#western vocal classes

[nordic-language-love]

i’m so annoyed, i thought about calling in sick on tuesday bc my voice had been feeling a bit strained but bc i don’t get sick days and have to work every scheduled day this month to get my full salary i decided to push through it. my voice lasted until the end of classes and i’ve had no voice since :( so now i have to take a day off anyway (and judging by the lack of improvement, probably the rest of the week).

the most annoying part? of all my classes this week, tuesday’s were the ones i was least looking forward to. i was really really looking forward to all my other classes this week and now i don’t get to teach them. bc i pushed through the day i was dreading. ffs. i'm so annoyed

[tiim134]

TIIM: The Best Music School in South Kolkata for Aspiring Musicians

Looking for the best music school in South Kolkata? TIIM offers top-notch music education with expert instructors, personalized lessons, and a nurturing environment. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced musician, TIIM provides courses in vocals, instruments, and music theory to help you achieve your musical dreams. Enroll today and unleash your musical potential!

[ajivasanacademy]

Discover the Melodious World of Ajivasan Music and Dance Academy

When it comes to nurturing musical talents and offering a comprehensive education in various musical disciplines, Ajivasan Music and Dance Academy stands out as a premier institution in Mumbai. Established with a vision to promote the rich heritage of Indian music and dance, Ajivasan has also embraced Western music forms, creating a holistic learning environment for students. If you're seeking high-quality drum classes, an inclusive music academy in Mumbai, or engaging Western vocal classes, Ajivasan is your destination.

A Legacy of Excellence Founded by the legendary Sangeet Acharya Guru Shri Vasantrao Ajgaonkar in 1932, Ajivasan Music and Dance Academy has a rich legacy that spans over eight decades. The academy has evolved from a traditional guru-shishya parampara to a modern institution without losing its essence. With a focus on both classical and contemporary forms of music, Ajivasan provides a nurturing ground for students to explore and excel in their chosen field.

Drum Classes: Beating to Your Own Rhythm Drums are not just instruments; they are a powerful means of expression and an integral part of many music genres. At Ajivasan, drum classes are designed to cater to all levels, from beginners to advanced drummers. The curriculum covers various aspects of drumming, including:

Basics of Drumming: Understanding drum kits, stick techniques, and basic rhythms. Intermediate Techniques: Developing hand and foot coordination, learning different drumming styles, and playing along with music tracks. Advanced Skills: Mastering complex rhythms, soloing, and improvisation. Experienced instructors guide students through personalized lessons, ensuring they gain both technical skills and musicality. Whether you're aiming to play in a band, perform solo, or just enjoy drumming as a hobby, Ajivasan's drum classes provide the perfect platform to achieve your goals.

A Comprehensive Music Academy in Mumbai Ajivasan is more than just a music school; it is a vibrant community of musicians and dancers. As a leading music academy in Mumbai, Ajivasan offers a diverse range of courses that cater to different musical interests. The academy provides training in:

Indian Classical Music: Vocal and instrumental, including Hindustani and Carnatic styles. Western Classical Music: Piano, violin, and other instruments. Contemporary Music: Guitar, keyboard, and popular music styles. Dance: Classical dance forms like Bharatanatyam and Kathak, as well as contemporary dance. The academy's state-of-the-art facilities, combined with a team of highly qualified instructors, create an ideal environment for learning. Regular workshops, recitals, and masterclasses by renowned artists further enrich the educational experience.

Western Vocal Classes: Unleashing Your Singing Potential For those inclined towards Western music, Ajivasan offers specialized Western vocal classes. These classes are tailored to help students develop their vocal abilities and perform confidently across various genres, including pop, rock, jazz, and classical. The Western vocal curriculum at Ajivasan includes:

Vocal Techniques: Breathing exercises, pitch control, and vocal range expansion. Performance Skills: Stage presence, microphone techniques, and audience engagement. Music Theory: Understanding scales, harmonies, and songwriting basics. Repertoire Building: Learning and performing songs from different genres. Ajivasan’s instructors are not only skilled musicians but also experienced performers, offering students insights into both the technical and artistic aspects of singing. The academy's focus on individual attention ensures that each student progresses at their own pace, honing their unique voice.

Why Choose Ajivasan Music and Dance Academy? Choosing the right place to learn music or dance is crucial for any aspiring artist. Ajivasan Music and Dance Academy stands out for several reasons:

Experienced Faculty: The academy boasts a team of seasoned professionals who are dedicated to imparting their knowledge and passion for music and dance. Holistic Approach: Ajivasan’s curriculum is designed to foster a well-rounded musical education, balancing technical skills with creativity. State-of-the-Art Facilities: Modern classrooms, practice rooms, and performance spaces provide an optimal learning environment. Community and Networking: Being part of Ajivasan means joining a community of like-minded individuals and having opportunities to collaborate and perform. Legacy and Trust: With a history spanning over 80 years, Ajivasan has earned a reputation for excellence in music and dance education. Join the Ajivasan Family Whether you're looking to learn the drums, seeking a reputable music academy in Mumbai, or eager to enhance your singing through Western vocal classes, Ajivasan Music and Dance Academy is the place to be. The academy’s commitment to quality education and fostering a love for music and dance ensures that every student can realize their full potential.

Enrolling at Ajivasan means embarking on a journey of artistic discovery, personal growth, and musical excellence. Join the Ajivasan family today and let the rhythms of drums, the melodies of Western vocals, and the rich tradition of Indian music and dance enrich your life.

https://ajivasanmusicacademy.com/drum-classes/

[djuvlipen]

one last word on this. it is very interesting to me that it is imane khelif (an allegedly intersex algerian person with an androgynous physique) who has been chosen by radfems to give a face to the problem of sexism at the olympics and not steven van de velde, the athlete convicted of raping a child, not "valentina" petrillo, the actual transwoman competing at the female paralympics, not manizha talash, the female afghan athlete who was eliminated from the competition for wearing a cape that said "free afghan women", not vinesh phogat, the female indian athlete who was excluded from the competition because she was 100g overweight as she was about to win a gold medal (a decision that may have been politically motivated considering phogat has been very vocal and active protesting sexual violence in indian society), not the inclusion of israeli players who represent a country that commits mass rapes on palestinian women.

When you bring that up the counter-argument is always "yes but radfems are opposed to the inclusion of khelif and at the same time they denounce these other forms of sexism, we can care about multiple issues at once" except that this is absolutely not the case here, feminists have devoted much, much more time, attention and conversation to khelif than to any other people i've mentioned here, they have protested much more against khelif than against the men or in support of the women I have listed. This shows that radfems (in general) have made the choice to give a greater priority to khelif than to these other questions, and this shows that their priorities really speak to white middle class women much more than they do disabled women, woc, third world and working class women.

Because even if khelif had been a biological male identifying as a woman (which isn't the case)... none of this warrants focusing so much on her. all the other topics i've mentioned here have only been discussed from time to time at best (for van de velde and petrillo) and a couple of times before everyone decided to collectively move on at worst (for talash and phogat). Of course fair play for women is important but it shouldn't obliterate every other conversation to be had about male violence, especially male violence occuring in third world countries in large part because of western imperialism (in the cases of afghanistan, india and palestine)

[anshelsgendercrisis]

Maybe im just a naive idealist but why is it so hard for some people to believe in a two state solution or some other solution where everyone is happy, healthy, and safe? Why is the only solution the complete and utter destruction of one group or the other? Why are people so damn violent all the time?

i think bc to westerners it’s not real. it’s real enough for them to get upset about but not real enough to actually see the human beings involved. palestinians aren’t real people whose homes are being leveled, who are being starved and traumatized, who are terrified every day, they are westerners’ blorbos who are being fucked over by the narrative. israelis aren’t real people who have a plethora of different opinions about their government, from staunch support to extremely vocal opposition, who are survivors of genocide and ethnic cleansing whose trauma informs their relationship to the israeli state, who lost loved ones on october 7th or during the intifadas, they are the faceless villains fucking over the westerners’ blorbos. it’s why people don’t want to interact with actual israelis, even israeli activists who work alongside palestinians, bc that would mean humanizing them instead of turning them into an esoteric representation of The Bad Guy. it’s why they won’t listen to palestinians who have different, complicated, or challenging opinions about the war or hamas or israel, bc that would mean humanizing them instead of turning them into an esoteric representation of The Helpless Victim — a victim which only westerners can save, a victim that westerners can become and therefore live out their revolution fantasy. which is another point, i think there are people who genuinely care abt palestinians in the movement but i also think there are a disturbing amount of people who are only there to roleplay The Glorious Revolution. considering most revolutionaries are from upper middle class backgrounds bc they’re the ones who can afford it, who have the time, who aren’t more worried abt putting food on the table, it’s not surprising this is happening at ivy league colleges. and revolutions tend to be terrifying times for jews bc we’re usually blamed for why there has to be a revolution. wild to see that in real time though.

[hussyknee]

it’s rare to find a sinhalese person (online atleast) who is supportive of tamil self-determination. genuine question: among leftist circles in sri lanka, how common is such a stance?

I don't know whether I'm a reliable source to answer this question because I'm very jaded about this in general. A couple of days ago, someone on the Sri Lanka Reddit started up discourse about Maitreyi Ramakrishnan's choice to reject identifying with the country that tried to genocide her people, which I'm still chewing wire about. I'm a very isolated person with a very small social circle of like-minded leftist friends. They're mostly not SinBud and anti SinBud nonsense, but none of them are Tamil and I'm the one who really convinced them about Eelam I think. The people I learned from, who are out there doing the work of building inter-ethnic dialogue and overturning Sinhalese propaganda, might have a more hopeful view.

Thing is, there's no one "leftist" faction here because "left" doesn't mean the same thing as it does in the West. The Rajapaksas' party SLPP is socialist, a legacy of their ancestor the SLFP who was the party aligned with the USSR. They and their voters and their saffron terror acolytes (Buddhist priesthood) are all for public infrastructure they can rob blind and central government they can use to crush minorities, and build on the nationalist fervour of genocidal Sinhalese Buddhism that's served both major parties independence. There's quasi-communists, descendants of the ethnonationalist Marxist JVP that rose in opposition to the class corruption of ethnonationalist USSR-aligned socialist SLFP and enthonationalist US-aligned neoliberal UNP. They've since distanced themselves from their ethnic myopia, possibly due to suffering much of the same state terrorism as minorities via militarisation and policies like the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act. They're the most vocal about the abolition of the executive presidency, the defunding of military and police, and restructuring and executing the long-mismanaged socialist infrastructure. These are usually the working class and university students, but their base has been growing in other demographics too, since we "held our noses and voted" for the Yahapalana government in 2015 and it ended up fucking us over. But despite their sympathy with the suffering of Tamils and Muslims and favouring the devolution of power, most still cling to the idea that Sinhalese majoritarianism is a fair result of democracy.

The kind of pro-LGBT, anti-racist, feminist liberals that would pass muster with the western left otoh, are a minority of urban, English-speaking professionals. Their panacea for enthofascism is voting for the neoliberal party, whose idea of reducing corruption and increasing efficiency is privatizing everything, are against racism because it's bad for tourism, and coasts on the promise of never actively feeding ethnosupremacy, even if they won't do anything about it either. Both these groups hate each other but are equally deeply uncomfortable with if not entirely resistant to the idea that the North and East are Tamil lands colonized by the Sinhalese. Both groups are aware of the corruption and complicity of the Buddhist priesthood and are prepared to do exactly nothing about it.

What I'm trying to say is that Sinhalese Buddhist ethnosupremacy is baked in to the Sri Lankan political fabric. "Left" means jack shit when it comes to whether Tamils have rights, in much the same way that the western left agrees on everything except Palestine. It's a political no man's land everyone tries not to look at.

The fundamental problem is that Sinhalese people who know enough about 1958, 1983, or the full scope of genocide perpetrated against Tamils during the last push of the war, let alone all 26 years of it, are very much in the minority. It takes a particular education to understand that "Sri Lanka" is a post-colonial invention that took over from "Ceylon", which was nothing but a construct for the ease of British administration. As far as I know, this education is confined to activist organizations and whoever followed my sociology program. So my kind of anarchist leftism that calls the war a Tamil genocide with their whole chest and the priesthood saffron terrorists and recognises Eelam is, afaik, vanishingly small.

To be honest, I never really questioned the propaganda and narrative we've been spoon fed myself until I went to Canada when I was 23 to complete my anthro degree (became disabled and dropped out after). One thing that struck me was how racist the Sinhalese diaspora was. I was raised SinBud, my school didn't admit any non-Sinhalese, half my uncles were in the military, but these people that had left the country decades ago still hated Tamils and Muslims in a way that nobody else I knew did. I wondered whether this was what it had been like when it had all started; whether this hatred that seemed to have been preserved in amber was a true taste of what had ignited Black July. Suddenly the attitude of the Tamil diaspora towards the Sri Lankan government and Sinhalese people didn't seem so unreasonable.

Then, later in the same uni term, I went to an art exhibition of a white artist who travelled the world collecting information about their genocides and made art about them, and found a painting depicting Sri Lankan Tamils in 2008. Promptly had a meltdown. Went to the lady and told her tearfully that it was all propaganda, we didn't really hate Tamils, not even my uncles in the army hated Tamils, it was a war, the LTTE had terrorized us for my whole lifetime. Bless the woman, she didn't fight me, just let me cry at her and patted my hand and pretended to take me seriously. This made it easier for me to really think about what I knew once I'd stopped wailing and stamping. It prompted a years-long self-interrogation and fact finding that made me unearth how much brainwashing had been done to us by everyone, from our families to our school textbooks to news media. It's like the air we breathed was propaganda. And I still didn't know a fraction of what life had been like for Tamils (or Muslims) and the scope of atrocities perpetrated by the Sinhalese until I began my Society and Culture degree at the Open University when I was 30. The first year textbooks were only broadstrokes facts, but at last I found out about Gnananth Obeysekera, Prageeth Jeganathan, Stanley Thambaiya, Malithi DeAlwis. Their work on nation-making, ethnicity, historical revisionism, genocide and ethnic conflict and state terrorism...everything I should have been taught as a child. The chapters on the rapes and murders and shelling and war crimes and IDP camps were..indescribable. That was what properly radicalised me about Tamil self-sovereignty, because there's clearly no possible way the Tamil people will ever be safe and safeguarded under a Sinhalese majoritarian government.

I had to drop out of that programme too because of my health. But during the mass protests against the government in 2022, I learned even more about Tamil indigeneity, the extent of JR Jayawardena's crimes, and the persecution of Marxists and victims of the '71 and '89 insurrections. So much of the protests and their encampments were directed and galvanized by social media, that organised online and in-person lectures, teach-outs, and live discussions that anyone and everyone could attend right alongside the protests. I've never seen that kind of truly democratized, free, egalitarian civic education and discourse before. That was the very first time I saw academics, survivors, refugees and human rights activists being given a respectful platform, the masses hearing firsthand accounts from people of the North and East and witnesses of Black July. April to July 2022 was a truly golden bubble of time where I saw people finally start listening, believing, and challenging all their convictions. It was the closest we ever came to realising the hope that things could be different; that we could, as a society, understand how Sinhalese ethnosupremacy had been the black rot killing this country from the first, stop being racist Sinhala-first cunts and actually hold any of these murderers accountable.

Teach us to hope, I guess.

But I suppose it's no small thing that I learned about the Tamil resistance and struggle and taught all my friends about it. I'm sure they're informing their own circles in small ways too. These tendrils are hard to see, but they exist and grow. Especially with the fall of the Rajapaksas and their Bhaiyya contingent, more people can see ethnosupremacy for the grift that it is, and the younger generations are less defensive, more willing to listen and eager for justice and change. So I guess the answer is: not very common, but less uncommon than it used to be.

[marengogo]

UGH!-8: I Tried So Hard and Got So Far, But In The End, IT WILL NOT MATTER.

A playlist of all angsty songs made by Yoongi

[Music is a very big part of my life and I’m MOSTLY INCAPABLE of writing without music, so I just thought I'd share what I am listening to while writing this]

–🐺–🐺–🐺–

Hello my Kindred Gurls, Bois and Enbys,

Not sure how everyone is feeling, exhausted is one good guess, but I am sure there are many more emotions floating around that my tired little brain can’t even recall at the moment. For the good part of last week I was working on a post called 431 Context Not Found about some Big Blue Bird ARMY (aka 3B ARMY or even VPD …) and the way they’ve been dealing with “various things” and just as I was about to  resume writing it, I went on the Blue Bird App, and got triggered. So I decided that my 3B ARMY post can wait, and I just had to let this out real quick. As always, my opinions, my rant, my delusional ass. Okay.

Within the context of music, the second you say the word ARMY, everyone may not really know what we are truly about, but they all know who we are fans of. V1P, bl1nks, c4rats, ex0ls, etc, I learned this names because of fan wars which take place daily on the Blue Bird app. In the same way in which I quickly learned that every group has a fandom, but not every fandom has a group, at least not in the way ARMY has BTS, and vice versa. 

None of us were attracted to the boys because we saw "perfection". 

Sure, if you are a post-2017 ARMY, BTS was that group, the type of group that just kept winning and that whatever they touched turned into gold. However, the moment we all got into the fandom, we all got to properly know the boys and we all quickly found out they were far from perfect, right? 

Joonie is smart as hell but some of everyday life skills are still a conundrum for him and an obstacle within life itself. Jin gives Confidence classes, but was the one member who had to learn everything from scratch and sometimes he lets that bother him. Yoongi is literally a musical genius, a very kindhearted man with many silent emotions who is often misunderstood, and rarely understood. Hobi dance master extraordinaire, who is basically scared of anything that moves, but also quite critical of anything that doesn’t move in his life. Jimin, Jimin, jImin he is the one member who is sure to not disappoint on a stage, he owns the presence, but gets so easily lost off of it, trusting too much, but relying too little. Tae vocal range like few, just like is society knowledge, yet many a time, he knows so much, that he inadvertently ends up understanding so little. Jeon Jungkook, Golden Maknae Jeon Jungkook, the boy who can do it all, but is also very aware of what he doesn't want, whether you like it or not.

Because we as ARMY are FAR from perfect, we naturally got close to them, who also are just as imperfect. Yet, we, as Global/Western as we are, never stopped to think what it meant to value imperfection in their world, the East, which still seems to value perfection above all. And that was one of our shortsights, because we are basically citizens of the world, we try our best to include everyone’s point of you into consideration, but you know who doesn’t? Kpoppies. They are aware they stan Asian artists and also transferred themselves into the Ease mentally, so even though they value many superficial things, above all, they sometimes seem to know how to play their game better. When they agree with us that they paved the way, when they fall asleep on WEVERSE, when they do Try-Not-Laugh with us, when they stay up playing games with us, when they are not amused by us, when they scold us, when they randomly start lives … that’s not Idol behaviour. That’s Tannie's behaviour with ARMY.

So no matter how much we want to be there for them sometimes, no matter how much we understand how unfairly they are treated, by their peers, other fandoms, and the world honestly, there is one thing we really must do. WE MUST STICK TOGETHER. We must be united because in this type of rigged game, one of the ways to change the fate of the game is by numbers and realistically speaking, if we could only agree to be on a united front ARMY would have COLOSSAL NUMBERS. Now, this is the post that triggered me:

These people obviously don’t give a flying fuck of how they get to have a connection with the BillBoards. Who cares about the 7 boys who literally worked their ass to make sure that people like this 3 can just stroll on their red carpet like nothing. This, as shown by the tweet below, was an event prepared by Billboard to find the next BTS. These people are literally ALL THERE for an event that is aimed at finding someone who is better than BTS and nobody is batting an eye. They are all seeing it as an achievement … 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡.

Which is when something snapped in my tiny little pea brain.

SK Media and the Big 3 had probably somehow hoped that them going to the military would reduce their power and popularity as it has done with everyone who was ever anyone in their country to that point. YET, THERE IS BANGTAN, GOING STRONG AF. Solos thriving, Documentaries selling, Shows popping, and Accolades piling. It's like nothing has changed. But one thing didi change. The boys are now “separated” which makes them weaker and an easier target in their eyes.

Joonie - From the moment chapter 2 started my man saw no peace. ANY WORD HE UTTERED, ANY PICTURE HE POSTED he was attacked for, hate tweet after hate tweet after hate tweet. I mean … crazy. 

Jin - They tried to get him down by interfering with his Paris walk during the olympics or just getting into his WEVERSE lives and making him a martyr for a cause he didn't cause. And now he is being chosen to represent SK, after this whole SK Media debacle … it is tough. 

Yoongi - This was in my eyes a setup, but also unfortunately, served to them on a silver platter. Not really a DU1 per say but every fandom and all K-media will endeavor to keep using this against him and the band.

Hobi - The boycotting of his album unfortunately was quite the success, which is a pity because HOTS is a darn good album. And now he is about to get out in 50 days or so, and Media will be all over him; what will happen?

Jimin - They’ve always targeted his dad, from the very bitter beginning. And now it has escalated to a level that is kinda disgusting. Majority of ARMY are not going to do anything about it, because they somehow seem to be very slow to move when it comes to JM, but hey, what can I say. And let’s not forget all the attempts at ruining his promotion from all the fandoms + 1. Fuck all of y’all for real. 

Tae - Whether Tae and Jennie actually dated or not, they were in Paris for a fact. It wasn’t cosplayers, it wasn’t a dream, it was them. But this cannot be used against him as a bone for hungry dogs. Allkpop has been baiting people with a scoop about the matter for quite some time now. It is even pinned on their blue bird profile. He also has the McD picture on his account, which even though it was taken before the boycott it will also be used against him for an endless amount of time. 

Jungkook - Not only do we have fandoms of other non-kpop bands getting together so that he doesn't win anything at the VMAs, he still has the Scooter association tied to him which is not going away any time soon. 

Bangtan - “Let’s literally call upon EVERYONE in the world to find the new BTS”

They’ve been trying to destroy us, by attacking and singling out member by member, and even just collectively, using boycotters, solos, shippers and some “ARMY” themselves, and they’ve been doing a darn good job so far. I-Army and K-army fighting. ARMY pretending luke shippers and solos don’t exist. Boycotters are still trying to make their way in. Baby ARMY still being born and having no “Parent” ARMY to help them in this times of “war”. It’s all a bit of a mess isn’t it?

So it all looks like shit right now, and it should very much feel like shit as well, like every time you open the blue Bird App, you should feel like wanting to throw your phone out. Unfortunately we can’t get shippers, solos and boycotters to listen but for everyone else, it doesn't matter our present differences, we can keep fighting once the boys are back together, like it is all well and good we all came together for Yoongi, but it ain't’ over. WE NEED TO FIND A WAY FOR ALL OF US TO BE UNITED UNTIL 2025. Us, the fans who believed in the perfectly imperfect boys, who at the same time constantly are surprised by us, the perfectly imperfect fans.

We are the only way out for our boys to be able to get back in. 

But in order to win this game, we need to sit down and study all the rules, so we can figure out how to play them at their game. And it is also INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT to understand that no matter who your bias is, as things stand right now, they are stronger as a group, mentally and emotionally, because they are all they’ve got, besides us. FOR REAL. So if you love your bias, uplift their members and you'll see them thriving more than ever, because they are not going to shine, while any of their members are suffering. GUARANTEED. We have less than a year before they all get out and the one thing I think we should probably work on is learning to multitask. We can stand up for Yoongi, while protecting JM’s family, while voting for JK, protecting Tae’s privacy, letting Joonie just enjoy his music, while welcoming Hobi in the least media oriented way, while supporting Jin … 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡. Yeah, it's a lot, but who better than flawed/deranged bitches to carry out a seemingly impossible task?

Always respectfully yours 🫰🏾💜

Marengo.

[oleworm]

With white actors, their stereotypes are clear satire, while their authentic portrayals of accents are taken seriously—African accents are not afforded that luxury. Part of the authenticity and grit we’ve come to love in Good Will Hunting (1997) owes to the fact that both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck speak in accents native to South Boston—which successfully shows the importance of class distinctions, Will’s intellectual ability despite his “rough” surroundings, and rooting him in his neighborhood and background even as he progresses to new places and opportunities. Part of the joy of watching Mary Poppins (1964), is the grating sound of Dick Van Dyke’s bizarre “Cockney” accent. Often noted as one of the worst accents in film history, Van Dyke’s character sounded like he came from New Jersey, Australia, but Poppins is a children’s comfort film filled with magic, so audiences are already prepared to suspend their disbelief.  Language, voice, and tone are vital parts of storytelling, but somehow caricature-like portrayals of African accents still manage to win Oscars, while Dick Van Dyke’s “Cockney” failure is an actor’s cautionary tale. This speaks to a larger issue: the hierarchy of occidental languages over languages from the global south, the (lack of) knowledge of African dialects, and a general laziness toward the research required to thoughtfully and effectively learn regional African accents. Alongside my research for this article, I also spoke to Djeneba Bagayoko, a linguist who specializes in African languages and is currently working on a book exploring the similarities in Ebonics and continental languages. When we discussed Beasts of No Nation—no nation indeed, as the film is set in an “unspecified” West African country—Djeneba pointed out the prevalence of guttural sounds and line delivery in a lower vocal pitch. While having a lower-pitched voice is completely within the rights of directors and actors to be a stylistic choice for a character, its unfortunate prevalence goes beyond artistic prerogative and seems closer to laziness or ignorance. Viola Davis’s accent in The Woman King is also delivered in a lower register, with an emphasis on guttural sounds and a sprinkling of that American English rhotic R that would not be present in a West African accent during the 1820s. Winston Duke’s accent in Black Panther (2018) also features guttural sounds, a low pitch, and even Nigerian facets of speech (adding “o” as a standalone sound at the end of sentences), despite the fact that the fictional nation of Wakanda is supposedly located in southeast Africa. Bagayoko rightly asked, “Why, when it comes to Africa, are we all lumped together?” Reducing Western and Southern African accents down to hard, low-pitched noises positioned at the back of the throat perpetuates the idea that African languages are too “other” for any attention to detail. The frequency with which we see this technique reiterates the view of Africans as homogenized and underdeveloped—a colonial perspective.

[enbycrip]

I am pro-kid because I am pro-human, and kids are people. No matter how much social bullshit tries to say they are not.

No one asked to be here. Everyone deserves a loving, gentle, safe childhood; and the world is actively a much worse place because that idea is somehow controversial.

Active hostility towards kids also *massively* entrenches the inequality birthing and feeding parents experience. If you really hate kids but you don’t hate women and people read as women, sell treating kids like people to yourself on fighting misogyny. And consider that hating any group of marginalised people for their marginalisation is bigotry.

You don’t have to like kids en masse. You *certainly* don’t need to have them if you don’t want to, or to babysit kids if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.

But you *do* have a responsibility to treat kids like people, including accommodating their needs. Don’t be a dick to kids you meet in the wild, and don’t be a dick to parents because their kids are acting like kids.

And be aware of the intersections of privilege when you are considering kids in public. Kids who are getting in your way in public spaces are likely to be doing that because of poverty, frankly. Very few parents *want* to take their young kids on a long ride on public transport, especially if said kids are clearly either tired and cranky or full of energy that public transport is a shitty environment to release it on. If they are doing this, it is likely because they have no other options.

And please don’t make the disingenuous “they chose to have kids” argument; horribly, bodily autonomy is not a given for birthing parents. About a third of births in “western countries” are unplanned. There is lack of access to birth control and reproductive healthcare and there are controlling partners (manipulation through sex and reproduction is a favoured tactic for far too many abusers).

A 3 year old having a meltdown is doing it because of their developmental stage and because their basic needs aren’t being met. It’s not deliberate and it’s not under their control. Being a dick about that as exactly as bigoted as behaving that way towards a disabled person who isn’t being accommodated either.

I’m physically disabled and neurodivergent. My adult brother is neurodivergent and learning disabled. I’ve seen a lifetime of people who hate kids hating disabled people too. Including too many privileged disabled people, frankly. There is absolutely such a thing as a clash of accessibility needs, but vocal hatred of other marginalised people, or being a dick to them, because their needs clash with yours is Not Okay.

I am also pro-old people for the exact same reasons I am pro-kid. Because they are all people, and marginalised people at that.

Childhood and old age are the times people living in economically-exploited classes experience the most poverty, because age, and the lack of capacity for economic exploitation that accompanies both old age and childhood, is a characteristic that people are marginalised for.

We live in a society here. We are communal creatures. We have a basic responsibility to be decent to other people, including people who are marginalised and dehumanised, and that includes kids and old people.

If you are organising, including kids and providing childcare is as essential as accessibility. If you don’t, you are literally entrenching the same power dynamics you claim to be organising against. This is a huge fucking problem on the left, and it’s one thing the second wave feminists got entirely right, despite all their other issues.

[the-cat-at-the-theatre-door]

💙🧠🌙

Maybe a not so commonly dissucsed message from the show? I don’t know I like reading ur takes :)

💙 What's your favorite platonical ship?

My absolute favourite platonic ship will always be Jellylorum and Asparagus as sister and brother (and by extension, Jelly and Gus as a father and daughter duo) - there's something about that little family that gets to me.

🧠 Share a headcanon/theory about the show that you like!

The first one coming to mind if one of my own, but Old Deuteronomy is not immortal - he's an *old* cat, mind, but old by the same definition of a cat is old because they're 17. The reason Old Deuteronomy is revered as being what constitutes as functionally immortal is because he's what the cats call a Keeper of Memory (or just memory keeper), which is something only a few cats a generation are able to do - it's mostly passed down genetically (ex. Macavity has it and deals with it, but does not use it, and Jemima has it and *does* hone it), but not always. A Keeper essentially holds onto generations and generations of memories and information passed from cat to cat, which means they very often will know of experiences that occurred hundreds of years ago, or that they themselves may have never experienced, as if they were there (for example, Deuteronomy has clear physical and emotional memories of being - say - a birthing parent and nursing kittens, even though in their current body they are unable to physically do that).

Some cats given this ability are not able to discern much clarity in these memories; others are brought too much physical or emotional pain to hold onto them because the magic is essentially misfiring in the wrong outlet. It's not something that any cat can handle - it takes a certain amount of training and practice to do so. As such, functionally, Old Deuteronomy carries centuries within him, and this coupled with their actual physical age, lead to grandiose stories about immortality that they don't really discourage because it's quite amusing.

(Also speaking of Old Deuteronomy, Dee he/they superiority)

🌙 Do you think Cats has a theme/message? If so, what is it?

CATS has *many* themes and messages throughout, depending on how you read it, which is why the show is so versatile and resonates with so many people.

I've certainly spoken about my fair share, including the complexity involved in forgiveness, the dangers of mob-mentality, the value (or lack of value) of the elderly in Western societal structures, including the "worth" that they otherwise must provide in order to be continuously cared for or respected (something something Western society values *value* over humanity), the importance of generational storytelling and its affect on younger generations, etc. etc.

I suppose for a lesser discussed message or theme or metaphor from the show, not to go all "Hal, it's about cats", but there is something to be said in regards to CATS' treatment of class in their community structure, which is very interestingly portrayed through the generalized choice of accents and character tweaks and changes that are very often assigned to very specific characters. Scottish Skimbleshanks, Cockney Teazer and Jerrie, Posher Bustopher Jones, Victoria being "the white cat", Rap Tugger - even vocal types often going to specific characters - etc etc all have implications about them that are revealed through association, and carry shades of Elliot (and ALW)'s classicism - I won't go too deep into it here, because I feel as though I've already made this too long, but I have some specific thoughts here.

[musicpandit1]

Fundamentals of Music - How to Listen Better : Play Piano Online

Fundamentals of Music - How to Listen Better

There are some simple tricks that can help students while listening to particular tunes and figuring out the notes quite easily. Engaging in such exercises will also help learners to realize the importance of listening. Listening to music along with all background chaos or other sounds can be quite challenging but once you figure out how to listen better, separating the instruments and the tunes will be an easy task. In any case, here are some of the points that music students can follow to become better at hearing notes.

Play Piano Online

Things to Keep in Mind for Active Listening

A few crucial points to keep in mind while listening actively.

Style

You need to be very careful while listening to any specific music. You should begin by catching and identifying the style of the music quite.

Instrumentation

Active listeners can easily recognize the used instruments by listening to a song for the first time. As they have a good knowledge of the fundamentals of music , it enables them to follow this particular way to listen to music. So, you can also get your basics right and develop such a technique.

Technique

By listening carefully to both the vocalists and instrumentals, once you develop good hearing you can easily point the faults out. Apart from this, you will be able to understand the actual and perfect way of singing that particular song with ease. Thus, you will be able to observe a visible improvement in your singing ability.

Structure

You should also be very careful about the structure of the tune. You can easily follow the written script of the songwriter for this. Apart from this, you can understand the mode of the music by recognizing the structure of the song.

Lyrics

By listening to the lyrics, you can realize the inner thoughts of the song along with all the instruments. This is how the listeners can enjoy an amazing time while listening to the song with ease.

A Few Effective Tips for Listening Actively

Using Headphones

This is the most effective and common way to listen to music in a proper way, even in a crowd. You can easily listen to every single note without facing any obstructions. Understanding the music will be a lot easier with the help of good-quality headphones. However, you need to be more careful when choosing a headphone so that your ears are not affected harshly.

Stay in an Appropriate Position

Standing or sitting in the right position can help people to listen in an easier way. According to the expert teachers of Music Pandit, you should select the best position while listening to any particular music.

Ear Training

While learning the fundamentals of music, you must go through ear training. Thus, the trainers will understand your requirements and gaps with better accuracy. In this way, they can make you learn the exact way of listening to any tune.

Sing Along with the Tune

You can easily learn any particular tune or song by singing along with it. Thus, you can easily hear your own voice and can improve the faults on your own.

Listen to High-frequency Sounds

By practicing the high notes, you will be able to manage the lower or middle notes. This is why the experts of Music Pandit generally suggest students to practice with high notes only for any song.

All in all, as you have gone through this particular information regarding the fundamentals of music and active listening you should be able to listen to any song like a professional. Additionally, as you start engaging constantly in music-listening activities you will be able to grasp any note quite easily, and also rectify faults quickly in the process.

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[captainswaglord500]

Cockatrice (Artwork by Yuujinner)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class/Clade: Reptilia (Sauropsida)

Clade: Diapsida

Clade: Archosauria

Clade: Dinosauria

Clade: Saurischia

Clade: Eusaurischia

Clade: Theropoda

Clade: Neotheropoda

Clade: Averostra

Clade: Tetanurae

Clade: Avetheropoda

Clade: Coelurosaria

Clade: Maniraptoriformes

Clade: Maniraptora

Clade: Pennaraptora

Clade: Oviraptorosauria

Clade: Edentoraptora

Superfamily: Caenagnathoidea

Family: Caenagnathidae?

Subfamily: incertae sedis

Genus: Ornithosaurus

Species: O. necrophilus (“death-loving bird lizard”)

Ancestral species: possibly Microvenator celer

Temporal range: late Pleistocene to recent (87,000 kya - present)

Information:

A ravenous scavenger, the cockatrice is by no means at the top of its food chain, though its uniquely offensive, musky odor, ear-splitting vocalizations, and proclivity for traveling in large groups called flocks make it a creature which few predators wish to tolerate. Add onto this its territorial aggression, and you have what may be Archaeonesia’s most detested scavenger. Cockatrices use their superb sense of smell to detect carrion from several tens of miles away, primarily feeding on the carcasses of various reptilian and mammalian megafauna, sometimes flocking around fresh kills made by larger predators and using their sheer number to overwhelm the carnivore into relinquishing its kill. Though it usually eats carrion, it is also classified as an opportunistic feeder, readily going after small vertebrates. Found primarily in the Arava Desert and the surrounding grasslands in the western half of the Isle of Perils, this medium-sized oviraptorosaur is known all throughout the Isle of Perils, including its central mountain range, making it one of the few non-avian dinosaurs to live in that region. It is also one of the few non-avian dinosaurs to actively seek out human settlements, particularly to feed on discarded scraps of food. Actively seeking out human settlements, it is known to scavenge from trash heaps and refuse bins, which make it a local pest in some areas. Entire flocks of these animals, as many as 40 individuals sometimes, may swarm landfills. Similarly, these creatures will use their sheer number of overwhelm larger carnivores into relinquishing kills before greedily tearing into their spoils. A pecking order can be observed amongst these animals, typically in which the largest male gets first pickings on the corpse. When feeding on carrion, as gruesome as it may be, they will typically eat away at the orifices first before hollowing out the cadaver. Due to its exceptionally strong stomach acids being able to kill most bacteria, it can eat carrion which most other scavengers would otherwise find too putrid or dangerous to consume. Attracted to shiny objects for the purposes of adorning their nests with them, they have been known to steal jewelry, though those which live farther from human settlements may instead use quartz and other naturally occurring crystals to adorn their nests. These animals are exceptional jumpers, being able to clear fences nearly 12 feet all and jump nearly 25 feet in a single bound. Exceptionally territorial in nature, groups may mark trees and rocks with a pair of scent glands behind their ears, which produce the foul musky odor typically associated with the animal. As these animals are quite social, their ability to recognize patterns (and more specifically faint color patterns and facial differences) allow them to differentiate between one another with remarkable ease. They can also recognize human faces with exceptional accuracy. Grooming behavior is well-documented, and like primates, it plays an important role in establishing social relations. Primarily diurnal, these animals rely on scent and eyesight to find food, and typically, a few individuals will venture away from the nesting grounds at a given time to locate food before they’ll go back and alert the others of its location, utilizing what is sometimes described as an elaborate“dance”, consisting of many different vocalizations, as well as head and body movements, to communicate location, much in the same way honeybees do. As the many environments it lives in are teeming with predators, a few individuals will take shifts throughout the night to watch the nesting grounds while the others sleep. A pouch at the base of the neck, commonly called a crop, allows the animal to store food before digesting it, though it serves a dual function of allowing it to transport food back to the nest to feed its offspring.

Though a given flock of cockatrices may not necessarily consist of entirely closely related individuals, it is more common than not for a flock to consist of a set of parents or grandparents and several generations of offspring. During the beginning of the dry season, around early December, the males’ colors will become substantially more flashy and eye-catching, his wattle flushing a bright maroon and violet color and the undersides of his wings flushing a pink hue, and although related species are known to engage in mock fights as part of mating displays, this species instead relies on a less violent method of winning approval from the females they wish to court: designing the most colorful display. A male will create a nest and adorn it with the most colorful materials he can found, anything from flowers and fruits to rocks and crystals. However, this is only part of the courtship ritual. While a bright nest may earn some initial interest from female suitors, it is what he does next that determines his success: performing an elaborate dance, sometimes with a shiny rock clutched in his beak, he will angle his head up towards the sky, revealing his brightly-colored wattle and wings. High-stepping in a circle around her, his throat will undulate to make a deep, rattling bellow, beating his wings and jumping up and down to keep her attention. If she accepts, she will join him in this dance and copulation begins. Cockatrices mate for life, and in 1.5 months time, she will lay a clutch of 2-4 blue eggs in the nest, and for the 5 weeks it will take for them to hatch, she will not leave the nest, the male fetching her food and water via his crop. When the young are born, they are, in a rare exception amongst non-avian theropods, altricial, being born nearly featherless and unable to walk for the first few weeks of life. By a month old, they will be able to walk. By a year, they will have reached half their adult size, being large enough to join their parents in the search for food. By 2 years, they will reach adult size, and at around 3.5 years, they will have gained their adult plumage and will reach sexual maturity. Many may choose to stay with their parents’ flock, though some may go off and form flocks with other young cockatrices. If they’re lucky, a cockatrice may expect to live 20-30 years.

Around the size of a cassowary, this species is around 5.6 feet tall, roughly 9-10 feet in length, and weighs around 200 lbs on the heavier side. There is no notable sexual dimorphism between species. The naked head is highly fluorescent, the neck being reddish yellow and the wattle/fleshy growths on its face being yellowish-orange and bluish-purple. The beak is red and the eyes are white. Plumage is white on the body and most of the wings, though near the base of the neck, the tail, and the wing feathers, the plumage starts to turn black, with the wing plumage having many beige spots along their length. Its legs are yellowish-gray.

Long-renowned for its dissonant calls, this species generally communicates with others of its kind with rasps, shrill humming, and a sound variously called “bleating” or “bugling”. Territorial calls consist of loud, deep booms which rumble across the land. However, it may hiss or honk if aggravated or in an attempt to intimidate and size up other scavengers/carnivores, and it has a characteristic shrieking whoop referred to by some as a “dinner bell call” to other cockatrices that food has been located.

Much in the same way that vultures are viewed as unclean and malevolent animals in Western society, so, too, is the cockatrice in Xenogaean society, made dually ironic for the fact that vultures also exist in the region, albeit typically in more montane environments. Long seen as a bad luck omen, stumbling across a dead cockatrice was said to signal impending disaster, particularly famine or drought, and in fact, it was said that if one did stumble across one, or managed to kill one, they were to immediately cremate it and spread its ashes in a river. Nonetheless, it does appear in some heraldic imagery and was venerated amongst some indigenous peoples in the region, particularly to the southeast. It was said the Bronze Age Aravan King, Kuntapurexa, infamous for his brutal conquests across the Isle of Perils, was followed by a horde of cockatrices which reaped the benefits of his conquests, feeding on the corpses of those he and his men killed as they went from village to village pillaging and marauding. The deafening sounds of these animals from afar was therefore used by some villagers as a way to determine how close Kuntapurexa and his men were to their settlement and therefore whether or not to abandon the town. How true this was, however, remains up to speculation, as no surviving historical records seem to confirm if this was a true account or not, with the possibility of it being a tall tale being rather likely. That said, if one can get past the animal’s revolting smell and dietary habits, a tame cockatrice makes for an exceptional companion animal, being exceptional at navigating, tracking, and retrieving items and trinkets, and in times past, some would use these animals to discretely transmit messages across long distances in a similar manner to messenger pigeons. On top of that, its affectionate nature towards those it’s acquainted with makes it decent as a pet as well, minus its food requirements. In fact, while some cities actively try to exterminate or otherwise relocate cockatrices within their walls, others may actively promote breeding programs for the animals in an effort to reduce waste in landfills. Despite being classified as a caenagnathid oviraptorosaurian, this placement is tentative: though its skull anatomy and genetic data would seem to support an inclusion amongst the Caenagnathidae or at least closer to the Caenagnathidae than the Oviraptoridae, the anatomy of its arms (and its wrists in particular) is exceptionally basal, more akin to that of therizinosaurs or ornithomimosaurs than to that of other oviraptorosaurs. Amongst an indigenous group in the Arava Desert region known as the Nge'echets, the cockatrice was seen as an embodiment of the desert itself, almost a god in its own right, far contrary to how their Xenogaean-speaking neighbors viewed the animal. As such, offerings were left out to the animals as a way of asking for safe passage from one oasis to the next as part of their migratory lifestyle. Nonetheless, amongst all native cultures in the region, the consumption of this animal’s meat is considered taboo due to its scavenging lifestyle. In lieu with its scavenging lifestyle, flocks of these animals may follow sick or injured animals for miles, waiting for them to collapse before finishing them off, hence it was long said that spotting a cockatrice behind oneself was a sign that death was on one’s doorstep. In some regions, they are also associated with the Xenogaean death goddess, Yerakiya, seen as either her messengers or even as a form she herself takes in the world of the living. Bones of this animal date back to the late Pleistocene, around 87,000 years ago, and fossil member of the genus are known as far back as the Miocene. A smaller closely-related species found on an offshore island, the basilisk (O. insularis), went extinct in the 18th century due to the introduction of pigs by British colonists. With around 2,000,000 mature adults in the wild, populations appear to be stable but declining in certain areas. 

[ramayantika]

as a dancer yourself, how do you think the stigma against male dancers which makes them labelled "gay" and female dancers which makes them labelled "prostitutes", can be dispersed?

This is something which even I think of and to be honest I do not have a good definite answer.

But, firstly, people need to be educated on the cultural history. History books mention about wars, dynasties and politics. There are very vague and meagre mentions of india's cultural history especially of the performing arts.

When I see the young masses talking about hindu culture and worship, the same barely know how many classical dance forms are there in India.

Exposure of the general audience to indian music and dance shows will actually help. I believe that the new gen dancers and some veteran dancers too have actually begun conversations about the history of dance, especially about female performers and their role in shaping the performing arts of india. Those need to be popularized especially through social media, because our generation uses a lot of it, so why not support viewership of the classical dance forms? That way even male classical dancers can be seen by non dancer males.

We have watched DID and other dance reality shows. Not everybody has enrolled in a dance class (neither western nor indian) but somehow we still accept western dance forms easily especially by males but sadly there isn't enough recognition for male classical artists. People talk about bharatiya sanskriti and sabhyata, will talk (and romanticize) wearing outfits from the vedic period, but will swiftly call the male dancer slurs even though he is portraying shiva and parvati.

When dance and music forms an integral part of indian culture, it is disappointing to see the general indian society be alienated from it. They are aware of it only through Bollywood which now does a shit job at portraying indian dance forms (folk dance is rarely seen. Folk is well another topic)

A good starting point would be to first read about it or watch classical dance shows and productions. Many of them are available on YouTube for free.

No one's asking to start learning dance and music, but if you can appreciate contestants on other dance reality shows with no knowledge of hip-hop, contemporary dance etc , then certainly you can also begin with indian dances.

I also need to add that good changes are happening. They are slow, but I am seeing appreciation for male dancers too. The stigma exists but the essential conversation about gender roles and art is taking place. It will take time, but it is happening.

As for female dancers well.... I do wonder when will the sexualization of the dancing body stop. Sensuality has been celebrated in India from a very long time, and there is a thin line between sensuality and vulgarity. Sadly, we as a society see sensuality as something impure.

A woman who is free and in control of her sexuality and sensuality must be tamed, turned demure and controlled. That is the general view. She is attractive, desirable but then when won/conquered/possessed must be tamed. The dancer too I think is seen as the same.

Stigma and stereotypes never completely break. But like I said previously, dialogue and debate is needed. Conversations need to happen. Female dancers too need to speak up and be vocal about it, about our history of women performers, because all of this exists due to them.

This was a long answer and I don't really have a definite solution(s) but I hope I could provide a few insights.

Also thanks for the question, I was writing in my journal about my dancing experience and the male gaze, I kinda vented it a little here too.

[determinate-negation]

“patriotic socialist” haters and losers will go on about how starbucks unions arent working class because service workers dont produce value in production as if their shitty youtube channels that they make money off produces anything at all. the western leftists who complain about the PMC so vocally are the ones who most solidly belong to it, and its fascinating how many of them use terminology like labor aristocracy and other things which essentially belong to maoist third worldist theory but without the willingness to recognize that it also applies to them, because that would undermine their entire imperialist and racist ideology which is incompatible with the actual conclusions of third worldism