Katys Musical Culture Journey

  Music and Family Blog  Tonight I was able to interview my grandmother, Nancy Strange. She has been a musical inspiration for me my whole life, and I wanted to learn more about her relationship with music. This interview was lots of fun, and I loved learning about music when she was my age.  My grandmother's earliest musical memory was her mother singing to her. She said it was difficult to pick her first memory because music has always been a part of her life. As a child, it was singing nursery rhyme songs like "Here We Go Around the Mulberry Bush." In middle school and high school, it was mostly pop music from the radio. Towards the end of high school and the start of college, she fell in love with beach music. It quickly became one of her favorites and still is today. When she was in high school and college, she went to many dances, one she particularly remembers was her Jr/Sr prom. It was a huge deal. They got dressed up, and the boys brought them flowers. They had l...

  For this blog, I will be writing about the music of Mali. My friends, Trevor and Robin Barton, were missionaries in Mali. Robin is a Zumba Teacher and loves music, so I reached out to her. She shared a lot of this information with me and shared her Spotify playlist below. The music of Mali is a blend of traditional African drums and lyrics but also has an Arabic influence. The topics of Mali Music are farming, history, and family issues. Some songs go so far back as to tell when their people were stolen and put into slavery. It is rarely about romantic love. This is very different from American music, which is frequently about romantic love. Malian music is very different from the music I usually listen to, which intrigues me. My friend says the Malian singing style is very nasal, dissonant, and often uses minor keys. This gives the music a tone and style, which is not common in American music. Robin said it took her a while to get her ears used to it, but now she likes it a lot....

I will be discussing S oul music for this blog. Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the United States in the 1950s. The phrase "Soul Music" itself refers to gospel-style music with secular lyrics. Soul became popular to dance and listen to in the United States.  Much of soul music's growth and evolution is specific to particular cities, each of which had a major record label that supported the town's music.    What Makes Soul Music Soul Music - Soul music is a mix of Jazz, gospel, and R&B. Soul music is very laid back with a funky style. The singers use a wide range of rich vocal timbre and often express strong emotions in the song. Piano or electric organ, a bass and horn section, trumpet, trombone, or sax often accompany singers and backup singers.   History of Soul –  Beginnings - Soul music traces its roots to traditional blues and the gospel music of the black church. Soul pioneers of the 1950s such as Ray Charles, E...

  For this blog I will be talking about South African music. A couple of days ago my dad sent me two videos of a children's choir from South Africa named Ndlovu. They were doing a performance on America's Got Talent and they sounded amazing. I enjoyed hearing them sing and see the smiles on their faces as they performed. They performed a song called Beautiful Day. I really liked the way it sounded. The song was beautiful overall. In the other video the children's choir did a really cool version of the song Africa. My Dad has a friend from South Africa named Sam. We reached out to her and asked if she had any favorite South African music and she sent me a spotify playlist of her favorites, a link to a very cool youth choir from South Africa and told me about her favorite artist Johnny Clegg. I was really excited to learn about these new to me  artists. The youth choir was close to my heart because I sang in a youth choir for many years. The thing I liked most about that yout...

n my experience, I would say different genders listen to similar types of music. We all listen to the same kinds of music in my friend circle. My male and female friends listen to rap and pop, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and Usher.  My 12-year-old girl cousin loves to listen to the soundtrack to Hamilton like I do. Sometimes we listen to the soundtrack together and sing along to all the songs. My cousin is also a dancer, so she listens to all types of music. She often dances to pop songs and classical songs.    In some of the choirs I have been in, I have noticed a few male soprano singers. It is interesting to see a mix of female and male sopranos. There have also been some female tenor singers and male altos.  Within the styles of music that I listen to, I have not seen the media treat the guys and girls differently. I haven't noticed any difference in who plays the instruments in the music ensembles. I have found that the sound tech people are bot...

  Floyd “Red Crow” Westerman He was born as Floyd Westerman on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He was a Dakota Sioux musician, country singer and a political activist in his early life. His indigenous name is Kanghi Duta which means “Red Crow” in the Dakota language. When he was just ten years old Floyd was sent to Wahpeton Boarding School. In this school, the native American children were forced to live a “white” lifestyle. They had to cut their long hair and were not allowed to speak their native languages. As an adult he reclaimed his heritage and became an  advocate for Indigenous cultural preservation. Westerman Graduated from Northern State University with a bachelor's degree in secondary education. After he served two years in the U.S Marines, he began a career as a country singer.  His songs often looked at the impact of European culture on his native culture. Westerman’s most popular song is called “Wounded Knee.” It was a song protecting ag...

  My name is Katy Garner. I grew up in Greenville South Carolina. I grew up singing in many different choirs, like Chicora Voices which is a Children's Choir in Greenville. I also sang in my church's choir and my four years in high school chorus. Recently my family moved to Spartanburg so my mom can be closer to where she works. I have had so many exciting opportunities that singing provided. For example. I have been lucky enough to perform Carmina Burana and I sang Mahler's 3rd symphony (it has only been performed a few times in the United States).  I performed with the San Francisco Gay Mens Choir on World Aids Day. Their choir is amazing. I also got to perform with the Furman Opera Company in Hansel and Gretel ( what Converse is doing) I have never been in an opera before so it was a really cool experience to be one of the children! ( the pictures I put in here are my two cats named Esmo and Mojo, me and my family's new house) The Music I have recently enjoyed listen...