Music and Mathematics (Weekly Blog #11)

Music theorists, at times, use mathematics to understand music. Mathematics is "the basis of sound" and sound itself "in its musical aspects... exhibits a remarkable array of number properties", simply because nature itself "is amazingly mathematical" (Reginald Smith Brindle, The New Music, Oxford University Press, 1987, pp 42-3). Though ancient Chinese, Egyptians and Mesopotamians are known to have studied the mathematical principles of sound, the Pythagoreans of ancient Greece are the first researchers known to have investigated the expression of musical scales in terms of numerical ratios; Particularly the ratios of small integers. Their doctrine was that "all nature consists of harmony arising out of numbers". From the time of Plato, harmony was considered a fundamental branch of physics, now known as musical acoustics. Early Indian and Chinese theorists sought to show that the mathematical laws of harmonics and rhythms were fundamental not only to our understanding of the world but to human well-being.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_and_mathematics

The Birthplace of Hip-Hop (Weekly Blog #10)

DJ Kool Herc

Hip hop is a form of musical expression that originated in African-American and Hispanic-American communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically in the Bronx. Hip Hop music consist of poetry that is spoken - rather than sung - over either original or sampled instrumental recordings mixed with new original sounds from drum machines, and/or other instruments. As of now, the culture has expanded way beyond its original roots and now is considered a worldwide subculture consisting of rapping, DJ’ing, hip hop dance, and graffiti art ("Four Pillars of Hip Hop").

The block parties of DJ Kool Herc at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue is considered the birthplace of hip hop. Herc would mix samples of existing records with his own shout outs to the crowd and dancers. Kool Herc is known as the 'father' of the hip-hop.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop

History of Blues (Weekly Blog #9)

Blues music is one of the only true American music forms. Blues has its deepest roots in the work songs of the West African slaves in the South. During their laborious work in the fields of the Southern plantation owners, black slaves developed a "call and response" way of singing to give rhythm to their hard work. These "field hollers" served as a basis of all blues music that was to follow. Following the end of the Civil war, black men could only pursue a few occupations. This included back-breaking manual field labor and becoming a traveling minstrel. Many chose the occupation of traveling minstrel playing raucous, all-night country dances, fish-frys, and jukejoints. These musicians relied on their physical stamina and mental collection of many blues songs. Although the lyrics of many blues songs are soulful and sad, the music as a whole is a powerful, emotive and rhythmic music celebrating the life of black Americans. The lyrics of the songs reflected the themes of their daily lives including sex, drinking, railroads, jail, murder, poverty, hard labor and love lost.

Source: http://academic.scranton.edu/student/pendraks2/page2.html

The Music of Belize (Weekly Blog #8)

The music of Belize has a combination of Kreol, Mestizo, Garifuna, and Mayan influences. Most of the music is rewritten in English. After many centuries of Maya habitation, Spanish followed by the British colonists arrived in the area, the latter keeping Belize as its only colony in Spanish-dominated Central America. More influential than the arrival of the European colonist was the importation of African slaves. Europeans brought polkas, waltzes, schottisches and quadrilles, and Africans brought instruments and percussion-based music. The Mayans made the first diatonic marimba. African culture resulted in the creation of music in the logging camps played by banjos, guitars, drums, bells, accordions and a donkey’s jawbone (played by running a stick up and down the teeth). One of the most popular musical styles created by Kriol musicians is brukdown. Brukdown evolved from the music and dance of loggers, especially a form known as buru.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Belize

African-American Music (Weekly Blog #7)

African-American music is a general term given to a range of musics and musical genres emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans. Many of their ancestors were brought to North America as slaves, bringing with them polyrhythmic songs from hundreds of black African ethnic groups across West and sub-Saharan Africa. The joining in the Americas of African peoples from different regions and from multiple cultural traditions merged their music with influences from polka, waltzes and other European styles. African-American genres have been influential across socio-economic and racial groupings internationally, and has also become popular on a global level. African-American music and all aspects of African American culture are celebrated during Black History Month in February of each year in the United States.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_music

The Illegal Downloading of Music (Weekly Blog #6)

I believe the downloading of music that was not paid for is wrong. Illegally downloading music takes money from those who work so hard to make the music, and that is thievery. Music artist work hard to make the music that we listen to everyday, and for one to just steal the music is wrong. And it makes no sense for a musicians “fan” to steal their music. If one steals music, they are taking away from the person he or she admires; that makes absolutely no sense. By stealing music you also run the risk of getting into trouble with the government, so there is no point in doing it.  

Back Then (Weekly Blog #5)

In the song and music video “Back Then” by Mike Jones, Mike Jones reenacts a scenario that happens pretty often.  He had a “Rags to Riches” type life, and in the “rag” part of his life a certain girl did not like him, but when he acquired riches the girl started to like him. Of course he realized that she only liked him for the moment because of his riches so he shunned her. This is significant because it tells people not to just get with someone off something as petty as money. This is why we have so many broken marriages today; because of people getting in a relationship with someone for the wrong reasons. This needs to end in our society.