MWC final

Mesk

Student-Teacher relationship. Repetition through memory

Tarab

Emotional states of music, ecstasy

Taksim

Unmetered instrumental improvisation in Middle east

Maqam

system of melodic modes used in traditional arabic music, defining the pitches, patterns, and development of a piece. serves as a framework for improvisation.

Syncretism

Blending of cultural or religious practices

Melisma

sung melodies with many notes to a single syllable.

Heterophony

Multiple performers play/sing the same melody with slight variations

Ethnography

Cultural study through fieldwork and observation

Jali

West african oral historian and musician

Polyrhythm

Rhythms that occur simultaneously in two different meters or with different starting points

Diaspora

The dispersion or spread of a people from their own homeland

Gwenyambira

Master mbira player among the shona

Tonal language

Language where pitch changes word meaning

Ewe

West african ethnicity, known for complex drumming

Religious Cosmology

Beliefs about the universe’s origin and order in a religion

Ecuador

Mexico

Cuba

Mali

Ghana

Egypt

Turkey

Iran

Zimbabwe

Choose one of the traditions we’ve studied in class (from the list of Video/Audio examples

above) and describe it in detail. Include some of the following: geographic location, culture

of origin, language of practitioners, historical and political context, instruments, instrument

design and construction, ceremonial and/or ritualistic context, musical analysis

(polyrhythmic, monophonic, etc.), key aesthetic concepts, etc

In what ways does culture itself—its traditions, arts, myths, etc.—give us insight into what it

means to be human

What did you find most interesting or surprising about the music we studied in class? How

did it challenge or expand your previous understanding of music?

How has our examination of music in world culture connected you to your own heritage

and cultural traditions?