Exp Music 2

acappella

making music with no instruments

- call and response
- ostinato pairs of phrases
- polyrhythm
- individ. voice is valued
- improvisation valued
- ground and elaboration
- participatory music

African musical elements

Béla Fleck

famous banjo player who traveled Africa to make music

Bira

Shona spirit possession ceremony

call and response

conversational element in music, dialogue

Chimurenga

"the struggle": music of the Shona in Zimbabwe

colonialism

foreign political authority for extracting resources

culture

shared, learned habits of thought and behavior

Edward Hall

came up with phrase "nonverbal communication"- studied children on the playground from the roof of the school

Egalitarian society

society where everybody equally participates in decision making

flow

state of mind, totally in the moment- caused by having an optimal experience

griot

keeper of customs, oral historian, preserves the history

ground and elaboration

texture; repeated ostinato with lead soloist

Gambia

birthplace of the banjo

Hosho

rattle playing a fast 3-beat rhythm

Hut tax

forced the people of Zimbabwe to work in the mines for money to pay

Mali

center of recording industry in Africa

marimba

large, wooden xylophone

Mbira

"thumb piano": instrument used in bira ceremonies

non-verbal communication

work of Edward Hall, largest form of communication

optimal experience

what is needed to experience flow

participatory music

music bodily involved in making

polyglot

person who speaks multiple languages

polyrhythm

multiple meters played simultaneously

presentational music

passive music, concert: playing for you

Robert Mugabe

first president of liberated Zimbabwe

Shona

largest group in Zimbabwe

Southern Rhodesia

colonial name of Zimbabwe

spirit medium

person who is able to channel the spirit of the dead through themselves

spirit possession

happens during a bira ceremony, way of communicating with the dead through music

stratified society

society with many layers of decision making, hierarchy

synchronizing

humans do this to survive

music-musicians-audience-community-history

Titon "onion model"

Thomas Mapfumo

guitarist, put in jail the same time as Mugabe; formed a band called "Blacks Unlimited" and sang Chimurenga

Throw Down Your Heart

film starring Béla Fleck

Zimbabwe

country with Shona group, formerly called Southern Rhodesia

Uganda, Tanzania, Gambia, Mali

four countries Béla Fleck visited

spiritual traditions, evolutionary biology, healing, sociological explanation, psychology

the reasons we make music