Welcome to An Exploration of Versatility!

 Welcome!

In "Tour De Force: A Musical Journey of the Caribbean" written by Christine Gangelhoff and Cathleen  Legrand, the reader is introduced to three thematic threads that occur throughout the Caribbean. They are Creolization, The Model of Versatility, and Mentorship. The focus of this blog will be "The Model of Versatility". The model of versatility refers to the ability of a musician to adapt to changes in their musical capabilities and their personal lives in order to sustain a long and successful career. An example would be Mozart. As described in Tour de France, Mozart started off as "a child prodigy who taught private music students. During his composing career, he composed music for the Emperor of Austria which would allow Mozart to survive because of his affiliation with a wealthy individual" (Gangelhoff & LeGrand, 2020). 

The Mozart family: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (seated at piano) with his sister Maria Anna (left) and his parents, Leopold and Anna Maria; oil on canvas by Johann Nepomuk Della Croce, c. 1780–81; Mozart House, Salzburg, Austria. 

An example of music composed by Mozart;


Licensed to Youtube by: UMG (on behalf of Fantasy Records); LatinAutorPerf, Sony ATV Publishing, Public Domain Compositions, and 8 Music Rights Societies.


Presently, there are musical artists who have gained major success because of their versatility. An example would be Rihanna. Rihanna is a Barbadian singer who made her first appearance on the international scene in her 2005 reggae/ pop single " Pon de Replay", which can be viewed below. 

Music video by Rihanna performing Pon de Replay. YouTube view counts pre-VEVO: 4,166,822. (C) 2005 The Island Def Jam Music Group.

Now in 2021 Rihanna has reached billionaire status because of her other business endeavors such as acting, modeling, Fenty Beauty, Fenty clothing line, and numerous perfumes. Rihanna was able to use her versatility to gain great wealth even though the last album she released was Anti in 2016.

photo credit: LMVH Fenty Beauty by Rihanna.

During this course, I will explore the versatility of various musical genres and I invite you to come on this musical journey with me! Stay tuned for my next blog post which will be on English versatility.

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In my previous blog posts it was mentioned that a musician's ability to adapt to social changes in order to sustain their musical lifestyle is called their versatility. In Tour de force written by Christine Gangelhoff and Cathleen LeGrand, we are introduced to a prime example of this versatility, Mr. Alain Pierre Pradel. Pradel was born on Basse- Terre, Guadeloupe where he began studying the piano at twelve years of age. However, when he matured, Alain Pierre Pradel did not focus solely on a career as a composer. He worked for many years as a banker until his retirement. Pradel is quoted as saying, "I never thought about making a career in music. My one goal was to have a score written by my own hands and...my own name inscribed, with the dedication to the person of my choice" (Gangelhoff & LeGrand, 2019). Pradel used the money he made as a banker to fund his musical career. One of Pradel's greatest compositions is called Cannelle Pomme which was written in dedica...
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