by Chupacabra » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:13 am
As years pass and my musical tastes change and evolve, I realize that my collection of music that I could say is on my "A-list" (the music that still gets regular listening and withstands the test of time), is currently composed of music from all over the world. Beautiful, sincere, rhythmic, melodic, real music in which the lyrics are in sung in languages that I don't have a clue what they're singing about! Obviously, I have no problem with that at all. I just wish I had the time and brain capacity to learn Spanish, Yoruba, Mandingue, Xsosha, Bantu, Arabic, and, and, and...
There is one language that I can try to pick up which can bridge so many; it is "The Drum"
I could be way off on this, but I believe that the reason why some of the rhythms I am trying to learn at times seem so far beyond my reach, as someone who is a Canadian of Scottish, Swiss, British and French-Canadian ethnicity, is due to the fact that they are originally based on the vocal patterns of a language that I don't know and rarely, if ever, hear spoken. Conversely, I couldn't imagine listening to any of the music that I hold near and dear being sung in English, it would never sound right!
The point I am getting to is this: Taking Afro-Cuban rhythm concepts as one example, would it be beneficial for someone like myself who is attempting to become reasonably competent in playing the folkloric styles to learn some Spanish, some Yoruba and any of the other languages of the cultures in which the musical styles emanated from?
Reflecting on this, I am utterly amazed how over the course of just over 2 years I've changed from "Just gimme the F-ing drum an let me hit it" to inquiring about cultural considerations and the impact on playing technique as a beginner.
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