Around the World in 18 Days?

The Indonesian culture surprised me the most. It was definitely a pleasant surprise though.  
The gamelans were probably the coolest thing I've ever heard. I'm not normally a huge percussion person, but the sounds coming out of this ensemble are incredible!

I never realized that so many cultures bled into American music or vice versa. I wouldn't have ever realized that a Bollywood film would have so many similarities with a Hollywood film. I also have never really thought about how American music has such a strong link with the Western world. Obviously, I knew that we study lots of classical music but I never thought of how this music would affect the aesthetics that we as Americans enjoy. For some reason, this was the most eye opening lesson I learned.

Through this class, I have been inspired to look more into Eastern cultures, such as China, Japan, and India. The unique instruments made me really want to go on a spree of learning how to play lots of foreign instruments. It has also inspired me look more into the Celtic culture. Although none of them are directly from Ireland, my mom's side of the family still stays strong to their Irish roots and traditions and I would really enjoy taking a deeper look into what makes this culture tick.

As a whole, I really have enjoyed this class. I agree that it is very important that as musicians we should study other cultures of the world. As a music therapy student, this was also very helpful in expanding my repertoire of world music because honestly before this class it was not very large at all.

And I must say I enjoyed my journey around the world in 18 days.