SS

Week 1-2 Notes

Week 1: World Music and Comparative Musicology

  • Framing of World Music Studies

    • Geographical approach

    • Historical approach

    • Anthropological approach

    • Musical Practice

    • Sound Practice

  • What is Music?

    • Aristotle: Music is a form of imitation that affects emotions, capable of producing different states of feeling

    • Rousseau: Music is the art of combining sounds in a manner agreeable to the ear

    • John Cage: Music is organized sound; all sounds can be perceived as music depending on context

  • What is World Music?

    • Pages 7–9 pose the question “What is World Music?” but content in the transcript for these pages is not provided

  • MUSICOLOGY of MUSIC FROM FARAWAY PLACES

    • A geographical/sliding map showing musical cultures across regions (North, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, etc.) with an emphasis on distant places

    • The slide references Marco Polo’s Voyages (13th century) as a historical lens for cross-cultural contact and travel

    • The map includes numerous place-names and regions to illustrate global musical contexts (e.g., Europe, Cathay, Cathay regions, the Caspian Sea area, Mediteranean connections, Asia, Africa, and distant lands)

  • WORLD MUSIC

    • Discovery of the New World by Europeans in the 15th century

    • Research/information on activities of native peoples

    • Study of musical form by European researchers

  • THE HISTORY OF WORLD MUSIC ANALYSIS

    • Comparative Musicology (1800s – 1940s)

    • AJ Ellis (1885) On the Musical Scales of Various Nations; also 1884 Tonometrical Observations on Some Existing Non-Harmonic Scales

    • Wallaschek, Richard (1893): Primitive Music: An Inquiry into the Origin and Development of Music, Songs, Instruments, Dances and Pantomimes of the Savage Races

    • The slide presents foundational bibliographic anchors that shaped early world music analysis

  • CRITICAL RESPONSES TO COMPARATIVE MUSICOLOGY

    • Objectification of Music

    • Eurocentric bias

    • Evolutionist framework

    • Lack of Methodology

  • Frances Densmore

    • Noted ethnomusicologist referenced in the context of critical responses and ethnomusicology development

  • Dùndún; Hornbostel–Sachs Classification (Idiophones and Membraphones)

    • Idiophones: instruments that generate sound through the vibration of their own material

    • Examples: Mbira (lamellophone), Gamelan

    • Membraphones: instruments that generate sound primarily through the vibration of a stretched membrane

    • Examples: Changgo, Dùndún (talking drum)

    • Hornbostel–Sachs Classification (continued) sets the framework for instrument taxonomy

  • Kora; Chordophones

    • Instruments with vibrating strings; e.g., Kora, Sitar

  • Aerophones

    • Instruments that create sound by air vibration

    • Examples: piob-mhor (Scottish bagpipe), Zampoña

  • Hornbostel–Sachs Classification (overview)

    • Idiophone

    • Membranophone

    • Chordophone

    • Aerophone

    • (Electrophone is a later addition)

  • QUIZ

  • The transcript notes a quiz on this material (no content provided)

    Week 2 (1): Anthropology of Music

    • Introduction to Week 2: Anthropology of Music

    • North map references and connections to Week 1 concepts continue to appear on slides

  • NORTH: Comparative Musicology (repeated map excerpt)

    • Emphasizes geographic scope and cross-cultural scope of study

  • Anthropology of Music

    • Influenced by two major turns:

    • Linguistic turn (metalanguage)

    • Cultural turn (informal activities, unseen aspects of culture)

  • Anthropology of Music (1960 onwards)

    • Key figures and ideas

    • Jaap Kunst (ethnomusicology)

    • Mantle Hood (bi-musicality)

    • Borislav Malinowski (participant observer)

    • Alan Merriam (Anthology of Music / Anthropology of Music)

    • Conceptual framing: Music in Culture; Music as Culture; THE HISTORY OF WORLD MUSIC ANALYSIS

  • MUSICKING

    • Conceptualized by Christopher Small (1998)

    • Core idea: Music is not a thing but an activity; musicking is taking part in any capacity, including listening, in a musical performance

    • Musicking widens the circle of attention to include the entire set of relationships that constitutes a performance

    • Meaning of music lies in action and social relations, not in fixed musical objects or works

    • The framework views music-related activities as the source of music’s meaning in performances and social life; understanding what people do reveals its function in human life

    • Source: Small (1998)

  • THE HISTORY OF WORLD MUSIC ANALYSIS (Anthropology of Music, 1960 onwards)

    • Cultural considerations: Beyond the sounds themselves

    • Music and the Environment

    • Cultural Knowledge

    • Value Systems and Hierarchies

    • Use vs Function

    • Music and Identity

    • Music and Ritual

    • Music and Spirituality

  • Examples in Contemporary Society

    • The funeral of Dolores Marsalis (1937–2017) as a contemporary example of music in ritual and community life

  • Questions to frame musical performances

    • What music is being played?

    • How is the music being played?

    • What is the context (event, ritual, everyday, sacred)?

    • What other aspects relate to the musical performance?

  • WEEK 2: BASIC FUNDAMENTALS OF MUSIC (Overview)

  • Fundamentals of Music

    • Timbre: the tone quality or color of a musical sound

    • Medium: the object that produces a sound (voice, instrument, solo or ensemble)

    • Note: the transcript lists these as the primary categories of sound sources and their qualitative differences

  • Pitch

    • A tone determined by its frequency

    • Key concepts:

    • Scale: the pitches used in a particular musical tradition

    • Interval: the difference between two pitches

    • Range: all pitches a voice or instrument can produce

    • Melody: an organized succession of pitches forming a musical idea

    • Melodic contour: the general direction and shape of a melody

    • Ornamentation: embellishment or decoration of the melody

    • Text setting: the rhythmic relationship of words to melody (syllables)

  • Rhythm

    • The relationship of durations; related concepts include:

    • Beat: a regular pulsation

    • Accent: an emphasized beat

    • Tempo: speed of the beat

    • Meter: grouping of beats into units

    • Free rhythm: absence of a regular pulsation

    • Rhythmic density: concentration of notes within a time unit

    • Phonic structure: organizational relationship among sounds

    • Core organizational types of texture (Phonic Structure):

    • Monophony: a single line of music

    • Polyphony: multiple lines of music simultaneously

    • Homophony: multiple lines sharing a musical idea

    • Independent polyphony: two or more lines with independent ideas

    • Heterophony: variations of the same line performed simultaneously

    • Dynamics: volume of sound

    • Form: underlying temporal structure of a musical performance

  • Illustrative examples of textures

    • Monophony: e.g., Islamic Adzan (call to prayer)

    • Polyphony: e.g., USA bluegrass where multiple melodic lines interact

    • Independent polyphony: e.g., Pygmy singing (distinct lines with independent ideas)

    • Heterophony: e.g., China silk bamboo ensemble (multiple performers elaborating the same line with variations)