Grace's Musical Journey of 2023

  Growing up and still today, one of my dreams is to travel to a Australia because I find the cultures and the land so interesting. My Aunt lived in Australia for a few years and always tells me stories of how rich the culture is! So I started researching the topic Music and Gender and found a cool instrument from the Aboriginal tribes of Arnhem Land in Northern Australia; The Didgeridoo!  Here is a map of Arnhem Land :  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnhem_Land The Aboriginal people are Australia's first people and have lived in Australia for over 50,000 years. The Didgeridoo is a wind instrument that is played with vibrating strings. The structure of the instrument is in the form of a straight wooden trumpet and is made from hollow tree branches. The sounds the Didgeridoo produce is a drone sound with percussive rhythms! Within the Aboriginal tribes, the Didgeridoo has huge significance as the instrument is used to play in ceremonies, dances, and just for fun! The Abori...

When thinking about what I wanted to do for this assignment, I knew I wanted to research the music rituals of some cultures' weddings. I love weddings, especially when the DJ or band calls everyone to the dance floor to celebrate with the newly married couple. In general, at an American wedding, there are many musical rituals within a wedding starting with music that is played when everyone is waiting for the wedding party to walk down the aisle, chordophones being played when an individual who is getting married is walking down the aisle, music at the reception, and music is played for the first dance as a new couple. The culture I was inspired to research more about was Indian wedding music rituals. When I was little I was in love with the Cheetah Girls and the third Cheetah Girls movie was when the girl band went to India and dressed in Indian fashion and danced to Indian-style music.. and I loved it! I recently rewatched the movie and this sparked the idea to research more abou...