Thank you to everyone who has recently started following my site (about 100 of you)! Since I returned from India , I have been busy with many tasks, including the creation of a project timeline for a digital music archive. I do plan to continue this blog at some point in the near future, however other priorities have taken precedence.
In the meantime, if you come across anything you think I might find interesting (on the web), feel free to post it below!
It feels odd to throw the word “applied” in front of ethnomusicology. That is, it seems natural enough for the implication to exist regardless of the prefix. Why is it that the applied sector needs to be separate from all-things-academic or “intellectual”…? They seem to go hand in hand – one flows out of the other, or so I’ve thought. If I were giving my own elevator speech, you know, the one-minute answer to the question, “What do you do?” I would never insert the word “applied,” even though I would definitely categorize my work that way in my head. There are too many implications to it – or maybe that’s in my head, too. Our work has an impact on the communities we study regardless of the final product. Not sure why this is on my mind today – the whole thing seems as silly as the supposed distinction between musicology and ethnomusicology.
This week’s goal: make a portrait of a stranger.
I spent this weekend playing tourist with a friend who came to town. On Sunday I took her to a Second Line, and let her have the camera (she’s thinking of buying one)… I think she did a great job! 🙂
My photographic attempt in the search for a mission statement:
from four months later…it’s been a wild ride musically, professionally, and personally…
Thanks to the several folks who have emailed me over the past few months, whether you were curious where I went, suggesting sites or recordings, asking questions about past posts, or simply saying hello and introducing yourself. As after most major expenditures of energy (such as these past months), there is a lull – it settles to the base of muladhara where the energy needs to slowly seep upward, branching into each limb…but I have a feeling that this time, it is going to take a while. It sounds shabby, but giving in to self-doubt has a way of getting under your skin regardless of how thickly you’ve built it up. I think my goal is to learn to trust myself, and not to conform to a typical way of being even if the result would be more lucrative or more validating. I need..need.. to re-ground myself into a manner of staying present, so taking a break is important so that I can take a step back, let go of anger, and attempt to nurture whatever is left so that this self-sabotaging pattern of mine dwindles away. I hope that by returning to center, the one goal of this summer, I will eventually be able to exhale. For now as long as the inhale is still happening, I’m good.
In the coming month, I’ll share several photos and experiences from thus far in 2012. Most have been utterly lovely…
Namaste –
I have been searching for hip-hop teaching resources, as well as academic journals outside of the ethno realm that an article on hip-hop would slide into. Along the way, I’ve found some pretty good resources and wanted to share. I’ll add these to my resources page as well, but if you know of any others, let me know!
Recognize! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture
The Evolution of Rap Music in the U.S. (with Lesson Plans)
