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fandomhigh2006-07-09 11:33 pm
not_entirely) wrote in fandomhigh2006-07-09 11:33 pm
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History of (Earth) Music: Monday Afternoon, back room of Empire Records
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]
"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]
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