1. Title of Piece: Not listed
2. Performers:
- Bernard Woma
- Mike Vercelli
3. Culture of Origin: Ghana
4. Instrumentation: Gyil
5. One paragraph reaction in relation to course readings/discussions. This week's theme: How does the study of ethnomusicology inform world music pedagogy?
As I was sifting through videos on YouTube trying to decide what to use for this blog post, I actually came across this video of one of my former undergraduate professors performing on gyil with the world renowned gyil player Bernard Woma in Ghana. The first thing that jumped out to me when recognizing one of the people actually performing was a thought I had about the position of universalism in the Reimer reading. Though I disagree with the concept that music is completely universal and transcultural and genuine experiences are easily created through simple means such as listening to a recording, I would argue that this video would perfectly represent my idea of a genuine musical experience within another culture. Because of the studies of music in other cultures by ethnomusicologists such as Dr. Vercelli, students have an opportunity for a more authentic/genuine learning experience of music from other cultures.
Larissa,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with your view of ethnomusicology providing a means for music educators to give their students authentic experiences with the music of other cultures. Ethnomusicologist's field experiences can be a great resource to music teachers that want to provide their students with experiences in the music of other cultures. I hope you can utilize the connection you have with Dr. Vercelli in your classroom!
So nice to have a personal connection to this video! Did Dr. Vercelli play this instrument for you in class? Do you know how often he is within the culture? Did his experiences in other settings inform his pedagogy in particular?
ReplyDeleteHello Dr. Bond!
ReplyDeleteYes, I saw Dr. Vercelli play the gyil a few times in various faculty recitals and world music concerts. At least since I was at WVU, he's taken a group of students over to Ghana nearly every summer to study at the Music Center there. Many of my friends have participated in this program. I definitely do think his study there had an influence on his pedagogy. At various points in my time at WVU, I participated in all the other world music ensembles offered (Gamelan, Brazilian Ensemble, and Taiko Drumming were offered on a 3 year rotation- Steel Band was every year) and I found the methods he used were completely different from the other ensemble classes I took. We spent more time playing than anything else and rarely used sheet music, except in steel band. We spent much of our time learning by rote. He was able to take any skill level and have them performing in his ensembles in no time. Those classes were probably my favorite throughout my time there.