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From: "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@worldnet.att.net>
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Subject: Re: What are the *Most General* Categories of Music??? what are the main 'traditions'??
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Date: Tue, 04 May 2004 02:25:47 GMT
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Nightingale wrote:
>
> Adam Golding wrote:
>
> >
> > what you say sounds mostly reasonable, but i should clarify that i'm
> > mainly interested in identifying the main 'traditions' of music, not
> > the genres--i.e. i know that bach and stravinsky are very different,
> > but that they are both part of the art music 'tradition' and that i
> > will encounter them, simply by finding out who is important in *that
> > tradition*--but that method will only expose me to the music that is
> > important in traditions i already know about--which is why i want to
> > figure out what all the various traditions could be said to be..
> >
>
> Here are the categories I was taught, dividing world music into 8
> musical regions. Perhaps this is broader than you were looking for.
>
> 1. Europe, including classical, folk & popular
> -ensembles of instruments and/or singers
> -multi-voice textures
> -most rhythm clearly metrical
> -large variety of instruments
> -notation from about 800 & elaborate music theory
> -composition more important than improvisation
>
> 2. Native America
> -singing solo, or groups singing monophonically
> -almost the only instruments are drums and rattles
> -scale with 5 or fewer tones
> -much repetition of single pitch or phrase, descending lines
> -pulsating rhythm in both voice and percussion
> -long sections of melody with no meaningful text
>
> 3. Pacific
> -multi-voice texture, both traditional harmonies & western church influenced
> -limited instruments - mostly drums, rattles, flutes & strings
> -choral or instrumental ensembles
> -much melodic repetition, but forms can be long & irregular
> -tempo changes are used to structure piece
>
> 4. South-east Asia
> -Gamelan
> -variety of instruments, metal predominates
> -stratified texture - faster rhythms at higher pitches
> -melodies repeated, ostinato patterns with variations
> -pentatonic scale, based on either division of octave into 5 or 7 rather
> than 12 semitones.
> -music often linked to theatre - puppets, live action, dance
>
> 5. East Asia
> -both folk & classical traditions with long written history & theory
> -pentatonic scales, although which 5 varies from country to country
> -some melodic repetition, but plays small role in total structure
> -monophonic texture, sometimes with drum accompaniment
> -relatively slow rhythms - rhythm not emphasised, timbre more important
> -huge variety of instruments
> -also gongs, but unlike South-east Asia, they are not with a definite pitch
>
> 6. India, South-west Asia, Middle East, North Africa
> -also both folk & classical trad. with long written history & theory
> -up to 24 pitches to the octave
> -long sections with little or no melodic repetition
> -highly ornamented melodies
> -basic textures: melody, melody + drone, melody + drum
> -includes both metrical and non-metrical sections, pieces divided into
> contrasting sections
> -in theory could have measures of up to 100 beats (I think I would lose
> track long before the end of a measure in that case!)
> -improvisation more important than composition
>
> 7. Sub-Saharan Africa
> -variety of cultural types & music
> -buzzing timbre in instruments & voices
> -emphasis on percussive quality of sound - striking, shaking, plucking
> -short melodic patterns repeated, with improvised variations
> -multivoice textures, sometimes implied
> -complex rhythms
> -call & response
> -emphasis on community participation rather than separation of
> performers and audience
>
> 8. New World America
> -European musical instruments and harmony
> -also instruments from African influence
> -variety of polyphonic textures
> -complex metric/rhythmic layering, syncopated rhythms
> -relatively short forms with melodic repetition
> -sections based on repeated chord progression with improvisation
> -call & response
> -examples included Louis Armstrong & Bryan Adams
Ooh, I see _someone_ who aced her ethnomusicology final!
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@att.net
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