Studying a World of Music
By Dawn Allcot, N2Arts Correspondent
What you need to know about international music
 

any people think of multicultural music as hip Latina rhythms, but a quick glimpse through the multicultural, or world music section at the local Tower Records showcases a wide variety of genres. Yes, you’ll find Latin, Mexican and Brazilian music, but there’s also Celtic, Klezmer, Indo-Persian and Australian folk music. In fact, the folk music from any culture--Italian, German, Scottish, Hungarian--falls under the “multicultural” umbrella.

If most of your music education has included works by “dead white European men,” you may find new inspiration in learning about the music of other cultures. A strong classical background is extremely important for a music career, but it’s good for a performer to be able to draw from a variety of sources.

“The more you know, the more you can apply to what you are learning,” says Lori A. Elias, a musician and music teacher in Cleveland, Ohio, who is completing her masters thesis on the subject of folk music in the Canadian Maritime Provinces. “More performers are expanding their repertoires to non-Western composers… Knowing the music of that country or culture can make a big difference.”

Cary Nasatir, director of the Nasatir School of Percussion in California, agrees. “The study of an instrument should not be limited to a particular musical style, but rather a thorough education on the instrument,” he says. “For instance, a school musician studying classical percussion is well-served by also learning to play Afro-Cuban instruments, such as congas, bongos, and timbales.”

If you’d like to expand your musical horizons, how do you begin? Like so much research today, you can start without leaving your house. Go to the Amazon or Barnes & Noble website, search for “world music,” and browse the different titles until something catches your eye. For a more targeted search, type in the name of a country, followed by “traditional music” or “folk music.” Many times, you can listen to MP3s of selected songs. Music stores also have listening stations where you can hear the CDs that are for sale.

Once you know what type of music you’d like to learn about, talk to the music director at your school, or contact your local college and speak to the ethnomusicology teacher. These teachers can offer suggestions on where to find more information.

You can also learn more about ethnic music through people in your community. Does your town have a bagpipe band? Or does the man down the street play an Australian didgiridoo?

Renaissance Faires often feature Celtic-influenced music groups and instruments. The people who play ethnic instruments are happy to share their knowledge, and often have interesting stories to tell.

As you’re studying the instruments and structure of different music, you’ll probably want to learn more about that particular culture, as well. Elias says, “I don’t believe you can just listen to, say, Mexican folk music, without knowing the context in which the music fits, or the culture of the performers.”

She compares the study of multicultural music to a trip to that area--without ever leaving home. In her own classroom, Elias practices “immersion teaching,” where she has her class study not only the music of different regions, but the geography, culture, and even the foods they eat.

She credits one of her college professors, JaFran Jones at Bowling Green State University, for her own love for multicultural music. “She had traveled all over the world studying the music of different cultures. She not only presented us with different musical styles, she immersed us in the different cultures, as well,” Elias says. “I took her class in music of sub-Saharan Africa, and when I hear those styles performed, I can clearly picture the people performing and dancing, thanks to her descriptions, the books we studied, and the videos she shared with us.”

Nasatir stresses the importance of multicultural music study if you are considering a musical career. “Successful composers and performers from Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms, to Gershwin and Sting, all draw from other cultures to make their own music special. The achievements of these artists as a result of diverse music study is not coincidental.”

Dawn Allcot, journalist, editor and music education advocate, has enjoyed school music performances in venues from New York to Australia. As the former editor of Band & Orchestra Product News and a frequent contributor to School Band and Orchestra magazine, she strives to inspire young musicians and their teachers through her writing. Find out more at www.dawnallcot.com. She can be reached by email at dawnallcot@yahoo.com.