Concert Styles Paper

“Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance”, and excerpt from Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader, was written by Brenda Dixon Gottschild. Gottschild is a well-known author, dance historian, performer, and choreographer as well as a professor of dance studies at Temple University. She has also written multiple books including The Black Dancer Body, Waltzing in the Dark, and Digging. In her article “Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance”, Gottschild explores the similarities and differences in the characteristics of Africanist and European technique, and how they draw from each other.

On Sunday, 14 October, Jeffrey Phelps, cello and Lee Jordan-Anders, piano, performed Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata in A Major, Opus 69 (1808) and Claude Debussy’s Sonata (1915)

Military drill teams perform either armed or unarmed. Close order drills remain in the military today only for show during parades and other displays of discipline, obedience, and teamwork. The overriding principle of balance or aesthetic of the cool is prevalent at all points within these performances. Members strike their feet and hands to create percussive polyrhythms. They involve call and response not only between the music and dancers but when the leader makes a statement with words or movements the other dancers answer. This use of polyrhythms, self-percussion, and call and response is visible in the Military Drill Unarmed Exhibition teams and also what makes up African American community dance drill teams. Unarmed Exhibition teams perform movements that are drawn from African foot dances, such as Gumboot which was formerly done by miners in South Africa as a substitute to drumming and a form of communication. A strong legacy of military service among African Americans influenced the formation of military style drill, dance drill, and step teams within community in addition to evolving musical trends such as jazz and hip hop. In the Black Christian community, the drill teams more closely emulate military drill teams. The main focus of these teams is calling upon the audience to employ the epic memory through a form of praise and

Dance has always been the focal point in which Africans are able to let free through movements of emotion. In this essay I will discuss the history of African Dance and its importance to the African Culture. Also will be discussing the general information of African dance, the different types of African dance and the ones that I like the most. Dance in the African culture is something that cannot be taken advantage of in the African Culture because it holds such a strong meaningful moment at the time of any occasion.

“Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance”, an excerpt from Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader, was written by Brenda Dixon Gottschild. Gottschild is a well-known author, dance historian, performer, and choreographer as well as a professor of dance studies at Temple University. She has also written multiple books including The Black Dancer Body, Waltzing in the Dark, and Digging. In her article “Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance”, Gottschild explores the similarities and differences in the characteristics of Africanist and European technique, and how they draw from each other.

The instruments in the first gathering included bass, drums, conga, trumpet, alto saxophone, shaker and vibraslap. They performed two quick tempo melodies for drums and percussion, and every instrumentalist was given the chance to hold a performance. All through the execution of the first gathering, the bass player was absence of innovativeness and specialized abilities that should have been be cleaned; his spontaneous creation was a progression of specific scales that were dull and basic. Then again, he was extremely rhythmical and had decent state of mind toward the group of onlookers, coordinating great with drums and knew how to connect with the gathering of people. Particularly, the alto saxophone player was not the same as different instrumentalists, since his tones were more vividly communicated than some other payers. His act of spontaneity was confounded and inventive too. His pitch and rhythms were exact. Notwithstanding that, he executed as harmony with trumpet player in a brief moment performing melody, where he demonstrated a decent feeling of flow. In general, despite the fact that every part of the orchestra possessed the differential musical skill, but they coordinated with each other quite

When Chad Smith graduated high school in 1980, he encountered one of his most important musical experiences. Chad Smith was invited to start drumming with a band. The band was named ‘Pharaoh’ and it was a hit band around the year 1981. When he started playing with this band, Chad Smith met the band’s percussionist, Larry Fratangelo. With this experience, Chad’s drumming was increasing dramatically. “I think up until then, I was a drummer. Once I studied with Larry, I turned into a

The drums are a vital aspect to the Native American culture; they understand the drum to be more than an instrument. In a web article written by Elisa Throp entitled, “The importance of drums to Native American culture”, Elisa says, “It is a Voice. It is a Heartbeat. It is a prayer to the Great Spirit. The Native American Drum is all of these things, and more.” The drums are what the

I must say that my hole spring quarter has been dedicated to deepening my overall understanding of West-African dance alone. In preparation this to study with the Urban Bush this summer I wanted to make sure that I was able to develop a stronger foundation in my West-African dance technique this quarter. My Mondays and Wednesday from 2:00-6:30 were dedicated to Professor Parker's ( Makeda- Kumasi) West-African dancing and drumming classes held at UCR. I also seeked outside the classroom to gain a community experience of this dance genre so that I could compare and contrast the similarities and differences I found. My goals were to truly embody the many elements that are associated in this dance genre. In my discoveries I was able to

On Sunday, May10 2015, a concert was held in The Broad Stage. The concert was played by Santa Monica College Symphony Orchestra, whose conductor is Dr. James Martin. For this concert, I would identify myself as a referential listener at this concert. I say this because I am not an expert in music, therefore it would be hard for me to be a critical listener. I wouldn’t be able to tell what went wrong with a performance even if some incorrect notes were played. I was more of a referential listener because the music was soothing and brought my mind to peaceful thoughts. This essay will tells my experience of the concert in order to persuade my friend to  attend a classical music concert with you in the future.

The second concert I attended was the Shepherd school of music collegium concert at Rice University. The program featured music from the renaissance and was a little bit different then the orchestra concert I attended. For one there were fewer musicians. It had a more intimate setting, not a big theater but rather a small rehearsal hall. The musicians exchanged in and out after there part of the performance was over and there was some singing as well.

Work songs were another influential form of musical expression in the lives of slaves, and these songs were sung by a field of hands in order to coordinate and pace their work, and slave owners expected their slaves to sing. In fact, many slave-masters discovered that drums could be used as a secret means of communication. Many of the slave owners were concerned that this secret means of communication could eventually lead to a slave uprising. As a result, drums were banned, but the enslaved Africans substituted “hand clapping” in the place of drums in order to reproduce the complex rhythms of African drumming.

In this essay, I will be examining the musical genre of Afrobeat which was created by Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Afrobeat first came to be in the late 1960’s during the Civil Rights Movement in America. Fela Kuti a Nigerian, was able to create a genre that has change the way we view music today. Afrobeat is made up of two different words, “Afro” and “Beat”. “Afro” correlates with “African organized sound while beat is a rhythmic counting pattern in relation to such music” (Oikelome, 2013). Therefore, the meaning of Afrobeat is the unique African rhythmic patterns of such music. The coming of this genre is very interesting since the man behind it has quite a story.

“A Glimpse of snow and evergreen” was a concert I will never forget. In my opinion, this concert was the most high energy and energetic concert we have had (since my time here). The songs were all surrounded by the theme of holiday spirit and it gave a warm and friendly tone that I believe the audience felt too. We had a variety of songs, in cooperated dancing, and were able to have almost a full house. This will be the concert we remember for the fun times and best choreography.

In this course we have learned about all of the different cultures and their musical traditions. My favorite so far has had to be the west African music culture. They have a variety of different music, instruments, and dances to contribute to the reasons I liked this music culture so much. So, I have taken it upon myself to further my research on this particular musical group. I will compare and contrast a variety of different videos from the west African music culture and I will analyze how they connect to this culture.