Contra Dancing

The last class was the contra-dance which held in the Bloomington Boys&Girls Club. It was not the first time I saw people dance together for fun, but it was actually my very first time to take a part in the dance myself. And I found it really fun spontaneously and wanted to participate more of this kind of activity. What I found in the contra-dance was that participatory social event really united people together and it could help many people to enjoy their life a lot by only taking a little time. And the flow state appeared for every one in the contra-dance, which was amazing because people were not in the same level of dancing skill.

In China, people have a kind of social dance called "Guang Chang Wu", which can be translated to "Square Dance". The square dance means that people, usually older than 40, come together after dinner and dance as a large group. This kind of dance does not directly offer interconnection for those dancer, but the cooperation as a group and the connection after the dance. Usually, this kind of dance will happen with some Chinese pop-music in great volume. In fact, it is a good way for old people to exercise and hang out in the social place. However, the phenomenon is the same as in the contra-dance, which the participator will enjoy the time and make social connection. On the one hand, in contra-dance, I almost know every one and make connection because I dance with them. On the other hand, people in China talk about their life, family and work and share their stories  after the "Guang Chang Wu". The difference is the value, but the similarity is the result. People want to enjoy the dance with people in their community through contra-dance as people want to exercise to keep health in the square dance. I find that the form of social events like contra-dance and square dance should base on the culture formation. In fact, it is hard to let 100 people in China to dance with every one in a group with quick music. At the same time, it is hard to call 100 people out as a group to dance in regular schedule.

One thing I found was that actually participatory social activities can combine with other form of activities and made influence even more. The contra-dance was a perfect exam because I found the presentational music and cooperative teaching really made the events more creative and amused. Musicians prepared great music which helped people dance better. And the cooperative teaching encouraged greenhorns to participate. All those thing happened together helped to create better flow state. 

I am planning to go back to the club and have a contra-dance with anyone in the community who love the activity. Those people who danced with me at that night really changed my thought about community dancing and social activities. I enjoyed a lot especially with a old lady whose name was Mary. She taught me a lot about the dancing skill and she encouraged me to participate. It was surprised to see a old lady being patient with a 19 year old asian boy who had never danced before. While she was dancing with me, she told me a lot about the great moment here in the community. I appreciated to her sharing and the teaching. So, I hope to dance with Mary and many other people in the club for next time.

Consequently, I would invite my Chinese friends and other international students to come to the contra-dance and have a same experience. The release and happiness from the dance will help a lot for people who have a stressed life. If more people can join this kind of social event, they will be able to feel and rethink about the social relationship in their societies. Once they notice the possibility to reshape the social environment they live, the better life  could be created by culture cohort with people who can be unified together. This is essential in both developed and developing world, since the modern society separate people's life and the connections between the people around us are supposed to be strengthened immediately. 

An amazing day in the Farmers Market

Farmers Market

This was not the first time I went to a farmers market, but it was the first time I enjoyed watching people related to so many activities in the market. In fact, farmers market is a common phenomenon in China because the population of Chinese farmers is large. More than 300 million people living in rural area in China support their lives either by selling fresh farm products or by working in cosmopolitan area. So, people in China do not go to supermarkets to buy fresh vegetables, meats, or even milk. Instead, they will go to a place called “Cai Shi Chang” in Chinese, which has the basic functions as farmers market in the United States. However, I saw many things like live music play, political activists, crafters’ amazing products, which are impossible to be found in “Cai Shi Chang”.

What surprised me was the participatory atmosphere in the farmers market. Although the rainy, cold, and humid weather conditions stopped most people just in front of their doors, a large number of people among Bloomington community showed up on 401 N Morton Street. The bustling market was full of people who wanted to purchase the fresh apples, tasted original maple syrup, selected unique crafts made by hands, listened music play, and enjoyed weekends with their families waking around the market. As one of the farmer addressed, “People just want to come and spend time here, it almost becomes a kind of habit”. It was actually the way same as the participatory music. Every one wanted to join in the market and the seller & consumer relationship was not necessary while people were just having fun here.

Family participation was actually an important part in the market. Parents bought products in the market while their children played together near the fountain. In fact, these families did not participate in the market like they usually spent time in parks or somewhere like that. They actually had fun playing when musicians were playing the music. On the map you can see the icons of kids and adults were almost everywhere in the market. The music was originally in presentational form. Then the music provided those families an atmosphere to participate in. They did not sing or play music. Instead, they danced and saw their family members smiling. When I passed by them and took pictures for them, they did not even notice my existence, which showed a high level of flow situation we introduced from the textbook. They combined in the market and music so much that the noise and tiredness were not able to disrupt them.

In the other hand, though the frame was almost the same for every one, people still did things depended on their different intensions. For example, as I mentioned before, we had people who made crafts and who did political activities there. Every one has their own identity and actually they defined themselves as different roles in the farmers market. My job was to interview and observe people and I was a role of IUB students, while some people had a place to send the idea that people should not eat animals. Those animal protection activities used their identity to spread their belief. At the same time, a group of people set up a table for publicizing the democrats. These people were actually not supposed to be seen in a farmers market, but they still come and join in as a part of the market. Beside those political participations, those crafters showed on the right of the maps talked about how they enjoyed the market with us. A crafter addressed that they wanted to come to the market and they knew lots of people in the community through the market. Actually, the crater’s kid played with other kids from farmers or local families. The same as this crafter, many people in the market did not expect just for earning money, but for participating in the community.

When people share some identities with others, those individuals may start to emphasize their common parts of their identities. Among the society, we see a lot of phenomenon similar to the farmers markets. Even a man like me who possess a different culture could enjoy a lot for this event in the community. The sigh-object term in the aspect of music can be similar to the participatory aspect of farmers market. The market itself should be the sign that interpret a number of objects that represent different identity from people. For example, those political activists use the market as a stage to directly present their ideas. Also, people join the market both in participatory way and presentational way, which are almost the same as the way in music. Families could be a great instance for the participatory way while those farmers and crafters are coming in the market in presentational way.

All those things come together and help people not only have fun on the weekend, but also make the social bonding stronger. This kind of farmers market is a good idea which is valuable for me to tell people in China to have a try. If Chinese people can make this happened in city, social efficiency and community identity will boost a lot for the whole society, and for all human being in the world.

The Punks are alright!

The Punks are alright!

As a student from a developing country, I was so surprised that punk music made a lot influences in Brazil and Indonesia, especially through young generation. Actually people in China did not have a specific era of punk music because of the culture restriction made by the government. This was the first time I considered the youth cultures in developing countries are actually different in the format, but same in the goal . I always believed that people in Brazil or in Indonesia mostly lived in a same condition that Chines did. However, the poverty and danger in those societies could be shock for people in either western world and in the third world. It is really hard for people like me, who live in cosmopolitan area, to imagine the real situation from news or pictures by social media. However, from “The Punks are alright!”, I felt the way which young people in both Brazil and Indonesia thought about their societies. It could be different in the way Chinese youth thought. Nevertheless, it was the same goal for young Chinese, Indonesians, and Brazilians to express themselves. 

First of all, punk music and those punk musicians showed a sigh of resistance to the society, but still tried to make change of it. They disagreed with the old generation of people and the current situation of the society. In Indonesia, Jerinx argued that the country was actually a “Middle country” which it tried hard to study the western world but still struggled in the tradition. He completely disagreed with the government because of the reality that Indonesians were poor and less educated. Young people liked Jarinx and Dolly in the movie could have a hard time finding a job to survive. Those young people loved the Punks and joined this form of music almost every week if they did not need to work. It was basically a great way for youth to debate and consider about the changes of the place they lived and defined their true identity. 

At the same time, in Brazil, young people not only suffered from the bad economy, but also were threatened by dangers like drugs, guns, and violence. It was remarkable for Henrike as a punk musician to help those children to be able to study in a school except walking around the dangerous streets. This example exemplified the possibilities for Punk Music to help young generation to solve problems in their society, though I used to consider that Punk Music was only a kind of way young people expressed their angers and oppositions to the society.

Second, in this movie, the connections between the Blind Pigs and young people around the world who loved their music reminded me about the potential of people in different culture can actually relate their lives together through music. As Henrike valued “Border doesn’t exist in Punks”, even a 22 years old young people in a place 9000 miles away from the United States appreciated the music for bringing him a thinking of his life. The Brazil boy Mauro said that Punks really touched the young people’s heart, which meant that people should participate in the music to see the real emotions from young people, instead of simply judging it by what they heard and saw. As an Asian, I could feel the difficulty for developing countries like Indonesia to choose a way to develop. In fact, Chinese youth used to start a music revolution in late 1980, which Rocks Music played a role similar to Punks Music in the movie. Although the actual life in China could be complete different at that time, almost every developing country may have a same period of time when social issues and culture identity crash together, which makes people to find a way to express their ideas. I understood those musicians when I remembered the time I played hip-hop music to explain my beliefs to my parents, while they were driving me to school. It was an easy way to express my puzzlement about the world I lived. Actually, I make connection to those artists in the movie, regarding the way I use music and remembering the generation in my country who shared the same value of music.

Then, a significant point from the movie was that the contributions from developing countries to the global world could effect both in good ways and in bad ways for themselves. Dolly’s life in Indonesia really alerted people in developed world that globalization could hurt people. When we consider the western way to be the best way for developing countries to build their economy, diverse culture, and even politics, people usually consider only one side --- how developing countries westernize. However, as I usually debate, I think about the importance of connections and interactions. For instance, when I bought a macbook from apple store, it actually contained distributions from many countries in the world. The fact was that the most parts of my laptop were produced in the third world countries like Vietnam or Indonesia. My decision of buying a macbook influenced their life. However, it did not mean that we made those people’s life better. The economy was not good there. Low price labors in these countries usually do not have the good working condition and salary as labors in western world have. Unfairness and injustice  were there for a long time and are still there now. As a result, we should start to think about what we do in our daily life can actually change people’s destiny in somewhere in the world. I grew up in a peaceful place where the economy grew even faster than me, whereas those young people in the movie did not.  Fortunately, more and more people start to care about people in third world and reconsider the daily choices they make which can make influences. 

Basically, music can be shared easily than any other forms of communications. So, this kind of form of communication can take advantages in making connection between people in different background of culture. The main reason is that the same value can be found through music. No matter young generation or old generation, the ways they reflect the world are exactly how they shape their values. As a result, it is no strange that music can connect people who live in totally different world like Dolly and the Blind Pigs. In addition, music plays a much more important role than ever before in the globalization progress. 

The Punks are alright. And the world will be alright, too. 

Four Fields of Music

Four Fields of Music

It is quite different from China to the United States about the idea of the four fields of music. In the class, we found that American people prefer presentational music and high fidelity rather than participatory music and studio audio art. However, in China, there should be a little different. In China's rural area, participatory music and studio audio art are popular and welcomed. However, in contrast, people in urban area(cosmopolitan city) absolutely select presentational music as their first choice. And high fidelity music actually has little impact in China's music social environment. Few groups of people who us hi-fi equipment such as professional headphones, amplifiers, home theater and etc. will like to listen hi-fi music. Actually, in China's CD store, there are few hi-fi music which are sold, unless those famous pop singers' live DVD.

For me, I enjoyed hi-fi music the most and then I like to listen studio audio art. So, I am a person who  does not really go to participate in a music or go for a live. However, those live musics are so strong with emotion and experience that I just don't want to miss it. Then I actually buy those presentational music in hi-fi format. The second reason why I prefer to stay at home, use my headphone and listen musics is that I can always focus on the content of the music I am listening without being interrupted. And the most important reason is that I love movie musics in original sound format, which usually are composed in computers, in the field of studio audio art.





As I mentioned in the class, farmers in China's rural area are passionate in participatory music, not only because of the low level of music ability requirement, but also of the need for encouraging their labor working. People in China's rural area were extremely poor in at least the past 40-50 years. So, they did not have CD player and never had chance to go to a concert. However, they were smart enough to create songs for themselves, using the simplest tune and stories from their daily life as lyrics.

I can not actually find any videos in Youtube to show the example of farmers in China's rural area. But I used to watch an American movie which included a short part of music sang by labors. This part of music is similar in the way they perform (Singing as they are working) to the participatory music in China's rural area.

"Look Down" From Les Miserables

In the contrary, people in China who sing like this are usually happy and energetic, since they are gaining power from singing songs created by themselves. Those musics usually use onomatopoeias to  show the working environment. Sounds like "Sha-sha-sha-sha", "Bong-bong-bong", and "Ei-yo-Ei-yo" can easily be found from their music. I myself used to live in countryside with my grandparents for a summer when they brought me to the orchard we owned. I helped the worker there and learned the songs they sang. It was so powerful when people sing the song, forgetting the level of music ability or whether it sounds good or bad. The core of participatory is exactly the participation.








Presentational music is a kind of field which are strictly prepared. Usually, live is a kind of typical presentational music, since the musicians need to rehearsed it so many times and everything is arranged. Although, sometimes people may react different in a live, the presentational music is still enjoyed by people who want to see the talent of musicians. Basically, presentational music can be mixed with participatory movement, which makes presentational music much more fun and cheerful. As the audiences expect for the music shows, they may sometimes want to put their emotion with it and join the shows indirectly.

The video I choose to illustrate is from one of my favorite music events, which takes place only once a year --- the New Year Concert in Vienna. In this music in 1987, my favorite conductor Herbert Von Karajan, who is one of the most renowned conductor in the world, conducted a wonderful concert. The audiences in this year had a unforgettable memory of this event. This is the only one time Karajan conducted the music in this event and actually he contributed a habit in this concert which is still used now.

Radetzky March conducted by Herbert Von Karajan

Vienna New Year's Concert in 1987

As you may notice, audiences applauded without being asked. They automatically joined the music by clapping their hands. Why they did this? Because this music was a masterpiece of participational music in classical genre. The audiences enjoyed so much that they could not help to clap and explain their cheerful emotions. And Karajan finally conducted the people with the symphony orchestra in a perfect way, which the audiences do it every Vienna New Year's Concert after 1987.








High Fidelity music (Hi-Fi music) means that the recording of this music is based on a live. It is not necessary to be a live show, but it should absolutely be recorded in a live environment. Hi-Fi music can be recorded in so many places. We usually find classical music in Hi-Fi fields because people search for the feeling of listening the classical instruments they love. Also, we will find musicians who sell their music played in a live show, since they can probably create the feeling of standing in front of the musicians and listening to the music in a live show.

When this kind of music is pretty popular in United States and European, it actually starts to be popular in east Asia. Japanese loves Hi-Fi music the most in Asia, then the Korean. Chinese people usually prefer to go to the live show themselves rather than buy a CD or DVD for the live show.

Personally, I hear a lot of Hi-Fi music because I am a fan of classical music and jazz music. These music can be recorded in a very good quality due to the advanced technology the music industry has developed. When listening to Hi-Fi music, I always imagine that I am just in the place the music is recorded. As a good example, the music "A sky full of star" from Coldplay's new album can explain my feeling through listening Hi-Fi music.

"A Sky Full Of Star" from Coldplay

I bought this album and the audio studio version of this song is good. However, I prefer to hear this song in the version in this video. Because I can imagine that I am just following Chris Martin, the singer, jumping and singing as those people in the video. I can clearly make the connection between the music I hear and the live performance in iconic way.






It seems like audio studio art is less interactive with people in real-time performance. However, there are many musics which are hard to be performed can be easily composed using the computer. Sometimes those musics sounds impossible for a man to play are actually created by computer technology. In this kind of performance, the purpose and meaning of the music can be the clearest among the four fields, since the composers can put their relative expression directly to the music, no matter what they want to present. The topics related to audio studio music usually abstract because in most of time this kind of music is aimed to make money.

Nevertheless, some of audio studio arts can still precisely explain their intentions by putting it into a specific frame. For instance, movie music can actually express its meaning since it strongly connect itself to the background of a music. Even sometimes a specific piece of movie music become the index of a part of a movie. Those two videos can be great exemplification. They were both create in electronic method.(But the sound of instruments were collected from real-time performance)

Main Theme of Star Wars Series

"Breadcrumbs" from Skyfall of James Bond series

Follow me

The very first time I heard this music, I was deeply attracted. At the same time, an emotion inside my heart showed again. I prefer to call this kind of emotion as Id. Id is actually a psychological word described a kind of psychic apparatus. In general idea, id means the basic desire and instinct from human nature. For me, I will put the element of adventure to it, which means that I define the id as the basically adventurous essentiality inside my body. So, the song "Follow me" from a Japanese animation movie suddenly changed my emotion from the original way  to the Id way I think of my life. The completely new idea of Id should be the ultimate object I connected from the beginning sigh of this song.

As I said in the song print, I am definitely an adventurous people who value a life with various challenges. However, during my childhood, I used to consider myself never to be a risk taker in any kind of situation. I was really conservative when I faced new things. In fact, taking the IFS class here is just one thing that I could not imagine at that time. Within this kind of frame,  I found that this song actually contains all the three kinds of signs --- icon, index, and symbol, in a way Peirce named "semiotic chaining processes" in our textbook.

The song is a vocal-based music which talks about an abstract willing. However, the melody of this song is clear enough for me to be an icon to refer to those songs with great sadness. When I felt the sadness through the music style,  I also felt a loss of something through the music. Then I looked at the lyrics and tried to find out what this song talks about. I prefer to call it a poetry rather than a lyrics. The symbol of this song, the lyrics, shows some sentences which resonates many emotions in my heart. The Japanese woman singer sings "Follow me to a distant land this mountain high, Where all the music that we always kept inside will fill the sky". This sentence directly explain the feeling of being alone and also reminds me the dream in my childhood ---- go for adventure and find the unique view of the world that others have never seen before. Actually, this part of lyrics describe the wish I concealed deeply in my mind for a long time. As I remember the wish in my heart, I immediately recognize the the time when I talk my dream of adventure with my friends.

This song, in those ways (iconic, indexical, symbol), not only interprets the meaningful sadness that I forget something important from my true identity, but also demonstrates the strong emotion that I wish I could keep my adventure. This two emotions are all from the "Self Ocean". The point is that I want exactly the emotion of being adventurous to be my identity. And the finally the sadness of this song make the emotion come up from the "Self Ocean". It wakes me up and call the Id of myself back to me.


The Lyrics:
Follow me to a land across the shining sea
Waiting beyond the world that we have known
Beyond the world the dream could be
And the joy we have tasted
Follow me along the road that only love can see
Rising above the fun years of the night
Into the light beyond the tears
And all the years we have wasted
Follow me to a distant land this mountain high
Where all the music that we always kept inside
will fill the sky
Singing in the silent swerve a heart is free
While the world goes on turning and turning
Turning and falling

The Songs


Waves of Gulangyu

(Video 1)

"What do you feel about this song?"

Gulangyu is a island which belongs to Xiamen in Fujian Province, my hometown.
Because of  the resemblances between Taiwan and Fujian , we value the life in Taiwan in the same way we value in Fujian. I always heard the music during my childhood when my parents usually sang the song. And my father even used this song as his mobile phone ringtone for more than 10 years.

Actually, Gulangyu was once a famous place in China. In Qing Dynasty, about 150 years ago, Gulangyu used to be a place for all the embassies of foreign countries. Many people lived in Gulangyu. Then, part of the original people in Gulangyu went to Taiwan after WWII, when the Chinese Civil War just began. The Chinese National party, also called KMT, brought millions of people from Mainland China, which included a large number of people from Fujian Province. So, when this song came out in 1981, it suddenly aroused a kind of atmosphere that people were hoping the unity between Taiwan and Main Land China. And people in Fujian missed their families and friends separated in Taiwan. Every time my parents talk about the history and become melancholy, they will sing. The reason is that Taiwan and Mainland China are still politically separated. Many people in the area of my hometown, especially the generation after 1950, can sing this song easily. They all have one kind of mixed feeling about Taiwan. Sadness, but hope at the same time.

(Picture 1)

This song still contains a part of hope itself. A part of the lyrics is the repetition of “I hope, I hope, I will see you soon, the beautiful port of Keelung (Famous port in north of Taiwan) ”. And when you hear this beautiful song without thinking of the lyrics and background, you probably feels the peace and flow of ocean. The melody is light and warm.

In my opinion, when this song came out at first, people used the symbol of this song --- the lyrics, to get to the object deep inside of their hearts --- the miss of Taiwan. Then, after few generations, young people like me makes connections between the song and the emotion of miss, using the indexical way we call in this class. We hear it from last generation of people when they talk about the stories and history of Taiwan. In fact, when you walk in Gulangyu island, you will probably have the chance to hear the waves of Gulangyu from public radio station.

Will Taiwanese embrace with people in the Mainland one day? I hope so. And all the emotions I have  can simply conclude in one sentence like the song sings "I hope, I hope, I will see you soon, the beautiful port of Keelung."




The March

(Video 2)

Although I made a statement that I am not a traditional Asian student, I am still a Chinese who had immersed the traditional culture for most part of my life. In China, many cultural things are deeply connected to the government or the Chinese Communist Party. The government did a lot of jobs in helping people define the real culture of this country. They made a great success when the huge price was also paid off --- many people were forced to leave the country if they did not agree with the government. Fortunately, I did not need to suffer this kind of life, though my parents did. However, the legacy of shaping the culture from the government impacts on every Chinese students after 1980.

In this kind of atmosphere, the March was definitely an unique and remarkable master piece in China's music history. To me, the first time I listened this song was in kindergarten. Then I kept listening it everyday unless I was in holiday, which meant that I was not in school. Even now, I can still listen it every day morning during sometimes between 7 am to 8 am in my home, since there is exactly a primary school 100 meters away from my home.

Why I need to listen this music so many times? I don't know actually. However, I do know what I should do when I hear the music just like people hear the air defense warning. I will do my morning exercise when I hear the music. This song was first used for holding a international Ping Pong game in 1981 in Beijing. And the government asked the department of publicity to make this song familiar to all citizens in this country. After that, the communist party realized that people liked this songs and its tuning could activate people. So they once again asked the department of education to use this song in all schools in the nation. The leaders of the government believed that this song can also make people more united with each other.

(Picture 2)

Teachers did not tell me about the March and I finally found out myself. They just told us to go out from the classroom and walked to the sports ground when we heard the march. And we had no choice but did what the teachers said. (Seriously, what you can expect for a kindergarten kid about politics view or critical thinking?)

There are many songs in China, which people all listen to. I grow up in a culture rooted by these kind of songs. They influence my daily life and I have already got used to them. The March will continue to do its duty for a long time. As an indexical sign here for most people, it does not necessary need any language for definition. However, the very future generation of this century in China probably will consider whether the song is worth to be an indexical sign. And maybe the result is that they will prefer the song to be an icon of those music their parents or grandparents listen rather than just follow the "instruction" to go for a morning exercise.