St. Lucia, part 4

La Rose song repertoire The songs sung at La Rose séances cover the following topics: Praise hymns of St. Rose Healing songs invoking the supernatural Playful Funeral songs meant to honor through humor Mepwi songs of teasing especially the opposite group.

CFU: Whiteboards Answer the following questions on your white boards:

Q1 Which dance step involves raising one arm high and turning around in a circle?

Q2 What is a style of violin playing which refers to a slightly separated bow stroke?

Q3 Which dance step involves galloping or skipping sideways?

Q4 Which St. Lucian society celebrates the daisy?

Guided Notes When notated, the majority of rhythms used in Kwadril music are: eighth and sixteenth notes. Unlike the European ensemble, the St. Lucian ensemble includes percussion instruments. The banjo, kwatwo, and the mandolin are mainly providing the harmony in a strumming style. Kwadril tunes encompass a greater range than those of singers’ songs, commonly with an interval of 12 th as compared to an octave.

Listening Example #3 Active Listening Gwan Won The violin’s notes seem very disjunct and almost stutter—what bowing style could this description indicate? What other two instruments are accompanying the violin?

Listening Questions #3 Gwan Won This is the final dance. During the gwan won, 2 or 3 extra ballroom dances such as a polka, idova and lakonmet are introduced. I-IV-V-I is a common chord progression found in kwadril dances.

Society’s Child St. Lucia is made up of two groups of singing societies which form important segments of the island’s social structure. La Rose—A society which celebrates St. Rose of Lima. This is a group with few rules and easy to gain membership into. Their primary color is red or pink and their symbol is the Rose. La Marguerite—A society which celebrates St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. This group has many rules and membership is very selective. Their primary color is blue or white and they celebrate the daisy.

La Rose

La Marguerite

Paper Flowers! Make your own paper flowers. Decide if you would like to belong to the La Rose or the La Marguerite society. Choose White, Red and Pink paper for La Rose and blue or white paper for La Marguerite.

How to make the flowers Select three pieces of tissue paper Fold them accordion style Place one pipe cleaner three inches from each end like this: (see board) Cut the length in half Cut the ends round Fluff up the top layer so it is straight up Fluff and separate the other layers, but not as far.

Finishing it up At the conclusion you should have two flowers.

Think, Pair, Share 1 What does kwize mean?

Think, Pair, Share 2 Name three subjects the La Rose songs cover:

Think, Pair, Share 3 What does the establishing of roles give members of the La Rose society?

What is Strategic Flexibility? A quality highly valued on St. Lucia. They typically know how to play different musical instruments, for example, and often exchange them during the course of the kwadril evening. This custom strongly relates to the St. Lucian’s greater respect for a versatile person than for one who is very knowledgeable in only one domain. Because St. Lucian’s usually must rely on their own resources to solve many of their technical problems, they greatly admire people who can do the most appropriate thing at any given time.

CFU: Strategic Flexibility Name three activities/subjects you excel at. Describe, in paragraph form, a time in the past year where you displayed strategic flexibility. For example, you may have thought of an unconventional solution to a problem or adapted to a situation gracefully whose circumstances were beyond your control.

Misguided Goats All their dances begin after a quote of the first strain of the melody. Other instruments used in Kwadril include the mandolin, sax, drum set, and maracas. Kwadril performance is refined, in other words, it is high class. St. Lucian musicians rely on the use of syncopation to improvise rhythmic variations in their playing. The celebration (fete) celebrated on august 30 th is called the feast of St. Rose of Lima. A popular accompaniment to La Rose society songs includes 4-5 drums.

Characteristic elements of the music of St. Lucia incorporating singing at some point during the performance playing syncopated rhythms constantly alternating the meters from duple to triple always including some percussion instruments

Listening Example #4 Active Listening Mwen Wive Is the first instrument a real violin or a synthesizer? Are the background vocalists harmonizing with the melody or simply speaking their response? Does the melody sound more African or European in origin? Does the rhythm sound more African or European in origin?

The Text Mwen Wive, I arrived, people, I arrived manmay-la mwen wive Ale di Wadlo, Go and tell the Wadlo, mi mwen ja wive look at me, I already arrived Mwen Wive, manmay-la mwen wive I arrived, people, I arrived E mwen wive epi I arrived with honors and rights lonne e lwa

Listening Questions #4 Mwen Wive The song text translates to “I arrived with honors and rights”. To pronounce words clearly, also known as to enunciate is vital to a successful performance. The shatwel is the lead singer who also plays the castanets.

On a small post-it write down one fact from today’s class. When you have completed this, place it in a larger category on the board: Society Songs Kwadril Music St. Lucian music, in general Do a gallery walk by row and write down two additional facts from the category you chose. CFU: Gallery walk

Exit Ticket Who is Kendel Hippolyte? What does the song text of Mwen Wive translate to? List the four characteristic elements of the music of St. Lucia: The dances promoted ___________,___________ and _________________. What country’s dance is the Kwadril based on? The quadrille, was not so much amusement, a dance master remarked, as to make oneself _____________.