Facilitating community drum circles
- review of earlier facilitation techniques
- leading call and response
Intro to Music for People (MfP) philosophy
- leading subsets of the circle
- Discussion of the Music for People “Bill of Musical Rights”
http://musicforpeople.org/rights.html
- Discussion of “Introduction” and “It’s You” (should be tracks 1 and 2) of
The Darling Conversations at http://audio.depauw.edu.
So by 1:00 PM on Monday, be sure to add a comment with:
- at least three short paragraphs
- addressing similarities/differences between the Arthur Hull/Babatunde Olatunji approaches to group drumming and the Musf for People philosophy
- discussing what you found most interesting in the Darling Conversations tracks.
Remember that to access http://audio.depauw.edu, you log in with your network/Moodle username and password. If you've forgotten/lost that information, go in person to the Help Desk with your ID.
Music for People and Baba and Hull both encourage music as a means of self expression that is available to all and should be used by all. Both approaches encourage exploration of all forms of music, Western and otherwise. Their is also a concept of responsible sound in both approaches - Hull's drum circle etiquette encourages listening and not overpowering others for your own ego, and the MFP Bill of Rights includes that "we must be responsible for the vibrations we send one another." Dancing is also encouraged by both schools.
ReplyDeleteThe main difference I found in the MFP philosophy and Baba's was in its grounding. Baba is Afro-centric, and his message encourages the preservation of African culture, instruments, etc. MFP does not have this center, but it does talk about European expression, albeit by saying it's "not the only sound." Baba concentrates on drumming, while MFP focuses more on the voice. MFP is also a more general approach for all life, whereas Hull talks about behaviors specific to the drum circle, like smoking.
The Darling Conversations were very centered on positive reinforcement, which I'm not quite sure I agree with. On one hand, encouraging everyone to do music for the sake of fun and expression is very valuable and unfortunately lacking today. I liked the mention of going home to play on a piano, a pot, whatever (forgot the wording). However, the biggest musical learning experiences I've had in my life have come from extremely negative experiences, so I can't honestly endorse a completely positive approach. Other than that, I agree with the scope of the conversations: improvising for its own sake, music as necessary expression, and the versatility it can take on.
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ReplyDeleteLike Stephen said, Music for People, and Baba and Hull both encourage music as an approach to achieve self-expression. Both talk about how creating music is beneficial to our health and basically how when our bodies are synced and our individual rhythms are stable that we are in good health. Also, both go in detail about the sharing of vibrations and the responsibility as a whole of what vibrations we send to others, whether it is positive or negative, because we as a group are all interlinked and connected by our multiple individual rhythms that come together as one singular sound.
DeleteUnlike Music for People, and Baba and Hull, I don’t recall Baba and Hull putting a hierarchy on the ways of self-expression. Music for People stated that “the human voice is the most natural and powerful vehicle for musical self-expression” and that “the differences in our voices add richness and depth to music”, whereas Baba and Hull essentially said that as long as we were making music through our bodies that it was on the same level of natural and powerful self-expression. Also what Stephen said, unlike Baba and Hull, Music for People wasn’t centered or focused on preserving the African drums or African culture, but as Stephen also stated, it mentions Europe and her traditions.
The Darling Conversations are all about positive reinforcement and making sure that all feel worthy and not inhibited by the feelings of inadequacy. As stated in the conversations, “they are not better than you, just more experienced”. That was my absolute favorite quote, because it is so very true. Also, I found the positive reinforcement such as constantly making the person feel special very uplifting, such as “no, YOU are awesome”.
Like Richard said, The Darling Conversations seem to be about positive reinforcement. What I find most fascinating about them though is the wide array of instruments that are being used in just the first one, and it sounds absolutely fantastic! I also think that in the second one when it says "they are not better than you, just more experienced" I think its so very true.
ReplyDeleteIts seems to me that both Baba and Hull encourage expressing yourself through this music. They also seem to agree that there are many different ways that one can make music. There is also a consensus that you put emotion into what you are doing with music.
The big difference I noticed is Hull saying "The human voice is the most natural and powerful vehicle for musical self-expression." I don't recall Baba putting evidence on any one thing being the most powerful vehicle for music. Even though he did it through drum circle, he never said that that was the most powerful way to do it. Also I like how in Hull's he says "There are no unmusical people, only those with no musical experience." I think that's absolutely true and Baba didn't mention that. Also Hull said "Your music is more authentically expressed when your body is involved in your musical expression." Now with Baba I know that there was body movement but he didn't necessarily say that using body movement makes music more authentic.
I think they have a lot of similar philosophies, the philosophies are just expressed differently. And there are also many things that one does not explicitly say but I believe the other would agree on fully. For instance, Hull mentions movement is key and although I do not believe Olatunji says it, I believe he would whole heartedly agree simply because it goes along with many of his own ideas and beliefs of how you internally experience the music. Movement is only taking it further by saying you express what you feel internally.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I think Hull and Olatunji view differently is the concept of vocals. Hull says that vocals are the most powerful. Olatunji would probably say that vocals are just as important as drums or other outlets. It is just as important to express vocally as to express with rhythm and style.
Personally, I believe it is truly a combinations of both Olatunji and Hull's philosophies that really would achieve the most freedom in music. By bringing both of their ideas together you get a true freedom and expression that a musician could not get on their own without it. Not only do you need to get musical freedom you also need to have musical freedom. They are both tied together tightly in a way that without the other you can never feel truly zen when playing music.
Just as some general comments about the "Its You" track, I liked the positive nature of the speakers. I liked their idea of positive reinforcement, but I don't know if its the best thing to do all the time, though. People need to be told they're doing a good job, but only if they deserve it. Music is about feeling good and, so putting people down isn't good either. For some people it could make them want to be better. Like for me, in high school, my directors thought I sucked, but I'm working to prove them wrong.
ReplyDeleteI liked how the Musical Bill of Rights mentioned "non musical" people and how everyone is actually musical, they just haven't had much exposure formal instruction. My mom doesn't always hit the right pitch when she's singing, but she can still enjoy it, not only through listening to it, but by dancing to it as well. Thats another way to enjoy and express music.
A similarity I noticed was the one perfect sound idea. The goal of trying to find that one perfect sound is like being in a group and just trying to find that one unified sound. This is very much like in a drum circle all-adding onto one another’s sound so it becomes the group and not a solo.
ReplyDeleteIt mentioned the difference between a solo sound and a group sound, which ties into the unified sound. Babatunde Olatunji talked about relationships between people in the drum circle and how you relate as a soloist is very different from that of a group. That is very different from what they were saying about all parts deserving attention. There does need to be attention given, but it is not important as the final sound together.
In the Darling Conversations the same ideas were discussed as Babatunde, but with the motivation for being better musicians, not for the sake of trying to educate people. Babatunde was riding the wave of social change in order to educate people, but in the Darling Conversations they are simply discussing musical ideas like the perfect sound.
For Starters I really enjoyed the Darling Conversations. I enjoyed the analogy between the gear head and the musician. I also liked the views on people and their kids, to be nice to everyone and "soft" (around 2:30 - 5 mins). How music relates to everyone with different passions and everybody has a chance.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Rule from the Music bill of rights was this one, "Your music is more authentically expressed when your body is involved in your musical expression" That is why music is so important it is the emotional contact between people and instruments.
As fat as connecting it with the other two articles I agree with Catherine more in the fact that the focus of each article is each person's field of expertise. Olatunji's with African music, in which Drums are more Prominent and with more of an eastern approach with singing being the main instrument. But all the articles are very similar in the way they are written and projected.
I really enjoyed "The Darling Conversations". "It's You" really made a lot of sense to me and I liked how they said that no one is better than anyone else, we just have different experiences. Especially because music can have such a cut-throat competitive vibe, it is important to remember this. I really liked the part at the end where they're each insisting that the other is the best because it reminded me a lot of what we do in class.
ReplyDeleteBabatunde talks more about playing as a whole group, where as the Darlings talk about how everyone should sort of have their own thing, their own jam. I think both of these are very important things to think about when drumming. It is also important to, as the Darlings say, encourage one another.
Both of the articles had a very similar vibe, in the sense that they both talk about FEELING the music. If you just play the music, well, that's not as enriching of an experience as FEELING the music is.
I'm going to have to agree with everyone on the importance of self-expression. Music for People, Olatunji, and Hull all agree that the concept of self-expression is fundamental to music. I cannot possibly express how much I identify with that philosophy. Expressing myself through music has been a fundamental part of my life to this point. Another important similarity between philosophies is that "Any combination of people and instruments can make music together," as stated in the Music for People Bill of Musical Rights. Both schools of thought emphasize the universality of cooperative musical expression.
ReplyDeleteObviously, there is a difference in culture between Olatunji, Hull, and Music for People, as pointed out by Stephen earlier. Music for People is conceptually based on European music, whereas Olatunji's philosophy is grounded in African culture. Stephen also made a good point by talking about how Music for People is more broad and inclusive than Olatunji's philosophy, which is more relevant to drum circles.
I loved the positive aspect of The Darling Conversation tracks. Obviously, as Stephen said, some of our most important musical realizations occur when we are not being positively reinforced, but I think that positive encouragement is extremely important to the beginning musician or to people who are making music recreationally. I love how this connects with us all being wonderful :)