Atton Rand & miscellaneous names (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomhigh2024-01-24 07:48 am
suitably_heroic) wrote in fandomhigh2024-01-24 07:48 am
Entry tags:
Music, Wednesday
“No one knows exactly when this planet discovered music, and maybe it’s just not something you can stick a date to,” Atton said. He still looked a little haggard, but most of the weekend’s twitchy energy had left him. “We know the first instruments scientists have found were flutes from ten thousands of years ago. But exactly what kind of music they made, we don’t know.”
"What we do know," Lana said, "is that music itself seems to be universal. Every species and culture has some sort of music of their own, even if it may not make sense to others. Instruments and melodies and rhythms are vastly different, but music itself is everywhere for as far back as we have history."
Atton shrugged. “Like a lot of history from Earth, we don’t have very specific knowledge of much before, say, a couple thousand years ago. People didn’t start writing down anything about music until about five thousand years ago, give or take, with the Sumerians. Songs were pretty simple back then, as far as we know. They factored into religious practices and some of these instruments were even worshipped as gods.”
He turned to the laptop sitting in the middle of the classroom. “Scientists have tried to replicate some of the music from that era,” he said. “Here’s an example. It’s a hymn to the Moon goddess, created by the people living in northern Syria at the time.” He looked to the class. “What can we say about this song? What stands out?”
"From the Xia dynasty, around four thousand years ago, there have been bells and a flute found. We don't know enough to reconstruct their music, but again, flute and drums seem to be the first instruments. The earliest complete composition we know of on Earth is the Seiklos epitaph. It's from a little less than two thousand years ago. It was found engraved on a pillar in what is today Turkey. What feelings do you think this was meant to evoke? How is it similar to and different from the Syrian tune?"
After they'd listened to them, Lana smiled. "Today why don't we try something a little different? Instead of all the different instruments, we've got an assortment of drums, bells, flutes, and whistles. Let's see what we can do with only them."
“Just do what feels natural,” Atton added, “And uh. Try not to think about yesterday too much if that’s bothering you or something.”
A+ teaching.
"What we do know," Lana said, "is that music itself seems to be universal. Every species and culture has some sort of music of their own, even if it may not make sense to others. Instruments and melodies and rhythms are vastly different, but music itself is everywhere for as far back as we have history."
Atton shrugged. “Like a lot of history from Earth, we don’t have very specific knowledge of much before, say, a couple thousand years ago. People didn’t start writing down anything about music until about five thousand years ago, give or take, with the Sumerians. Songs were pretty simple back then, as far as we know. They factored into religious practices and some of these instruments were even worshipped as gods.”
He turned to the laptop sitting in the middle of the classroom. “Scientists have tried to replicate some of the music from that era,” he said. “Here’s an example. It’s a hymn to the Moon goddess, created by the people living in northern Syria at the time.” He looked to the class. “What can we say about this song? What stands out?”
"From the Xia dynasty, around four thousand years ago, there have been bells and a flute found. We don't know enough to reconstruct their music, but again, flute and drums seem to be the first instruments. The earliest complete composition we know of on Earth is the Seiklos epitaph. It's from a little less than two thousand years ago. It was found engraved on a pillar in what is today Turkey. What feelings do you think this was meant to evoke? How is it similar to and different from the Syrian tune?"
After they'd listened to them, Lana smiled. "Today why don't we try something a little different? Instead of all the different instruments, we've got an assortment of drums, bells, flutes, and whistles. Let's see what we can do with only them."
“Just do what feels natural,” Atton added, “And uh. Try not to think about yesterday too much if that’s bothering you or something.”
A+ teaching.