Final Project - Thesis Statement

 How does music serve society? 

When you look up, how does music serve society, the first thing you find is, at the core of our everyday experience with music, we use it to relax, express ourselves, come to terms with our emotions, and generally improve our well-being. I cannot agree more. 

In my previous blog post in 'take a musical trip' about the Alaska Native Dancers, music to them is about telling powerful and meaningful stories about subsistence harvesting and the way of living in Rural Alaska. The Alaska Native people work hard to create handmade drums in order to create music. The handmade drums are made differently depending on the culture and traditions. However, it is usually the same aspects of banging on the drum and singing in the native language. 

Alaska Native Music serves society a way of expressing each culture, community, and family. In our inupiaq music culture I know there is a lot of family dances that are passed down from generations to generations. Which means only members of your family usually learn and dance the song, it shows and tells other people where you come from and who your family is. 

The link below is the Qikiktagruk (which means, "almost an island" in inupiaq) Northern Lights Dancers in 1991. At the Festival of Native Arts in Fairbanks, Alaska. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMWMEEOGt-8

Now, believe it or not, but Martin Woods is still currently the lead drummer!

The link below is a more recent performance by the Qikiktagruk Northern Lights Dancers. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvU8scAN7uc

We need music to keep these stories and traditions going. Music is a way for cultures to express their identity. For us to join together and do what we love, which is share the music and teach each other cultural songs and dances.