World Music
What to Listen For in Music Around the World
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Much of the music around the world
is part of an oral tradition
All cultures use both voice and
instruments
Music is a reflection of a culture. To
understand the music, we need to
understand the role it plays in that
culture
MUSI 1000Y
World Music
Japanese Shakuhachi Music
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Bunraku puppet theater
– Akin to Western opera
– Only one performer
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Kabuki theatre
– Played by an all-male cast
– Dancing, lively drama
– 3 different instr. ensembles
MUSI 1000Y
World Music
Japanese Shakuhachi Music, Koku-Reibo
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Used in religious ceremonies
by Zen Buddhist monks
Fuke-Zenji ringing small handbell
Slides, shades of colour,
dynamic variations
MUSI 1000Y
Japanese Shakuhachi Music
Japanese Music Changes over Time
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Feudal Period: Buddhist chant
and Shinto songs and prayers;
courtly instrumental music and
Noh theatre
Edo Period: more urban,
middle class; entertaining
Modern Period: popular songs
and Western influence
MUSI 1000Y
Javanese Gamelan Music
Gangsaran-Bima kurda-Gangsaran
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Ceremonial music
The gamelan in Indonesia is
regarded with reverence and
special spirituality
Requires cooperation of many
people submerging their own
personalities into power of a
unified whole
MUSI 1000Y
Javanese Gamelan, GangsaranBima kurda-Gangsaran
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Gangsaran means “achieving
one’s purpose” and Bima
Kurda means “angry hero”
Mostly metallic instruments
Two drums
Stylized dance
MUSI 1000Y
African Drumming and Mbira
Music
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People in North American
tend to think of Africa as a
single entity—over
simplified
Broad cultural division
between North Africa and
sub-Saharan
Certain general traits of
sub-Saharan music
MUSI 1000Y
African Drumming and Mbira
Music
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Music is strongly associated
with dance
Numerous instruments
Favour drums and percussion
Polyphonic (multiple sounds)
Repeated, varied and
improvised melodies
MUSI 1000Y
Mandarendare
(A Place Full of Energy)
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Mystical music used to
communicate with the
spirits of ancestors
Dawn ceremony
3 layers of sounds
– Regular bass
– Two interlocking layers
above
MUSI 1000Y
South India:
Sarasiruha
Saraswati
The goddess of
Music and Learning
MUSI 1000Y
South India:
Sarasiruha
A concert is made up of a series of as many
as 12-14 performance segments each in a
different raga and based upon a different
composition
 “Sarasiruha” is a song by the 19th Century
composer Puliyur Doraisamy Ayyar
 Performer is Ramachandra Iyer playing a
veena
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MUSI 1000Y
South India:
Sarasiruha
Instruments
Veena: a seven-stringed, plucked lute with
ornate body, inlaid deer horn or ivory,
carved from jackwood
 Natural or papier-mache gourd is attached
to the upper neck as a resonator
 Brass frets are set chromatically
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MUSI 1000Y
South India:
Sarasiruha
Veena
MUSI 1000Y
South India:
Sarasiruha
Mridangam
MUSI 1000Y
South India:
Sarasiruha
The Ensemble
One of the marvels of this tradition is that
instruments and musicians can be added to
each functional layer
 Melody
 Drone
 Rhythm
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MUSI 1000Y
South India:
Sarasiruha
Sruti (the Drone)
The drone, or sruti, marks the tonal
center—the center of gravity—for the
melody and its raga
 In karnataka music the notes used for the
drone are the tonal center and the perfect
fifth above it
 The dissonant tones tend to “pull” toward
tones that blend with the drone
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MUSI 1000Y
South India:
Sarasiruha
Raga (the Expressive Mode)
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The veena begins alone (without the drum) in a
free-flowing melodic improv called atapana
No sense of beat or time cycles
Pauses filled in with drones
Slides, pulls and tremolos
Intervals, scales, and colours very different from
the Western tradition
MUSI 1000Y
South India:
Sarasiruha
Tala (the Time Cycle)
At 5:42 the kriti begins (composition)
 New element added: tala
 Heard by the striking of the drone
 The tala in this case is the Adi
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4+2+2
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Once entered, will continue until the end
MUSI 1000Y
South India:
Sarasiruha
Musical Structure: Improvisation
Kalpita sangeeta: precomposed music
 Manodharma sangeeta: improvised music
 Four major types of improv in karnataka
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Alpana
Tanam
Niraval
Svara kalpana
MUSI 1000Y
South India:
Sarasiruha
Musical Structure: The Kriti
All compositions in karnatka music are
songs, melodies with words
 Three main sections
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Pallavi (“the sprouting,” “blossoming”
Anupallavi (“after the sprouting, blossoming”
Charanam (“verse” or “foot”)
Chitta svaram or Svara sahityam (Optional)
MUSI 1000Y
Sioux Grass Dance
MUSI 1000Y
Sioux Grass Dance
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Piercing falsetto
Swooping strain
Driving beat
Multiple, independent meters
Heavy portamentos (sliding
voices)
Vocables (nonsense syllables)
MUSI 1000Y
Sioux Grass Dance
Form
½A A
½A A
½A A
MUSI 1000Y
B
B
B
A8
A8
A8
B
B
B
A8
A8
A8
B A
Sioux Grass Dance
Dancing
Foot:
left
Mov’t: step
MUSI 1000Y
right
right
toe-heel change
left
toe-heel
left
right
change toe-heel, etc
Zuni Lullaby
MUSI 1000Y
Zuni Lullaby
Recorded in 1950 by Lanaiditsa on the Zuni
Reservation in western New Mexico
 The importance of repetition
 Each textual phrase can be used with either
musical phrase except for “my boy” which
is always on an “A”
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MUSI 1000Y
Zuni Lullaby
MUSI 1000Y
Hm atseki
My boy
Okshits’ana
Cottontail little
Poket’sana
Jackrabbit little
Kochits’ana
Rat little
Zuni Lullaby
1. My boy, little cottontail,
Little jackrabbit, little jackrabbit
2. My boy, little cottontail,
Little rat, little boy, little boy
3. My boy, little jackrabbit,
Little cottontail, little cottontail
4. My boy, little jackrabbit,
Little cottontail, little rat, little rat
5. My boy, little jackrabbit,
Little cottontail, little rat, little rat (3 times)
MUSI 1000Y
Zuni Lullaby
Phrase Structure
AA
AA
AA
AA
AA
MUSI 1000Y
B
A
B
B
A
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
(three times)
Yeibichai Song from the
Nightway Ceremony
MUSI 1000Y
Yeibichai Song from the
Nightway Ceremony
Phrase Structure
X Y
Z
Y’ Z
Y½ Z
Y’ Z
Y½ Z
Y’
Z
MUSI 1000Y
A
A½
A
A½
½A
½A
½A
½A
B
B
V
V
W
A
A½
A
A½
½A
½A
½A
½A
B
B
V
V
W
A
A½
A
A½
½A
½A
½A
½A
B
B
V
V
W
Yeibichai Song from the
Nightway Ceremony
Call of the Yei (gods)
 The teams compete and the best
combination of costumes, clowns, singing
and dancing receives a gift from the family
giving the ceremony
 The representation of the presence of the
gods at the Nightway brings god-power to
the ceremony and helps the sick person get
well
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MUSI 1000Y