Wade, "Thinking About Music":
Throughout Wade's article, "Thinking About Music," Wade discusses how people make and use music and how they make it meaningful in their lives. He talks about five key factors of and their role in the musical world. First he discusses the role of people, particularly music makers, listeners and the definition of musicians. I identify as a musician, according to Wade's definition, because I "experience music as a practice" (Wade 2). Next he defines what music is, which according to John Blacking, is "humanly organized sound"but Wade believes it is also a process of organization (Wade 3). Wade then discusses how and what people determine to be music. People do based on their musical values and distinct tastes. Music is culturally diverse; what one group of people may deem music, another group may not see certain sounds as music. Part of the process in identifying something as music comes from the person's judgement of its affect or ability to express and elicit emotion from the audience. Wade then discusses the importance of the meaning behind the music. According to Wade, people make music meaningful. Based on this interpretation, an example from my life is the song my father wrote for me when I was born. He plays the guitar and sings the lyrics to his original song "Allison, My Sweet." If a stranger sang that song, it would have no meaning to me because it would not elicit the same emotions I feel when my dad is singing the song. Wade then discusses the use of music, which are many. For example, one use of music is to unite people; at swim meets we have a specific playlist with our teams favorite "pump-up" songs that bring us together and rally us for our meet. Music is useful in so many grand and seemingly insignificant ways. I have always agreed with this concept of music, and this concept is one of the main reasons why I love to engage music in any way possible. After reading this, I'm really intrigued to find out the many ways that Native Americans use music in their daily lives. Lastly, Wade discusses the transmission of music which he believes to extremely important in the musical world. Learning about music is crucial for music's existence. Music can be transmitted orally, aurally, and through written transmission. One particular aspect of this argument that struck out to me was his discussion about the staff notation system. I have been a musical student since I was in elementary school, and I had to learn staff notation. However, I wrongly assumed that staff notation was the only way to transmit music, and I believed that it was a norm in all cultures.
Perea Chapter 1:
Perea gives an introduction to his textbook by describing the perspective that he will take when discussing Native American music, and by defining key terms, that will reappear throughout the novel. He talks about how he will be introducing intertribal genres of Native American music. In order for the reader to understand what intertribal means, Perea tells the reader to focus think about several aspects: Soundings, time, inter tribalism, and identity. First, Perea discusses how soundings "represent the collective activity of a group of individuals that includes the musicians, their families, friends, and listeners" (Perea 4) and that they are not simply a product . This interpretation is similar to Wades in that music is not just sound, its a process that involves the making and reception of the sound. Next Perea discusses the concept of time. He notes that the meaning of time can vary through cultures. He introduces the circular time concept rather than the traditional linear time concept. In this perspective, past, present and future are happening at the same time and interacting. His example regarding his deceased grandmother enabled me to come up with my own personal example regarding my deceased grandmother as well. Even though she passed away two years ago, we still tell stories at the dinner table, look at pictures of her, display her collection of carousels. According to Perea, by remembering my grandmother, we are bringing the past into the present and into the future. When studying Native American music we must take into account the past present and future, and think about time as circular rather than linear. Next Perea discusses thinking about intertribalism. One key point to take away from this section is that "an interactive culture of intertribal exchange has simultaneously been inspiring new musical and artistic forms over time" in other specific tribes, which allows for Native Americans to form an intertribal identity as well as their own distinct tribal identity (Perea 8). Lastly, Perea clears the air on certain names and terminology, specifically in regards to the use of "Native American" and "American Indian." He makes it clear that those terms are just generalizations, and that there are hundreds of distinct Native American nations. Thus, many Native Americans do not actually identify with the term, Native American, and instead they prefer to identify with a specific heritage.
