Julia's Musical Journey

1.    I've come upon an idiophone that originated from India in the 17th century and is known as the Jal tarang. Jal tarang in translation is  "waves in water" and is one of the oldest and rarest instruments! It  could also be known as Jaltarang or Jalatharangam and  is considered both a melodic percussion and a non-percussion instrument! The Jal tarang is categorized as a Ghan-Vadya instrument, in which are idiophone instruments.  It serves both as a solo instrument accompanied by a Tabla or as an instrument that is used to accompany.   It consists of a set of beaters (similar to drum sticks) and bowls of water that come in various sizes and can be made of metal, ceramic, bronze, or porcelain. It is usually arranged in a semi circle in front of the performer.  The volume of water determines the pitch in each bowl and requires skill to tune! I found my information from these two links  Link 1    Link 2  and I also hav...

      Many different genres of music derived from a single genre, The Blues. Swing however is one that originated from the Blues. Swing evolved naturally from Jazz in New Orleans, Kansas City, and Chicago.  It is also known as form of Jazz that was developed in the 1930's and 40's in America. Swing music was also recognized as "Big Band" music because it was often arranged for a big dance band and had a number of musicians and instruments. Swing originated from artist like Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Fletcher Henderson, Jean Goldkette, and Duke Illington. The blues had a shuffle beat and evolved to be swing eighth notes of Jazz music. The name "swing" is known for the off-beats or weak beats in a meter. Jazz is a syncretic genre because it has roots from African-American traditions and West African musical expressions. Swing music has a lot of similarities from its origin, the Blues, like the Blue note. Blue notes are when the melody note is lowered and cla...

 1.      I came across an aerophone that is used mostly in West Africa and was used by the  Hausa/Kanuri people of Northern Nigeria. It is called the Algaita and it was developed ca. 1400's by the Fulani people. The Algaita is considered a type of oboe or shawm of the woodwind family and it is only played when a local ruler is present. The Algaita is made of hollowed wood in the shape of a cone-like tube covered in leather. It also has a circular pirouette to bear your lips on as you play as seen in the link below. Something that was interesting to me was how it can be constantly played when you breath in through the nose while breathing out of your cheeks at the same time! You can learn this blowing technique by not letting the bubbles stop as you blow through a straw in a cup of water, this is how the children learn the technique. I got my information from the links below. The first link also includes a video of an Algaita being played!   ...

     I love many kinds of genres of music and some of which usually are expected to be listen by men and not women. In todays society it is more acceptable, however, the music industry still has a ways to go for gender equality in music. I love different types of Rock music, Metal, and some earlier Rap which are generally male dominated genres. Women are usually attracted to more sentimental and passionate music, which I do enjoy at times, and men are more attracted to louder and intense music, which I also enjoy. Another fact, women tend to like popular music more than men. I myself enjoy older music which isn't as common for females. It is known that the type of personality and behavior one has affects their music preference. Women are known to be more emotional and soft and men are known to be more outgoing and tough. I have some mixtures of both. Therefore, I enjoy many genres that are listened to by men and women. I believe music genres are to describe music and not ...

  1.      I have always loved stringed instruments and coming from a viola player, I love learning more about how the bow stringed instrument developed and came about. So I started researching more about the apache fiddle and how it was played and made. The apache fiddle was used by the Apache people of  Southwestern America (a tribe of the Native Americans) . It's made with plants such as the mescal or agave plant and is usually made with every bit of the plant. People have their own style on how to piece it and put together. Just like violins today, it has horse hair, a bridge and nut. The rosin they would use to put on their bow came directly from a pinyon tree where they would get pine pitch and melt it. The wood they used came from several different kinds of trees but mainly they used a tree called "Davi". In order to change the pitch of the string they used the touch of their fingers to change it's note. It usually had one string but occasionally it had tw...