Category Archives: Welcome

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I am thankful for Apple Music’s compilation of Indigenous music to help me pause and reflect on the deeply moving music and the lived experience of Indigenous musicians. So many styles, genres, such moving and deep truth. Peace Be.

Truth and Reconciliation Day. 

Find these and other fabulous music on: Indigenous Now channel, Apple Music.

Tania Tagaq, “Tongues”

“I don’t want your shame; it doesn’t belong to me”

Snotty Nose Rex Kids, “No Jesus Piece,” from the album Life After

“I need some shades; it gets super ugly”

“I don’t believe in no one more than I believe in me”

Jayli Wolf, “Lead me”

“I won’t let you lead me”

Digging Roots, “Cut My Hair”

“When they cut my hair, I feel they tryin’ to cut down my roots”

Carson Gray, “Each Moment“

“All of us are children beneath the shining sun“

“Imagine a world where every one is free“

Crown Lands, “Inner Light,” from the album White Buffalo

Instrumental [thankful for the gift of deep listening]

Adrian Sutherland, “Magic Hits,” from the album, When the Magic Hits

“Must be more to life than this

standing on the sidelines

waiting for the highlights, yeah

Must be more to life than this

praying for the weekend,

waiting ’til the magic hits”

Don Amero, “My Poor Mama,” from the album, Nothing is Meaningless

“if savin’ my can was worth a million dollars

then nobody be richer than my poor mama”

N’we Jinan Artists, “Come Home,” from the album, Come Home

“Love is enough“

“I’ll bring you up when you’re down”

Arlette, “Midnight Mass Graves”

“I wept when I heard who they found”

 

“midnight mass graves, brutal execution,

not Afganistan, Kosovo, the Nazi solution

Oh Canada, thy church’s door,

where they remain buried for a century or more”

Shawnee Kish, “Burnin’ Love,” (featuring Jamie Fine”)

“you got some nerve

you think you deserve me”

iskwe & Tom Wilson, “Starless Nights”

“I always like my company,

in loneliness I felt truly free

of other peoples gazes in the mirror”

Ansley Simpson, “Witness”

“the white pines witness what we both know is at stake“

Cassidy Mann, “Election Night”

“it changed everything“

Raymond Sewell, “Over You” (featuring Eadsé)

“keep your eyes on the road,

your hands on the wheel,

and your memory a thousand miles away“

Noelle, “Seasons Change”

“the snow melts away, but I’m here to stay”

Rhonda Head, “500 Years”

“mother shared a story,

why were they so mean”

Riley Riot, “Tchutchu,” from the album, Almst

Instrumental [electronic dance trance]

Ziibiwan, “Two-Spirited”

Instrumental [atmospheric dance]

KeAloha, “Mahina”

“You’re in my element“

Jerry Sereda, “Classic Country Couple”

“you and me go together like a fiddle and steel guitar“

“he’s the only thing about you that I’d ever change“

Celeigh Cardinal, “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”

“tomorrow’s just a dream away“

Brenton David, “This House”

“we need the firemen, before its too late,

you’re smokin’“

Kyle McKearney, “Sweet Summer Rain”

“If God had mercy on my heart

He’d stop sending the sweet summer rain”

The Bloodshots, “Bad Moon Rising” (cover)

“There’s a bad moon on the rise..”

Ruby Waters, “Good Recipe”

“you electrify my body in a way that nothing else does”

Boslen and Dro Kenji, “NIGHTFALL,” from the album, DUSK to DAWN

“you been livin’ oh so far,

I can see your open scars”

T-Rhyme, “Revitalize”

“…We call Him The Creator, Grandfather…“

“the saddest thing in life is wasted talent”

“we need to teach and prevent”

“revitalize”

Nimkish, “Make Me a Drink,” from the album, Damage Control

“and it ain’t what it look like,

no love but it feel right“

Electric Religious, “Paralyzed”

“paralyzed by your own damn luck“

Kinnie Star, “Runnin’ Right Beside You”

“waitin’ on leadership that plays charades”

Morgan Toney, Emma Stevens, and The Shift, “Wela’lin” (Thank you)

thankful for the teachings

William Prince, “Run”

“Saw the need and let it take the lead in me”

Run

“though the road it narrows,

you won’t find me anywhere else til its done”

Run

“It could mean tomorrow for someone”

sunsetto, “downtown”

“you should come out cause I’m downtown“

Tyler Ogimaa, “Feeling Amazing”

“my path is sacred“

“every moment I go all in“

“got my eyes on my goals“

“Feel Amazing“

The Halluci Nation, “R.E.D.,” from the album, We Are the Halluci Nation

“R.E.D”

“A tribe called“

“I’m in“

Drezus and Dakota Bear, “Circles”

“We more than just arrows and bows“

“Someone go teach ’em respect“

“I love my community more“

*Jon Lootz, “Old Problems”

“like old watches, I don’t got the time“

“I just found my sound“

“I be on my own shadow problems”

“I do not compete”

*love it

Noah Crawford, “Oh Well”

[my head on his shoulder]

Ahsley Ghostkeeper, “Try Me One More Time”

“Who’s at my door

said the shame from yesterday“

“You keep tryin’ to break me

but you cannot take me tonight”

Handsome Tiger, “Burn Babylon,” from the album, Yardman

Electronic Atmospheric Experiential

DJ Shub and GDubz, “Smoke Dance Four”

Traditional Chant Remix [awesome with goosebumps]

Tracy Bone and Shawn Hogan, “Like We Never Had to Say Good-bye”

“I’m lovin’ the feelin

make belivin,

like we never had to say good-bye”

“A moment lasts forever when it feels like this“

Joey Nowyuk, “Sikungilunga” (When I Close My Eyes”), from the Album, Tumitit

Sung in the Inuit language, from Nunavut

Nadine Gagné and the Star Nation, “All Nations”

“Calling all nations this world is one”

Indian City, “Smile”

“I thought love would never take me alive“

Indigo, “Lost in You”

“What a life you live,

run away and come back again.

I feel ruined

every time I tell you I’m lost in you”

Kyle McKearney, “Tough or Die”

“Daddy said, son, you better get tough or die“

The Rez Boys, “Tennessee Whiskey”

“you’re a smooth Tennessee Whiskey,

a sweet strawberry wine,

as warm as a glass of brandy

and I stay stoned on your love all the time.”

C-Weed Band, “Love of the Game”

“I know its not the losing or the winning”

“we’re fighting the good fight”

PIQSIQ and VILD´A, “Ovddos/Hivumuuniq“

Time travel

Joshua Haulli, “Uummatinni,” from the Album, Tukimut

Inuit language from Nunavut

 

As I sign off, I listen to Aasiva (Colleen Nakashuk) singing in Inuit, and I wonder if I shall ever be so lucky to see a day when Indigenous musicians have full representation in music schools in Canada. At all levels, from leadership, to instruction, to students. We have so much to gain from embracing musicality in of its styles and genres, with all of the richness of culture.

I am writing and reflecting in Kitsilano, B.C., the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish People including the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish people, and the Urban Indigenous people who call this place home today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not long ago a student wrote a paper for me studying gender disparity in the music profession. Her project stunned me and left me shaken. I work hard to understand statistical findings, but she presented a statistic that simply took my breath away: 0 women conducting major symphony orchestras in Canada. That’s right,

Zero.

When she presented this work to the class, I felt sad. I know how devastating that non-statistic is for a young woman in musical training. For the record, Wikipedia’s list of female conductors includes one female conductor in Canada, Lisette Canton of the Ottawa Bach Choir (1). And no one else. Why is it that all over the world there are women conducting symphony orchestras, but not in Canada? I would love to be corrected here. Really. Show me I’m wrong. I would love to write a supplemental post that profiles women conductors in Canada.

This is one of those situations that I have no control over. However, what I can do is raise the profile of women who appear in my own research. This afternoon I have gathered some statistics on the women in my book (excluding me, of course).

Works cited:

13 citations of single authored works by 8 women:

Carpenter (1967) (ch. 6)
Cumming (2000) (ch. 6)
Goldin Meadow (2003) (ch. 4, ch. 5)
Monson (1996) (ch. 4, ch. 6)
Saslaw (1996) (ch. 3)
Schmalfeldt (2011) (ch. 6)
Stevens (2012) (Intro, ch. 3, ch. 6, Concl.)
Winget (2008) (ch. 4)

Multiple authored works including women as they appear in the chapters:
Introduction:
Perri 6 & Bellamy (2012)
Chaffin, Imreh, & Crawford (2002)

Chapter one:
Ginsborg & Chaffin (2011)
Chaffin, Lisboa, Logan, Begosh (2009)
Chaffin, Imreh, Crawford (2002)

Chapter 2:
Coffey & Atkinson (1996)
Ginsborg & Chaffin (2011)
Chaffin, Lisboa, Logan, Begosh (2009)
Chaffin, Imreh, Crawford (2002)
Demos, Lisboa, Begosh, Logan, Chaffin (2018)
Perri 6 & Bellamy (2012)

Chapter 5:
Perri 6 & Bellamy (2012)

Chapter 6:
Davidson & Goode (2002)
Williamon & Davidson (2002)
Zamm, Pfordresher, & Palmer (2014)
Clark & Marshall (1981)
Clark & Brennan (1991)
Clark & Krych (2003)
Loehr & Palmer (2011)

Conclusion:
Varela, Thompson, & Rosch (2016)

The performing musicians who appear in my book are not identified for privacy reasons. However, the music duo whose rehearsals I studied is gender balanced, and the orchestra whose master class series I studied had the following gender distribution:

Male: 2nd violin, bassoon, contrabassoon, trombone, bass trombone, clarinet, tuba, flute/piccolo, oboe, percussion, French horn, viola, trumpet, double bass, timpani

Female: cello, harp, cor anglais, 1st violin, harp

There you have it. Fifteen men and five women from one orchestra produced the masterclasses that were analyzed in my research. They are all fabulous musicians.

When I do research, I don’t use gender as part of the decision-making on whether or not to cite a work, or to measure how I might position myself with respect to the ideas in those works. I include research that helps me think carefully about the issues I am interested in, sometimes in agreement, sometimes in disagreement. One of the male authors I have cited quite a bit is someone whose work I disagree with often – not because I do not like him, but because the way he presents his ideas helps me articulate why I think about my topic differently than he does. However, I do notice that single authored works by men make up the bulk of the synthesized material for the conceptual framework I have designed for the study of cognition in musical activity.

Sometimes when I create a syllabus with readings for a class, I do use gender as a criteria for selecting readings because I would like to normalize female authorship for my students. Discourse studies of gender norms in scholarly positioning is worth pursuing, but that is for another post.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_classical_conductors

2. The digital radio station Classic FM has some more graphs that demonstrate gender inequality in the music business: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/latest/gender-inequality-american-orchestras/

 

If you have 53 minutes of spare time, please watch my recently recorded lecture on research design for the study of cognition in music performance, a targeted reading of my recent book, “Grounding the Analysis of Cognitive Processes in Music Performance” Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2021. Just cut and paste this into your browser to view the lecture: vimeo.com/514458399

September 9, 2020

For musicians, the concept of harmony is typically defined with reference to musical materials. Roughly speaking, harmony refers to the quality achieved in the sounding of more than one note. Expanding on this, Dictionary.com says the term harmony has four components: a social component, an organizing component, a musical component, and a religious component. I would like to explore a performative component of the concept of harmony, and in doing so, I reflect upon the first of Master Xu’s 24 Virtues, “He,” as interpreted by linguist and musicologist Adrian Tien (2015, pp. 192-5).

“He” – harmonious self-cultivation, seems to me to describe a manner of participating. It seems to be the cultivation of the self and the recognition of others doing the same. There is a recognition that others, by engaging a similarly understood musical practice, are experiencing a self-cultivation brought about through musical skill. It is this self-cultivation that is heard when one listens to music. Harmony then, is not bound to musical materials (intervals, chords), but to a multi-faceted experience of being, shaped by musical practice and shared by others who practice similar things. To sing or play together can be a musical expression of harmony, yes. But playing alone can also be a musical expression of harmony. Harmony is not automatic when two or more people play together; it is an attitude of listening in order to fully engage the musical content, whether playing alone or with other musicians. When we play together harmoniously, we have a deep appreciation of where we have both been, the acts and actions that have led to the moment we now share. According to Tien, this concept/practice has an ancient origin in the communication between humans and the gods (2015, p. 194).

But what is harmony when one plays alone? Is harmony achievable on a melodic instrument such as the flute?

Part of Master Xu’s instruction on harmony, if I understand it correctly, includes how one feels or thinks when hearing someone play, which can include hearing oneself. This seems to be a harmonious attitude more than anything else. What is in my mind upon hearing my music? Many years ago, my yoga teacher told me, “make your own music and listen to it.” This was a transformative moment for me as a classically trained musician. Prior to that my perfectionist approach had been to engage absolute technical control, to demonstrate mastery. My yoga teacher forced me to listen to myself differently – to achieve a state of harmony in my approach to my own skill. I approach sound production differently in a state of harmony than I do in a state of achievement. What I hear in my own sound, I can also hear in the sounds of others. What I can hear of myself, I can hear in the world around me. This musical attitude is non-violent. It allows. It melts. It transforms. It listens. It resonates.

For solitary music, the practice of harmony is an attitude of full participation and a deep appreciation for the aspects of self that are cultivated through music, whatever the music itself may “represent.” For me, adding the performative concept of harmony to my technical practice has proven very satisfying. It adds an audience to my solitary work.

References:

Adrian Tien (2015), “Interpreting Guqin Master Xu’s “24 Virtues” with NSM,” John Benjamins Publishing Company, (pp. 192-5).

Dictionary.com: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/harmony

Dr. Kaastra is the author of: “Grounding the Analysis of Cognitive Processes in Music Performance: Distributed Cognition in Musical Activity” Explorations in Cognitive Psychology Series, Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2021

Welcome to my course blog for WRDS 150 – Engaging Performance. This blog provides background information on various topics raised in class. These topics provide context and rationale for the approach I take. Please visit the blogs on peer review and the writing process to see how our work is carried out.

“Engaging Performance” Course Blurb

Music and language share some key features as topics of research. First, the range of practices and perspectives on music and language are enormous. Both topics can be studied based on their varying cultural products and situated practices. Language texts and musical works are situated, they occur a result of cultural norms, beliefs, and practices. We can study genres of written text and genres of music. We can also study the activities of language and the activities of music making. We can even combine these perspectives to explore creative adaptations of language and music in the form of genre violations, mixed genre products and cross-genre performances.

This section of WRDS 150 takes a discourse studies approach to exploring the way performance is presented in a range of scholarly texts on music. We will critically engage six academic articles representing different disciplinary perspectives on music – musicology (music as discourse), music theory (the role of analysis in the performance of music), ethnomusicology (ethnographic perspectives on performance), and music cognition (empirical research on music performance). In taking this focus, we will aim to identify 1) how different disciplines in music scholarship portray the role of performers and the activities of performance and 2) how the research methods and writing styles of these different disciplines contribute to producing different kinds of knowledge about performance. Our writing about performance will aim to construct bridges between practice and research, giving students an apprenticeship for entering the academic community. Students in the course will be encouraged to position themselves as researchers by engaging their experience of performance with the knowledge making in one or more of these disciplines.