Download Name: LIN Min L ID #:1548854 Class: MUSIC 071 Section #:54205

Name:
LIN Min L
ID #:1548854
Class: MUSIC 071
Section #:54205
Homework packet 2
1.
Describe the difference between music as an object of memory and music as an instrument of
memory. (Ch.3, Question #2)
Music is maybe either an object of memory or an instrument of memory. As an object of
memory, music is something that is taught, using mnemonic (memory-aiding) devices such
stuff notation and solfege syllables (dohre-mi, etc), or documented in music history books. As
an instrument of memory, music itself is a mnemonic device that helps to store and trigger
recollections.
2. How does the Suya Mouse ceremony affect both individual and collective memory? (Ch. 3,
Question #3)
During the Mouse Ceremony, the Suya collective memory of the origin of corn is impressed upon
the entire community, and especially upon the young boys, in a most dramatic way. The mythical pas
and the tangible present collapse into a single moment, and the separate domains of human and
animal are conjoined as the men of the village are transformed into dancing and singing mice. The
ceremony reenacts certain aspects of the story of the origin of corn: like the young boy in the myth,
the name-receiver is initiated by a mouse into the masculine activities of the village plaza. When the
men return to human form, the name-receiver has been transformed with a new social identity, the
men have enacted Suya masculine values of verbal ability, strength, self-assertion, and endurance
through a night of vigorous singing and dancing, and relationships between men, women and young
boys have been reaffirmed.
3. What are the main features of the guru-sisya parampara? (Ch. 4, #2)
Historically, musicians in India prior to the twentieth century tended to come from three
streams of society: families for whom music or dances were hereditary occupations: members of
the aristocracy who practiced music as amateurs; and “musician-saints,” for whom music was a
path to god. Aristocratic and “saintly” musicians were often highly-respected members of society,
but professional musicians were usually regarded as low-caste artisans employed by the temples
or court.
4. How is learning to play jazz like learning a language? (Ch. 4, #4)
Jazz is a language…that has been defined and refined over a period of about a hundred years,
and anyone who is trying to be an improviser in jazz has to be familiar with that language… The
language consists of many different things. It consists of certain melodic fragments, which have
almost become clichéd…but the language of jazz is also the harmonies, being familiar with the
harmonies, knowing how the melodies relate to the harmonies: you know, there are certain rhythm
which are the core of jazz. The swing rhythm is at the core of jazz.
The language of jazz is basically a familiarity with the history of jazz, and the way in which they
found common ideas to relate to one another with.