Hi! This semester, we’ve listened to music from many different cultures around the world, but there are still so many places on the map we didn’t have time to explore. For this final blog, the four selections stood out to me for its sound, instruments, and cultural significance. First, I wanted to explore t raditional music from China , so I chose a piece featuring the guqin , one of the oldest Chinese instruments still in use. The guqin is a plucked string instrument that has been associated with scholars and philosophers for thousands of years. I chose this video because the music feels calm and thoughtful, and it’s very different from the fast-paced music I usually listen to. What I find most interesting is how much silence there is between notes. The pauses feel just as important as the sounds themselves. Next, we travel to South America , specifically Brazil , for a modern musical example. This selection is “ Toda Menina Baiana ” by Gilberto Gil , one of Brazil’s most ...
Hi you all! Before getting into this post, I feel it's time for you to meet my family. This picture was taken 2 years ago, when we traveled to Germany. What makes this picture good is that there is a special guest, and that is KV! I', with my dad Carrlos, my mom Inma, my sister Lucía and my grandmother Conchi. I used my dad's help to get this post done(he likes to talk). Since there was a lot of information given by my dad, the way I am going to do this is classifying the questions into 4 series of questions that are related and grab all the answers and make them into one, that way you can follow easier. 1. How would you define music? As our beloved uncle José María says every time we see him and ask him questions about his prodigious memory (he is now 95 years old), music is the art of combining sounds and time, and I find that very clear and precise. 2. Have you been a musician? What instrument did you play? Do you still play it? What is a song you have dreamed of playin...