Music of the World

Lecture 1
1

Introduction

the music of the worlds culture emphasizing their diversity and the uniqueness a sense of the character of music and musical life of everyone Too many cultures, by sampling Include Europe as a music culture

Introduction (cont.1)

To provide a degree of depth, being selective India, Middle East, China, Japan, Indonesia, Africa, Europe, American Jazz

Introduction (cont.2)

introduction to the cultures and societies of the area musical life and ideas about music musical style music history musical instruments recent developments

Introduction (cont.3)

describe musical cultures at the present time as well as their history to dispel the notion that Western academic or art music lives in a sense through its history but not the others

Introduction (cont.4)

Every musical system is a very complex phenomenon Not practical to deal with every aspect in each individual system Selecting more interesting concepts in each system to discuss

Introduction (cont.5)

explain music as a cultural phenomenon listen and enjoy to music of other societies Music for enjoyment is a Western notion In some societies, music identies clans and social classes, conrms political status, expresses communication from the supernatural etc.

Several Ways of Looking at Music

to understand how a particular work of music interacts with its culture Using a local event to demonstrate

Several Ways of Looking at Music (cont. 1)

Eason Chans performance on in Concert YY A series of concert that features lyricist Wong Wai Man Each singer is assigned to sing a few songs mostly hit songs Instrumentation - keyboard, guitar, bass, synthesizer, drum set, amplied voice

10

Several Ways of Looking at Music (cont. 2)

Composed by CY Kong Using Cantonese A mixture of colloquial Chinese and formal Chinese Small degree of reverb revealing musical taste outt, dancers, staging, lighting etc. Compare with popular cultures of other societies

11

Several Ways of Looking at Music (cont. 3)

In terms of Cantonese pop, good singer/ good interpretation/ effective way of using the instrument etc. But from the view point of an Indian musician whose task is improvising within a framework of melodic and rhythmic rules this performance did not do well African percussion ensemble might nd the rhythm boring and repetitive
12

Introduction (cont.6)

each society has a musical system that suits its culture compare them in terms of their structure and function avoid making these comparisons the basis of qualitative judgements For example, Chinese music vs Western classical music recognize that each society evaluates its own works of music by its own criteria

13

Music, universal?

Each society has its own principal music Members of a society know and respond to their music with a kind of common understanding similar to understanding their own language Same kind of music could mean very differently to different people

14

15

What is this for?

A. Wedding B. Birthday C. Funeral D. Ritual E. None of the above

16

Funeral Singing and Dance

by Ewe people an ethnic group located in Togo

17

Example 2

18

What is this for?

A. Wedding B. Birthday C. Funeral D. Ritual E. None of the above

19

Traditional Work Song

Kiyari uta (Song for carrying Heavy Logs) often sung on a traditional festival and happy ceremony

20

Music, universal? (cont. 1)

All societies at least have something that sounds to us like music Not many societies have a concept of music for which they have one word, like our music Persian language has one word for instrumental music and another for vocal music All societies do have music that is produced vocally But not all societies share the idea that all sounds that are sung could be categorized under one conceptual umbrella
21

Music, universal? (cont. 2)

Music is a culturally universal but it is NOT a universal language

22

Three-part Model

by Alan P. Merriam look at music as a phenomenon in three sides

sound behavior conception or ideas

23

Example

At a concert, we hear musicians making SOUND = music classical piano recital, performer usually plays as if she were alone only acknowledges the audience when bowing before and after folk concert, singer always addresses the audience rock concert, members of the audience make all sorts of sounds or get up and dance
24

Example (cont. 1)

These different kinds of BEHAVIORS are as important to the music as a social and aesthetic event as are the sounds In church service, congregation sings a hymn, minister would not think they sang that hymn badly today; it was better last week IDEA is the congregation communicates with God, and musical virtuosity is NOT an issue

25

Example (cont. 2)

music should be studied as a group of sounds as behavior that leads to these sounds as a group of ideas or concepts that govern the sound and the behavior

26

27

Musical Change, Transmission, and History

Western music is dynamic while all other music are static Chinese music is ancient? All music have history and they all change Music does not uniformly change from simple to complex Each music has its own unique history

28

Musical Change, Transmission, and History (cont. 1)

Contact with other culture leads to change Western culture affecting non-Western music Example, Chinese orchestra Violin in Cantonese Opera

29

30

Musical Change, Transmission, and History (cont. 1) Method of transmission in most societies, music lives in oral tradition i.e. passed on by word of mouth and learned by
hearing live performance

such form of transmission inevitably causes songs to change Different societies have different views towards the changes made on a particular song Example, guchin music

31

Musical Change, Transmission, and History (cont. 2) Oral transmission limits the degree of
complexity Notation Western academic music is traditionally notated Some Asian music too Change from written to printed music led to a different set of ideas about the nature and stability of a musical work

32

Musical Change, Transmission, and History (cont. 3) Music changed rapidly in the late 19th century,
and even more so since 1950, because

the colonization of most of the world by Western nations increased political and economic integration of nations advances in communication by mass media, airlines, and computer networks dissemination of Western and Middle Eastern cultural values through the diffusion of Christianity and Islam
33

Musical Change, Transmission, and History (cont. 4)

Western-style harmony, synthesizers, instrumental ensembles pervade much of the worlds music a layer of music added to the older tradition Music getting more similar all over the world? Or advance communication create more channels for everyone in the world to enjoy all different kinds of music?

34