Music History 2 Exam 2

Animism

The belief that everything has a soul/spirit even objects, and that these spirits can influence human lives

Totemism

The belief that humans have a relationship or tie to another spirit being like an animal or plant

Didjeridu

Long wooden Aboriginal aerophone instrument (from Australia) which often uses circular breathing and women are not allowed to play

Corroboree

An Australian Aboriginal Dance Ceremony where the didjeridoo was often played.

Dreamtime/The Dreaming

A period in Aboriginal culture recognized as the time when ancestral spirits created the world along with its landscapes and rules.

Aboriginal Cosmology

Connected to dreamtime and emphasizes the idea of interconnectedness with spirits, the spirit realm, humans, nature, and ancestor spirits and their ability to shape daily life.

Wondjina

Cloud and Rain spirits from Aboriginal Cosmological beliefs in Australia associated with natural resources.

Musical Bow

A stringed instrument resembling a bow and one of the world’s earliest instruments from Sub-Saharan Africa, containing many types such as the Umrhubhe for the Xhosa people of Eastern Cape in S.A., and the Uhadi which has a gourd resonator

Umrhubhe

A type of Musical Bow specifically associated by the Xhosa people of Eastern Cape in South Africa which uses the mouth cavity as a resonator.

Xhosa

An ethnic group from the Eastern Cape of South Africa and the second largest ethnic group in the country.

Uhadi

A type of Musical Bow which has a gourd attached to the bow as a resonator and is unbraced.

Umakheweyana

A type of musical bow used by the Zulu people of South Africa which like the Uhadi has a gourd resonator but is braced unlike the Uhadi.

Zulu

An ethnic group from South Africa and the single largest ethnic group in South Africa.

Chordophone

A hornbostel-sachs system classification used for stringed instruments such as the Musical Bow.

Idiophone

A hornbostel-sachs system classification for vibrating instruments.

Gourd Resonator

A dried and hollowed out gourd that is attached to Musical Bows to amplify and resonate its sounds and overtones.

Harmonics

The tonal components of one pitch which all individually sound higher than the fundamental.

Khoisan

A general term used for the indigenous people of South Africa that don’t speak Bantu languages (so not Xhosa, Swahili, or Zulu)

Azmari Tradition

A tradition practiced by Azmari itinerant musicians in the Ethiopian highlands who play music from the Amharas which are songs and poetry in Amharic, mostly male professionals, accompanied by a Masinqo (1-string lute), traditionally providing critique and sophisticated improvised commentary

Masinqo

A one stringed lute from Eritrea and Ethiopia commonly used to accompany the Azmari musicians.

Abyssinia

Another name referring to the Ethiopian Highlands where Semitic speaking Christians lived, including the Amhara.

Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia

Circa 332 King Ezana converted Ethiopia to a bishopric of the Coptic Church (Oldest Christian church in Africa) then in the 6th century St. Yared, the patron saint of music composed Ethiopian liturgical sacred music in Ge’ez (in Abyssinia)

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity

A branch of christianity from Ethiopia who use the ge’ez language.

ge’ez

A literary and liturgical language from Ethiopia used by St. Yared

Ethiopian Liturgical Sacred music

A type of Christian Liturgical chant practiced by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

St. Yared

The patron saint of music who created an Ethiopian Oral tradition through his compositions of Ethiopian liturgical sacred music

Melekket notational system

A 16th century indigenous Ethiopian notation system which uses characters from Ge’ez.

krar

A five or six stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea

beganna

A sacred ten stringed lyre from Ethiopia used to accompany prayer and spiritual music.

‘wax and gold’

A term for a verbal practice of something having a double or deeper meaning than what it first appears to be (gold hidden under wax)

Shillēlā song genre

A type of Ethiopian song genre with three subcategories described by Kebede, the fukera (praising a great warrior), kerera (inspiring a warrior) and fanno (memorializing a dead hero)

tezeta

A type of Ethiopian song genre of reminiscence and nostalgia, and one of the four modal types of geñet, the modal/tuning system.

griot/griotte

A term coming from the Portuguese word “guirot” for a hereditary position describing a West African storyteller, singer, musician, oral historian, genealogist, praise singer, orator, lyricist, verbal artist, and political mediator playing a role in the preservation of traditions and cultural memory.

Kora

A 21 stringed harp (10 on the right/11 on the left) made from a gourd, cow skin, and fishing line and associated with Males

jeli

Also known as a griot/griotte, a hereditary position referring to a West African storyteller, singer, musician, oral historian etc. playing a role in the preservation of traditions and cultural memory.

jeliya

The term used to describe the art of the jeli people

Balafon

A set of wooden bars laid across a frame with a mallet/hammer

Ngoni

A small stringed lute which is smaller than a Kora made from a hollowed out piece of wood (shape of a canoe)

ardin

A type of angled 11-14 string harp played by women griots in Mauritania with a calabash resonating body.

birimintingo/kumbengo

Two sections of a Jeli with Kora performance, the birimintingo has flourishing solo runs allowing the jeli to collect his thoughts and survey the audience, and the kumbengo with a steady repeated pattern on the kora while singing praises relating to the story of the Mandinka people or family lineages

raga

A word meaning atmosphere and a tradition from India specifically referring to a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music like a mode in western music, characterized by buzzing, tabla, a sitar, and a tambura drone. Its tuning system has 22 pitches, and has a scale, ornamentations, melodic patterns, hierarchy of pitches etc.

caste system

A system of classes based on occupation, inherited occupational roles, and hierarchical status the Nyamakalaw (griots) being highly feared artisans who live in hollow trunks and are sometimes labeled as insane

Hinduism

A polytheistic faith of Indian origin that is still practiced in India.

alap/alapana

A melodic form of Raga, this has free rhythm and is all improvised, it has an ascending melodic scale, and increasing rhythmic density features a Jor followed by a Jhala

jhala

A free rhythmic and fast paced section of a Raga song associated with the rising rhythmic density in Alap.

gat

A melodic form of Raga, this is a metered composition with improvisation, the drum enters then the second rising range and increasing density.

tala

The rhythmic cycle and structure in Raga sometimes made of a sixteen beat cycle called a tintal and a drummer who stretches the beat with improv.

tabla

A smaller pair of hand drums distinctive to Hindustani traditions and associated with Hindustani Raga, also associated with the larger drum, the baya, and the drum language Bols as well as rhythmic patterns, Theka.

rasa

Referring to the mood that a raga invokes during a performance

tambura

A fretless plucked four string lute associated as a drone in Hindustani Raga whose tuning provides the fundamental tones for the performance played by a shishya or vocalist

sitar

A fretted plucked three string lute which is melodic and can provide drone and rhythm, it has a gourd resonator and different timbre to other hindustani melodic instruments (like sarods and sarangis) with sympathetic strings that vibrate involuntarily

baya drum

A large drum used in raga sometimes paired with a smaller tabla drum in a tabla pair.

sarod

A fretless plucked instrument similar to the sitar that is deeper and heavier.

sruti box

A bellow operated box of Indian origin with (not played through) reeds that can make a drone like sound for accompaniment.

drone strings

The drone sound made by the strings of a tambura which are played continuously under sitar or voice.

sympathetic strings

A set of strings that can be found on the sitar that amplify the sound of strings with their corresponding pitches, they are tuned to a specific pitch so when that note is played on the instrument the sympathetic string will also resonate to amplify the sound.

Gagaku court music

A Japanese traditional style of music accompanied by bugaku (court dance) sometimes including a koto (zither), biwa (plucked flute), ryuteki (horizontal flute), taiko (drums), hichiriki (wide-reed aerophone bending tones), and sho (mouth organ playing clusters), also has sustained tones, time suspension, low density and distinctive timbres

koto

A traditional plucked and half-tube zither with 13 strings from Japan known to be part of a sankyoku.

Zhen buddhism

A school of buddhism that emphasizes the practice of meditation to awake one’s inner nature, practiced in east Asia including Japan, “less is best” also prioritizing consistency and control

Confucian Ideals

The ideals for life set by Confucious that prioritize being of good-moral character, having good cultivating values, and a well-ordered society, related to the “elegant” Gagaku court music

Shakuhachi

A traditional Japanese wooden end-blown flute used in sankyoku groups

Shamisen

A traditional Japanese three string plucked instrument.

Sankyoku

Meaning three instruments is a classic Japanese chamber group composed of a koto, shakuhachi, and shamisen and sometimes voice.

taiko drum ensemble

A globally popular Japanese drum ensemble whose drums are sometimes used in Gagaku court music, it was also originally associated with Shinto ritual practices

biwa

A traditional Japanese short head fretted lute with four or five strings used for storytelling and to accompany oral traditions.

ryuteki

A traditional Japanese horizontal bamboo flute used in Gagaku court music.

hichiriki

A traditional and melodic Japanese short flute with a wide double-reed (aerophone) used to bend tones over the sho in Gagaku court music.

sho

A traditional Japanese free-reed mouth organ used to play tonal clusters in Gagaku court music.

heterophonic structure

A texture with many melodic variants of the same tune being played at the same time.

Taqasim

An Arabic genre of music using the chordophones Ud and Buzuq made of improvisations, for rhythm, and 24 pitches to an octave available, uses maqam which is a system of modes and scales used in arabic music.

ud/oud

A “fat” Arabic pear shaped, long necked, non-fretted string instrument associated with Arabic Taqasim.

buzuq

A “skinny” long tear shaped fretted Arabian lute associated with Arabic Taqasim.

Maqam

An Arabic “composition kit” or system of scales and modes used in Arabic music.

Dastgah

A Persian Modal system or mode used by the Santur and Voice oral tradition in Iran

santur

An Iranian hammered zither used in musical traditions along with Dastgah.

‘Non-music’

Arabic oral traditions that are considered a call to prayer and not labeled music such as Koranic Chant, Adhan (call to prayer), Pilgrimage Chants or Hajj, and Eulogy Chants & Chanted Poetry

Islam

The state religion in Saudi Arabia influencing their views on many things including classifications of ‘music’

gusheh

An Iranian term for a short melodic movement or composition

radif

A collection of gushehs or short melodic compositions in Iran

Koranic chant

A genre of ‘non-music’ in Arabia that is composed of verses taken from the Quran

Adhan (Call to Prayer)

A genre of ‘non-music’ with heightened speech, melismatic male voices, worshipping Allah and using the upper register to project better but also sounding a little strained

Eulogy chants

A genre of ‘non-music’ of chanted poetry used for mourning and remembrance

call-and-response style

A musical structure composed of a statement followed by a reply or response

freedom song

South African songs of power and protest used for anti-apartheid movements describing struggles, resistance and hope.

apartheid

A South African system of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white minority in the country.

migrancy

The movement from one place of residence to another associated with many South Africans moving to find work

Gumboot performance

A style of dance from South Africa used by African workers to express their experiences working in the mines which are a microcosm of apartheid, often performed with mine workers’ uniform, it was also used for communicating in the mines

maskanda

A South African song genre coming from the word Musikant that often accompanies gumboot dancing and typically features a guitar and concertina and play chords in a I, IV, V structure, it uses western instruments but not western techniques

Bhaca tradition

Bantu-Nguni dancing from Eastern cape and one of the sources of inspiration for Gumboot performance

Timbral density

The quantity of timbres that can be heard in a piece of music

Onomatopeaic sounds

Words and sounds used to imitate the noise of the thing they describe

Fanakalo

A language from South Africa that developed and was then used in the mining industry.

African American Steppin’

A very percussive form of art incorporating synchronized dance and taking inspiration from a variation of African traditions one of them allegedly being Gumboot dancing.

Gamelan

A traditional Indonesian ensemble featuring percussive instruments such as gongs, metallophones, and drums, comes from the Javanese word for “to strike”

colotomic structure

A rhythmic pattern used in Gamelan music and a system that marks music into units according to entrances at specific times with Gongs marking the start and end of rhythmic cycles

Didjeridu and Aboriginal song (Australia)

A instrumental tradition from Australia, performed with a long wooden instrument with a hollow center and is associated with a close relationship with nature as well as animism/totemism/spiritual beliefs from the outback or bush, from the aborigines which are the oldest consistent culture, low rumble and bang, clapsticks, circular breathing and a vocal storyteller

Azmari and Masinqo (Ethiopia)

An oral tradition from Ethiopia performed by Azmari musicians who get their music from the Amharas (secular songs and poetry in Amharic), this tradition is known to have improvised yet sophisticated texts, double meanings, and is usually dominated by male professionals, it is accompanied by masinqo, a 1-string flute, performed at tej bets, weddings, and festivals

Hindustani Instrumental Raga and Sitar/Sarod/Tambura (North India)

A musical tradition from North India, Raga is a melodic framework used in Indian classical music like a mode in western terms, contains buzzing timbre from the tambura, and a “boing” like sound from the tabla which is distinctive to hindustani traditions, the melody is played by the sarod (sitar), rhythm by the tabla, and the drone from the tambura, it is a tradition passed down from a guru to a shishya, the rasa is the mood in the art, has “flexible” time

Gagaku Court Music and Koto (Japan)

A tradition from Japan influenced by buddhism, this tradition features court dance or bugaku, and a koto which is a zither, it also features a biwa (plucked lute), ryuteki (horizontal flute), taiko drums, and some of the most distinct timbres being of the wide-reed pitch bending hichiriki, and the tonal cluster playing mouth organ, sho, features suspension of time, long sustained tones, extremely low rhythmic density, and distinctive timbres, gagaku means elegant and this is used as confucian ceremonial music as well as for ritualistic movement, played for festivals, Buddhist chant, and folk songs

Arab Taqasim for Ud and Busuq (Middle East)

A musical tradition from West Asia and North Africa aka The Middle East, rooted in Islamic beliefs it is a genre of music using the Maqam tuning system as well as improvisation, it is performed with an Ud or Buzuq and the player has 24 pitches to play with, deemed controversial by some due to whether it is considered entertainment or sacred leading to the term “non-music” for things such as koranic, eulogy, and pilgrimage chants, and adhan,