World Music Traditions

Updated 4/20/2012

Moravian College (mus 113-z)

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FINAL PROJECT IS DUE ON 4/25 !!!




For Wednesday, April 25   Last Class

FINAL PROJECTS DUE


For Wednesday, April 18:

Japan Test:   The listening portion will include the following tracks from the Japan CD (CD3):
                         -tracks 1,2,3,7,9, and 10 [You should be able to ID these by the following criteria:

                           Track 1:  Koto solo
                           Track 2:  Shakuhachi & Tsuzumi
                           Track 3:  Shamisen
                           Track  7:  Nagauta
                           Track 9:  Nagauta
                           Track 10:  Matsuri Bayashi

  The remainder of the test will focus on Japanese Aesthetic Concepts (pages J3-6   & J10-15)






For Wednesday, April 11:

Brief description of Final Project is Due:  This should include a sample title followed by a description of what you intend to accomplish, AND a few resources you have consulted.

Read:  Text:  J20-25 & J35- 42  &    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki

                                                              http://jtrad.columbia.jp/eng/u_nagauta.html

                                                                             wabi-sabi

                                                                             Japanese Aesthetics Powerpoint



Listening:  CD 3, Tracks 7 & 9







For Wednesday, April 4:

Movie Review is Due

-Begin Japan Unit:

Reading:  Text: J3-J14 & http://jtrad.columbia.jp/eng/index.htl

Japanese Pronunciation Guide ---- PRACTICE !!!

Listening:  CD 3, Tracks 1-4




For Wednesday, March 28:


INDIA TEST

--Listening portion will consist of two or three excerpts taken from the
      Maru Bihag assignment (Motif 1 &2, Sitar Activity, and Tabla Activity ONLY)

  
Maru Bihag Grid  (answer sheet) is HERE.


-- Terminology is a big part of this test.  Make sure you know the terms covered
       in the text!  (this will be done in a matching format)


-- Indonesia:  know basic musical concepts (nuclear melody, interlocking rhythms, elaborating structures, gong cycle, etc.

-- ESSAY QUESTION:  There will be one question in which you should be able to talk about larger concepts in India Music, i.e.  the rhythm structure of Indian Music,  the concept of raga and how it affects raga performance, the melodic elements of Indian music, the role of Improvisation in Indian peformances, etc. etc.

For Wednesday, March 21:

Review previous materials !!

RAG: MARU BIHAG Assignment will be reviewed in class, as directed in class last week:  Motif 1 &2, Tabla and Sitar activity:

Assignment:  Complete "Motif 1" and "Motif 2" columns of Rag Maru Bihag assignment (I-19-21)
                        -Use Track 9 (CD2):  Put an "X" in the boxes for Motif 1 and 2 when they are
                          identical (or very close) to the original motifs.  Put a "?" in the boxes where you
                          strongly recognize the motifs, BUT they are slightly altered.
                         [Review the motifs on track 7 (motif one) and Track 8 (motif 2)--Also Do
                         "Sitar ACtivity" and "Tabla Activity"


Read:  http://www.bombaymuseum.org/powm/jubilee/ragamala.htm


 Movie Review is Due on April 4---- Approximately 3 pages in length.  After a brief plot summary, spend
most of your time discussing the "cultural" aspects of the film (what did you learn about the culture?).  Make sure the movie deals with a NON-WESTERN culture.  If you are unsure as to the appropriateness of a particular movie, please ask me.  Here are a few sure winners (there are others as well):

JAPAN:  ANYTHING directed by Akira Kurosawa:  Seven Samurai, Roshomon, Ran, Kagemusha, Ikiru,
               Yojimbo,  High and Low,  etc....

               OTHER DIRECTORS:   Zatoichi, Fireworks, Tanpopo, A Taxing Woman, Mimbo.... and others
              
The Last Samurai

CHINA:   Eat, Drink, Man, Woman --- Raise the Red Latern --- To Live ---   Beijing Bicycle ---
                The Story Qiu Ju ----- AND OTHERS

OTHERS:  The Scent of Green Papaya  (Vietnam) ---- ASK





For Wednesday, March 14:

Read:  Text:  I-8-13

Plus:  http://chandrakantha.com/tablasite/articles/overview.htm
           http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/sitar.html

Listening:  CD2:  Tracks 5, 6, 10






For Wednesday, February 29:


BEGIN INDIA UNIT

Read:  Text--- Pages I-1 - I-8
Read:  An Appreciation of Indian Music

Listening:  CD2--tracks 1-4




For Wednesday, February 22:


Read:  pp. I-22 - I-32   and  

Read:  Ramayana Summary

              Javanese Gamelan Instruments


Listening:  CD2- Tracks 12 & 13 &




For Wednesday, February 15:
               TEST #1


Note:  We will satrt a brief introduction to the Music of Indonesia after the test.

TEST REVIEW:

The test will consist of a listening section and  short-answer, multiple-choice, and true-false formats for The Intro Chapter and Africa (assigned Internet Articles, and "Musicking").  Also, one or two possible short answer discussion questions. 

Listening Portion:

  A.  Time-line recognition

      In this section there will be from 5-7 box notation examples, either taken directly
      from the CD (Tracks 13-18/ Text: pages A-27-28) OR examples "similar" to those.
      For each example, I will play a pattern and ask you to identify the correct notation
      from the three or four choices listed.  It is not necessary for you to memorize them.

   B.  Indentify Instrunments as specifically in the order of entrance

   C . Listening Analysis

      In this section I will test your knowledge of aural concepts of traditional African
      music.  There will likely be 2 or three musical excerpts, taken either directly from
      the CD or "similar" ones.  You should be able to identify instruments and vocal
      qualities and concepts such as: call-and-response, additive texture, polyrhythms, etc.
      The best way to study for this is to review the CD (especially tracks 1-12 and 30-39)
      along with the corresponding guides in the text.


Part Two --- Multiple Choice, definitions, true/false, short answer, and possible short
                    essay.

      
These questions will be taken from the text (beginning through Africa), the
       assigned internet articles, and lecture notes.  The purpose is to test your understanding
       of basic concepts of World Music (ethnomusicology) and the traditional music of
       Ghana.  Everything that has been presented is "fair game," but in your studying it
       would be wise to outline major points and give them more emphasis.  Straight forward
       definition of terms will be minimal, however, there will be occasions where you will need
       to "demonstrate" your understanding of the concepts.
 
 

The following study questions are designed to assist you in organizing your study.  These
are NOT intended to indicate either specific questions that will be asked or to eliminate
material for study.


        1.  Define "ethnomusicology", "world music", and "non-Western music."  How do

             they differ in terms of approach and coverage?

        2.  "Ethnocentricity" is a stumbling block in learning to appreciate and understand
             other cultures.  What is the problem and what are some possible cures?

        3.  What do various theories of musical perception teach us about how music is
             processed and internalized?  How does this information relate to learning about
             new musical cultures?

        4.  How are musical instruments categorized to encompass music from all over
             the globe?  Can you give specific examples of instruments in all of the major
             categories?

         5.  Why is it dangerous, and inaccurate, to generalize about African musical
              traits or customs.  What major factors make such generalizations
              problematic?

         6.  How does the Western practice of a "sound ideal" (a prescribed tone or sound
              for an instrument or voice) relate to traditional African performance practices?

         7.  What are the "major" percussion instruments in an Anlo-Ewe drum group?  What
               are some of the specific playing techniques?

          8.  Why is repetition an important structural element in much traditional African
               music?

          9.  How does the Ghanaian concept of polyrhythms differ from the "divisionary"
               organization of rhythm in the West?

         10.  What are some of the major conventions of musical performance in traditional
                Ghanaian music?

          11.  What is the basic structure of  indigenous religious practice, and ritual,
                  in Ghana?  Relate this specifically to Anlo-Ewe beliefs.

          12.   What are  the major functions of music in Ghana?

          13.  Discuss "rote learning" as it applies to the music of Ghana.

          14.  List some important facts about modern Ghana.

          15.  Relate the Western ideas about melody and harmony to traditional
                 music in Africa.

          16.  What is the tension/repose continuum.  Give specific examples in Western
                 and African music.



For Wednesday, February 8:



Read:  Varieties of African Music

Review all previous readings--- be ready to discuss

Listening:  Time-Line Patterns:  Page A-27 (CD1, Tracks 13-18)-- PRACTICE
                  
PLUS:  CD1---Tracks 24-30

TEST REVIEW




For Wednesday, February 1:


Read:      Musicking--Christopher Small

Reading: 


                 
http://www.alokli.com/site/articles/ch3_dancedrumming.pdf


Listening:  CD1, Tracks 6,7,8,9,10   

PRACTICE TIME-LINE PATTERNS:
Page A-27 (CD1, Tracks 13-18)





For Wednesday, January 25:



UNDERSTANDING WORLD MUSIC
by Dr. S A K Durga

Ethnomusicology, the study of world music, is a branch of musicology. This discipline developed after World War II in Western countries with a special emphasis on the
inter-disciplinary approach to music. Like any other academic field, which is being created and recreated through research,writings and teaching, Ethnomusicology also had many
variations in concepts, interpretations and applications.

The discipline Ethnomusicology branched out of musicology because of the ardent desire of many Western musicologists to study non-western music that had passed on from generation to generation through the oral tradition, especially the music of
tribal and village communities.

Jaap Kunst, a Dutch musicologist, introduced the term Ethnomusicology in 1950, though the actual discipline was in existence since late 19th century under the name Comparative Musicology. It may be said that from the publication of the Viennese scholar
Guido Adler, 'Umfang Methodeund Zid Der Musikwissenschaft' (1885), the term Comparative Musicology was used for the study of non-Western music as a separate branch of musicology. The first edition of the Harvard Dictionary defines Comparative Musicology
as the “study of exotic music” and   “the musical cultures outside the European tradition”.

After World War II, many musicologists did not favour the term Comparative Musicology and one of them was Jaap Kunst, the Dutch Ethnomusicologist who argued that the term was not entirely satisfactory. However the comparative method is frequently used in other fields of musicology and studies in this field are often not directly comparative. Therefore Jaap Kunst introduced the term Ethnomusicology in his little booklet Musicologa in the title page of the book in 1950. He placed the prefix “Ethno” in front of the word Musicology with a hyphen to indicate that the study would be on the music of the races of man or ethnic groups.

The term was virtually accepted immediately and a Society for Ethnomusicology was established in 1956 in the United States of America. The members who formed the society discussed and favoured the view that, “Ethnomusicology is by no means limited to
the so-called ‘primitive music’ and is defined more by the orientation of the student than by any rigid boundaries of discourse”. The term Ethnomusicology is more accurate and descriptive of this discipline and its field of investigation than the older term,
Comparative musicology. The hyphen in Ethnomusicology was officially dropped by the Society for Ethnomusicology in 1957. Prof. David McAllester one of the founders of the Society, emphasized that this new discipline must not be defined by the music under
study, but by its methodology. By the late 1950s, the term Ethnomusicology came into use with or without hyphen as synonyms and by the end of the decade, the
term comparative musicology acquired a historic status.

Many Ethnomusicologists from time-to-time have defined the term Ethnomusicology, thus changing the connotations of the term. Jaap Kunst defined the term Ethnomusicology as “the study of the music and musical instruments of all non-European peoples,
including both the so-called primitive peoples and the civilized Eastern nations”. In the third edition of this same book, he wrote that it is a study of “Traditional music and musical instruments of all cultural strata of mankind” but specifically named “tribal and folk
music and every kind of non-western Art-music” but specifically excluding Western Art and popular music. The definition was satisfactory at that period for many Ethnomusicologists. More definitions for the term Ethnomusicology began to come up from 1960s from various Ethnomusicologists extending the scope of study wider and wider.

Dr. S A K Durga
_________________________________________________________

Reading:  Text: AFRICA---pages A1-A13...also

Web: 
http://home.comcast.net/~dzinyaladzekpo/Intro.html

Listening:  CD1, Tracks 2,3,4,5----Listening carefully & be sure to consult Listening Guides (A20-23)











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