4B - Thursday, January 21, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam 0 4B - Thursday, January 21, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom * Musicologist James Grier examines the methods of music intake By DAVID RIVA medieval West to preserve details Daily Arts Writer that certain singers found diffi- cult to retain in memory for cul- People learn through a variety tural reasons," he explained in an of methods, from the visual to the e-mail interview. "It has evolved auditory to the into a complex set of instruc- experiential. To MUSiCaIl tions from composer to perform- accommodate er or between performers. Oral this, the methods Literacy: processes could preserve these of passing down A HiStorial details with equal fidelity, but the information must use of notation has become a short be just as varied. PerSPeCtiVe form for composers to coordinate From a musicolo- Friday at a large number of musical events gist's perspec- 5p.m. in an economical way." tive, there exists "If you go to the British Library a question over Memornial Tower or Museum and go to the Beatles whether music Free exhibit, you can see what The Bea- is passed down ties wrote down in terms of nota- predominantly tion," explained School of MT&D through written notation, which Professor James Borders. is perfect for the visual learner, or "You'd have 'Yesterday,' with aural methods, which rely more chord changes on top, but not the heavily on experience. notation note for note," Borders It's a conundrum that James added, showing how the musical Grier, Professor of Music His- dictation processes of some of his- tory at the University of West- tory's greatest songwriters bridges ern Ontario and guest lecturer the gap between the aural and the in the School of Music, Theatre written. & Dance's Musicology Distin- But the question of music's endur- guished Lecture series, will pon- ance through history becomes more der on Friday at Burton Memorial intriguing when applied to personal Tower. According to Grier, the two experience. The question becomes methods are complimentary and "how do I acquire musical knowl- have both played a significant role edge" in an individual's own inter- in the "recording, preservation action with music. and communication of music." The obvious answer is that itnvar- Grier claims the difference ies from person to person. between notation and the aural Whether someone began to play experience is "largely a matter of an instrumentby ear or through the tradition and convention." aid of notes on a page can provide "Notation was invented in the some insight into the background of a musician. However, it doesn't question. limit that person to one way of He claims that all musicians learning about music. For most, the are "reliant on the skills (they've) process goes in stages, starting by developed." picking up an instrument, fiddling "I have a ton of colleagues that around with it and then investigat- enjoy the hell out of playing the ing what those arranged black dots notes on the page," he explained. mean, or vice versa. "Where they live is in the interpre- From Grier's perspective, the tation of the notation." correlation between the two is com- The more important concern for plimentary. Grier is not one of personal fulfill- "The relationship between eye ment, but rather of definition and and ear is problematic, but all musi- cultural acceptance. cians use their ears to regulate the There's nothing he loathes more sound they are producing from the than a student who says, "I'm not notation in front of them," Grier a musician because I can't read wrote. music." "All of this (musical) literacy is a matter of analogy to written and Reading music is spoken language," Grier wrote. "Like all analogies it limps; it's not required. insufficient." "To define yourself in our culture as being a musician only if you can translate the black dots on a page, I "It is constantly a push-and-pull find a little bit culturally problem- situation," he added. "Performers atic, because I think it shuts people experiment with musical practices out, rather than including them," that composers or arrangers wish to Borders added. work out in writing. And composers So the next logical question and arrangers hear things in their is whether musicians should be heads that require innovative nota- judged based on their ability to read tions. Individual cases and musi- music. Does it really speak to an cians engage in this push-and-pull essential technical skill? in different ways." Grier's response is, at least par- Push-and-pull aside, which tially, yes. way of learning is more enjoyable? "In the Western tradition, there In other words, has a preferred needs to be equal emphasis on method emerged among modern both, as one regulates the other," he musicians? wrote. In Borders's opinion, it's a moot Borders went so far as to ques- tion the significance of notation in an age where music can be record- ed and manipulated in so many dif- ferent ways. "(Written notation) can be terrifically valuable," Borders explained, "but we can record music digitally." "Composers can say 'OK I've got these notes. Put them on the screen, let's move this one around, make this one louder, I think we need a little more space there, let's cut and paste that 50 times,"'he added. Taking it a step further to the world of reality TV, Borders referred to "American Idol." "Watch 'American Idol' - you've got two genres that succeed in that show," Borders said, speci- fying the reoccurring gospel and country idioms. "None of the ornamentation that they're using has ever been noted down," he added. "The way these people learn (the songs) has noth- ing to do with recording in writing, it has to do with recording on a tape or digital space." But ultimately it doesn't matter if one method prevails. There is a rich cultural history in the passing down of musical knowledge, be it through written notation or aural experience. And both methods have proven fruitful, so next time you make fun of that bro inyour dorm or hippie in the Diag strumming on a beat-up acoustic, think of John Len- non, Kelly Clarkson and all those other "musical illiterates." FONDLY From Page 3B music by the time you leave the theater, and it has someone that you may have studied in school. And it has characters that you may relate to, not just historical figures." . "We tried to juxtapose Abra- ham Lincoln with other stories. So there are other characters that appear with their biographies right next to Lincoln's biography," she added. Jones mentions in another video that he created one charac- ter specifically for the show - a conservative woman of Southern heritage who was born in 1939. "In juxtaposing such informa- tion, maybe we find we can relate to one of (the characters)," Wong * said. "Maybe in hearing one story, we can see ourselves in them. Hopefully, we do. Hopefully, it's not just about the dance company or the musicians, but everybody in the house can relate to this story in the present, in the past, and (can) maybe think about the future and what choices we make in the future. What choices we make now affect our future." If Abraham Lincoln is any indi- cation, it only takes one man's choices to change the course of history. As we leave behind what we think and focus our eyes on what we see on stage, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Compa- ny will bring the story of Lincoln to life in a way that no history book can. THINK OF s THE DAILY NEXT TIME YOU FLOSS. " WRITE FOR DAILY ARTS. 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