Contra Dancing!

   I have to be very honest, when my professor told us in the first meeting that we would go contra dancing, I had no reaction because I had never heard of contra dancing before. That being said, now that I have experienced a contra dance, it was one of the if not the most fun I have had dancing so far in my lifetime. Now the previous sentence might sound a bit too dramatic but in all reality it is true for the fact that contra dancing is unlike any other dancing I have been exposed to. I remember fun concerts and high school proms that I would dance at, but both don't compare to this. Unlike anything I have experienced before, contra dancing brings people together by creating a hierarchical cohort through the use of participatory dynamics.

   At the dances I attended in the past, there is a conglomerate of people in the middle of the dance floor that jump up against one another. At times in these dances, people will form an open circle in the middle of the mob and individuals will "strut their stuff" to see who has the best move. Although these dances are fun, they are virtuosic and centered around the individual having fun and take on a more representational view of social bonding. In contrary to the "nightclub" like dances, contra dancing is highly a participatory dance. The reason why I enjoyed it so much was partially because I have never been exposed to participatory dancing before. 

   

   The contra dance is very different to main stream dances in a variety of ways. Primarily, there is no distinction between the band playing and the audience expect for the fact that one was sitting and the other was standing. However, the band was right next to the people and wasn't sectioned off on a stage like most nightclubs. Secondly, in night clubs, you don't have to dance if you don't want to. Most people that I see at dances are off to the side reading text messages or getting a drink. In contra dancing, everyone is expected to dance. There is no time for loitering. In fact, one will feel out of place if they are not participating due to the fact that everyone in the room is dancing. The benefit of these participatory dynamics, including non-hierarchical social bonding and success based off of involvement.

  I was very pleased to have the privledge of going to the Bloomington contra dance. When our class got there, we were slightly nervous but mostly optimistic. After running through a couple dances, the locals came in and we started our first dance. As the night progressed I started asking the locals if they wanted to dance and they were elated. The two partners that were my favorite were Stephanie and Cathy. Both of these women had twice as much energy as me and made it a blast to be their partner. No matter what happened during the dances, we were always laughing. The best part was when the locals from the group remembered my name by the end of the night! 

  In addition to the people, I also enjoyed getting out of my comfort zone a bit. I made an absolute fool of myself when I attempted the waltz, but all my reservations went out the window because no one cared if i messed up, they were just glad I was participating.

In the future, I have already made plans to go back to this contra dance and will uphold my promise. My classmate Xavier and I plan to introduce some girls to contra dancing as a double date cause we think it would be a good way to get out of our comfort zones. Overall, I am so glad to have had the experience of participating in such a dance and meeting the wonderful people there. I cant wait to go back during this school year.         

International Punk Film: "The Punks Are Alright"

After watching "The Punks Are Alright", I was exposed to a different view of music that I haven't experienced before. From an American view, third-world countries are looked down upon because of a significant lower GDP and an unstable government. I used to share this view until I went to the Ecuador for a mission trip. During this mission trip, I learned to look at youth culture in third-world countries not as worse but as different. Its a different atmosphere, in bad ways and in good ways. Sure there is a higher rate of poverty and lower standard of living but there are also good aspects such as the way the people bond with each other and the happiness people get from simply spending time with each other. This video not only reinforced my changed outlook on third-world countries but provided new insights that I wasn't exposed to in Ecuador, primarily the music aspect. I never knew that thousands of miles away from America, you'll find similar sounding music. From Canada, to Brazil, to Indonesia, punk music is the connective tissue that takes on different languages but still resembles the same meaning.

I can relate with artists in this film on the shared belief music can be used as an escape from the problems of reality. Henrike from Brazil couldn't have put it any more clearer. He said "No matter what music you listen to (rap/rock/punk/jazz), its all punk man because of the environment around you". Punk music is any music that people use to create an escape in there own lives. Dolly ads that punk music is "A remedy for my sickness". I can relate to these two because whenever I am emotional and desire to escape, I will listen to my favorite genre of music; Contemporary R&B. Furthermore, punk creates a since of flow for people in third-world countries and makes the people keep coming back for more instead of participating in illegal activities. By reflecting on this movie, I have found that I share another connection with Henrike and Dolly. Punk music to Henrike and Dolly is what snowboarding is to me. Snowboarding creates a since of flow, and whenever I'm sad or angry, instead of relieving my frustration through drugs like some of my friends do, I just go to the slopes to snowboard and feel and since of free-spiritedness. Furthermore, I also found a connection of values between Henrike and I. Henrike and I both have a shared value in spending time with our families. No matter where we will go in this world, Henrike and i believe that our families will always be there for us.

Its difficult to fathom how a suburban white college student can intersect economically, culturally, and politically with the lives of the people interviewed in this film. I think more about it, I start to realize that I do intersect with the interviewees. The teenage girl at the Brazilian skate park had beautiful advice. She stated "All you first world people, think more about the people suffering in the third world and stop just thinking of yourselves." I don't think many Americans can grasp the immense difficulty of living a life in the third world. I was fortunate enough to get a glimpse of this lifestyle in the third world country of Ecuador and plan to go back as a volunteer in the next four years. In class today we talked about outsourcing, a very controversial topic. This is a very difficult subject for me to develop an opinion on and I'm conflicted every time this subject is debated. Being a Kelley business student, I will learn that outsourcing is a very cheap way to produce a product and a very easy way to increase a businesses profit margin. Even though this might sound beneficial to the business, there is a huge moral question at stake due to the awful work conditions of foreign employees. In Indonesia, Dolly works for a wire company for under three dollars a day. Six days a week, Dolly has to take a two hour commute riding four different buses to and from the factory. Economically, Dolly and I connect. I recently just looked in my closet and found two shirts and a pair of shoes that were all made from Indonesia. Sadly, the persistence of my consumerism is what causes the continuation of the awful work conditions Dolly experiences.

Shockingly, this video has opened my eyes a little bit more to the ubiquitous problems that the world faces. As a result of watching this video, I will earnestly attempt to go on more mission trips to help people locally and globally. Nevertheless, through all the struggles that Henrike and Dolly face, they turn to punk music to give them a sense of power and freedom.  

     

The Bloomington Farmers Market

I was thoroughly intrigued when I visited the farmers market in Bloomington. It exceeded my expectations. As our group traveled around the vendors, we saw so many homegrown delicious foods for sale. We also got to see Marcia Veldman who is the director of the farmers market. She told us the inner workings of the market and highlighted the fact that a market provides greater human interaction than a commercial grocery. The most interesting part, however, wasn't the products and produce but the interaction between the people that was created from the open atmosphere. It was so easy to start a conversation with the shoppers and vendors. Everywhere our group went, we saw smiling people conversing and having a good time; there was no hierarchal order of people in the farmers market. In other words, everyone was on the same personal level and no one thought of themselves as a higher individual. 

There were four main sections to this farmers market. First, there was the main grocery area where all of the farmers sold there crops. this was biggest part of the market and the most busiest. The main type of people in this area were adults but there were always some families walking while the kids ate freshly picked fruits. Along with fruits and vegetables, there were also plants, homemade cheese, and honey. Behind the central area of the market, there was the DIY section of arts and crafts. This section reminded me of the documentary we watched in class about the DIY community. I met one vendor and asked what they love about there job. She said "The main reason why I love my job is the other people around me with there own crafts. I love looking to see what other people have passionately created. I also like talking to other vendors about their craft, sometimes it leads to strong friendships." Just like the central grocery area, the DIY section encourages everyone to participate no matter if you have experience in DIY world. Right next to the DIY section was a big fountain. This is where most of the kids gathered and played with each other as their parents watched them. The third region was titled Info Alley. This space was primarily for politics and community involvement and attracted mainly adults. Even though this was the least populated, there were still aspects of a participatory community with local politics reaching out to talk with the civilians. Finally, the fourth section of the market was my favorite. In this section, there were specialty food vendors and bakeries. From crepes to coffee to pizza, all of the items were delicious. This place attracted both kids and adults because of the variety in tasty food. Regardless of where you were in the market, I saw smiles and people having a wonderful time due to the fact they were all involved in something bigger.

There is one more important factor to the Bloomington Farmers Market; the music. The most fascinating part was that the music was throughout the entire market and unified the four sections. Unfortunately, we came on a rainy day which hindered the full potential of the music including the stage performances. Nonetheless, the music still created a good vibe and energetic atmosphere. Another fascinated thing I noticed was the equal distribution of adults and kids. In the four areas of the markets, there are more adults in one place and more kids in another, but that is not the case for the music venues. At each venue, there were adults and kids of all ages eagerly listening to the musicians. The music at the farmers market gave life to the environment by bonding people under a common ground.    

The outcome that I have grasped from this experience is that there are many similarities between the farmers market, DIY community and participatory music. All invoke participation from everyone and in return provide an enjoyable atmosphere for all the participants. No matter what type it is, all participatory activities unite and raise the spirit of those involved.

This is the map I drew representing the different regions in the entire market and the musical venues. I also plotted out the adults and kids in the vicinity of each section.

Four Fields of Music

Like Turino says, "We tend to think of music as a single art form". However, that isn't the case. In fact there are four kinds of music; Participatory, Presentational, High-Fidelity, and Studio Art. The first two forms are variations of live music and the second two forms are variations of recorded music. Each form of music has different values, goals, and levels of effect when it comes to social bonding.

Lets start off with Presentational music. A great simile that I learned is Presentational music is like a pick up softball game. This simile explains that you don't need innate talent to join in the music and any one can join. This form of music has a dense texture (the sounds are all combined together) which creates an ocean of sound so if one person makes a mistake it is covered. Furthermore, since everyone in the frame of the situation is invited, there is no distinction between the artist and people. The advantage of having no distinction between people causes a faster bond and allows people to experience flow at a more deeper and personal level.  However, participational has some drawbacks. First, music is limited to the talent of the music. Because there are so many people involved, the talent required is overlooked and not important as the overall feeling in the social group. There are two forms of participational music; simultaneous and sequential. Simultaneous music is when all the the participants engage in the music at the same time. In contrast, sequential music is when there is a participatory group, but individuals take turns (like karaoke).

An example that I found of participational music comes from the optional reading today about Ewe drumming in Africa. After reading the article, I found this video on Youtube that accurately depicts participational music.

Ewe Drumming in Ghana: Agbadza

Next, there is Presentational music which is the more predominate form of music in America. Compared to the pick-up softball game that is participational music, presentational music would be the World Series. People go to see presentational music for the talent therefore there is more listening then participation. In presentational music, there is a clear distinction between the artist and the audience, creating a hierarchy. There are several positive sides to this form of music. Primarily, the artist has more artistic freedom and is not responsible for the audience. However there are some down sides. Although the artist has more freedom, he/she has to sustain the interest of the crowd. Several ways of achieving this include the artist using extensive variation and transparent textures to highlight there own talent, which is the reason why people pay tickets to see the artist. 

An example that comes to mind when I think of presentational music is Billy Joels live performance of Piano Man in Tokyo. Now in this video, you will notice some interaction with Billy Joel and the audience, but it is mostly the audience listening to Billy Joel sing. 

Billy Joel Live"In Concert" at Tokyo Dome

Now we move into the realm of recorded music. One form of recorded music is labeled high-fidelity music. These types of music recordings are songs that index live performances of the the band or artist. So in other words, high-fidelity music attempts to sound like a live rendition of the song. When it comes to this type of music, studio engineers have the most control of music making. The the key goal of high-fidelity music is  to make a an object (such as a CD or online) that is a product to sell. The most important thing to high-fidelity music is the money generated from the sales of the music.   

The song "Otherside" was in the album Californication, an album that has sold over millions of copies worldwide and is included in Rolling Stones "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". I chose this song by Red Hot Chili Peppers because it is a sufficient example of  high-fidelity music. I have listened to this song live in concert, and the recorded version truly does reflect the live one. 

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside

The last form of music is called studio audio art. Some of the musical genres that fall under this form include electric, chill step, house, trap, and trance. This form gives the creator the greatest control over the finalized product but provides little human interaction. In addition, this form of recorded music is the most abstract and was created with no expectation of being played live. Now even though some might argue saying that they heard an electric music at a concert, the music that they heard is pre-recorded and for the manipulation of the DJ at the venue. Even though there are concerts for these genres, the real making of the music happens behind a computer. 

"Drive it Like You Stole it" by The Glitch Mob is an explicit example of studio audio art. To me this song is an index to me whenever I'm driving fast on a highway. The song is all computer generated  and has an electric feel to it.

The Glitch Mob - Drive It Like You Stole It

    

An emotional provoking song

Krzysztof Penderecki- Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima

When I think of moments when music profoundly changed my emotional state, I think of one song in particular; Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima by Krzysztof Penderecki. Many of you will not know this song since this piece is a bit unusual. To me, it is one of the most unnerving and most uncomfortable songs I have ever listened to. By far, the emotional provocation this song had on me was one of the most memorable I have experienced. Whats brilliant about Krzysztof Penderecki is he created this piece using only 52 stringed instruments, nothing else. Therefore all the sounds you hear in this come from only stringed instruments. First, lets start with the frame of where i listened to this. Junior year in high school our choir director Karl Thompsen showed us this song to make a point that emotions can be provoked using solely instruments. To paint the picture, we were in a large square room with choir risers on one half of the room and Mr. Thompsen's computer desk on the other. When he showed us this song, he gave us directions to sit down on the risers and close our eyes, turned off the lights and played the song. When the song started (a sign), there was a very sharp and scary noise made by the violins. The sound made think of people dying which is the object that the sign represented. This image of dead people made me feel extremely paranoid and literally sent chills down my spine (interpretant). The noise perpetuated in the room and persisted for several minutes, switching up tempo, tuning and volume. at this point, everyone in the room had their eyes open and showed levels of discomfort. The song sounded like a myriad of shrills and screams coming from the victims (the icon associated with this song). As the song still played in the back drop, my mind wondered off to scary thoughts. I thought of a time in my life where i had a similar distressing feeling which was when i watched a television series about war called "The Pacific". Although "The Pacific" was an enjoyable WWII show, some of the images in it made me have a distressed feeling. Long story short, this instrumental piece serves an index to the time where I felt distressed while watching a gruesome show. So now when I listen to this song, it reminds me of war and the torment that comes with it. Even though this musical piece doesn't have any lyrics, certain words act as symbols to this song. As the song was nearing end, I thought about words like freedom, death, pain, and sorrow (all of which are symbols that this song represents). By analyzing the semiotics of this song, the reason because clear as to howPenderecki was able to evoke so much emotion and discomfort in me.

Find the Meaning of Music

Genius

This is a site that i use to look up the meaning behind songs. I've been using it for about half a year and it doesn't have every song ever....but its pretty helpful. check it out and see if you like it.

My Playlist

Travis Tritt - Its a Great Day to be Alive

The reason why I picked this song is because of the laid-back happiness it gives me. This happy feeling is a result what I'm doing while this song is playing as well as the lyrics of the song . First, whenever my group of high school friends would go to any country concert, we would always listen to this song in the car to get into a good mood. This song, in a way, bonded my group of friends and whenever it comes on, i always think of country concerts in Cincinnati with my friends (thats an index!). Secondly, i picked this song because of the lyrics. When you look at the lyrics of this song, they are rather simple and straight forward. Basically the artist is talking about enjoying everyday life and every time I listen to these lyrics, it makes me happy and relaxed. Also I choose this song to highlight my interest in down to earth country music, not the generic pop country on the radio that portrays less meaningful topics.


AER- Songbird

I picked this song to highlight my interest in snowboarding, surfing and long boarding. My friend in California introduced this song to me as we were snowboarding in Indiana. Every time I hear this song, it reminds me of snow boarding and long boarding because of the initial frame that I was in. So now whenever I'm snowboarding or long boarding, I listen to this song to get reminded relaxed and free feeling that I experience when I'm. In other words, this song provides an index to snowboarding and the good times that come with it.  

Mohammed Salem- Galb galb (قلب قلب)

Even though I do not know Arabic, I have always found a fascination with the upbeat Arabic songs that I overheard when I was in the Middle East. This is the only song that Shazam recognized so I added it to this playlist to emphasize my curiosity in international music, especially Arabian. Now the reason why I picked this song is due to the personal index associated with it. When i listened to this song, I was in the Arabian dessert dune riding with a local driver and my dad. It was the whole frame that made it a memorable song. Being in a Land Cruiser surfing the dunes while looking at the surreal landscape around me as this song played in the background was a memory I will never forget. Not only was the environment memorable, but the people were as well. Our driver Mohammad was the nicest and most informative person I have met by far. Its people like Mohammad that inspire me to keep branching out to different countries and keep meeting new and interesting people.