Who's in control anyway? Ethnomusicology day 4

"We need a champion." Well, that could be me.

"We need an islander who will champion this project."

Well that's not me. As much as I work to become an insider in the culture and a belonger, I'm not someone who's planning on being buried here. Yet.

One of those "principles of development" that everyone working on a development project needs to recognize is that the leader/instigator/main inspiration person must be (or become) a long-termer in the community. And anyone who is not planning on being buried there is not the right person. 

This week I was able to help facilitate island brothers and sisters in creating their own worship music. We walked away with three songs in the local language put to local music. They're not the best songs ever... but this is a first attempt. And if the only thing we accomplished was to show the delight of local worship music... well it's enough. Because if someone delights in it then they might catch a vision and become that champion.

I'm not in control. I can't create a champion. But I know the One who is in control and delights in the worship of all peoples. Just like it will be before the throne. And what a glorious experience that will be, right?

So, it's just one thing-- music. But I believe it's important, and I'm excited to see what may come in the future.

Do you have questions about the process of song creating? What type of music do you delight in the most? Have you sung in a foreign language? Have you ever tried your hand at songwriting?

Ethnomusicology day three

Day three we knew what we were doing. After the typical African start time "Remember everyone: 2 o'clock sharp!"... meaning 2:30 that we really got going... we sang through the completed song from the day before and then returned to the stop that we hadn't completed then. One person would start singing and another would carry the tune along. Eventually the words and melody came together, but we wanted to be sure that it would be a good song.

Music geek time: some of the songs here change meter mid-song. When the islanders did that in the middle of this song (a rendition of Revelation 4:11) it was really messing with my ability to sing the song...

So I asked "is this a good song? Will it be difficult to sing? Will lots of other people learn it easily? Can we change it so it's easier?" And to my surprise they said "this is easy! Don't worry! It will be easy to learn, we just have to work through it and be sure of the rhythm."

And then the song was completed. We got to the end and everyone was smiling. What great ideas! Wonderful words! (straight from the Book) We can sing this at home now! We recorded it on my phone and then continued on.

But starting the next song was difficult. The passage we were using was longer, some of the phrases needed to be discussed to choose the best words and express the idea well. We prayed several times and read the passage multiple times before concluding that the words were how we wanted them.

Philippians 4:6-7 is a great passage to meditate on. It's wonderful to consider how when we trust God and praise him in prayer His peace can rule in our hearts and minds. But putting this thought to music wasn't coming easily. We were tired and it was warm. The babies/children in the room were getting tired too. We pressed through and tried hard to create something. Then we prayed again. This wasn't happening easily.

And just as it was time to wrap things up and a couple of the ladies were already packing things together the melody was coming. It sounded similar to a song I'd heard (copyright isn't really a thing here) but it seemed to fit with the ideas. And tomorrow we'll continue to craft the song.

Just participating in this songwriting workshop inspires me to create songs again. I'm not necessarily gifted in crafting original songs but it's a wonderful way to express the soul and ruminate on truth.

Tomorrow will be the last day of song creating and we'll record the completed songs. Pray that as many islanders as possible come and participate in this exciting process!

Ethnomusicology Day Two

Beach view on a nearby island

Well, it's another day and I'm writing another post. Amazing eh?

Today we met with the islanders in the afternoon again. Six came-- 2 men and 4 women. We talked about the 8 steps of creating songs:

1) gather a group
2) pray and ask the Father for a new song
3) read a text from the Word
4) create the song
5) revise the song: is it the style you intended? Is it accurate to the Word?
6) polish the song and run it by multiple outside parties
7) praise the Father for the new song
8) share the song with others

And then we started! The looks of apprehension on different islander faces was somewhat comical as they had never tried to create their own music before. But they dug in and started. I was blessed to be part of the group as they worked on understanding the text and creating the song.

We looked around and said "Well, we've got our group together. Let's pray." So we prayed. "Let's read the text." So we read. We read it in French. We read it in an island dialect similar to the language spoken here. We discussed any word or conjugation changes to make. Then we looked at the list of song styles on the blackboard and chose a style to start with.

One of the ladies took the Book and started reading to herself. Then she sung under her breath. The others encouraged her and asked her to repeat it. She was shy but continued with it. Then she got stuck. One of the men suggested a change and she wasn't stuck anymore. Within 20 minutes we had the melody together and were singing it multiple times. "Do we just sing it straight through or should we repeat some? Can we add to it?" We consulted with the ethnomusicologist and continued. Each phrase was completed, then the end of a phrase was repeated at the beginning of the next. Pretty soon we were singing it multiple times through.

Then we added the drums! One lady got so excited that she forgot to pay attention to the singer and stay on beat. She was thoroughly chastised but seemed to hardly care! Then they said "bring Rafaela to listen!" They were so excited about the song that they just had to share it.

So we sang and played the song for several people and then it was time to start over. Pray, read, create, etc. What a blessing to be creating songs in the local language AND style!

Ethnomusicology Day One

Part of Clove Island from above

We've got an ethnomusicologist here on Clove Island for a week to teach us about ethnomusicology and facilitating the creation of truly local worship music. Some of you who have heard me talk about the importance of heart worship are totally tracking at this point, but for those of you who are a little confused, here's a quick explanation--

Ethnomusicology: the study of music indigenous to individual cultures.
Ethnodoxology: applied ethnomusicology-- using what we know of the indigenous music culture to create indigenous worship music.

There's this idea that music is a universal language. To borrow a quote from our visiting ethnomusicologist, "music isn't a universal language but it is a universal phenomenon." That is to say that, while two people listening to the same song may get different things out of it based on their cultural background, every culture has some form of indigenous music.

Music here is an important thing. All of the various wedding ceremonies have specific music that they use. Religious ceremonies have their own type of music. There are types of music that it seems impossible to just listen to-- you have to dance a little to it. A house near mine has lately become a music hub, blasting local tunes (or, like yesterday, just one tune repeated 20 million times) and it influences me... mostly giving me a desire to throw things in their general direction... but it impacts me. Ha. It's not my heart music, not something that I identify with emotionally except to sigh in frustration over, yet one of my English students recently identified that style of music as their favorite.

It just proves that music is not universally understood or appreciated.

In fact, during the afternoon session today, we were preparing with a few islander brothers and sisters to write some songs in the local language and style. Part of the process involved writing down as many indigenous/locally popular styles of music as possible and then discussing each to determine if they could be used to sing truth about our Creator.

And the worship wars of Clove Island began.

Actually, I'm kidding. They didn't all agree on a few of the styles and how one could adapt them for worship purposes, but nobody walked out in anger over not getting their way in the discussion. And it amazed me how many of the islanders quickly admitted that any style of music could be used for communicating Truth.

Because He's in the process of redeeming all people to Himself... how could He not redeem all music and arts?

If you're interested in listening to a sample song click here

(no promises on thoughts from days 2 and 3... it's a busy week. But maybe...)

It's a new year

Ever deal with writer's block? I have a lot of things I could share about but no fully formed ideas. But since I've neglected this space for over a month now I need to start somewhere. So here's a list of random pieces from life this last month.

1. The holiday season away from home is a whole lot easier the second time around. Thanksgiving hasn't been a big deal to me since I was blessed with 2 Thanksgivings a year during college (the benefits of being an American at a Canadian college). But Christmas last year was pretty rough. This year it was pretty good. I got to celebrate Christmas 4 times! 1) with islanders-- big party at my house. 2) with island brothers and sisters and teammates. 3) with teammates. 4) on a neighboring island with the team there. It was a really great season of remembering our Savior in the midst of a culture that doesn't observe Christmas in the slightest.

2. I have a new kitten. His name is Djimbo-- means "song" in the local language. He's really sweet and playful and a lot of fun to be around. Still working on the litter box training though. Eesh.

3. My language skills still seem to be improving. I've had several fun opportunities to speak truth to islanders and my language skills have been able to handle it. Pretty exciting! I'm stoked about that.

4. Music is a delightful thing. I'm doing an ethnographic study on music in island perspective-- in the process of learning all about the types of music here and perceptions of music. My team is also hosting an ethnomusicology seminar here next week. I'm excited to see what songs and new learning comes out of that experience.

5. Teaching is still fun. My normal classes finished up in December then we had the busyness of Christmas and celebrations. Now I'm back from a short break on a neighboring island and doing two English clubs and one review class for students who didn't pass Level 1 the first time around. 

6. I'm still tired. My vacation was restful and relaxing but on my return I jumped right back into "normal life" with very little transition time. Do pray that I can do what needs to be done this next month and rest in Him along the way. 

7. Singleness... is. And I feel like I'm constantly reminded of it. It has advantages. It has disadvantages. It sparks conversations with islanders. It sparks long journaling sessions by myself. But at the end of the day it is what it is. And I seek contentment based on Him not based on me and my circumstances. 

Basi. Finished. Done. Until next time!  

Bonus: here's a couple pictures of me with a pet lemur (not mine). His name is Fig and he wears a diaper.