Music and arts are a big part of culture in societies. Polynesian culture incorporates things like music, dance, arts and certain clothing items into important rituals, festivals and everyday life. Polynesians have crafts and hobbies that they practice on a daily basis. The news article “Polynesians” by Timothy and Susan Gall addresses these hobbies and how a lot of their art is inspired by nature. Some of these include “Woodcarving has been particularly well developed among the Maori of New Zealand” and “the designs and patterns that appeared on bark cloth or woodcarvings also appeared on the human body in the form of tattoos” (Gall 2012 & Gall 2012). They incorporated art into their everyday life and showed it on their bodies. Their clothing In the article, “Musical Instruments of Oceania” by Eric Kjellgren. “Oceanic musical instruments include the broad categories familiar in the West, such as percussion, wind and string instruments, as well as forms that are distinctive to the religion. These vary from familiar types such as drums, flutes and the Hawaiian ukulele to unusual forms such as slit gongs and bullroarers” (Kjellegren 2010). The type of music Polynesian’s create and listen to is made from different instruments that we are familiar with. For example an instrument they use is the drums. “In addition to drums with heads, Pacific people create a variety of other drum like percussion instruments, such as the water drums of the Sepik region of New Guinea and the ground drums of Hawai’i, to provide rhythmical accompaniment in a diversity of contexts” (Kjellgren 2010). They also use flute and trumpet like instruments too. “Like conch-shell trumpets, ocarinas, also called vessel flutes, are predominantly fashioned from natural objects such as the shells of coconuts or small gourds, although examples made from manufactured materials, such as ceramic, also occur” (Kjellgren 2010). In addition to all those instruments the most well known string instrument is the ukulele. “…the Hawaiian ukulele, is derived from the braguinha, a small variety of guitar introduced by Portuguese settlers that was subsequently modified to suit local musical tastes. Today, larger guitars of various forms are used by musicians throughout the Pacific” (Kjellgren 2010). All these instruments used then are also used today to create many different styles of
Jean Giddens (2013) defines culture as “a pattern of shared attitudes, beliefs, self-definitions, norms, roles, and values that can occur among those who speak a particular language, or live in a defined geographical region.” (Giddens, 2013). A person’s culture influences every aspect that person’s life. Beliefs affected by culture include how someone interacts within the family, how to raise children, the types of foods eaten, the style of clothes chosen, which religion is practiced, and the style of communication (including verbal, and body language, slang used etc.) (Giddens, 2013). In addition to these beliefs, health care practices are also affected by culture. The cause
“Art can use the power of visual image to challenge and even change popular opinions about important and universal issues. Art can be a very influential way to give a strong, direct comments and criticisms on things that have happened in society and culture.” (Rehab-Mol J, 1998, p6) Indigenous art is mostly about connecting to their land and their religious belief; however, art has different forms, especially the Indigenous contemporary art as it uses ‘modern materials in a mixed cultural context’. (Aboriginal Art Online, 2000)
The Hmong people, an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam and Laos, greatly value their culture and traditions. The film “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America” documents the seventeen year journey of the Hmong Shaman, Paja Thao and his family from the mountains of Laos to the heartland of America. This film shows the struggle of Paja Thao to maintain their 5000 year-old shamanic traditions as his children embrace the American culture. Moreover, the film shows that one of the major problems refugees like Paja Thao and his family face upon their arrival to the United States is conflict with the American medical system. Despite the dominant biomedical model of health, the film “The Split Horn” shows that
Popular instruments include clay panpipes, flutes, conch shell trumpets, and puma-skin drums”(Falconer, Kieran, and Quek 102). The music follows themes of religion, war, and profanity. Peruvians are always found dancing, whether at a festival, carnival, or just for fun. Music shows important parts of Peruvian culture. There are many types of dance in Peru.
The Hmong Culture of South Asia is a very interesting ethnic group. Between 300,000 to 600,000 Hmong live in Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. About 8 million more live in the southern provinces of China. Since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, Hmong refugees from Southeast Asia have settled in Australia, France, Canada, and the United States. The largest Hmong refugee community lives in the United States with a population of about 110,000. The U.S. Department of state has tried to spread Hmong refugees out across the country to reduce the impact on any one region. Because Hmong families tend to be large in numbers, the community grows rapidly.
Hawai'i is a land full of diverse people and ideas, starting from the Polynesians who decided to cross the ocean to settle and form the traditions practiced today by the Hawaiians. Unlike many other states, the beliefs of Hawai'i have managed to stay alive. Its unique culture is what attracts tourists most. Many people see it as a vacation spot, full of fun attractions and say, “When I go to Hawai'i I'm going to get some Hawaiian tattoos, they look so cool!” or “I'm going to buy a hula skirt, they're really pretty!” But all those hula dances and tattoos are not just for show. People do not know that there is more to it than ink or hip swaying; behind every hula skirt and every tattoo there is a story. Hawai’i’s culture consists of the significance of its dances, tattoos, and traditions that give Hawaiians their unique lifestyle.
The Polynesian peoples have a lifestyle quite different than that of any other culture, as living on an island requires a level of flexible adaptability in order to cope with such a different, sometimes difficult environment. We see the way diverse cultures build their lives around their circumstances and how they respect them in their cultural myths and stories. The Polynesian legends emphasize the physical environment that they live in. They are quite different than any other region in the world, but the beauty and individuality of the Polynesian culture is prominent as seen in their mythology.
Any discussion on music should first begin by learning about the instruments that are used by the society and are used to convey the music, as the instruments themselves are a very important part of much, though not all, of Tibetan music. Tibetans do have instruments in all of the major instrument groups of string, woodwind, brass, and percussion, though some, particularly percussion and woodwind, are more prominent than the others.
“Once in a while you find yourself in an odd situation. You get into it by degrees and in the most natural way but, when you are right in the midst of it, you are suddenly astonished and ask yourself how in the world it all came about,” Thor Heyerdahl once said and that is what happened to him. One day, he was wondering whether the Polynesians could have come from South America instead of Asia as was commonly thought by scientists then, and the next, he finds himself out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a wooden raft with five other men and a parrot trying to prove his hypothesis true. To prove that Polynesians could have originated from South America, Heyerdahl built and sailed across the Pacific Ocean on a man-made raft from South America to Polynesia.
In the essay “The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji,” the author Ellen Goodman claims that because of the influence of media, women in the Fiji islands have suffered eating disorders. As Goodman points out, before 1995, people believed their culture that big meant beautiful and bigger meant more beautiful in Fiji. And the Fijians were a reverse image of American culture. But after 1995, while American television came to the island, and it gradually entered their lives. Then the media made their belief totally changed, and they started to believe that fat is disgusting. And the Goodman shows her argument that due to the public media destroyed the culture of Fijian and caused a social issue about people were chasing to control their weight, but it also caused eating problem.
Aloha from the people of Hawaii and their culture! Have you ever wanted to visit Hawaii for fun activities, or to enjoy the amazing sights? Well, then Hawaii is a great travel destination! However, if you were to visit the islands, it would be great to learn a little about its people and culture! Luckily that’s exactly what we are going to talk about, so you can get to know the people of these magnificent islands a bit better. The culture of the native Hawaiian people is very colorful and unique because of its cuisine, hula dances, and religion.
many cultures view as an important part in their way of life. Music ranges from strictly
Throughout the semester, various styles of music and the aspects of culture associated with these styles have been analyzed. Musical elements such as dynamics, texture, form, timbre, melody, instruments, etc., have been used to thoroughly explore each kind of music from different areas of the world, with an emphasis in music from Africa, India and Indonesia. These aspects of music go far beyond just music itself. Culture also plays a huge role in music and the accompanying musical elements. Each country and culture has a different style and distinctiveness that add to what makes the music of that certain culture unique. Music in Africa may differ dramatically from music in Indonesia or India not only due to those certain elements but also due to how it is interpreted by people and what it represents for those people. In addition to this, what one may consider music in one culture may not be music to another. These differences have been made apparent in the several demonstrations that we have been exposed to in class.
Long ago, during the 14th century, instruments were used as a form of entertainment and was the primary source of money for most musicians. Instruments, like ours today, were classified into groups, depending on tone, pitch, and how they were played. There were string instruments, such as lutes, mandolins, and early forms of guitars, woodwinds, an instrument played by blowing across the top, which included flutes, pipes, and recorders. Among these instruments, percussion instruments such as drums and small bells. Although the mediums used to create such wonderful items have varied, the style and basic idea of them has barely changed. Today, different string instruments have been developed such as the violin, cello, and bass. Music: Then Woodwinds have been evolved immensely from wooden and brittle to solid and metal. Reeds, small samples of wood that musicians have to keep moist, were included in some mouthpieces, such as bassoons, oboes, and clarinets, after the medieval era. Percussion instruments have changed size and shape as time has passed. In the middle ages, most drums were made out of hollow tree trunks, and covered with the skins of water animals to create a drum head. Nowadays, shells of drums are created by bent wood and fastened with a polyester shell to form the head. Instead of strings holding the skin in place, like they did long ago, the polyester is secured with a metal ring and knobs used...
Mainly the West Africans used percussive instruments. These drums came in all sizes ranging from ten to twelve inches to ten to twelve feet. Their drums were made out of hollowed out logs and gourds with a tight skin over the hollow. They also used idiophones to make music. They used a variety of bells, castanets, gongs, and sometimes they made small xylophones or small pianos. Aerophones weren't as prevalent as the percussions or idiophones. Some explorers made small flutes, horns and trumpets from elephant tusks.