Role of Music in a Multicultural Environment - Essay Example

Role of Music in a Multicultural Environment Name: Unit: Professor: Submission Date: Role of Music in a Multicultural Environment Music is an art that has been known to pass messages across, to bring people together socially, to build musicians’ personalities and to preserve culture from one generation to another. The main role of music in a multicultural society is the preservation of culture (Knapp, 2010). The following essay discusses the nature and the different roles of music in a multicultural environment, with the pygmy music being an example of a multicultural music society. Research question: Qn1. What is the role of music in a Multicultural society? Perception of basic emotions in music: culture-specific or multicultural? In a study that tries to explain the Psychology behind Music, a research is carried out to determine whether basic human emotions can be isolated from experience in music such as being happy or in a somber mood, and if there is a difference of it in diverse cultures. The emotions under investigation include surprise, fear, feeling disgusted, joyfulness, anger and sadness. The objective of this research is to identify which emotions shows signs of variation under different cultures. The outcome proves that with the art of music, there is a difference in an emotional sentience under different cultures. (Argstatter, Heike. 2015) A study to determine if there exists a relationship between the preference of teaching multicultural music, multicultural music validity opinion and the training of multicultural music for undergraduate students. The conclusion made from the study shows that there is no difference, in a point scale between students who undertook world music together with those who declined multicultural music teaching inclinations and multicultural music authenticity perception. Furthermore, analysis of the variance established that there is a difference between the two. In addition, there is the indication that the students tend to relate rhythm, performance, instrumentation, language and other musical qualities to the validity of multi-cultural music in general. Keeping in mind the end goal to examine the multicultural music usage and lesson, anticipating the impacts on state of mind of pre-service elementary educators toward instructing from a point of view of multicultural environment. The study did speculation that pre-service instructors would expand their commonality towards multicultural educating in multicultural music amid the procedure of lesson arranging and executing the system and subsequently these would emphatically affect their states of mind for future instructing. (Teicher M.Judith 1997) shows that the outcomes did support the hypothesis. Then again, there was no distinction built up for neither multicultural music showing readiness nor the eagerness state of mind to instruct in a situation with differing society. Methodology This study will utilize blended routines and diverse study to address the study question. The blended techniques are crucial on the grounds that it utilizes both quantitative and subjective information to think of a superior comprehension of the study (Ponterotto, Casas, Suzuki and Alexander, 2010). The diverse study is key and it will give the study a space to investigate different societies investigating music and their discernment (Boer, 2010). The study will be done in the college's theaters and social corridor as the college has a riches society with abroad understudy being a piece of the college. The study will be carried on 50 cases being presented to different music sorts, established, jazz, and prevalent and world music. Open finished and shut finished meetings will be utilized for the study. Surveys will likewise be profited with both semi-organized and unstructured inquiries (Eide, 2008). The pygmy refers to the indigenous Africans who are characterized by their nature of being short and lead a nomadic life. They are hunters and gatherers and get involved in trade with their neighboring communities. These peoples are mainly from Cameroon, Congo, and the Central African Republic. The different cultural groups include the Baka, the Twa, the Efé and the Aka. Pygmy music, therefore, refers to the Sub-Saharan traditions of music relating to a wide group of people from different cultures. Music is part and parcel of their daily routines. For Example, singing while cooking and when at the farm. Music in the pygmy life is of various forms, including an evocable type of singing and the spiritual likanos. Music is the main attribute in the culture of the pygmy as a people. Songs are imperative during the undertaking of various activities; both socially and during spiritual practices. Every person is exposed to music in their tender ages, including singing games and rhythmical counting; hence, it becomes part and parcel of their daily lives. Pygmy music is characterized by its polyphonic nature, arising from the use of only vocals and accompanied by harmonies of a chorus. Instruments that supplement their music is usually easily mobile due to their nomadic lifestyle. The instruments include the harp zither, small drums, stalk whistles, a string bow and bow harps. (Brandel, 1973) There are different sessions where the pygmies apply different songs. They are as follows: first is the songs used for entertainment. These songs are particularly common among the pygmy group. These songs are played with the sole purpose of entertaining the villagers and keeping them happy, even during harsh economic times. Songs of this nature also have a tendency of concealing the true forest songs that have staunch religious contents, which in turn forms a mystical unity among the pygmies and their surroundings. Hunting songs are another type of pygmy songs. In the performance of hunting songs, the performers use soft split sticks as well as the sticks producing a clear ring. Rhythmical hand-claps accompany the performance of a solo performer and a chorus where other performers join in the singing. Furthermore, each of the singers takes only one note in a song and by producing hooting sounds at their different exact moments, allows for the flying of harmony and melody around the circle made by singers. When pygmy girls are overwhelmed with the fear of going into the rain forests to gather wild berries, large leaves used for roofing, honey, and herbs, they sing the leaf carrying songs. It involves girls singing about their boyfriends, one at a time as the others listen and all of them join in the common chorus. These types of songs help the girls to keep their minds off what might be in the forest and to enjoy doing their work. There are also instrumentals among the pygmy peoples. The most common is the harp songs, where, a harp is rhythmically plucked. It contains five strings made of vines made out of animal skin with a sound box made of an exceptionally reverberating wood. Wooden pegs help in tightening the strings. The sa-nza is another instrument used in the pygmy instrumentals. It is made up of tongues from bamboo trees of different lengths and arranged in series. These tongues are connected to a resonating board. Small metal pieces are at times attached to the tongues to give a rattling sound. In a downward motion, the tongues are plucked using the performer’s thumb. The celebration of marriage takes place in a festival known as ‘elima.’ It takes place in the whole village to celebrate the coming of age of girls who are now considered ready for marriage. The accompanying instrument for these songs is mainly the harp zither. Songs in the pygmy communities are most a times blended with dance, especially by women pygmies. Songs performed that do not involve dancing is in fact taken to not being of up to standard. Moreover, grown women engage in skipping ropes during a music performance, with the mentality of showing the young girls how it is done, but in reality it’s for the enjoyment of the women. The lese are among the neighbors of the pygmies and there is intermarriage between the two communities, more specifically pygmy women are married off to the lese community. In this process, women are sent off by music and escorted through the rain forest into their marital homes. These songs offer praise to the bride and it is considered to be a sign of wishing the bride good luck in her marital home. (Kernohan, 2010, pg. 136) There are traditional songs among the pygmy that are only sung by men during ritual practices such as when giving offerings to appease the ancestors, during the traditional circumcision of boys into manhood. During the latter activity, traditional songs are performed at the place where the boys are secluded. These songs give the boys courage to undergo the whole process and its part of the pygmy tradition for men to know these songs. Hence, there arises a sense of belonging and bravery among pygmy men. Old men go into the forest to partake ritual activities involved in the appeasement of the spirits. There are songs that they sing while carrying out the offering of burnt sacrifices. Funeral songs are known as ‘sakana’ among the pygmies. It is sung in a somber mood and low tones. It is considered to be sacred and is respected and feared by the members of the communities. Funeral songs’ key purpose is to beseech the supernatural spirits of the ancestors to intervene in times of crisis, especially in death. The pygmy tradition is passed down through generations and often rejuvenated during difficult times through these songs. The pygmies believe that the rainforest is a spiritual supernatural being in itself and that it is the source of lives. Moreover, they believe that the forest and the world are always in good terms and that when crisis or disasters strike, it is the forest which is asleep. In light of this belief, the pygmies are inclined to sing to the forest during these difficult times in a ceremony known as the molimo. In the ceremony, a long tubular flute also known as a molimo, produces sounds that are of the forests and it answers the singing men, therefore, it is a ritual that identifies the pygmies with their environment as well as their ancestors. (Young, 2010, Pg.28) With the exception of some ritual instances where there are restrictions of a certain gender or a certain age group, the performance of music among the pygmies is universal and anyone from the community can join in both the singing and dancing. There is a variation in the form of songs among the pygmies, but they follow two key principles. These principles are the use of interlocking music and the use of ostinato. A major feature of the pygmy music is its organization of a call-respond nature. This is whereby there is a lead singer and every other community member joins the chorus. The leader may be a solo singer or a group of singers leading in a melodic phrase and the respondents immediately reply by singing another phrase, such that the two phrases from each group interlock to produce a complete rhythmical melody. The practice of vocals among the pygmies often applies the hocket technique. This is a technique whereby performers of a song alternate short pieces of melody to create a complete melody. Yodeling is also used by some communities in the pygmy group and it is at times considered to be a trademark of their vocal style of performing music. References Argstatter, Heike. 2015. Perception of basic emotions in music: culture-specific or multicultural? Psychology of Music. doi:10.1177/03055735615589214 Boer, D. 2010. Music makes the people come together: social functions of music listening for young people across cultures. AOI Eide P.J. 2008. Recruiting Participants. The sage encyclopedia research methods Knapp David Harrision (2012). The Effect of Multicultural Music Instruction on the Perception of Authenticity and Preference for Teaching Multicultural Music. The Florida State University. Ponterotto, J.G., Casas, J.M., Suzuki L.A. and Alexander. C.M. 2010. Handbook of Multicultural Counseling, 3rd edition. Los Angeles, SAGE Teicher M.Judith 1997. Effect of multicultural music experience on pre-service elementary teachers attitudes. Journal of Research in Music Education, 45(3):415-427 Young, J. O. (2010). Cultural appropriation and the arts. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Brandel, R. (1973). The music of central Africa: An ethnomusicological study. The Hague: Nijhoff. Kernohan, D., Joseph, L., Smith, B., Greenslade, H., & Bowbrick, G. (2010). Music is rapid transportation: --from the Beatles to Xenakis. Toronto: Charivari. Read More