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collegiate menc

Understanding Culture Through Music

Alan Rieck, Collegiate MENC Advisor

Performance of mu- sic is essential to the educational experi- ence of any musi- cal ensemble. Since music educators are charged with teach- ing students about the expression of the human experience

through sound it is essential that they deal with the multiple aspects of human experience in performance preparation. It is absolutely essential that a key aspect in this process be culture. Someone recently told me that his favorite definition of culture is “Everything that you know that you don’t know that you know.” Culture is a lens through which we view and make sense out of life. We all use this lens every minute of every day, but so often we are

entirely unaware of its presence. In an increasingly global society it is absolutely imperative that students learn about the lens of culture and its effect on the ways that people think, feel and express them- selves.

Because music is a culturally bound expression it is an ideal tool for help- ing students to recognize the presence of this lens in their lives. As students become aware of their own perspectives they may be directed to acknowledge additional perspectives that exist. This awareness, in turn, provides them with tools to create understandings of oth- ers that were previously impossible as well as to express themselves creatively in ways that others might receive their intended meaning. These are the types of skills that are required for success in the 21st

century. Creative communication

skills gained through an understanding of culture as a result of music education are fundamentally essential for success in life in our days.

Culture Within the Music

One of the primary ways in which these cultural expressions may be experienced is through the study of music and the cultural contexts from which it originated. Music teachers do this through the selection of a diversity of literature that includes music from multiple time periods, expressive traditions, locations and languages. As students uncover the universal human experiences to which they can relate in the music, they then explore the mul- tiple ways in which that experience is expressed due to differences in time, tradition, home and language – elements of culture. Expressions of joy, a human experience, sound different when they come from Baroque Italy as expressed by Vivaldi than they do when stated by the contemporary British rock group Queen in “We Are the Champions.” An expression of admiration, another human experience, as penned by Palestrina is very different

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“Culture is a lens through which we view and make sense out of life.”

than one written and arranged by Moses Hogan. A creative and intentional explora- tion of these differences provides students the means by which they may construct a meaningful understanding of culture and cultural expression.

Culture Within the Performance

Another avenue for students to experience these cultural expressions through music is by travel to perform for audiences and/or with ensembles from a variety of cultural backgrounds. While there are tremendous benefits in performance for local audi- ences that include family and friends, the chance to perform for audiences outside of a home venue enhances the ensemble’s understanding of musical expression as it is connected to individual experience and culture. Cultural differences are much closer than international boundaries. Stu- dents may experience some of these dif- ferences by performing for another local school. When I was teaching at the high school level I arranged to take my choir to another area school to observe a rehearsal and be instructed by the conductor at that school. The experience fundamentally changed the ways in which my choir re- hearsed and viewed the music. They were able to observe students their own age from a slightly different background ap- proach their music in a slightly different way. These observations provided my students with new options for how they would approach their own music making. It changed their culture as they became exposed to a new culture.

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