural, to determine how they've come to be so comfortable with what others find to be challenging and uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteI think this performance is very different in many ways. The violist or other violinist seems not very into the music and almost distracted. I understand there is a lot happening around them but still.. Also I would be curious to see if people are actually watching and listening because it doesn't seem like people are. Because of the emphasis on the upbeats it is a bit hard to find the beat in this song,but I definitely think it is a cultural upbringing that causes him and others to play like this. Very neat!
ReplyDeleteYeah, constant upbeats definitely are not built into my experience, or at least not most of it. There's this video I remember seeing on YouTube of Wayne Cochran ("the white James Brown") and the CC Riders--couldn't find the specific video, but here's one of them just in case you don't know them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5_GstlPL64 --in which there is a breakdown either mid-song or near the end where the bass player is playing this really fast, funky groove (similar to the one in the example vid) full of 16th-note offbeats in this really strange pattern. At least it was strange to me, because I've grown up listening to classical music, video game soundtracks, and rock mostly, and in my experience none of those genres place nearly as much emphasis on syncopations of this sort. Someone right next door in my hometown and who has grown up listening to a lot of funk might get it right away though. It's interesting how much individuals' cultures can differ within such a small geographical chunk these days.
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