World Music: A Global Journey (Chapters 1, 2, and 3)

Music

The individual cognitive conception of organized sound and silence

Music vs Noise

Culturally determined

Ethnocenstrism

The unconscious assumption that one's own cultural background is "normal" and that others are "strange" or "exotic"

Semiotics

The study of signs and systems of signs, including in music

Ethnomusicology

The scholarly study of any music within its contemporary cultural context

Folklore

The study of orally transmitted folk knowledge and culture

Folk Music

Played at informal settings, anonymous composer, and doesnt change quickly

Classical Music

Heard in formal settings, more complex performance

Pop Music

Comercial in nature, more recent, changes quickly

Comparative Musicology

An early term for the field that became ethnomusicology, when research emphasized comparisons of folk and non-Western music with Western pratices.

Fieldwork

The first-hand study of music in its original context, a technique derived from anthropology

The Four Properties of Sound

1) Quality (Timbre or Aural Color)

2) Pitch (Tone)

3) Duration (Rhythm)

4) Intensity or Volume (Dynamics)

Timbre

The tone quality or color of a musical sound.

Pitch

A tone's specific frequency level, measured in Hertz.

Dynamics

The volume of a musical note.

Organology

The study of musical instruments

Four Categories:

1)Aerophones

2)Chordophones

3)

Sachs-Hornbostel System

Standard classification system for musical instruments created by Curt Sachs and Erik M. von Hornbostel.

Aerophone

Instruments that require a collumn of air to produce sound - namely flutes, reeds, trumpets, and bellows-driven instruments.

Chordophone

Four types of strigned intruments: Lutes, xithers, harps, and lyres.

Fret

A bar or risge found on chordophones that enables performers to produce different melodic pitches with consistent frequency levels.

Idiophone

Instruments that themselves vibrate to produce sound such as rattles, bells, and various other kinds of percussion.

Membranophone

Instruments, typically drums, that use a vibrating stretched membrane as the principle means of sound production. Usually struck with a hand, stick, or other device.

Tuning System

All the pitches common to a musical tradition.

Definite Pitch

Determined by the dominance of a specific frequency level.

Indefinite Pitch

Consists of a cluster of frequency levels at more or less an equal volume. There is no distinct melody. (clapping)

Octave

Produced when the frequency level or Hertz of a specific pitch is either doubled or halved.

Scale

A set of pitches used in particular performances

Melody

An organized succession of pitches forming a musical idea. Involves pitch and duration (puts rhythmic aspect in it to make it distinct)

Melodic Contour

The general direction and shape of a melody (Joy to the World" has a descending melody)

Drone

A continuous or repeating sound.

Text Setting

The rhythmic relationship of words to melody; can be syllabic or melismatic. - Limited to vocal performance

Syllabic

One pitch per syllable

Melismatic

More than on pitch per syllable

Rhythm

The lengths or durations of sounds as patterns in time.

Beat

The pulsation of sound

Tempo

The rate/speed of the pulse

Accent

Emphasized beat (created by an increase in volume)

Meter

A system of grouping beats into regular units (duple or triple)

Rhythmic Density

The relative quantity of notes between periodic accents or within a specific unit of time.

Phonic Structure

The relationship between different sounds in a given piece; it can be either monophony or some form of polyphony

Monophony

Music with a single melodic note

Polyphony

The juxtaposition or overlapping of multiple lines of music. Three types

1)Homophony

2)Independent polyphony

3)Heterophony

Homophony

Multiple lines of music expressing the same musical idea in the same meter. (parts are dependent on each other)

Independent Polyphony

Multiple lines of music expressing independent musical ideas as a cohesive whole.

Heterophony

Multiple performers playing simultaneous variations of the same line of music.

Form

The overall pattern or structure (blueprint) of a piece of music over time

Associations

History, religion, or other art forms that can relate to aspects of music

Jargon

Discipline specific vocabulary

Dynamics

How loud or soft music is

Francis Densmore

Ethnomusicologist who studied native American music and culture

Oceania

Australia, Paupua New Guinea, Hawaii, and Kiribati

Didjeridu

Australian instrument made out of bamboo that has no holes or reeds

Circular Breathing

Continuous breathing technique used to play a constant sound in a didjeridu

Dreamtime

In the aborigine belief system if australia, it is the state in whuch ine becomes aware of the concept of creation.

Aborigines

40,000 year old culture in Australia that lives a Nomadic lifestyle. Believe in Wondijina (spirits)

Kundu and Garamut(PNG)

Hour glass shaped drums which are played with the hand or a stick

Susap (PNG)

A mouth harp commonly used in courting rituals by the male and can be blamed if it does nit attract a girl. It has an electronic timbre and is a lamellophone (vibrating tongue)

Ukulele

A small 4 stringed Portuguese version of a guitar that is famous in Hawaii

Kilu (Hawaii)

Coconut shell - higher pitch

Pahu (Hawaii)

Deeper sound. It is considered sacred

Ipu (Hawaii)

Gourd drum

Mele (Hawaii)

Poetry that is often sung

Kala'au (Hawaii)

Wooden sticks

South Asia

India - ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity

Raga

Indian Performance

Tabla (India)

Pair of hand drums. The smaller one is a tabla

Alap (India)

First part of the song that is free rhythm and all improvised

Gat (India)

Where the drums enter and there is a metered composition with improvisation.

Sitar (India)

A plucked string instrument that uses pitch bending

Guru (India)

Teacher

Rasa (India)

The mood/emotion of a piece of music

Southeast Asia

Vietnam, Thailand, laos, and Indonesia. Buddhism-Islam

Piphat Music

Is a kind of ensemble in the classical music of Thailand. It includes percussionm and pi

Pi (Thailand)

a quadruple aerophone

Khong Wong Yai (Thailand)

a gong circle

Ranat Ek

Leading xylophone

Thon and Ramana

goblet and frame drums

Temple Analogy

Layered roof - melodic percussion and pi

Pillars - Ching - Aural conductor

Gamelan (Javanese)

big bells (gong-ageng) small gongs, and xylophones

Colotomic Structure

Principle Melody - Rack gongs and large metallophones

Periodic Punction - Marked by hanging gongs

Embellishment - Small metallophones "Mist" of the music