LEAF Schools & Streets

For the past few weeks, our class has had the incredible opportunity to work with several different middle and elementary schools in Buncombe county through the LEAF Organization. LEAF is a non-profit organization out of Black Mountain, North Carolina. The motto on their website reads: connecting cultures and creating community through music and arts. Based on what I have observed, this is an incredibly apt descriptor of the affect that LEAF has on communities on young people in the Asheville area. I had the pleasure of visiting a sixth grade classroom at Asheville Middle School to introduce them to Cajun, Creole and Zydeco style musician Cedric Watson. Upon first entering the classroom, the excitement of the students was almost palpable. The kids were engaged and enthusiastic as we presented to the class. Having never heard the term "Zydeco" before, the students were curious about the origins of the word and the style of music and dance. After watching a video of a couple at a Zydeco dance and listening to a recording of Cedric Watson and the Bijou Creole (which they played along to on cardboard washboards), they were extremely eager to experience and participate in the music firsthand at the LEAF Festival.

A week later, my group returned to the middle school classroom to observe Mr. Watson and the kids practicing their performance. It was truly inspiring to watch the four-time grammy nominated musician interacting with the students as if they were his peers, and it was obvious that the students highly admired him. Mr. Watson played his accordion and sang along with the students to lyrics that they had been learning throughout the week. We listened in astonishment as a couple of the sixth graders fearlessly belted out short solos in French, occasionally making mistakes but laughing them off with an air of poise that seemed impressively mature for their age. The confidence that all of the students exuded as they sang was definitely a product of having been able to work closely with an accomplished musician, and I was incredibly excited at the prospected of seeing them perform in front of a crowd that coming weekend.

Saturday finally arrived, and it was a perfect, crisp fall morning. Mr. Watson performed a couple songs before the students of Asheville Middle School took to the main stage with him. They performed beautifully and were very visibly enjoying themselves. Afterwards, the kids chattered loudly among themselves, an excited, nervous energy about them. Several of them mentioned how much fun performing was and how they hoped to be able to do it again someday. Many talked about being nervous beforehand but how happy they were that they had been able to perform. This is what is so special about LEAF Schools and Streets. It gives children such a unique opportunity to learn about cultures that they might never have been exposed to otherwise. LEAF gives kids experiences that instills a confidence in them that is needed in order for them to push themselves out of their comfort zones. I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the chance to work with these kids and observe an experience that will surely be influential to their futures.

Fieldwork Proposal

For my fieldwork project, I am going to interview buskers in downtown Asheville. I want to examine this community of musicians because I think that Asheville's busking scene is very interesting. It seems to me that it is almost like a subculture of people. I want to get to know these people's stories... what they did before they found themselves in Asheville and how they ended up there. I am going to speak to anyone I can find playing music downtown. If possible, I will try to interview a wide array of people, old and young, men and women, people who are playing different styles of music. I think it would be really cool to discover how some of their stories differ and what aspects of them are similar, if any. I want to ask them things like when they first started playing music, where they're from, if busking is their primary way of making money or if they just like to do it on the side, if they have ever busked in other cities and how their experience in Asheville compares to that. I am also really interested to know about the unspoken rules of the Asheville busking scene that spectators don't know about.

I am going to start my research the week after fall break, before it gets too cold and there probably will not be as many musicians around to talk to. I will try to go down on a Friday night and Saturday during the day. I will do this probably two or three times total, depending on how successful I am the first couple times. I hoping to interview five different musicians. I will aim to be done interviewing by mid November. I will be writing field notes, taking photos of performances and maybe recording some of the interviews as well if it's okay with the person I am interviewing. I will record videos of the musicians performing. As a result of the project, I hope to have a better understanding of street performers and a new appreciation for the art. I will submit an interview transcript and photos with my final report.

Dingildai

The piece I listened to this week, "Dinglidai" by Igor Koshkendey, is an example of Tuvan throat singing which comes out of southern Siberia. Tuva is a subject of Russia which lies in southern Siberia in central Asia. Tuvan throat singing is a form of overtone singing, or harmonic singing. Throat singing has a long history and is practiced in Mongolia, Siberia, and Tuva. In throat singing, the singer produces a base pitch and one or more pitches over the base pitch, simultaneously. In music from Tuva, an instrument called the Igil is used, which has two strings. One thing that I found to be really cool about throat singing as I was researching it, is that the root of throat singing is said to be human mimicry of nature's sounds. Nature seems to play a big role in throat singing. Nature is often used as a way to shape the sound of the singing, often times singers will explore nature to find a place that will create the best environment for their singing- such as a river or a mountainside.

The opening note to this piece struck me as being very dramatic and dark. Once the vocals kick in on top of the melody, the result is monophonic. The throat singing in this piece, to me, sounded a lot like chanting and reminded me of a sort of prayer. Another voice joins soon after in a higher pitch than the first vocalist, creating a really nice harmony. Later on in the song, the vocal melodies seem to begin to differ from each other, creating some dissonance in the piece. During the throat singing breaks, the pitches of the vocals become dissonant while the instrument carries on the melody. The simple melody that is introduced at the start of the song is continuous throughout the entire piece, and serves as a base for the vocals and other instruments to build off of.

When I first started listening to this song, I did not like it very much. I guess that was because it was so unlike anything else I had ever listened to. When the vocals first came in, I thought that they were very odd sounding and kind of unpleasant to listen to. They honestly reminded me of the Oompa Loompa's voices from Willy Wonka. As I kept listening, though, I suppose I just started getting used to them. When the second voice came in and created a really nice harmony is when I was kind of able to take a step back and enjoy the piece for what it is, which is something very unique from what I'm used to- especially in terms of vocals. By the forth time I played it, the piece no longer sounded so strange to me and I felt I was really able to start listening to it critically. After listening to Dinglidai and really delving into it, I am now extremely excited to see Alash perform. I am sure that witnessing the phenomenon of throat singing live will be an awesome experience.