Trinidad Week Two - National Pride

Steelband quickly became the national “sound” and instrument of Trinidad. Pan, an instrument forged through the oppression of imperialism, is unique and has a bright sound that quickly gets your feet going and your body moving. At its inception, Steelband and Pan wasn’t accepted, and was even degraded for its sound and construction, but now is a staple in Trinidad’s largest festival of the year, Carnival, and is the basis of Trinidadian national pride.

Trinidadian culture around Steelband has always been greatly political. In Carnival in Trinidad by Shannon Dudley, he discusses calypsonians in the tent tend to have more serious political topics each year for Carnival, but politics is at the root of Trinidad’s Steelband inception. In the time of Imperialism, Trinidad was  a Spanish colony that held slaves used for cotton and sugar plantations. During this time, many previous traditions in Trinidad, such as kalenda(stick fighting), which was banned by the Spanish for being too loud and devilish. In turn, they couldn’t play on their instruments, and were left silent. This wasn’t the case for long. Innovation (and a sort of musical revolution) brought new traditions. Forks/spoons with bottles, brake drums hit with sticks, the tradition of Tamboo Bamboo (as we discussed last week), and using oil drums. Since these weren’t the instruments and practices banned, they were free to make the music they desired. Eventually, they learned how to make different notes (or pitches as discussed in Bonnie Wade’s Thinking Musically), and Pan was born. While not accepted at first, steelband has now become the national icon, and a symbol of emancipation.

(Credits: http://www.dynrec.com)

Most of the steelband music played in Carnival are songs that have become iconic over the years. Such music achieves its legendary circumstance through its association to this nationalistic pride and its expression within the musical structure. A particular song that has been iconic since 1956 is the calypso, Jean and Dinah by Mighty Sparrow. Sparrow’s calypso refers to how the departure of the U.S. Navy from the base during World War II caused Trinidad to worry about economic losses. The songwriter teased the Port of Spain’s fears by metaphorically comparing it to the prostitutes in Trinidad and the avaricious Americans (Dudley, Carnival Music in Trinidad, p. 28) In this video, a steelband on the road plays Sparrow’s calypso and one can hear the joyful participation of the audience. (Sparrow's Jean and Dinah by Steelband on the road, Carnival 1956). This celebratory music pushes the calypsonian author’s encouragement of unification and pride by informing Trinidadians that they didn’t need to rely on the Americans for security.  In addition, the nation needed to rejoice in their gained independence and control of the Port of Spain. This public spirited association of the steelband performance also emphasizes the piece’s catchiness, which is achieved through the musical texture. Jean and Dinah “plays on a steady pulse, matching the pace of a dancer’s evenly spaced footsteps” (Dudley, Carnival Music in Trinidad, p 49). Along with the jovial pulse it also contains a simple chord progression: I, I, V, V, V, V, I, I, I, I vii, IV, iv, I, I vi, ii V, and I. The simple chord progression is easy to remember because it plays on mostly major chords and the chord structure moves with the mood of the text so the audience can participate in the song. Its rhyming construction ( AABBCCDD etc.)  also enhances the desire to dance and for the audience to sing (Jean and Dinah lyrics). Thus, the meaning and the musical construction of Sparrow’s composition became so iconic for Trinidadian pride because the concept of the lyrics motivated communal rejoicing of independence and the texture of the song prompts Trinidadians to dance, sing, and remember the words so they can exalt and remind themselves of their rightful freedom and power as a community. What more to give off such an outward expression of communal spirit than to use the steelband to show off their own sound.

(Credits: https://urbeve.files.wordpress.com)

In the modern age, Steelband has taken a remarkable turn in terms of the genre. When one looks at, or listens to a steel pan being played, the first image that comes to  mind is probably something like this, some nice Caribbean reggae music with the steel pan coming in at about 0:56. The music is very upbeat, putting images of a white sandy beach in the mind, coconuts with those little umbrellas in them, the sun shining with clear blue skies, and everyone is in a state of perpetual paradise. This may be due to pop culture, and mainly lighthearted movies, placing this music in scenes of tropicality. What one might not think of is Bach’s “Concerto in D minor”, Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”, or even Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” being played by a steel band. But indeed, while not necessarily in the glowing spotlight of society with its subliminal associations of paradise, the steel pan can take on a more serious musical tone. But it’s not just classical music. The branches of steel pan music also extend into pop music (many videos of steel pan covers can be found on This YouTube channel), like an entire steel orchestra playing Rihanna’s “Please Don’t Stop the Music”. This becomes an outreach of Trinidadian pride to western ears. An intriguing sound with common music that we’re used to, Westerners can be more intune and can learn about an amazing tradition and its even greater history.

(Credits: http://www.peppertt.com) (Credits: http://i.dailymail.co.uk)

In conclusion, the steelband became an overall musical symbol of Trinidad’s pride because the Spanish atrophied most of their instruments and the pans revolutionized their own community’s sound. The steelbands also were instruments to enhance public spirit by performing iconic songs that motivate the Trinidadians to express their unity and sound. Furthermore, the pride is also expressed in Trinidad through the unique instruments by covering other nations music to extend their own cultural sound. The Port of Spain demonstrates how cultural spirit arises from the need of one communal sound and how it can be communicated to not only their own people but to other nations. In this way can their patriotism resound and keep their culture meaning alive.

Citations

Glenroy, Joseph. “Sparrow’s Jean and Dinah (Yankees Gone) by Steelband on the road, Carnival”. YouTube. 17 Apr. 2011. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/gD1kb8R_IJ4

Dudley, Shannon. Carnival Music in Trinidad: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York, Oxford. Oxford University Press. 2004.

Murphy, Jack. CALYPSO: Jean and Dinah Mighty Sparrow Lyrics. 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.elyrics.net/read/c/calypso-lyrics/jean-and-dinah-mighty-sparrow-lyrics.html

Credits:

Nick Delossantos: 3rd paragraph, videos and editing

Erika Query: Introduction, 2nd Paragraph, videos and editing

Holly Winter: 1st Paragraph, Pictures, editing, videos and Conclusion

Trinidad Week One - Carnival

In every culture, there are special events that paint their meaning and purpose. For the capital city in the Port of Spain, Trinidad, Carnival is that purpose and meaning for their culture. Carnival in Trinidad is the one-day they devote their time to wildly express themselves: through ornate costumes, dancing, music and kalenda competitions, and drinking. If one were to be in the midst of these festive activities one might wonder what kind of significance and purpose they have on the Trinidadian culture? To understand Carnival’s significance one must delve into its history, the symbolisms behind the extravagance of the activities and attire, and understand its music and how it is constructed and reconstructed through time. By perceiving the importance of Carnival, it allows the colors of Trinidadian culture to emerge through their communal canvas.

Trinidad’s celebration of Carnival as we know today didn’t come without resistance. The tradition emerged as a form of political protest. During the 18th-19th centuries, when the industrial revolution was at its peak, Westerners were taking over the globe. These Westerners thought they were doing justice, believing they were “evolving” countries they thought were uncivilized Even the way the non-western people enjoyed music was considered wrong in the eyes of the westerners.. In Bonnie Wade’s Thinking Musically, she discusses how what may sound like music to us, could mean something completely different to others around the world, and vice versa. There is no better example than the colonization of Trinidad. When the westerners heard their drumming and endless “noise” as they called, it was considered the devil’s music, and therefore the practice got banned. However, this is what began Carnival. The slaves were able to communicate with each other with different percussive sounds, and utilized items such as brake drums, oil drums, and bamboo (known as Tamboo Bamboo). This was their revolution. The practice of using these instruments is still used today in Carnival, Trinidad’s biggest festival of the year.

(Credits: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com)

The annual Carnival in Trinidad is an exciting time. The streets are flooded with noise, people wearing spectacular costumes, and unleashing the energetic spirit associated with this delightful celebration. The music performed during carnival is upbeat and dance worthy, somewhat different from the text which may be about something not so upbeat. As mentioned, Trinidad was born out of political protest. While the Trinidad slaves “won” and gained independance from the Western colonials, there is still a great divide between people of light skin and people of dark skin, especially when it comes to economics.The twin island country of Trinidad and Tobago earned a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $24.64 Billion USD in 2013. While that figure may seem impressive, other leading national powers, such as Spain, Canada, and Japan bring in a GDP above at least $1.3 trillion USD.  When Carnival comes around, the entire society flips over on itself. The poorest people become the Kings and Queens, and the richest become the slaves. For just a couple of days, society is backwards, and then goes back to normal as if nothing happened. Everything remains fairly calm for the rest of the year, and for good reason. The income of the people negates the chance to celebrate loud and proud for more than once a year. Regardless of annual income, or lack thereof, everyone is able to enjoy carnival for a couple days a year. A chance for the impoverished to cast away their daily woes before ash Wednesday, the first day of lent in which those of the Christian faith give something up for forty days and repent.

(Credits: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com)

The importance of Trinidad’s music is the fact that it continues to construct and reconstruct based on the performance context and function. As Dudley explained in his text, performance context is “music genres [that] are conditioned in important ways by their functions, which include dance, storytelling, social protest, rivalry, spectacle, and entertainment” (Dudley, Music in Trinidad, pg 4). Types of music that are specified in that way are calypsos, which are text oriented ballads that address present issues or entertaining moments during the carnival season. In 2000, a calypsonian singer called, Sandra Singing turned the tables of traditional calypsonian competitions in the carnival with her song “Caribbean Man Part 2”. Sandra twists the original Caribbean Man song by Black Stalin, which refers to his idea of gaining unity and racial pride by questioning “the goal of achieving racial pride or solidarity without justice between sexes and families” (Dudley, Music in Trinidad, pg 36). Sandra Singing-Caribbean Man Pt 2. Sandra’s performance was significant in the fact that she reconstructed a communal value and integrated it into the present issue of gender inequality among women. She addressed that if women are treated with inequality in comparison to men and men don’t take on their responsibilities in the family, it separates families and draws Trinidad away from the unity and pride they desire. Sandra also reconstructed calypsonian competitions by becoming the first woman to win the Calypso Monarch. By winning, she gave women a voice and changed the traditional gender roles in performances in carnival music competitions. Without Sandra Singing’s powerful performance, the tradition of the calypso music would stint change and growth in the treatment of women and families, as well as the cultural vivacity in Trinidad. Thus, the construction and reconstruction of traditional music in Trinidad relies on performance context and function because it allows present issues to relate to the community and inspire change, which leads to the growth of their culture and achieving communal values.  

(Credits: https://openanthropology.files.wordpress.com)

The Carnival season in Trinidad reveals that their history influenced them to rebel the European lifestyle to create their own identity. It also demonstrates the kinds of aspects about the celebration that gives their unique meaning and cultural unity, and their evolving music allows their purpose and cultural identity to continue exist and change in a positive way through many generations. Trinidad shows how they were able to use their city which literally has nothing and turn themselves into something of importance through Carnival. It calls others to reflect and ask what will they paint on their canvas?

Citations:

Dudley, Shannon. Carnival Music in Trinidad: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York, Oxford. Oxford University Press. 2004.

IsDePanInMe. “Singing Sandra-Caribbean Man pt2”. YouTube. 26 Jun. 2008. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/Iy1IBRll-yM

Credits:

Erika Query: 1st Paragraph and editing

Nick De Los Santos: 2nd Paragraph and editing

Holly Winter: Introduction, 3rd Paragraph, Conclusion, pictures, and editing

Chapter 5: Thinking About Structure - Social Value and Music

Music is not something that is taken lightly. Across all cultures, there seems to be a sort of caste-system (a system in india for social status) for different types and structures of song. There is music for spiritual practices that is given the highest respect (deemed “high-brow”) and music played only for and by commoners (deemed low-brow). However, we dare to ask if there is as big of a difference between high and low brow music as told to us socially, or rather that in the end it is all the same? Are both sides structurally sound?

Attending a concert put on by the Seattle Symphony, or the New York Philharmonic is incredibly expensive. Ticket prices for attending an upcoming concert featuring Lang Lang (A world class concert pianist) and the Seattle Symphony are $87.00 for third tier seats (The back of the Taper auditorium), and run anywhere from $90.00 to $132.00 for Orchestra front seats. A ticket for a one hour and thirty minute concert featuring the New York Philharmonic, and Maurizio Pollini (another incredibly skilled pianist) costs anywhere from $45 to $130. Expensive items attract wealthy consumers. Every musician in these prestigious ensembles possess and demonstrate ineffably impressive skills. Those skills were acquired through years, decades even, of training, and practicing. A master mechanic is paid leagues above a regular mechanic as a result of dedication and acquired skills over time, the same concept can be applied to a skilled musician; the more skilled, the higher the pay. People who generate a higher income can afford to buy concert tickets at such high prices. This leads to an increase of particularly wealthy individuals in the audience demographic.

Conversely, folk music is structured and created to be easily playable by common folk. Irish fiddle music is generally much easier than a violin concerto, and rather than playing in massive concert halls, most Irish fiddlers will play their songs in a pub, or bar to liven up the mood, and get people dancing.  

Social ideas of highbrow or lowbrow music do  affect musical structure. The Baroque period, was a time where composers explored different forms. “There [were]…new melodic lines and harmonic progressions to be explored, new combinations of instruments, and new forms in music such as a fugue, canon, and variations on a bassline, a popular tune or a chorale” (Sartorius, Baroque Music Defined, n.d.). Such new variations and melodies were popularly used in Roman Catholic services. In the sacred event “[i]n addition to scriptural readings and symbolic consumption of bread and wine, the ceremony includes recitations (sung or spoken) of certain prayers” (n.a. Baroque Music: Essential Humanities, 2013). This video is a beautiful example of a recitation from the Chapel of Spain, Sacred Baroque Music from Royal Chapel of Spain. The starting point of the piece begins with a soprano who sings the call to praise Mary and the rest of the chorus sings a bold response along with the orchestra to this call. From 2:04, one can hear the rich texture of varied harmonic soprano voices that sculpt the main melody and the bassline helps create emphasis on the melody and the theme of the piece. The small orchestra helps give melodic flow and structure, which helps the singers to pay attention to the ancient and poetic text and how it flows in the recitation. Such baroque music like recitations are considered highbrow because of its complex texture of melodies and harmonies and the way the bassline emphasizes the text. Also, the church is a high social power in society which means the music must be composed in a way to present its powerful meaning and high regard. This idea also ties into how social values influence structure. In the structure of recitations, they are sculpted in a particular way to allow listeners to feel the sacredness and the spirituality that should be felt in the church and respond to it in the way they should respond. Thus, social values of highbrow or lowbrow influences structure because the audience expects to feel a certain mood from the music depending on the social context and the kind of structure the composers create should provide the meaning and texture to satisfy the listener’s perceptions of high or lowbrow music.

Even in modern music this fight occurs between popular genres of music about type is the best music. This brawl between the genres is largest between rock music and modern pop/techno music. Across much of social media, many rock/grunge/metal fans claim that pop music is “bad” music due to its repetitive structure, and that rock is much better because it doesn’t repeat itself. These posts usually take the chorus of the pop song, where it is structurally repetitive, and the verse of the rock song, where the structure is looser and not as repetitive. However if they were to look at how each song was structured, they would see there isn’t really any difference besides the fanbase and meaning behind the words.

These genres have the same basic form. It goes “Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Interlude/Verse 3, Chorus” and often the chorus repeated a second/third time at the end of the song to give a signal of closure. You can try to follow this pattern with Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana (often a band brought in this culture war) and compare it to Right Through You by Alanis Morissette.  They follow the form, have a repetitive chorus, and the diverse wording of the verses.

How this would be presented between these two songs would look like this:

Nirvana: Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet

Cut myself on angel's hair and baby's breath

 Broken hymen of your highness I'm left back

Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back

Morissette: I see right through you

     I know right through you

     I feel right through you

     I walk right through you

We would like to implore you to look at these lyrics yourself (click the artist’s name to get to a lyric sight directed at these songs presented), top to bottom and see how this is an unfair comparison to the pop artists. While the “texture” or the way the music sounds/feels varies greatly between each song, their structures are the same. If we expand our ears (and our minds) perhaps all different eras of music are similar.

So are they structurally sound? That’s up to you.

Credits:

The Gravicembalo. Sacred Baroque Music from Royal Chapel of Spain. YouTube. Jul. 31, 2012. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/CHki7gZhARM

Sartorius, Michael. BAROQUE MUSIC DEFINED. Arton Publications. n.d. Retrieved from: http://www.baroquemusic.org/bardefn.html

Fletcher, Humphrey. Baroque Music: Essential Humanities. Essential Humanities. 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.essential-humanities.net/western-art/music/baroque/

Additional Credits:

Idea: Nick D, Erika Q, Holly W

Intro: Erika Q

1st Section: Nick D

2nd Section: Holly W

3rd Section: Erika Q

Videos: Nick D, Erika Q, Holly W

Pictures: Holly W

Editing: Erika Q

Chapter Four: Thinking About Pitch-Emotions and Music

Globally, music is meant to convey a message, whether it's spiritual, cultural, political, or emotional. Certain pitches, melodies, chords, etc. will evoke different emotional responses in various regions of the world. Subjectivity often creates great debates of what the music is intended to mean, so is it up to the composer or the listener?

Humans are natural at making patterns and association, and musical pitch or “timbre” (quality of the sounds/pitches) are no exception to this rule. This is prevalent in church and choral music as of late. Most “composers” or writers of music, used music to express emotions that they don’t have words for. Many   of the “greats” in western music wrote for God in

(Credits: https://demandville-images.s3.amazonaws.com)             Christian/Catholic faiths to show their true devotion to Him. This created association between the instruments used and their timbres to this heavenly sound. Organs (popular among religious music) are even named “God’s Instrument” and choirs are considered ethereal when in a hall or cathedral that allows for echo to ring throughout because of their extensive use during the religious music eras (Here is the Largest Working Church Pipe Organ and Mormon Tabernacle Choir). This is across the globe as well. Javanese “Gamelan” music is sacred music performed for the divine. While the music may sound simple or dissonant (music with tension) with no release to our western ears, it is “right up there with Beethoven” (Youtz 2015) in complexity. Each sound is unique and their ultimate display of faith in the divine through this music, and thus have an association of Gamelan to this practice.  

Pitches are used to create certain kinds of emotional arousal. When a set of pitches, are stringed together in a type of melodic pattern, which are known as scales, they create backbones for melodies to create a particular emotional response. In the Indian classical music system,

(Credits: https://imcradiodotnet.files.wordpress.com) scales or ragas as sitar performer Niladri Kumar explains, are not just predictable structures that indicate intervals between pitches like in Western music, but are ways to focus on the pitches themselves to develop melodic phrasing and represent human emotions. Kumar demonstrates this concept by playing a raga shree in the key of D, a particular scale performed at sunset. The set of pitches in this scale were “D, E flat, F sharp, A flat, A, B flat, C sharp, and D”. With these sounds, Kumar creates a peaceful sounding melody with colorful undertones (Darbar Festival, YouTube, 17 May 2014). Kumar’s use of these pitches from the D raga shree were used meticulously to give off his interpretation of what peace sounds like. He used (in Western terms) “major” pitches to build the melody that conveys peace, while using the “minor” pitches to add depth and dimension to this feeling. Even though these pitches themselves sound like they don’t go together, Kumar shows that the pitches can work together if one knows the ragas and how to use them correctly. Thus, pitches achieve certain emotions through scales because they can develop the melodic mode for a tune, add emphasis to the feeling the musician wants to convey, and the meaning and interpretation behind the musician’s melody can give pitches its intended sound.

Specific pitches set the mood of a piece, higher pitches like that created by a flute or piccolo highlight a sense of energy, brevity, and lightness as in Paganini’s Caprice No.2. While contrastingly lower pitches, created by bass instrument such as the tuba, can darken the mood with powerful, menacing pitches, as in Reinhold Gliere’s Russian Sailor’s Dance, they can also serve as a propeller for the melody, as in Gustav Holst’s Mars, from The Planets. Due to association, these pitches still invoke darker feelings within the piece according to modern day listeners.

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ piece Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis utilizes drawn out notes, creating massively beautiful sets of pitches under the main theme to invoke a sense of majesty, a sense of wonder, capturing the imagination and sending it through a whirlwind of settings, from a beautiful castle amongst an open plain, to the very clouds that dabble the skies. Vaughan Williams exemplifies the darker plea that Tallis originally wrote the hymn for.

All praise to Thee, my God, this night,

For all the blessings of the light!

Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,

Beneath Thine own almighty wings.

Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son,

The ill that I this day have done,

That with the world, myself, and Thee,

I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

(found at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/l/allprais.htm )

   (Credits: https://upload.wikimedia.org)

The words have a dark sense of dread within them, as a plea to God for forgiveness. While this is holy music (as demonstrated by the orchestra example above), Tallis and furthermore Williams put the sound into darker timbres, and to grieving emotions. As with a great number of things the emotional responses felt by the listener will always remain subjective.

So, is it composers or the listener that chooses the mood? What about society’s influence? We ourselves have our own opinions of what the music should convey. All in all, society tells us what we are supposed to hear as “happy” as “sad” as “sacred” and as “secular”.

CREDITS:

Idea: Nick D, Erika Q, Holly W

Videos Paragraphs 2 and 5: Erika Q

Videos Paragraph 3: Holly W

Videos Paragraph 4: Nick D

Editing: Nick D, Erika Q, Holly W

Pictures: Holly W