History of (Earth) Music: Monday Afternoon, back room of Empire Records

[not_entirely]

Lucas sent out a handwaved email to the students to let them know where to meet. He closed the shop up so he wouldn't have to worry about customers during the class and grabbed a seat in an over-stuffed arm chair. There were two couches and lots of cushions about for the students when they arrived, as well as various types of drums and simple flute instruments, and a couple digeridoos.

"Okay. Welcome to History of Music. Or History of EARTH Music, anyway. I have no idea what kind of history intergalactic music has. And frankly, it still weirds me out that I have to make that distinction."

He leaned forward in his seat and when everyone had arrived, started his lecture.

"We're going to start out with the most rudimentary forms of music, the stuff that native tribes used before people started getting complex with music. The easiest type of instrument--and the easiest type of sound--to make is a percussion instrument. Those are the ones you hit, in case anyone was confused. You can make a drum out of anything, really, but I've provided a few of the drums I've picked up here and there. Grab a drum, or a stick, or a bucket, or the floor, whack away at it with anything approaching rhythm, and you've got yourself percussion."

Lucas hit a button on his remote, and a particularly wild percussion piece played out over the speakers. "This is an example of something you can do when you get some drumming going." He let the piece play out, then hit stop again.

"Then there are the flutes and trumpets. A trumpet is, essentially, just a tube that you blow through to make noise. The kind of noise you get is based on the length of the tube, the shape of it, and what material its made out of. Now, before we figured out how to do stuff with metal, most of these were made out of wood." He gestured to the recorders and whistles and flutes he had about. "Those holes can be used to shorten and lengthen the tube, thus getting different notes." He hit play again, and this time, a piece of drums mixed with flutes played. "And that's an example of, well, that."

Lucas picked up a digeridoo and blew through it, creating a sound resembling that of a dying moose. "Um. I'm not very good with these things. This is what's called a ‘digeridoo'. It's one of the simplest, easiest trumpets to make. Seriously, anyone can make them. They're traditional to the Aborigones of Australia, who used them for a wide variety of purposes. I've got a sample of that for you, too." Lucas hit play again, and this time, a series of shorter tracks played of the various types of sounds that could be produced.

"So, yeah. That's the real bare basic essentials. The rest I leave up to you. Grab an instrument and try it out. Grab some earplugs while you're at it, if you want. I have aspirin on hand, too. Then I'm going to ask you to do some thinking. Why do you think mankind developed these instruments? What uses did you think they had for music, in prehistoric times or the bronze age? Do they have any use today to modern people? Talk amongst yourselves, ask questions, what have you. Have some fun."

[ooc: samples are Drum Trip from "When I Woke" by Rusted Root for drums and Alive from "Vol 2: Release" by Afrocelt Soundsystem for flutes. Links to Amazon.com, where you can listen to a bit. Digeridoo sounds are linked directly to the page that provides them and are non-copyright material. I will interact as much as possible when not at work. Information for this lecture comes primarily from my "Physics of Musical Instruments" course in college]

Comments

Sign In

[not_entirely]

so it collapses, please.

Re: Sign In

[actingltcrumpet.livejournal.com]

Archie signed in.

Re: Sign In

[mmmanchovies.livejournal.com]

Philip J. Fry

Introduce yourself

[not_entirely]

Name, class, favorite type of music/singer, why you took the class.

Re: Introduce yourself

[actingltcrumpet.livejournal.com]

Archie stood up and cleared his throat.

"Er, hello. My name is Archie Kennedy, and I suppose I would be in the junior class. Mind you, I'm from the nineteenth century, which should also explain a bit about why I'm taking this class." He smiled self-consciously and continued, "I don't have a particular favorite type of music, though lately Seras and Veronica have encouraged me to cultivate an interest in the Beatles. Seras seems to think that, as an Englishman, I'm required to do so."

Re: Introduce yourself

[mmmanchovies.livejournal.com]

"Uh, hey," Fry waved. "I'm Fry. I'm a freshman. My favorite musicians are the Beastie Boys, but I like the Noticeable F.A.T and Survivor too. Um, I took this class because I like music and I figured it'd be easy. So that's me!"

Re: Introduce yourself

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter had let his hair fall to cover his face and didn't stand for his introduction. "My name is Walter Dornez. I'm a sophomore. My favorite music is all pretty old by current standards, although I did like the Stray Cats you recommended. Otherwise, I like classical or big band, and I like almost any song that Cole Porter wrote.

"Oh yes, and I'm taking this class because my employer signed me up for it."

Re: Introduce yourself

[oatmanspatient.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm Marty Blank and I'm a senior. My favorite artists are Elvis Costello and The clash. I'm taking the course because hey... Music's fun.

Re: Introduce yourself

[enginegirl.livejournal.com]

Kaylee waved and smiled at everyone. "Hi. My name is Kaylee. I don't really have a favorite type of music or favorite singer because I'm not from around here. That's why I signed up for this class. So I can learn more about the music from this time."

Re: Introduce yourself

[not_entirely]

"You don't have a favorite type of music from your time?"

Re: Introduce yourself

[swerval_zero]

"Hi, I'm Zero, and I'm a senior. My favorite music is punk, and--is it cheating if I say my favorites are my parents? Because they are. Dirk Hopeless and the Undertow and Nikki Savage. Well, and the Sex Pistols and the Ramones and Blue Monday and I'm getting carried away. And I took the class because, well, I love music."

During the lecture

[not_entirely]

Odds are good that Lucas will just glare at you if he catches you chatting. You can also ask him questions here, if you like.

Re: During the lecture

[mmmanchovies.livejournal.com]

Fry raised his hand. "So hey, are we going to be learning about real music? Rap, rock, classical rock, classical rap?"

Mess around with instruments

[not_entirely]

We've got drums of all shapes and sizes, flutes of the same, and a bunch of those digeridoos. Pick something and jam.

Re: Mess around with instruments

[actingltcrumpet.livejournal.com]

Archie started playing with a digeridoo. Because you can't go wrong with a word like "digeridoo."

Re: Mess around with instruments

[oatmanspatient.livejournal.com]

Marty took out a some bongo drums and beat out a couple of rhythms.

Honestly he's not very good.

Re: Mess around with instruments

[enginegirl.livejournal.com]

Kaylee started playing a flute. Or at least attempted to.

Re: Mess around with instruments

[swerval_zero]

"Ooh," Zero said, picking up a didgeridoo and beginning to attempt to make music with it. She sounds kind of like a dying moose. But a punk dying moose.

Re: Mess around with instruments

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter sat down with a pair of bongos and started slowly beating out a rhythm similar to the one he'd heard in the music example for the flute.

Slow, with drums, wasn't all that much fun, so he started going faster. It's possible that beating on things was mildly cathartic.

Discuss the music

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Why do people make music? What purpose did this kind of music serve to primitive and tribal people? Does it serve a purpose today?

Do ya like the music?

Re: Discuss the music

[mmmanchovies.livejournal.com]

"Drums will never go out of fashion. They even use them in the year 3000. It's loud and you get to hit stuff. What's not to like?"

Re: Discuss the music

[oatmanspatient.livejournal.com]

"I'm betting the music was a part of ancient tribal rituals. Like... marriage, funerals, paying your taxes on time. That kind of thing."

Re: Discuss the music

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"People make music because there's rhythmm all around us and we imitate what we see. Or hear in this case."

Talk to Lucas

[not_entirely]

He doesn't bite. That would be baddirtywrong.

OOC

[not_entirely]

For the OCD is complete.