Misc Trains of Thought While Listening to Fletcher Henderson
The fundamental expression of music in any society is a hybrid of singing and dancing. Clearest to see in “indigenous populations” (or whatever the PC word is these days) in which religious ceremonies involve a mixture of chant and dance accompanied by percussion. Same thing you can read in “Western Music History” books - the oldest forms of documented music is sung music, usually for religious purposes. The oldest forms of instrumental music is folk music, composed and varied for dancing. Odd difference between “Western Music” & “Indigenous Music,” though - in Indigenous Music, the singing and dancing are combined for religious celebrations, whereas in Western Music singing has a time-honored role serving religious purposes whereas dancing has always been considered “secular,” even sometimes “vulgar” (which obviously never stopped people from doing it, even back to the Victorian Age). So why this division? Is it because dancing is a close representation of the sexual act, putting it on a short-list of neatly condemnable acts by Western Christian majority? Should Christians be less afraid to celebrate sexuality as part of faith, or is this a necessary division given the patterns provided by Christian morality?
