Viva la Musica

Hey y'all.

Exciting news!  As some of you (well, probably all of you, unless there are some creepers following my blog) know, I am a musician and one of the things I'd really been hoping to do in Peru was to conocer local musicians and their music.  I am delighted to tell you that this is actually happening!   I actually have a few new musical projects just beginning.  Here's one of them:

Son Tumbao:
A few weeks ago, my Spanish teacher, Reyner, introduced me to a local salsa/jazz/rock/fusion/other group called Son Tumbao.  After something of a casual try-out, they invited me to come back to rehearse with them.  At home in the U.S., I've had many opportunities to play with people from other countries, but never had I rehearsed with a group who didn't speak English.  I was eager to test out the well-worn saying that music is a "universal language."

It was only a matter of minutes before we were all playing together.  (The band consists of: Jesus vocals/conga/drums, Ismael on guitar, and Jazz on bass.) It was so refreshing to be playing with a band for the first time in several weeks.  I've now been to a few rehearsals, and I'm looking forward to performing with Son Tumbao at some local venues in Urubamba.  It's so exciting to be engaging in a new type of cultural immersion!
Though my Spanish is now at a level where I can communicate pretty effectively, I soon realized that I am kind of at loss for musical vocabulary in Spanish.  This can make for a little confusion during a rehearsal, when asking/answering questions like "where are we starting?" or "major or minor?" or even "Eb?"  After a few rehearsals, I am slowly picking up the terminology.  But since there is sometimes a bit of a language barrier, listening is, for me, perhaps more important than it's ever been.  Not only do I have to memorize the unfamiliar forms (the form of a tune is the sequence of distinctly different sections) very quickly, but I also have to listen for the Latin rhythms so I can play in good taste.

During our Bridge Year orientation at Princeton, we talked about experiential learning, which happens a lot when you're getting to know a different culture.  It's a process of observation, hypothesis-forming, hypothesis-testing, and evaluation.  In other words, you notice other people doing something, and you're not sure exactly what it means, but you make a guess and then try to imitate it as best you can.  And then you reflect upon how well you did.  I think my experiences with Son Tumbao thus far embody that concept perfectly, since I learn most of the music by ear.  Which is something I'm really enjoying as well...there's something about learning everything without charts that feels authentic.

I'll keep you updated on how my progress goes with Son Tumbao.  Hopefully we'll get some sort of performance thing started in Urubamba.

That's all for now.

Peace.