A few thoughts on the class performances so far

I'd like to make some comments about some of the very impressive performances that people have shared in the class so far. While there has been some unevenness, a number of performances were really top notch and I definitely want to thank everyone for their hard work. I realize that it can be a bit nerve wracking to get up in front of a bunch of people you only met a month or two ago and perform/speak on a subject that is also new to you.

Some highlights (for me):

• Machelle's song and info on hobo life. I loved the song, and that she took the time to find it, make up music for it, and have the courage to sing it. The background info and the bits from her grandfather's memoirs were really informative and gave me a much better sense of what that life was like. I didn't know much about the hobo life beforehand, and I learned a lot of great stuff here.
  
• The two food events were good (and tasty!). Both groups provided some cool and useful background information, but in both cases the connections between the food and the music were perhaps a little more tenuous than optimal.
  
• Joe's connections from Africa through blues to rap was really cool. My main recommendation here would be to have the courage of your convictions. I think Joe had a great idea and pulled together some excellent evidence, but hedged a lot in his presentation when I think he could have been firmer. The kazoo performance was very cool, but he again he lost his nerve and stopped when (I think) he should have kept rocking! I also thought that he could have done more (gone longer) with the idea of doing beats over Muddy Waters - it was a cool idea and had a lot of potential, but he cut it off almost immediately so we never got a feel for what he was doing. I forgot to ask what he learned from working up that kazoo part. Joe?
• Megan's "Wade in the water" and (especially) the discussion that followed. It would have been cool to have sung some of the verses that were more specifically coding messages, however.
• Tyler's performance of the Skip James tune. It was neat seeing/hearing about him learning some new guitar styles and learning some things about tunings and styles.
  

One general comment I'd make is that there is a certain leaning towards things that resemble book reports more than performances, and I'm really much more interested in performance. One way to think about it is whether you'd ever do that for people outside of the course. You're almost certainly not going to read a report outside of class, but you might perform a song or read a poem. One thing I'm trying to get at here is a sense of the way that the people we're listening to/reading about approached the music as performers and not just consumers. They certainly didn't write book reports about the music - they sang it; we should try to do the same.

Keep up the good work!

Reminder: Class tomorrow is in the library!

A reminder that tomorrow's class is in the computer lab on the third floor of the library instead of our regular classroom. We will meet in the library, so head straight there. I happily see that several of you have posted a flurry of ideas on the song you might do your report on. Bring questions you have about information you might need and how you might find it -- the library staff are there to help!

Taking notes in class

Reading through the blog posts and thinking about a conversation I had after the noon class today, I'd like people to (re)consider whether you're taking notes in class. So far most people are clearly not doing so (they don't even have paper out), which is fine if that's what works for you. But it's also clear that, for example, the people that did take notes in anticipation of writing discussion summaries got quite a bit more detail and depth out of the discussion in part because of their notes.

I've also had conversations with a few people that haven't been speaking up much in class, and a common thread was "By the time there's some space in the conversation, I forget what I was going to say". Taking some (brief) notes on questions/comments/ideas you'd like to share can help ensure that you're ready with an idea when there is some dead space (which always happens now and then) and it tends to make you look more organized and focussed. And if you don't actually get to bring it up in class, then you can always use it as the basis for a blog post when you're next at a computer.

The lost year: The failure to rebuild

Another UMM faculty pointed out a recent article in the New Yorker entitled "The lost year: The failure to rebuild" (available on-line here). The piece is about the complex history and politics in New Orleans, and the many problems and issues in rebuilding (or not) since hurricane Katrina, and highly topical given next week's visit by Governor Blanco. The complex racial and ethnic history of the city differ quite a lot from the history of the cajuns we've been reading, but both are indicative of the incredibly rich and varied cultural rivers that are brought together in Louisiana. The article also makes painfully clear how even terrible disasters like Katrina aren't free from politics and economics, issues of skin color and class.

And even in a piece about hurricanes, both natural and political, music plays its role:

I had glimpsed that stubborn affection in October, when the first secondline since Katrina wound its way through the debris-strewn streets of Treme. The secondline is the quintessential traffic-disrupting New Orleans art form; in this case, the Black Men of Labor, a social aid and pleasure club, marched in matching yellow print shirts, with matching hat bands and parasols, while the Hot 8 Brass Band followed behind them, blasting music into the mostly vacant neighborhood.

One thing I find odd about the article (esp. given the broad range of issues it covers) is that it says nothing about the larger questions of whether we should expect more massive storms like Katrina as a result of climate change. 'Cause if the answer is "Yes" (and I've certainly not seen a convincing argument that it's "No") then that has profound implications for these issues of rebuilding, and makes the failure of FEMA and others to objectively and scientifically identify the highest risk areas particularly troublesome. (Note that I'm not suggesting that all such high risk areas be abandoned without discussion. But certainly that data is vital if good long-term plans are going to come out of those discussions, and people should understand the implications of increased storm activity for a re-built New Orleans.)

The other thing I find troubling, and this is a complex issue we're probably going to wrestle with all semester, is the assumed relationship between hardship (in this case poverty) and cultural innovation. Much (probably most) of the music we'll listen to this semester was made by people were by no means wealthy, and in many cases extremely poor. A remarkable thing, then, is this wonderfully rich and valuable music that they brought out of that experience for all of us to share. Is hardship necessary for the creation of certain kinds of great art and innovation? Do we collectively need places like the Lower Ninth Ward to create new cultural ideas? If so, are those new ideas worth that price? Who makes those judgements? The children growing up there, or reasonably comfortable folks at a distance (like us)? How do we even begin to talk about such things in a meaningful way?

'Nuff. Feel free to discuss further in the comments section of this post.