MUS 104: Ethnomusicology & World Music Traditions

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering foundational theories, key historical scholars, Balinese gamelan concepts, and cross-cultural music and gender studies.

Ethnomusicology (Etymological Coining)

A disciplinary designation first introduced in print in 1955 by Dutch scholar Jaap Kunst in his book titled Ethno-musicology.

Bruno Nettl's Five Points of Relative Agreement

The shared consensus among ethnomusicologists identified by Bruno Nettl: 1) Universality vs. the infinite variety of musics in the world, 2) In-depth fieldwork, 3) Transcription and notation for analysis of musical sounds, 4) Music as a product of culture, and 5) Interest in the process of musical change and history.

Alan Merriam's Tri-Part Model

An anthropological model for analyzing music in and as culture across three interconnected dimensions: conceptualization about music, behavior in relation to music, and analysis of music's sounds.

Bi-Musicality

A research concept and methodology introduced by Mantle Hood emphasizing participant observation, performance practice, and learning to perform the musical traditions under investigation.

Cent System

A logarithmic measurement system for musical intervals devised by philologist Alexander Ellis, which proved that diverse world tuning systems cannot be explained by a single universal physical acoustic law.

Vergleichende Musikwissenschaft

The German term for 'comparative musicology,' the precursor discipline to modern ethnomusicology focused on comparing musical systems across cultures.

Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv

A sound archive established in 1901 at the Psychological Institute of the University of Berlin to preserve wax cylinder audio recordings from across the world.

Carl Stumpf

The founder of the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv at the University of Berlin's Psychological Institute, serving as its director from 1900 to 1905.

Erich Moritz von Hornbostel

A foundational figure in comparative musicology who served as the director of the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv from 1905 to 1933.

Inventory No. 1 (Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv)

The first cataloged wax cylinder recording in the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv collection, featuring a Thai pi-phat ensemble.

Ethnography

A detailed descriptive, written account of a specific cultural group based on empirical field study.

Ethnology

A branch of anthropology dealing with the origin, distribution, characteristics, and comparative analytical study of human racial and cultural groups.

Fieldwork Contexts

The analytical lenses identified for ethnomusicological field inquiry: physical contexts, social contexts, linguistic contexts, occasion as context, individual as context, kinesics, and performance.

Diaspora Communities

Populations of immigrants living outside their ancestral or historical homeland, derived from the Greek term meaning 'dispersion.'

Forced Migration

The relocation of peoples compelled by traumatic external circumstances such as war or displacement, identified by Adelaida Reyes Schramm as historically far more prevalent than voluntary migration.

Vietnamese Refugee Music Domains

A split performance pattern observed in asylum camps (Hong Kong and the Philippines): Buddhist chants, traditional folk/chamber music, and love songs (acts of resistance) were performed in private settings, while Western popular and classical genres occurred in public settings.

Old Period (Bali Aga)

The historical era of Balinese culture prior to external influences, known musically for gamelan selonding, which utilizes iron keys, simple ornamentation, and a pentatonic scale.

Middle Period (Balinese History)

The historical era beginning in the fifth century with the arrival of Hinduism and Buddhism, introducing the caste system, epics like the Mahabharata, and bronze kettle drums from China.

New Period (Balinese History)

The historical era initiated by Dutch colonization in 1846 following tragic royal mass suicides (puputans), leading subsequently to cultural preservation, tourism, and the creation of gamelan gong kebyar.

Pelog and Slendro

The two primary non-Western tuning systems of Balinese gamelan: pelog consists of a seven-pitch scale, while slendro consists of a five-pitch scale.

Pengisep and Pengumbang

Paired Balinese gamelan instruments deliberately tuned slightly apart—the 'inhaler' (pengisep) pitched higher and the 'exhaler' (pengumbang) pitched lower—to produce acoustic interference.

Ombak

The shimmering acoustic 'wave' or beating frequency generated by the paired detuning of pengisep and pengumbang instruments in a gamelan ensemble.

Pokok

The core skeletal melody in a Balinese gamelan composition that is repeated and ornamented by higher-register instruments.

Kotekan

Rapid, intricate interlocking parts performed on higher-register metallophones (gangsa) to weave a dense sonic texture above the core melody.

Kempli

A small horizontal kettle gong used in gamelan as a metronome-like timekeeper to pace the ensemble between cyclical gong strikes.

Odalans

Balinese Hindu temple anniversary celebrations accompanied by solemn, courtly gamelan musical performances.

Gamelan Gambang

A fast-tempo gamelan ensemble used during Balinese cremation rituals, which are treated as joyous occasions celebrating the soul's liberation.

Rame

The Balinese aesthetic and spiritual concept of being 'full,' lively, or boisterous; Balinese believe spiritual presence resides in fullness, whereas empty space (kosong) invites malevolent forces.

Ngayah

The Balinese ethos of communal labor, unselfish service, and religious devotion, mirrored in gamelan through collective composition and tight ensemble cohesion.

Gong Kebyar

A modern Balinese gamelan genre originating in the twentieth century, celebrated for dynamic tempo shifts, virtuosity, and abrupt syncopated rhythmic breaks (angels/angsels).

Hain Ceremony

A male-dominated initiation rite among the Selk'Nam of Tierra del Fuego, using terrifying spirit masks, body painting, and dances to subordinate women and children based on myths of stolen power.

Karökö Flutes

Sacred phallic instruments played exclusively in secret by Mundurucú men of the Amazon to enforce social stability, based on legends that women originally owned the flutes before men took them.

Lua Ceremony

A women-only 'second burial' rite practiced by the Kassena-Nankani of Ghana for deceased senior women, using lua-le songs and structured wailing to achieve spiritual transcendence.

Tayil

A sacred vocal genre performed exclusively by Mapuche women in Andean Argentina to communicate with ancestors, inherited through patrilineal birthright and establishing women as spiritual authorities.

D.C. Area Feminist Chorus

A musical organization studied by Carol E. Robertson that rejected patriarchal traditions to perform feminist repertoires and experienced structural tensions between conductor hierarchy and feminist consensus.

Robertson's Cross-Cultural Framework Categories

The three areas formulated by Carol E. Robertson to analyze music, gender, and power: 1) Social Authority, 2) Concepts of Gender, and 3) Notions of Power, Gender, and Performance.