A Melomaniac Abroad

    Gypsies, travelers, strollers, bargees, sojourners, vagrants, tramps, thieves, whores—the Romani people have been called many names, but rarely their own. Misconceptions abound in reference to the Romani people, most of them concocted by governments and landowners that resented the Romani presence in their country. Rumors about the thievery, prostitution, witchcraft, and child abduction that the Romani supposedly committed stemmed from a resentment for these people who were able to travel through many countries free from taxes, social constructs, and governmental oversight. Through all of that, the real history and culture of the Romani people has often been overlooked and forgotten. So, who are the Romani? The Romani (sometimes referred to as Roma) are a diverse group of people spread all across the world in places like Iran, Morocco, Bulgaria, Germany, England, North and South America, and even Australia. This people group share two main things in common: their ethn...

      “ Did you play any instruments when you were younger?” I start off. It feels strange to be interviewing my dad, as if he hasn’t animatedly told me a thousand times before about his days in high school band. We sit across from one another at our kitchen table, the steam from his tea rising between us. I press record.    “Yeah, I was a percussionist in school so I played the snare drums, timpani, xylophone, triangle, cymbals, timbales, trap set, everything in percussion we played,” he begins. “They’re all similar, the only really complicated thing was the xylophone, but my main instrument was the snare drum.  One of the pieces that we played was called “Snares Traps and other Hunting Devices” and it was just a fun piece,” he says. “It was a snare drum, field drum, we had the timpani, but we used the instruments in different ways. We played on the sides, we played on the rims. I was playing timpani and a field drum, but I was actually using xylophone m...

In the lush green hills of the Appalachian mountains, hidden up winding roads and in the folds of numerous valleys, lies a culture that seems rooted in the very soil from which it sprang. This culture, known as Appalachia, consists of a rural and mountainous group of people that are  also referred to (often derisively) as hillbillies. The term hillbilly was originally of Scottish origin—hill denoting those who live in mountainous regions, and billy meaning comrade or fellow. The term has also been thought to designate the Scottish people who were ruled by William of Orange, as many of the early immigrants settling in the Appalachian mountains were originally Scotch-Irish and swore allegiance to him. These Scotch-Irish settled all along the Appalachian mountains in the early 18 th century, inhabiting the wide span on states from Southern New York all the way to Georgia and Alabama, bringing their music with them.      The journey across the Atlantic Ocean and across ...

    Society  teeters on the axis of gender. Masculinity and femininity are powerful forces that decide how cultures and societies are shaped. Lean too far in either direction and society is crippled. A human cannot function properly with a leg tied behind their back, and society cannot function when a gender is oppressed.  Voice.  Expression. Soul.      Music is identity, a voice to the voiceless, a companion in the vast and empty dark. It can tell stories and confess the darkest truths. Men have composed symphonies of struggle and concertos of courage. Manuscripts of music are filled  with love, death, and fate, the ink stained pages dripping with lofty questions and courageous deeds. And at the top they are all inscribed with the flourish of a man's name. Where are the voices of the women? Where is my voice?      Classical music is a testament to man's identity and women are told that it is the same as human identit...

   February 14th is a meaningful day for lovers all around the world. It is a time for writing love letters, gorging yourself on chocolates, and leaping over a burning flame with your significant other. Okay, perhaps I should explain... Picture from National Geographic       Across the blue depths of the Atlantic ocean, the vast sandy stretch of the Sahara desert and snuggled in between the mountains of Turkey and Azerbaijan lies Armenia—a country filled with beautiful landscapes, rich traditions, and intoxicating music. Rituals in this culture are highly important and are rooted in traditions both old and new. This particular tradition which occurs on February 13-14th is called Trndez. According to  iarmenia.org , the word Trndez roughly translates to "the Lord is with you". Trndez was originally a pagan holiday celebrating the coming of Spring and worshiping Vahagn, the god of the sun, war, and courage. Couples would leap over a burning bo...

    The cold wood floor greets my bare feet as I stumble out of bed, rubbing the last remnants of sleep from my eyes. My alarm clock rings out with the sounds of Prokofiev's "Dance of the Knights" from the ballet Romeo and Juliet. I rotely move through my morning routine before heading to school. The 45 minute drive is filled with music spanning a wide variety of genres from Pop to Celtic fiddle, Classical music to Disney, Rock to Jazz. At school I find myself in a practice room playing music for four hours a day. I go to classes that are filled with conversations and analyses about music and then drive home, again accompanied by the sounds of Spotify.       Suffice to say, my world is filled music. In truth I have never known a time in my life when music didn't permeate every facet of my existence. I was born to parents who longed to have learned an instrument when they were younger and so they made sure that all four of their children had the music lesson...