Black Music as an Art Form

Wilson, Olly

doi:10.2307/779487

Cited by 58 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…This specific listening element reflected a larger issue-the realization that Jazz needs attentive listening to appreciate the creative process, which is often an important distinction between art and more immediately entertaining popular music (Wilson, 1998). Sometimes initially referred to by students as "elevator music" (particularly the slower tempi of cool Jazz), when played several times in class, most were able to hear some of the interplay between rhythm and individual improvisation.…”

Section: Identity Themes: Listening Skills and Neurosciencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A good example is Miles Davis's, 1958 recording of "On Green Dolphin Street." A description of the arrangement he created was included in one of the readings for the course (Wilson, 1998), with a diagram of the 32 bar song structure (or "chorus"), to which I added each soloist's series of choruses, first stating the major themes of melody and then each improvising in an individual but clearly coordinated way. After using this structural aid during 2-3 class listenings, most students were pleasantly surprised that they could follow the arrangement, but also that their enjoyment was enhanced by the added listening skill.…”

Section: Identity Themes: Listening Skills and Neurosciencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A fundamentally social view of the nature and function of art is expressed in Jazz; individual improvisation is created within a group context. Based on the call-and-response dialogue between listening and the creative expression of one's own voice, improvisation creates upon a foundation provided by the group's rhythmic structure (Berendt, 1992;Ellison, 2001;Gioia, 1997;Wilson, 1998). Jazz made ideal content for a dialogue approach to curriculum.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Jazz and American identity: Case study of a college course.

Tietze¹

2008

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

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The present article served as a follow-up to Tietze (2006), which explored the potential relevance of listening to Jazz as a tool for enhancing the undergraduate liberal arts educational experience. A holistic pedagogical structure, based on a model incorporating cognitive and emotional dimensions of experience and Erikson's (1997) theory of identity development, utilized recent developments in neuroscience including the brain's engagement in the process of creativity, and was applied to developing an undergraduate course titled, "Jazz and American Identity." For the present article, a case study approach was used to assess the process of learning through student response to this course. Several general themes emerged from the students' work, and a number of samples were summarized from end-of-term projects which explored a connection between an understanding of their own individual identity development in relationship to the semester's course content; a history of Jazz as metaphor for presentation of issues in American cultural development. Results indicated that a proactive approach toward combining play, art, and self-understanding forms an example of a creative process every human may engage in-the creation and development of one's unique identity. Themes for future research were also discussed; among them the use of anecdotal journal writing as data to "translate" listening and expressive skills to more clearly articulate human experience of emotional states, relationships between verbal and procedural memory, parallels between language and music processing, and connection between the worlds of science and the arts, especially the expansion of Jazz into a world-wide phenomenon.

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Section: Identity Themes: Listening Skills and Neurosciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Identity Themes: Listening Skills and Neurosciencementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Jazz and American identity: Case study of a college course.

Tietze¹

2008

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

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“…By means of forced trade, consumer goods and designs viewed as exotic and fashionable became available throughout Europe, among them 'Oriental' fabric motifs and carpets, along with pentatonic melodies, which became available for absorption into the fabric of western musical compositions (Wade 2005). Likewise, the emergence of rock and roll took place within the context of asymmetrical power relations between races in American society, the influence of the marketplace in popular music, and issues of cultural authenticity (among others: Baraka 1963Baraka , 1991Davis 1995;Friedlander and Miller 2006;Mahon 2004;Phinney 2005;Rabinowitz 1991;Rogin 1998;Wilson 1983). Some parallel issues may be found in societies, such as Australia, that include aboriginal cultures (Burt 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between, Within and Across Cultures

Gluck

2008

Org. Sound

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The phenomenon of contemporary composers reaching across cultures in search of inspiration, musical materials and forms, and new ideas is not a new one, but it is occurring now with greater frequency. Some seek to join inherited traditions from within their own ancestral cultures with new traditions from the West or with new technologies. Some are Westerners exploring traditional musical forms and aesthetics from cultures different from their own. The process of engaging interculturally raises complex issues, at times challenging historical attitudes towards the culture of 'the other'. The author considers a wide range of motivations for this emerging body of work, surveying the range of approaches that composers have taken, and urges the cultivation of cultural sensitivity. This essay proposes what the author terms a 'reflective compositional process' with which composers can explore their motivations and compositional strategies and consider the relationships inhering between materials and cultural origins. Implications for works engaging new technologies are considered throughout the essay.

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“…The African-American composer Olly Wilson [17] The various versions of Voyager have all been written in dialects of Forth, the curiously hybrid compiled/interpreted environment created by Charles Moore around 1970 [25,26]. Seemingly anti-authoritarian in nature, during the early 1980s Forth appealed to a community of composers who wanted an environment in which a momentary inspiration could quickly lead to its sonic realization-a dialogic creative process, emblematic of an improvisor's way of working.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Too Many Notes: Computers, Complexity and Culture in Voyager

Lewis

2000

Leonardo Music Journal

235

102

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The author discusses his computer music composition, Voyager, which employs a computer-driven, interactive & “virtual improvising orchestra” that analyzes an improvisor's performance in real time, generating both complex responses to the musician's playing and independent behavior arising from the program's own internal processes. The author contends that notions about the nature and function of music are embedded in the structure of software-based music systems and that interactions with these systems tend to reveal characteristics of the community of thought and culture that produced them. Thus, Voyager is considered as a kind of computer music-making embodying African-American aesthetics and musical practices.

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Black Music as an Art Form

Cited by 58 publications

References 4 publications

Jazz and American identity: Case study of a college course.

Jazz and American identity: Case study of a college course.

Between, Within and Across Cultures

Too Many Notes: Computers, Complexity and Culture in Voyager

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