Oh, I see! moments
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24

Nov

Culture Smart: The Musical Scale Across Cultures

by Your friends at OIC on November 24, 2013

Children learning to play the violin, symbolizing the different musical scales across cultures

Learning to play different styles of music

Tonal Patterns and Changing Intervals

When you first learn to play an instrument, the first series of notes taught is called a scale. A scale is a series of ascending pitches, usually ending on the octave, the same note, at a higher pitch. Music from different cultures uses different intervals between the notes of an octave.

If you’ve seen The Sound of Music, you know the Western music major scale: do, re, mi, fa, so la, ti, do. It consists of 7 unique notes, with the 8th note being the octave. Listen to a C Major Scale:

 

In the Middle East, the scale is also 7 unique pitches plus the octave, but it differs by several notes from the Western scale. A common song using the Middle Eastern scale is Hava Nagila. Listen to a C Middle Eastern scale:

 

Unlike the other two, the Chinese scale has only 5 pitches. Most Chinese folk tunes can be played using just the black keys on the keyboard. Listen to a C Chinese Scale:

 

Starting on C, the middle key of the piano, typically called Middle C, this chart shows the actual notes played on each scale:

Music-Chart-2

There are several theories on why different musical scales were devised in different cultures. One is that scales are derived from the sounds made by the language spoken and the tonality of pronunciation. Another has to do with religion and superstition determining the number of notes (5 being lucky in Asian culture and 7 in Greek) and the intervals.

Hear music from all over the world at the World Music Network.

Comment on this post below.

 Image © iStockphoto
 

China/Cultural Diversity/Middle East/The World's Music

23

Nov

Aha Moment Maker: Julia Child Flubs the Flip

by Your friends at OIC on November 23, 2013

Female chef illustrating Julia Child's on-air accident, an opportunity for readers to have their own aha moment

BOSTON, 1963—On an episode of “The French Chef,” Julia Child spoke to the fact that flipping food items in a pan requires courage in one’s convictions. She set the stage perfectly for what would happen next.

That day, she was demonstrating a lesson in how to make potato pancakes. Just as she was deftly performing the outward-and-back motion necessary to flip a pancake, clumps of the potato mixture missed the pan and plopped onto the counter.

Unfazed, Julia acknowledged, “Oh, that didn’t go very well” and calmly scooped the wayward bits back into the pan. Then she pointed out to her viewing audience that they cook alone in their kitchens and nobody would be the wiser if something like this occurred.

And so it was that some of her potato pancake famously flipped out, but the real lesson demonstrated that day may be that Julia Child herself did not.

What’s the aha moment you see?

 

 Image © iStockphoto
 

Your Own Aha Moments

21

Nov

C is for Cyclops, S is for Sicily

by Sheron Long on November 21, 2013

Cyclops' face on a boat in Aci Trezza, Sicily, recalls the country's Greek cultural heritage. Image © Robert Long.

Cyclops on board! Sicily’s Greek heritage stares you in the face from a boat in Aci Trezza.
© Robert Long

Stories Speak of Cultural Heritage

Under the watchful eye of my high school English teacher, I learned about the 10-year voyage of Odysseus (aka Ulysses) and his encounter with the cyclops, never imagining that I would one day see evidence of their fight.

Yet, here I am on the Cyclops Riviera where the encounter occurred. Before my eyes, stories—old and new—engage me in the cultural heritage of Sicily.

A Story of Old: Odysseus Meets the Cyclops

In the Odyssey, the great epic poem often attributed to the blind poet Homer, Odysseus sails home after his clever idea for the Trojan Horse won Greece a victory over Troy.

Along the way, Odysseus stops at an island where one-eyed giants known as cyclops tend their sheep. He and his crew, laden with gifts of wine, find the cave of the cyclops Polyphemus. They make themselves at home, lighting a fire inside the cave and stealing the cyclops’ cheese and lamb. Not a good idea.

Sheep grazing in Sicily, part of the island's cultural heritage

Sicilian sheep still graze in the shadow of
Mount Etna, an active volcano.
© iStock/Domenico Pellegriti

When Polyphemus returns with his sheep, he isn’t too hospitable. He traps the Greeks inside the cave and proceeds to have a couple of ’em for dinner.

He has two more Greeks the next day for breakfast, and Odysseus has an “Oh, I see” moment. He better do something fast!

So, when Polyphemus leaves for the day with his flock, Odysseus fashions a spear from an olive branch. That night, he sees to it that Polyphemus overindulges in the sweet wine and falls into a drunken state. That’s when Odysseus hardens the point of his spear in the fire, rams it into the cyclops’ one big eye, and blinds him.

Though injured and blind, Polyphemus does what a shepherd has to do. In the morning, he takes his sheep out to graze, feeling their fleece as each exits the cave, and blocking the opening with a boulder to keep the Greeks inside.

Only problem is that the cyclops has an “Oh, I don’t see” moment—the Greeks have tied themselves to the undersides of the sheep, and they escape.

As the Greeks set sail, Odysseus taunts the cyclops. In a fit of rage, Polyphemus tears rocks from the mountainside and hurls them into the sea, hoping to sink their ship. The Greeks get away, but the rocks are still there today.

Rocks off the eastern coast of Sicily, part of Greek mythology from Homer's Odyssey and thrown by the cyclops to stop Odysseus, figure in the cultural heritage of Sicily. Image © Sheron Long.

In Greek mythology, the rocks, now known as I Faraglioni off the eastern coast of Sicily,
were thrown into the sea by the cyclops trying to stop the escape of Odysseus and his crew.
© Sheron Long

Is it only a story? Who knows, but it’s been around in oral form since the 12th Century BCE. It’s part of Sicily’s cultural heritage that includes not only the Greeks but (among others) the Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spanish, and finally the Italians once Garibaldi unified Italy in 1861.

Due to its geographic position, Sicily has built up layers of history from different cultures, and the evidence is everywhere. For the  Sicilians, settling on an identity is not always easy. I ask one woman if she identifies now with Italy. The answer? “Only once every four years when Italy plays in the World Cup.”

A Story of New: Boy Meets Girl

Every day that goes by, new layers of history are added, both cultural and personal. Today I get to look into the past and the future. Gazing seaward, I see rocks supposedly thrown by the cyclops about 3000 years ago; looking into the plaza, I see future stories, steeped in Sicilian culture, unfolding.

A couple just married pauses there to document this historic day in their personal story. They begin a new chapter in their lives, drawing on their more contemporary cultural heritage.

Couple posing for a wedding picture in a Sicilian plaza and following traditions that are part of the Sicilian cultural heritage. Image © Sheron Long.

A picture-perfect wedding picture in a centuries-old Sicilian plaza
© Sheron Long

Couple standing in a Sicilian plaza after a wedding that reflected their cultural heritage. Image © Sheron Long.

A couple stands where other couples have stood across centuries
to celebrate an important chapter in their personal stories.
© Sheron Long

Bride walking without shoes, following a ceremony that reflected the cultural heritage of her life in Sicily. Image © Sheron Long.

Walking into the future—what stories will the bride and groom write together?
© Sheron Long

Like Odysseus, they are about to set sail, hopefully for more than the ten years that comprised his voyage and surely full of “Oh, I see” and “Oh, I don’t see” moments—the kind of moments that always make for a good story. Buon viaggio!

Newly-married couple pose by a traditional Sicilian boat reflective of the island's cultural heritage. Image © Sheron Long

May the voyage be long and happy filled with Sicilian traditions, like this boat!
© Sheron Long

The Italian government tourism office offers travel videos and information on Sicily. For maps of Sicily showing its vulnerable geographic position, visit World Atlas.

Visit the Ancient History Encyclopedia  for more on the Greek rule of Sicily (8th–3rd Century BCE). 

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

 

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Italy/Literary World

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