For our final blog for the semester, we were told to pick a different country than the ones we discussed in class. For my pick I wanted to do Hawaii! Surprisingly, there are a lot of different aspects in their music than what we are used to. These aspects are their religion influence, music aspects of instruments, and their dances.
The most dominant religion of Hawaii is called animism. Animism is a polytheistic religion, which means that there are many deities that the people of this religion worship. The deities are a representation of everything in nature and inanimate objects. The animism religion is meant to bring a sense of balance and order, for example the life-death or the ying-yang relationship. The most popular way that followers worship in this religion is chanting. There are trained storytellers that teach others how to chant stories about the deities. The trained storytellers teach other from the chant records book called "The Kumlipo". However today there is a mixture of religions; in 1820s missionaries brought over and taught the population about Christianity, also the Chinese and Japanese brought over the religions of Buddhism, Confucianism, Toaism, and Shintoism.
The Hawaii music culture has been split into 2 categories, ancient folk music and modern music. The ancient folk music is more focused on the religious chants and the modern music appeals more to the younger generations.
The ancient folk music purpose is to praise and god and goddesses of the animism religion, delineate genealogy, and to share myth stories. This often involves religious ceremonies with dancing, music, and chanting. The chanting is also separated into 2 styles mele oli meaning acapella songs and mele hula meaning songs with dancing. The mele chants come with strict rules, and is meant to express emotions of the story the chanter is telling. The most common emotions are anxiety, affection, or a favor. The chanting happens at events of naming a child, prayer, or surfing. There are also festivals with competition and games, similar to Native Americans powwows.
This is an example of the mele oli because he is singing with no accompaniment.
This is an example of mele hula. It contains a group that are all dancing and singing, it also contains a drum in the background
The modern Hawaiian music style appeals much to the younger generations and is more of we listen to. This contains Jazz, Hip-Hop, and Jawaiian music. The artist Gabe Baltazar, Robert Shinoda, and DeShannon Higa are the biggest jazz musicians in Hawaii. The Hip-Hop movement has been the most recent music that has reached Hawaii. It reached Hawaii and has continued to grow since the 1980s. The biggest artist for the Hip-Hop style is Kavet the Catalyst. Jawaiian is the music style in Hawaii that I have never heard of. This is described as Hawaiian reggae; sadly it ended in 1900 but while it was alive it dominated the music scene.
This video is a song from Gabe Baltazar called "Makaha Surf".
This a video of Kavet the Catalyst and his song "Mann Up".
The band Pohaku is an example of the Jawaiian music style, that is this video
The traditional instruments of Hawaii is very different than I would have thought of. Many people only think of the ukulele when someone says Hawaii, however; there are many other instruments that are used more often. Many of these instruments that are used are idiophones. The first instrument is the ipu hula, this is made with 2 gourds at different sizes- the smaller gourd is on top and the bigger gourd is put on the bottom. There is a hole at the top of the smaller gourd and the noise is made when the bigger gourd is hit. Next is the ka'eke'eke; it is made with 2 bamboo tubes, the musician is kneeling and beats the tubes against the ground, the sound comes out the top of the tubes. The 'ili'ili are stone castanets. These are mostly used by the dancers, when the dancers flex their fingers the stones hit together and make sounds. The next instrument is the kala'au, this is called concussion sticks. These are the only not natural idiophones, they are required to made from a machine from coffee wood. To play them, all you have to do is hit the sticks together. Lastly, the final idiophone is 'uli'uli, these are shakers made from gourd filled seeds and normally played in pairs.
The other instruments have a significant role for the Hawaiian music are the membranophones. The most common membranophones are pahu and puniu, these are normally played together in many of the religious chants. The pahu can be played by itself, it was also named the official traditional instrument of Hawaii in 2015. It is made from coconut and sharkskin and it is hit with fingers of the musician. The puniu is usually played by the same drummer who plays the pahu. It is, also, made from coconut but it is played with a fiber mallet.
Finally the dance aspect of the Hawaiian music culture! The dance style in Hawaii is named hula, and is all about storytelling. It can be paired with chants and contemporary, slow and sentimental music, or with fast and energetic music. Hula is suppose to animate history, genealogy, and the prophecy of ancestors. There are 2 kinds of hula, hula kahiko and hula auana. Hula Kahiko is the ancient hula. It is used in extension of a ceremony; it is put to an oli with mainly percussion instruments. The word "ancient" is a misunderstanding with this kind of hula because it continues to be present and grow in nowadays Hawaii. Hula auana is modern hula. It is less formal and usually performed without ceremony. Also, it is accompanied with song and string instruements such as, guitar, bass, steel guitar, and ukulele.
Hey everybody! For this blog I wanted to teach y'all more about the modern Indian dances, people who are influential in the Arabic music culture, and more about Norah Jones.
1. Modern Indian Dance
The modern dances of India are extremely different from the traditional dances. There are no rules to follow, no particular movements for certain songs, and the dress does not matter. The modern Indian dance style was created by Uday Shankar, he is considered the "Father of Modern Indian Dance". He is the person that came up with the no rules concept of the modern dance style. The focus of the modern dance style is the movement of the body. Many time performer of the dance style will create the choreography first and then the music composition after. The music is mostly mimicking the movement of the performer. It has a mixture of two elements of classical dance, nirtta and abhinaya. Nirtta is the importance of rhythm, feet are the focus of this element and there are no facial expressions used except for a grin because of the joy for dancing. Abhinaya is the involvement of the audience, this element is suppose to grab the attention of he audience and allow them to be intrigued and to have fun. The most known dancers of modern Indian dance are Shanti Bardhan, Shobana Jeyasingh, and Dr. Manjushree Chaki-Sarkar. The places that modern Indian dance is found is is theaters and dance academies.
2. Simon Shaheen
Simon Shaheen is a influential person for the Arabic music culture. He was travelled around the world to show and bring attention to the Arabic culture. However, along the way he has learned that he can combine Arabic music with the modern jazz from the West. Shaheen started in the music industry, basically, since he was born. His father was a master oud player and he learned to play the oud, his first instrument, from his father. From there, he continued his interest of music to the Conservatory of Western Classical Music in Jerusalem and studied the violin. After he studied at the Conservatory, he began a band called Qantra to travel the world with. The band members are all masters at their own instruments. The many instruments that the members play are some that we have not discussed in class: tabla, naker, qanoon, and a rababeb.
3. Norah Jones
Norah Jones, as we have talked about in class, is the daughter of Ravi Shankar and a well-known singer/songwriter. Her music career began in February of 2002 when her first album,"Come Away With Me" was released. Since then she has became know worldwide. She has sold 50 million albums and she songs have been streamed 6 billion times. Her other albums are "Feels Like Home", "Not Too Late", "The Fall", "Little Broken Hearts", "Day Breaks", and "Pick Me Off The Floor". Along side of her solo career she has been a part of many bands, The Little Willies, El Madmo, and Puss N Boots. She has also collaborated with famous singers and bands, Willie Nelson, Outkast, and Foo Fighters. Her singing career started of woman power, the wife of J.C. Hopkins went to him and his executive about signing her for a record deal, however; they only gave her a three-track deal. She made the most out of it! J.C. Hopkins and his executives were surprised and jaw-dropped by her voice, so after her three tracks they signed her straight away to the Blue Note record company. Her first album, "Come Away With Me", has been her best-selling album and most well-known amongst the world. The album reached number one on US Billboard 200. The single, "Don't Know Why", had more success than the album. It reached number 1 on Top 40 Adult and number 30 on Billboard Hot 100. She was nominated for eight Grammy Awards for the single, and won five of the categories she was nominated for. In that night, she tied Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys for the most awards by a female artist. The album later got certified platinum and continued to grow and got certified diamond.
Resources
“Contemporary Indian Dance – Breaking Free from the Traditional.” Caleidoscope, 4 Nov. 2020, https://www.caleidoscope.in/art-culture/contemporary-indian-dance-breaking-free-from-the-traditional.
“Modern Dance in India.” INSIGHTSIAS, 5 Sept. 2021, https://www.insightsonindia.com/indian-heritage-culture/indian-dance/modern-dance-in-india/.
“Norah Jones.” Blue Note Records, 15 Apr. 2021, https://www.bluenote.com/artist/norah-jones/.
“Understanding Arabic Music.” The Kennedy Center, https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/media/international/simon-shaheen-understanding-arabic-music/.
Hi everyone! For this blog, I decided to interview my mother, Sarah Griffis. She has been the most influential person for me in my music journey. I wanted to interview her to know and get a feel of her music journey with her growing up in a very different generation than us. She was born in 1979, however; my dad and I say that her "prime" was in the 90s. She grew up with an 3 year older sister and an 6 year younger brother, also she lived in a rural area outside of the small city of Aiken, SC.
And here is a picture of all of us at Disney
Me: Do you have a favorite memory with music?
Sarah (Mom): I always think of my favorite music memory as a really cool memory. It is the "Midnight Kiss" and “When you Wish Upon A Star”, I always remember that coming on at the castle in Disney World or the Disney Sunday movies. And how it was always really it brings me back childhood memories
Me: What was the kind of music you listen to as a kid?
Sarah: I listened to a lot of music depending on which parent that I was with. My father really liked country music like traditional country music so I listen to a lot of Old Town singers like Willie Nelson. My mother actually loved like 70s music so I listened to a lot of disco and like Kool and the gang, that kind of music.
Me: Did the music that you listened to as a kid influenced the music that you listen to now?
Sarah: The music that I listened to as a kid definitely has influenced the music listen to now. I love music that I heard through TV shows and movies that I saw as a child. I also love to listen to Spotify or Pandora, where I can have mixture of music that kind of takes me back to the memories I had as a childhood. I definitely think that my childhood music has influenced me.
Me: If you went to church how different was the music and did you participate in the music at your church?
Sarah: Church music for me was different when I was younger. We went to a very conservative Baptist Church, where I sang in the choir there with my mom and my sister. At the Baptist Church we sang a lot of hymnals and we did not listen to a lot of contemporary music. I became older, starting at my high school ages and into my college years, we started going to a different type of church, we went to more of a contemporary type of worship so the music there was more of contemporary music not as many hymns. There, I certainly participated in singing but not in the choir.
Me: What was the church’s opinion on the music that you listen to?
Sarah: When I attended a very conservative Christian high school, I do remember everybody that was a teenager listening to the local pop radio or the top hits radio, and multiple times we had mini sermons about how that was inappropriate. Also, if we were going on school trips we could not listen to that even on our, at that time, walkmans. The newer music, in my childhood, was certainly something that was believed to be poor for us to listen to. They always wanted us to listen to conservative Christian music.
Me: How did you listen to music and how has that changed today?
Sarah: I listened to music that is very different from how music is listened to now. I started out with only having radio stations. We had AM and FM radio stations that we listened to in our cars. My mom had a huge record player so I do remember listening to records with her on a record player. Then, as I got older, we actually had cassette tapes so we would listen to the Top 40 with Casey Kasem on Friday nights on my regular stereo system that I would have and I would record it on cassette tapes. As I got older, we had a CD players and walkmans. As of today obviously it's very different that we're using streaming devices.
Me: What are walkmans?
Sarah: So walkmans are something you would actually use like a cassette tape but you would have a personal device that you could listen to with headphones. I do remember that being something that I would listen to a good bit when we were traveling so we would have our own device with our cassette tapes where we recorded our music off of our radios.
Me: Did your music taste change as a teenager and as an adult?
Sarah: I've always liked a lot of variety of music but during my teenage years,in the 90s, it was very popular to listen to Mariah Carey and more of the contemporary kind of rock music or pop. I also listen to a lot of the big hair bands so a lot of the rock music and that's definitely changed, that's not something to listen to at all now as an adult. As an adult, I certainly listen to a lot of variety in music as well but it tends to be more a thing is that I like when I was younger except for the big hair bands, I don't get into that it is much more, however; I do like some more classical music as well. I do find that music as I became an adult I gravitate to is based on the mood I'm in. If I'm happy I want to play something more upbeat then I'm going to listen to more like pop music that has more of a vibrant vibe or if I'm kind of thinking about my parents I'm listening more like country that I listen to when I was younger.
Me: What do you think of today's music?
Sarah: Today's music is very different than when I was growing up listening to music. I think about the Super bowl halftime show of this year and how some of the performers were performers that I was used to seeing in my younger years but it is quite different. I found that you can listen to any kind of music at anytime that was always something that's very different now with stations like Pandora, Spotify, and the Internet, so I like having the availability of music in this modern age. I like today’s music but it's very different than what I'm used to; you have all different types of genres and that's not something that I had when I was younger.
Me: Has being with a significant other influence the music that you enjoy now?
Being with a significant other definitely has influence listen to now. With my husband being older than I am he tends to listen to music that is from an earlier time frame than what when I was accustomed to. Also, he likes a different type of music than I do he tends to like more male vocalist and I tend to like more female vocalists, so that always dictates normally what's on the radio station at the time. He also likes something that's more low beat and I’m always wanting something that kind of makes me happy and is more upbeat. There is definitely a difference between two of us.
Me: Are there any song lyrics or specific songs that have a special meaning to you?
This is a hard one so special meaning to me certainly I can think back to times when I would sing to you when you were a baby. “You are my sunshine” is the main one I would sing and we would sing those traditional kind of lullabies. I always think about 70s music that reminds me of my mother, you know, so that kind of music is very important and brings back memories of my childhood. The song “Stand By Me” always has me thinking about my parents because that was their song. Hearing and singing church hymns remind me of my grandparents and how important they were to me at certain times in my life. I always think about the time my grandfather called into a radio station to play “Through the Years” for my grandmother. Music always brings back memories and has great feelings as it resonates with me.
Disco was a very fun and interesting American Roots Music topic to research. The syncretism of Disco is much more diverse than I had realized. It started during the 1970s and had a slow, yet rapid decline in the early 1980s. The Disco genre was created in the 1970s to add a little bit more fun through music with dance and electronic instruments to combat the melancholy times in the earlier years of being in the Cold War, the Space Race, President John F Kennedy assassination, and Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act being signed. The genre of Disco did not begin in the U.S., it began in Germany with the influence of the Nazis. The nightclub scene was extremely popular, even though live music was banned from performing. The use of phonograph records began in Germany, then it spread into the French countries. The French-speaking people used the word “discotheque” which means library of phonograph records. When "discotheque" traveled across the water, the people of the United States abbreviated the word to “disco”.
The multiple cultures that spilled into the Disco genre were Italian Americans, African Americans, and Latinos. Disco is also a spinoff of the music genres R&B and Funk from the late 1960s and early 1970s. The R&B scene influenced the use of many electronic instruments and the popular use of a synthesizer. The synthesizer was used to produce artificial sound of acoustic instruments. The string synthesizer was the most popular kind of a synthesizer used during the period of Disco. It was developed to be a cheaper alternative and a more portable synthesizer to the more expensive type of synthesizer. Also, the string synthesizer was created sounds similar to a string orchestra, so that a string band would have to be used for a song or album.
With the nightclub scene being prominent in America and the United Kingdom, and Disco being nicknamed “dance music”, DJs and the drug culture had a huge impact on the music and the atmosphere inside the nightclubs. The most popular drugs that people were addicted to were cocaine and quaaludes, they were nicknamed the “disco biscuits”. The mixture of music from the DJs, and the nightclub-goers being under the influence made the experience of dancing more enjoyable. The DJs became extremely popular because remixes of songs that were used on radios, nightclubs, and at other events.
The characteristics of the songs were very distinct during the disco period. These four characteristics are syncopation, 4-on-the-floor beats, instruments, and repetitive vocals. The syncopation in the most famous disco songs fills the “empty space” between beats and verses, the definition of syncopation is a beat in-between beats or the “off-beat”. The 4-on-the-floor beat is similar to a heartbeat rhythm, with four quarter notes in a meter. The most used instruments of the disco period were horns, strings, flutes, the electronic piano, and the electric guitar. The vocals and lyrics of a song did not change too much throughout the songs because there was more of a focus on the beats and weird sounds than the words.
The lyrics were very repetitive and straightforward with no deep meaning. The song meanings in disco were very surface and did not have an underlying message like music of nowadays and of earlier periods. The normal topics of the songs would be about love, encouragement, happiness, unifying the world, and sexual liberation. The songs were used of ways to escape the ideas of war, gang violence, and rising social and economic issues. The most prominent artists of the 1970s are people that we grew up listening to from our parents, or people who are continued to be played on radio stations. These artists are Stevie Wonder, Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer, Earth, Wind and Fire, Diana Ross, and The Jacksons. The some of the most popular songs from disco are “We Are Family”, “I Will Survive”, “I Feel Love”, “ABC”, “Stayin’ Alive”, and “Disco Inferno”.
This is the well-know singer Stevie Wonder!
This is the wonderful Gloria Gaynor!
Donna Summer who was known as Queen of Disco
This the band Earth, Wind, and Fire
This a more recent photo of Diana Ross
This a photo of the band The Jacksons
The popularity of Disco increased when film “Saturday Night Fever” was released with the main character being played by John Travolta. This movie aided the music into famous. These songs would be “Stayin Alive”, “Night Fever”, “If I Can’t Have You”, “Boogie Shoes”, etc.
The period of disco has also influenced many shows and movies to encourage people of now to enjoy disco music. For example, the musical show “Glee” had a full episode dedicated to disco. In the episode, the characters had a competition to get a white polyester suit resembling the one in “Saturday Night Fever” worn by John Travolta. The characters sang different disco songs and danced in 1970s clothes.
The decrease of disco popularity began with the event Demolition Night and continued through the 1980s. Demolition Night was a event promoted by the Major League Baseball organization for people to attend games. The people would bring a disco record to be burned, or destroyed in any kind of way in between games. The disco records would give the attendants a discount on tickets and they would only cost 98cents. The Demolition Night event sideways and ended in a riot over a homophobic situation. However, disco kept its popularity in Italy, India, and anywhere over the Middle East.
Citations
“Disco Characteristics - Elena's Music Genres in Context.” Google Sites, sites.google.com/site/elenasgenres/home/disco-extracts/disci-influences/disco-practitioners/disco-characteristics.
“Disco.”Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Mar. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco.
There have been many things that I have thought were interesting in class that we have not discussed in detail. All three of my topics are from each culture that we have talked over in class.
1. Native American Church
In class, we did not discuss much about the Native American Church except for the peyote song that we listened to. And I wanted to know more of the behind the scenes and where the Native American Church began. It was first recognized as a religion in 1885 when the Kiowa and Comanche tribes spread the word to other tribes about their rituals and songs. The religion is monotheistic with a god called Supreme God or Great Spirit. This Supreme God, in a similar way of Christianity with the God, Holy Ghost and Jesus, connects with people with various other spirits that they call waterbird or thunderbird. The peyote music in the Native American Church is closely related with healing rituals, wakes, births, other important life events. The rituals and services are normally conducted in a tepee and the time period of sunset until dawn and end with breakfast. The rituals have four core songs and that are repeated four time in a row. These songs are called "The Opening Song", "The Midnight Water Song", "The Sunrise Song", and "The Closing Song".
This is the" Opening Song"
This is "The Midnight Water Song"
This is "The Sunrise Song"
This is "The Closing Song"
2. Renata Flores
In our class discussion on the Andean culture, we talked about the growing importance of the Quechuan language. We reflected on the singer, songwriter Renata Flores who covered American songs into the Quechuan language. I wanted to know more about her and her life as she has grown in her fame in Peru. As a child, she has always had the love of music as it was instilled into her from her grandparents introducing cumia, rock, electronic, and folklore music into her life. As a young lady at the age of fourteen, she competed in a reality talent show, named "La Voz Kids Peru", and though she did not win the competition it continued to jumpstart her singing career. She then began she YouTube account and started posting cover songs to popular American music that had reached people globally. Her first song that made a important impact for her was the cover she did of Micheal Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel". Through the cover songs that she post on Youtube, she wants the people of Peru and other South America countries to notice how important the Quechuan language is to their culture. She explained to he interviewers at Refinery29 that many of youth are not taught the Quechuan language due to the older generations' fear of being ridiculed, discriminated against, and the feeling of being inferior to others that speak Spanish. As of now, being a 19 year old woman, she has started writing her own music. The newest song that she has came out with is "Mirando a la misma luna", which translates to looking at the same moon. This is song is about the persecution suffering of the Quechuan youth because of the hardships of learning Spanish.
This video of Renata Flores' cover of Michel Jackson.
This video is of Renata's original song "Mirando a la misma luna".
3. Sona and the Gambian Academy
As we all know from past Thursday class time, Sona Jobarteh has a huge impact on the culture of Gambia, and specifically on the youth. The Gambian Academy is one of her ways of improving the Gambian future with the kids who will build it. She has conducted many ways of research to find the best way for the kids of Gambia to enjoy school and learn in school. She has said that her inspiration for the Gambian Academy was to stress importance of education in Gambia and throughout the continent of Africa. She believes that the education system for children has been overlooked and needs to focus on educating the next generations. At the beginning of creating the Gambian Academy, she was stressing the importance of improving the education curriculum and involving music. Now that she has completed that mission, she having the struggle of finding the best environment for the kids to learn because as of right now they are enclosed in four walls with no roof. She is hoping that through the education at the Gambian Academy the students with learn self-worth, empowerment, social responsibility, and confidence.
Works Cited
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Native American Church. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 11, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-American-Church
Barrientos, B. (n.d.). Renata Flores & Her Music are an act of indigenous resistance. Renata Flores Quechua Rap Music Is An Act Of Resistance. Retrieved March 11, 2022, from https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/10/10036118/renata-flores-peru-quechuan-music-indigineous-culture
Sona Jobarteh | The Gambia Academy - youtube. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFe3Ipkj3Zs
Sona Jobarteh. (n.d.). The Gambia Academy. Sona Jobarteh. Retrieved March 11, 2022, from https://sonajobarteh.com/the-gambia-academy
Music is very dependent from ritual to ritual. For example, music at a birthday party would not be the same music used for a wedding, and so on the music used at a graduation would be different as well. In my life I have, of course, experienced birthday parties, weddings, and graduation and the music is differs for each event.
At my birthday parties, I do not necessarily have all current music(mostly because I don't know the words or I don't like it), but I also include older music that I have started listening to. For my birthday parties, I have music from the current days and from early 2000s, 80s, and 90s. I'll put artist such as, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, Journey, Michael Jackson, and others. However, music at birthday parties can also depend on the person's age. For a baby birthday party, you would play more baby songs like lullaby's, patty cake, and well-known kid show theme songs. As they get older they will form their own likes and dislikes of music styles, and normally those are what gets played at birthday parties.
Music for weddings are completely different from any birthday party. Weddings songs are, typically, more slow, about love, and meant for slow dancing. With my experience with weddings is a little chaotic. With my aunt's wedding, I was involved of making a playlist of songs for the reception, but my aunt was extremely picky when it came to the music. She wanted mostly all the music to set a 50s scene for her wedding. Her music was made by people that I had never heard of, and for me I did not like the songs. Her favorite song that she had on the playlist was "I Only Have Eyes For You". I distinctly remember this because all she told me for about 6 months was, "Maggie, I have to have 'I Only Have Eyes for You' on the playlist of songs even if it's the only song we have on there."
Another ritual that has been very important in my life was my high school graduation. There was a ton of planning, stress, and sports leading up to the time I officially graduated. At the graduation, the music that was played the whole time was the typical walking-down-the-aisle music. It is much different from the music in the previous events. I can remember almost everyone in my class complaining about how they were falling asleep and how it was so annoying that it would not stop (and I won't lie, I was one of them:)). At the end of the day, we all will remember graduating, throwing our caps in the air, and the terrible graduation music.
Hey guys! I'm so excited to tell and show y'all my favorite and not-so-favorite genres and songs of music. Music is such a huge part of me; I am always listening to some kind of music. Songs, no matter what it is about, can make me feel the emotion of it. However, I cannot listen to sad and energetic songs all the time because sometimes I'm in a sad or a very happy mood. I have been involved in chorus groups since I was in middle school, and now that I am in college and not in a singing group, music has made an even more of an imprint into my life.
1. My current favorite kind of music is 2000s pop music, more specifically Maroon 5. They are my all-time favorite band! Their music is different than anyone else's music that I've heard. It reminds me of alternative rock sometimes and pop. The album, Songs About Jane, is my go-to; and the song, She Will Be Loved is my favorite! I can find myself keep rediscovering them over and over. I don't always listen to 2000s music, but when I do I absolutely love it!
2. As I said above, music is a huge part of my life. The kind of music that is most important to me is acapella Christmas songs. The Christmas time makes me feel happy, reminds of family, and that nothing could go wrong. The group Pentatonix is the perfect band for an acapella Christmas song! The version of The Drummer Boy and Mary Did You Know are my favorite songs that they have covered. The song Drummer boy is my father's favorite song, and my mother loves anything Pentatonix covers. I cherish and love spending time with my parents, they are my life(other than softball). I love that one of my favorite groups is also one of my parents' favorite too!
3. The genre of music that I absolutely cannot connect with is classical music. I do not understand the idea and concept of classical music. It makes want to(and sometimes) fall asleep. I do think that the instruments a part of the music can sound beautiful individually. However, when all the instruments are together the music gets boring. I know experiments have taken place that support the idea that classical music improves the amount and quality of school work, but that is the exact opposite for me. The violin music that covers popular music of today reminds me of classical music in a way, and this I can connect to. I love listening to it and trying to guess which popular song it is!
