Beyond the Classroom

 The past three cultures we have learned about in class have been extremely interesting to me. I have discovered so many things that I would not have learned outside of being in this class and I am so glad I am given the opportunity to dive deep into the musical aspect of these cultures and I am even more excited to learn more about them. There are actually a few things concerning the Native American, Central Andean, and Western and Southern African music cultures that I would like to know more about. Concerning Native American culture, I am extremely interested in knowing more about their attire and how they combine it with making their music. With the Central Andean and West and Southern cultural music, I am especially interested in the instruments they use over all. 

During traditional dances, Native Americans will be wearing their Regalia. The Regalia is often very colorful and eccentric, and will almost never be the same Regalia as someone else is wearing. A common event a dancer will wear their Regalia at is at a Powwow, which is a sacred gathering of many indigenous communities for food, song, preservation, dance, and much more. The one of the things about these Regalia that I find fascinating is that some of them have metal cones attached to their Regalia that cling together to make music. So during their dances the metal cones jingle and add to their dance. This dance would be called a jingle dance. The metal cones attached to their Regalia is actually called "ziibaaska’iganan". There is actually certain music style these jingle dances go along with. The dancers will dance as the metal cones chime together as they dance to a solid drumbeat. 

I was really interested in the instruments that are used in the Central Andes. We did go over some instruments in class, but I wanted to dig deeper. Through my research, I found multiple different instruments that are used by them and they all have a unique look to them. I will describe just a few. 

This is the Figure Drum. This is drum is meant to depict a human. With this specific example, the people may denote a supernatural connection to it, which I find most interesting. 

This next example is a Belt Ornament. This instrument is made of a hammered sheet of copper. The shape of this instrument resembles the form of tumi knives used in sacrifice ceremonies.

 

This instrument is called a figure whistle. This small instrument is made of hammered gold sheet. The man on the whistle is wearing clothing that is similar to that the Central Andeans used to wear. 

G, About Paul. “Jingle Dress Dance: Native American Meaning and History.” PowWows.com, 10 Aug. 2021, https://www.powwows.com/jingle-dress-dance/. 

“Do You Know What Regalia Is? | CBC Kids.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada,     https://www.cbc.ca/kidscbc2/the-feed/do-you-know-what-regalia-is.  

Metmuseum.org, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/muan/hd_muan.htm.