World Music Midterm

Beat

Basic unit of time, the pulse of the mensural level (or beat level) (pulse)

Downbeat

The impulse that occurs at the beginning of a bar in measured music. Its name is derived from the downward stroke of the director or conductor's baton on the first beat of each measure. It frequently carries the strongest accent of the rhythmic cycle.

Harmony

Numerous melodies at the same time relating to one another in a pleasant way. Consonant pleasant soundings are called chords. There are five ways of : monophony, biphony, heterophony, homophony, polyphony. (Support)

Melody

A linear sequence of musical sounds, tones, pitches that the listener perceives as a single whole entity. (main tune of a song what you single or hum)

Meter

the sensation of a regular pulse. The regular pulses are showing repeating patterns of accent forming a "pulsegroup". Normally such pulse-groups are defined by taking the accented beat (downbeat) as the first and counting the pulses until the next accent. (Structer)

Music

a sound that is humanly patterned or organized. It contains sounds and soundscapes. The sound is sorted in a certain human order. It mediates a human message. It is variable.

Musical instrument 

A device created or adapted to make musical sounds. Any object that produces sound can be a musical instrument - the human intention is the main factor that turns an object into a musical instrument.

What are the musical instruments classified

idiophones aerophones membranophones chordophones electrophones

Rhythm

Patterned recurrence of events. In music, the patterns are formed by sounds - and silence - as time passes. In music we hear it when we hear time-relation between sounds. We measure the time relations between sounds and find a pattern of regular recurrence. (Pattern)

Polyrhythm

The simultaneous occurrence of several rhythms with a shifting beat.

Tempo

The speed or pace of a given piece. a crucial element of most musical compositions, as it can affect the mood, difficulty, style and also form and genre of a piece (speed)

Timbre

Tone color or tone quality, the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of voices and musical instruments. In simple terms, timbre is what makes a particular musical sound different from another, even when they have the same pitch and loudness. For instance, it is the difference between a guitar and a piano playing the same note at the same loudness.

Balla Fasséké

The first known griot that was hired by the first king of the Mali Empire, Sundiata Keita. He is considered as the founder of the Kouyaté (Koite) line of griots that exists even today.

Drum Language

A special percussion technique to transmit messages encoded into human language with the help of a musical instrument. It uses the rhythmic aspect together with the syllable pitch that holds a lexical meaning (toneme) of the vocabulary of many tonal languages in West Africa. Its two main traditional functions are mass communication (sending short messages fast into a long distance) and poetry. Main instruments are the slit drum (idiophone) and the talking (hourglass) drum (membranophone).

Enculturation

The process how people learn the requirements, values and behaviours (language, rituals etc.) necessary in their community. Usually parents and other closely related adults determine and direct this process. Training process goes on within the social integration of the individual, mainly during childhood from birth

Fixation

The process of pairing a musical and rhythmic phrase spontaneously with a spoken sequence that has similar rhythmic and tonic structure. It is essential to understand the meaning of West African drum language signals. In West African drum languages one rhythm-toneme pattern usually covers many words having the same pattern - Drum vocabulary is smaller than the that of the actual oral language - many things are described with metaphors, paraphrases and other poetic solutions. Drum language is a literary phenomenon by nature.

General attributes of music in the Sub-Saharan area

- community based connected with other activities adaptive open, variable and improvised oral tradition, language related

Griot

Master poet, musician, historian, instrumentalist of West Africa. Transmits the oral history of the community through songs. Possesses a vast encyclopedic knowledge of local history. Also comments current political and social events. Griot heritage has been playing an essential role in many West African cultures. Famous griots today are Habib Koité (Mali), Toumani Diabaté (Mali) Mory Kanté (Guinea) or Youssou N'Dour (Senegal

Hemiola

The most basic polyrhythmic pattern of sub-Saharan Africa with a 3:2 structure.

Hocket

Rhythmic linear technique using the alternation of notes, pitches, or chords. A single melody is shared between two or more voices such that alternately one voice sounds while the other rests. Complementary parts merge and create one whole piece of composition. Today, interlocking techniques are a prominent feature of many instrumental styles in East and Southeast Africa (eg. amadinda in Uganda) or South East Asia (angklung in Indonesia).

Kora

A West African multi stringed musical instrument which is closely related to the harp or the lute. It is built from a large calabash as a resonator with a long hardwood neck. The player uses only the thumb and index finger of both hands to pluck the strings in polyrhythmic patterns Ostinato riffs (Kumbengo) and improvised solos (Birimintingo) are played. Kora players have traditionally come from griot families.

Main ethnomusicological areas of music in Africa

North Africa and Horn of Africa , Sub-Saharan Africa

Mali Empire

West African empire of the Mandinka ethnic group from 1230 to 1600. Famous for its wealth gained in the 13th century. It had an outstanding cultural impact to West African civilizations. Griot culture developed in the medieval Mali empire.

Ostinato

A motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, usually within the same pitch range (scale).

Sundjata Keita

Founder and first king of the Mali Empire, an esteemed hero in Mali until today.

Tonal language

The pitch of language bears lexical or grammatical extra information (meaning, inflection, tenses). Many languages spoken in Sub-Saharan Africa, esp. in the Niger-Congo language area are tonal languages. Tonal language has close musical approach and thus a strong connection evolved between music and language in many African cultures. Instrumental music is capable of bearing actual message by imitating the tone and rhythm of the spoken text.

What are African roots in Jazz

the blues notes, very strong rhythm aspect compound rhythmic and metric structures, improvisation as a key element, music as symbol of black struggle for freedom, justice and equality throughout most of the twentieth century, improvisation, The jazz drum

what is the connection with rap and jazz?

Improve, Rythm and swing/speech, cultural links, sampling

What is the connection with jazz and creole?

Jazz has deep roots in Creole culture, especially in New Orleans, where diverse cultural influences—African, French, Spanish, and Caribbean—mixed. Creole musicians contributed to the development of jazz by blending traditional African rhythms with European instruments and musical forms, enriching the genre's richness and diversity.

What is creole?

in music refers to a cultural and musical tradition that arises from the blending of African, European, Caribbean, and Indigenous influences. It often involves the mixing of different musical styles, languages, and rhythms, reflecting the diverse heritage of Creole communities, especially in places like New Orleans and the Caribbean. Creole music plays a significant role in shaping genres like jazz,

What is drop language?

involves intentionally omitting certain words, sounds, or syllables in speech or song for stylistic, rhythmic, or emphasis purposes. It's often used in African and African diaspora music to create a catchy, rhythmic flow or to fit musical and cultural expression.

What is total language?

refers to the practice of combining multiple languages or dialects within speech or music, reflecting cultural diversity, identity, and the blending of different linguistic heritages. It is often used to express complex cultural narratives in African and diasporic musical traditions.

Explain the evolution of jazz

1910s New Orleans, 1930s Swing, 1940s Bepop, 1970s (Miles Daavis, Fusion, key figure in modern jazz, inventor of new styles, introduced electronic instruments to jazz

Syncopation

Off-beat rhythm (unexpected stress).