Website Updates

I have upgraded the student resources listings. Success for music students depends on a web of supportive institutions. Most of this is out there in the form of jam sessions, festivals and community ensembles. The listings are intended to help you or your child meet other supportive musicians and mentors.

The listings themselves are in rough form which I will tighten up. In general this website is getting a bit dense and difficult to navigate. I am seeking support in accomplishing a redesign to make it more usable to real people.  More Soon.

 

Resham Firiri

This is a song offered by the children at the Child Haven school and home in Kathmandu, Nepal. Robin Capuccino asked them for their favorite song and here is what he got.

I will soon post much more information on this tune as well as on the Child Haven program but I wanted to get this up since it is such a great song.

Update: Here are two really good sources of information on this song.

Resham Firiri Song Lyrics And English Meaning

This article by Pradeep Guragain offers word by word translation as well as an interpretive translation.

 

Also very informative was a (recently updated) post by Aabhash Ghimire   which has some good background information.

 

So without further delay here are the children at Childhaven School in Kathmandu (who have just finished their morning exercises).

What is Jazz?

For my 6th Grade Jazz program I have had to grapple with this question. The greatest need for these musicians is to develop general musicality skills but I have found it useful to lay out my understanding of jazz to make sure we are heading in the right direction.

What is Jazz?

  • Musicians are imitators. They see or hear something they like and they want to do it themselves.
  • Musicians have emotions and ideas that they want to express through music.

Jazz grew out of African American musical tradition with a strong emphasis on spontaneous musical creation. It continuously absorbs new influences and has been redefined by many different communities. Many completely different sounding types of music are all considered to be jazz. Here are some ways to identify jazz music.

Jazz Traditions

  • There is a strong tradition within jazz of playing dance-tempo, rhythmically compelling music.
  • There is a strong tradition within jazz of playing sophisticated harmonizations based upon “cycle of fifths” progressions.
  • There is a strong tradition in jazz of spontaneously improvising musical performances within a set musical structure.
  • There is a strong tradition within jazz of playing transgressive dissonant notes for intentional effect.
  • There is a body of recognized tunes which are considered part of the established Jazz repertoire.

If you are honoring any of these traditions you are probably playing some form of Jazz. If you are honoring several or all of these traditions then you are definitely playing jazz.

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