Estrella's Music Blog!

For my Music and Family blog, I decided to interview my mom. I really enjoyed hearing about her musical preferences and experiences. Especially because even though she raised me, we have very different music tastes. I grew up with her kind of music. I would hear it every day: on the way to school, when traveling, and when cleaning. I really liked the music she liked, and I still like it. However now I have my own music preferences, but it is cool to see where they came from. Interview: Me:  What's your favorite type of music?  Mom: I would say my favorite types of music are Pop and Reggaeton. Me:   Why do you like Pop and Reggaeton music?  Mom: I feel like they are both really energizing forms of music. Me:  Who are your favorite artists from those genres of music? Mom: I really like The Black Eyed Peas and Pitbull. Me: Do you have a favorite song from these genres? Why? Mom: I would say "Party of a Lifetime" which is by Pitbull, and I also like "Hit It" by the ...

  History of Gospel Music: Gospel music is a genre of Christian music. It is used to refer to songs sung by both white and African American Christians. Worship between these two groups were similar, however some differences crept in over time, so now Gospel music is more associated with African Americans and became deeply rooted within the African American church. Gospel music is comprised of hymns and other songs borrowed from oral traditions of the African American culture. Hymns were brought over by Europeans who settled in North America. During slavery, many African Americans would sing while working to combat the pain and suffering of slavery. Slaves could often hear their masters and other whites singing these hymns during the Sunday service and modified the songs into a call and response format (This gave rise to spirituals, which later influenced the development of Gospel music). While hymns were introduced in the 18 th century, the 17 th century was dominated by psal...

Gender has a very prevalent role in music these days, and it tends to be a male dominated industry. I have experienced these gender roles myself. During 7 th grade, I was a part of my school’s concert band, as well as in freshman and sophomore year of high school. Looking back on my days in band, I noticed some things about gender roles, as far as who played what instrument or who was in a certain band (Certain bands being Jazz, Orchestra, Concert, and Wind Ensemble). A typical school band/concert band is made up of three types of musical instruments: brass, woodwind and percussion. Each category is comprised of many different instruments. The brass section of the band is made up of instruments such as trumpets, trombones, tubas and occasionally the French horn. A typical band will have a lot of trumpets, which are usually supported by trombones, and only a few tubas and French horns. Woodwind instruments, in terms of concert band, include clarinets, flutes, saxophones and a f...

Christmas in Germany is a magical time of year. I lived in Germany for about 4 years, and they have many wonderful Christmas traditions that my family have implemented into our life to this day. Some popular Christmas traditions in Germany include the use of the Advent Calendar, going to Christmas Markets (my personal favorite), St. Nicholas Day, Three Kings Day, and of course, singing German Christmas songs! In Germany, I had to take a German class, where we learned all about Germany and its culture. During Christmastime, we would learn about all the different traditions and songs sung during Christmas. German Advent Calendar                                                                     German Christmas Market                    German Christmas music has a ...

           Hello! My name is Estrella Seabolt and I am currently a sophomore at Converse. I plan on majoring in biology for now as I would like to become a veterinarian in the future. At Converse, I am involved with Cru and I also compete on the Acro and Tumbling team.      I was born in Georgia, however I am from a military family so I've lived in or visited many different states and countries. I lived in Florida, Arizona, Virginia, Germany, and Belgium. In addition, I've visited Italy, France, Poland, and the Netherlands. I have one sister, 2 kitties, and 3 dogs at home. Before I came to college, I was a gymnast. I started with Mommy and Me classes at 3, and continued until the end of the summer before freshman year of college.          Because my family moved around a lot, I had to constantly change schools which wasn't good for my social life. So, music became a coping mechanism for me and helped me thro...