Matula's Marvelous Music Blog

Polish History and Culture Poland is a country in Eastern Europe surrounded by Germany, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Its name's origin translates to, "people of the field, meadow or plain." In Polish culture,  hospitality is largely valued. During Wigilia (vee-gheel-yah or veel-lia), Poland's Christmas Eve celebration, it is customary to set an extra plate out for a stranger and invite them in for dinner should they knock on your door. Important foods in Polish culture are keilbasa, cabbage, potatoes and pierogis, among others. Keilbasa is a polish sausage, and pierogis are a dumpling like dish, typically filled with a mixture of potatoes and cheese. (My mom makes them every year for Wigilia and only Wigilia because making them from scratch is an extensive, but delicious process.) The first photo is just the filling, and the second photo is the Pierogis before we put them on the stove to fry them.  Poland's Music There is a wide variety of music from ...

 I thought it would be cool to interview my Mom, Aunt and Grandma for this assignment because it gives three different generational perspectives! I hope y'all enjoy!

While the Appalachian Mountain range is located along the east coast of the United States, Appalachian Folk music has a wide variety of cultural influences that give it it’s characteristic sound. Its musical roots can be traced all over the world, specifically to Northern England, Africa and Scotland. Thanks to English colonists settling along the east coast, many popular Appalachian Folk melodies and ballads are strikingly similar to those of Northern England. As the 13 colonies began to grow, so did the musical influences of this genre. African American music tradition introduced different harmonies, sliding tones, vocal dexterity, syncopation and even one of Appalachia's most important and iconic instruments, the banjo. In Africa, the banjo was made using gourds and animal hide. It got a bit of make over by the mountaineers and quickly became very popular amongst the genre.  In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the numbers of Irish and Scottish immigrants began to rise. Naturall...

"This is a man's world", well sort of.  Attending a historically women's college can make it easy to forget the unequal gender ratio that often occurs in higher education and in the workforce. For example, out of the 22 music education students here at Converse (both undergraduate and graduate) there are only three that are male. (Shout out to La' Pat, Santino and Ethan) In contrast, however,  71% of band directors nationally are men.  https://www.zippia.com/band-director-jobs/demographics Since I've started playing the French Horn 10 years ago, I've had seven Band Directors. Only two of them were female, and only one of them was the primary director. Even in the honor band clinics I've had the opportunity to participate in, a majority of the clinicians I've played under were male. Education isn't typically associated as a "Male dominated field" but Music Education specifically absolutely is. I wouldn't necessarily declare this a...

Over the summer, my family and I piled into my Dad's car and drove 8 hours to " The Park Chateau" in East Brunswick, New Jersey for my brother's wedding. My brother Joe and his, now wife, Shannon have been together since the 8th grade. THE 8TH GRADE. At the reception, they displayed one photo of them attending their 8th grade formal and the another from their engagement photoshoot (I know this doesn't exactly have to do with the actual music of the ceremony but I felt I had to include it)  Now, the actual morning of the ceremony was full of music. A string quartet played as guests entered the chapel. There was some friendly chatter, but everyone knew to take their seats as the first few notes of "Canon in D" started to play. That's when Shannon walked down the isle. The quartet played once more as the wedding party made their exit.    After the ceremony, we all made our way to the cocktail hour right outside the chapel and then to the reception hall....

 My name is Abby Matula, or just "Matula" since the music school now has three different Abby's enrolled.  My mom likes to tell people I've been a musician since I was two years old. While she was volunteering at church I snuck away to the chapel and made it into my own personal concert hall, singing "row row row your boat" for all the empty pews. My taste in music has since evolved.  1) A current go to song for me right now is "Resilient" by Rising Appalachia. I really like the folky feel of the music and really connect with the lyrics. The chorus is almost like an affirmation for me.  2) A song that is personally meaningful to me is "You are my Sunshine". If you ask anyone in my family they will tell you that the music gene comes from my mom's side of the family, and while there are about a billion covers of my song, my favorite is the version my dad would sing to me when I was little. Today, my Dad claims to be "tone deaf...