Samuel's World Music Blog

Kathy Prosser My mothers first real dive into music was when she started taking piano lessons as a kid. She grew up in a small town at the time consisting of only 8000 people. There was only one option in the town for piano teachers and so when her mother said she had to have a hobby to do after school, because watching TV all day was not an option, my mum picked the piano. They already had a piano in the house and both of her sisters, Fiona and Robin, were also taking piano lessons. The teacher was very strict and would tap on her hands with a ruler any time there was a mistake. In Australia, any serious piano lessons would follow the AMEB (Australian Musical Examinations Board). This organisation created a standard model for teachers to follow to make sure that their students are learning at the correct pace. Pieces from Bach to more contemporary composers are found in these books. But, all of the music is classical. She also played the French horn from year 5 to 6 in primary school....

History of Jazz in NYC How It Got To New York      Jazz in America can be traced back to New Orleans with the Blues as early as the 1860s. The Blues were a combination of African American spirituals and work songs among other things. The roots of this music, therefore can be traced back through slaves to Africa and the people who oversaw those slaves from poor towns in Europe. It was an easy way to express yourself due to its 12-bar Blues progression and an AAB rhyme scheme. Popular instruments for this style of music were guitar, piano, and drums.       A turning point from the Blues to jazz was the location change.  1910 was the start of a mass movement of Black Americans from the deep south to up north; dubbed the Great Migration. The Great Migration lasted until about 1970 where approximately six million Black people moved out of the south. The some of the causes of the Great Migration was racial violence and Jim Crow laws in the south. Black ...

MUSIC & GENDER Above is the Venus Orchestra; an all female ensemble which have the best concert clothes I have ever seen. GENDER IN THE ORCHESTRA Today, the top 20 orchestras in the US are predominately male: about 63%. Until the 1960s, women playing in orchestras was almost nonexistent. Today, 95% of harpists in the top 20 orchestras in the US are female. But this is the only instrument in which women have a significant monopoly on in the orchestra. Even the flute, very often seen as a "feminine instrument" due, I assume, to its high pitch is only 68% female. You can check the percentages of other orchestra instruments here . These differences were very fun to look at. For example, the trumpet section is 97% male. Suby Raman is a composer and blogger and compiled data on male vs. female presence in the nations top 20 orchestras. He wrote this article for Classic FM . I found this strange because I know that there is no shortage of female musicians earning performance deg...

Brazilian culture has many different types of music and many different rituals. However, there is one ritual and music that goes with it that stands out from the rest. Just last year it was estimated there would be 46 million people in Brazil for the festivities of Carnival. Carnival is more than merely a parade to the residents of Brazil. It is an integral part of their culture and a source of fierce national pride. Samba schools spend all year preparing all the aspects of their performance in their move down the Sambódromo in Rio de Janeiro. This lengthy prep is in part due to creating the floats and intricate costumes, but also writing and rehearsing the music. The ritual of Carnival can be traced back to parades celebrating the crowning of John IV of Portugal in 1641. "These celebrations were known as Prestitos and were similar to modern carnival in that there was music and processions in the streets ( Carnival in Brazil )." The amazing floats are definitely the first th...

Hello. I am Samuel Prosser. I play the clarinet and piano. I am a freshman in a Clarinet Performance major. I was born in Canberra, ACT, but was travelling around Australia as I grew up. I moved to America when I was 9 years of age. I started to play the clarinet and violin in 6th grade. I started piano in 8th grade; teaching myself. I decided to pursue a professional career in clarinet my junior year of high school. I have been working towards that goal ever since. 1. Let me inform you as to why King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard is currently my favourite band. Not only do they have one of the largest ranges of genres I have seen in a single band, but they also hail from the great Commonwealth of Australia. They compose music ranging form jazz-rock to "semi-acoustic cosmic ballads." That is just two of the multitude of other genres their music may be classified as. One of the reasons I enjoy listening to them greatly is because their songs are never boring. One thing I gen...