Andes Music and Debussy
Music of The Andes
Demographics
• Ethnicities: Andean Indian (Incan decent),
Spanish
• Religions: Roman Catholic, Catholicism
blended with local tradition
• Languages: -Spanish (official),-Amerindian
languages (especially Quechua)
• Population: 14.79 million
Inca Influence
• Began in Cuzco, Peru, in the 1100s
• Empire stretched down the coast along the
Andes Mt.
• Civilization was ended in the mid 1500s by
the Spanish who were looking for gold.
• Ultimately stretched from top of Ecuador
down to bottom of Chile.
Inca Culture
• Religion: pantheistic
• “Spartan” Art. Valued functionality over
esthetics
• Kingdom was widely spread. Culture
varies.
• Like their tapestries: each are slightly
different with unique traits woven in.
• No written records. History is all oral.
Religion in Ecuador
• Like much of S. America, Catholicism
becomes “synchronized” with local
traditions and indigenous customs
• Roman Catholic 95%, other 5%
• Andean music plays a large part in
religion, tying old traditions in with the
Spanish-brought Catholicism.
Recourses
• Ecuador contains 42 species of bamboo
• Bamboo located around tree line on
mountains.
• Armadillo
The Andes
My father
My parents
Me free-climbing Pinchincha
Valcano
Peak of Mt Chimborazo is
the furthest point from the
earth’s core.
Weather in the mountains
changes rapidly.
• Groupos Andinos
Instruments
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Charango
Bombo
Quena
Zampoña
Guitar
Charango
• Evolved from the Spanish guitar
• 5 pairs of strings
• Tuned to an Am7 chord, or gg, cc, eE, aa,
ee.
• Originally made from Armadillos
Quena
Pan Flute or Zampoña
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Vary in size from a few cm to a meter, allowing for wide pitch range.
Tuned to the G scale.
Dates back 5,000 years
Sound reflects Mt. wind.
San Juanito
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daTXFS
3dxy
Music Theory
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In 4/4 duple time.
Solid 106 bpm tempo
Key of G (or Em)
Using primarily G Major (E
minor)pentatonic scale
• Repeated melodies and themes
Song consists of two chords: Em and G. Melody carried primarily by zampoña and
the quena.
Music Reflects Heritage
• History of people unclear, only oral.
• Myth and fact blend and mix
• Music built on the simplicity and familiarity
of the pentatonic scale. People’s tradition
is old and familiar, retold.
• Flutes and trills swell and fade, like stories
and myths amid reality.
Sound reflects Environment
• A song is lengthy, moves easily, subtly from one section to another.
Reflects weather and “seasons.”
• Airy flutes emulate winds.
• Tinkle of Charango’s double strings imitates sound of water.
• Quena mimics bird’s singing
• Overall lack of breaks and stoppage in songs reflects pace and flow
of society and region.
Music in Culture
• Dance music often does not have lyrics
• Mood of music primarily melancholy.
Subjects include death, lost love,
loneliness, but all embrace tradition
• Andean music dismissed by younger
generation, following instead western
music.
Claude Debussy
French Impressionist Composer
*(sexy pose courtesy of Claude Debussy)
Claude Debussy Life
• 1962-1918, residing primarily in France
• Entered the Paris Conservatory at the age
of ten.
• Traveled as a teacher through Europe and
Russia.
• At 22 he won the Prix de Rome, a
competition for composers.
His Music
• Considered French music to serve
primarily on the “sensuous plane”
• "The primary aim of French music is
to give pleasure.“
• This idea lead him away from
traditional music theory (i.e.
alternate scales, harmonies, and
structure)
Debussy’s Influences
• Writer and poet Edger Allen Poe
• Oriental and Russian Music
• German Romantic composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883).
Imitated his styles and moods, but not his flambunctuality.
Debussy was more subtle.
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Written 1894
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_7lozHWUM
Background of Prelude
• Based of a poem by French poet
Stéphane Mallarmé
• Portrays the thoughts and dreams of
a Faun. The faun plays a flute.
Music Theory
• No continious beat or pulse; swells and
falls.
• Chromaticism: moving by half steps, free
from the traditional church modes.
• Somewhat ambiguous melodic lines serve
to paint a bigger mood and feeling, as
apposed to conveying ideas through
individual melodic lines.
• Thru-composed. Builds up then fades
away.
¿What’s a French Impressionist
got in common with Incan
Tradition?
Andean Music and
Impressionism
• Impressionistic music uses “clusters” of
notes to “paint” a picture
• Similarly, Andean music layers rhythms
and melodies
• Andean music “paints a picture” of the
Andes by utilizing instruments that portray
aspects of it.
Mood and Effect
• The Prelude contains an air of uncertainty and “drifting;” unpredictability
not found in Andean music.
• Piece lacks concrete theme; the overall mood and feeling of the piece
becomes the “theme.”
• However, both convey an overarching setting and picture.
• In a sense, the music of the Andes becomes “impressionistic.” It conveys
the and spirit of the altiplano.
Instrumentation
• Opening flute compares to the sound of the quena.
• The gentle harp relates to the Charango.
• Piece contains no brass instruments, like Andean
music.
Bottom Line
• The music of Claude Debussy and the Andes,
while composed using different instruments,
both serve to echo the culture and feelings of
their respective authors, yet differ as the work
of Debussy breaks free from tradition while
Andean music embraces its ancestry.
Work Cited
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http://www.imagesofanthropology.com/Peru_South_America_People_and_Places_page_1.html
http://www.native-languages.org/andean-culture.htm Andean tribes
http://www.deathreference.com/Ho-Ka/Incan-Religion.html Incan Religion
http://www.about-peru-history.com/inca-music.html Instruments
http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/history/history-mod-comp.htm composers of the 20th century
http://boleadora.com/andes.htm Mp3s
http://www.about-peru-history.com/inca-art.htm Instuments
l
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ec.html
http://www.markamusic.com/ZamponaBook.htm zampoñas
http://www.discpro.org/andean/
http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/composer/debussy.html Debussy Bio
http://www.fotolog.com/contrapuntos/19347120
http://www.andrewclem.com/CultureTravel.php Chords
http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2466 Prelude analysis
http://www.notablebiographies.com/De-Du/Debussy-Claude.html Debussy Bio
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.debussy.fr/icono/pourville.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.debussy.fr/e
ncd/bio/bio5_03-09.php&usg= Debussy Photo
http://www.destination360.com/south-america/ecuador/ecuador-andes Andes of Ecuador
Media Preparations
• 1. Opening Quena: (Stop at 0:22!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOZjfSm72dg&feature=related
• 2. San Juanito: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daTXFS3dxyM
• 3. Dancing with live band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnnV9J5pTBw&feature=related
• Vasijo de Varro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nBrOArVjEI
• 4. Prelude: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_7loz-HWUM
• 5. San Juanito 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mej5wMRwG0&feature=related