Jaxon Foster's Music Blog

  I chose to look into the traditional music of Japan. Last year, I had the privilege of living in Korea and was able to visit Japan twice in one year. While I was over there, I purchased a few different vinyl records of traditional Japanese music. Listening to these records gave me an introductory view of a different culture's perspective on music. The album featured many different instruments that I was unfamiliar with. Instruments like the koto and the shamisen gave a sound that immediately made me think about Japan. The koto, for instance, is the national instrument of Japan and has been around since either the fifth or third century BCE. The instrument is often described as a type of zither. It has a long, rectangular body and typically features 13 strings stretched over movable bridges. The instrument is played by plucking the strings with picks that are secured to the hands of the musician (similar to a banjo). The instrument's sound and tone can also be adjusted by movi...

       When we think of orchestral instruments, the Bassoon might not be the first one that comes to mind. However, this woodwind instrument has a rich history that spans centuries (mid-17th century as we know the instrument today) and has played an essential role in orchestras worldwide.                                                                The Bassoon, like many other instruments, started off as a completely different instrument. This progenitor  instrument, The Dulcian is a long  wooded conical shape with two chambers inside of the instrument. There two chambers meet in the bottom where a hole was drilled which allowed it to produce a deep , bass sound. The Dulcian provided essential bass lines in early ensembles.        The Bassoon replaced the Dulcian in the earl...

Bad Habit by Steve Lacy was my favorite song of 2022. This one song got me to listen to the rest of his discography. I would now consider myself a fairly big Steve Lacy fan. Some other songs of his that I really enjoy include N side, static, and Infrunami. I remember watching the grammys that same year only for  Bad Habit to be snubbed by a song neither my friends or I had ever heard before.  The melody of this song is very smooth and repetitive. You can see this quite clearly in the chorus with the central lyric of “I wish I knew”. The melody is very relaxed, almost feeling conversational. I think the melody of this song really drew me in as a listener. It is very catchy and a borderline ear-worm that I could not get out of my head for days. The song also has a moderate tempo Which I think serves the song greatly. If the song was paced any slower or faster I believe that it would greatly affect the song in both tone and feel. This moderate tempo suits the relaxed reflective n...