Jacob Jaros's Music and Diverse Culture Blog

The Musical Culture of Poland When I first looked at the prompt for our final blog I immediately had an idea. I wanted to learn more about the musical culture of Poland. My reason being that my grandparents were raised in Poland, and growing up I have heard music and some of the polish language from them. My grandparents live far away in Michigan now, and I am not able to see them very often, so learning a bit about their musical culture makes me feel more connected to them. History The earliest evidence of Polish music dates back to the 10th century when christianity was adopted by the nation. This is evident in the earliest pieces of Polish music found, which are hymns and chants. An example of this is “Bogurodzica” meaning “The Mother of God”, which is Poland's earliest hymn and also its first national anthem. In addition to church hymns, there was also folk music that existed before chritianity came into the country. This folk music differed in location but the most popular a...

       For this blog I first chose to learn something about Korea’s musical culture. I found one type of music that is a big part of Korean culture is Shamanic music. This music is mainly used in religious and spiritual ceremonies. Shamanic music has multiple different types of instruments that accompany it. First there is always a small, flat gong with a rim. There is also a percussion instrument called the Changgo. It is an hourglass-shaped, two headed drum that is struck by your hand and mallet on the other side. Some other instruments that might be played are flutes, fiddles, reeds, and even other types of gongs and drums. Alongside the instruments being played there is a combination of simultaneous voices. Below I provided a video to show one Shamanic Ritual where this music is shown.                 I also chose to take a look at the musical culture of Japan. I specifically found a dance called Kabuki. This spec...