World music: Essentials 4/24/2018 11:43:00 PM

Gamelan Orchestra:
Metalaphones + Gongs.
Pentatonic scale
Heterophonic texture (one melody but musicians vary it slightly)
Music is in phrases, rhythmic instruments mark end of phrase
Tempo fluctuates
4 beats in a bar, beat four is strong
Over time, tempo speeds up
No harmony
No ornamentation
Use of ostinato (little thing repeated over and over again)/Constantly
repeated phrase
AFRICAN MUSIC 4/24/2018 11:43:00 PM

AFRICAN DRUMMING:
 NO melody
 Polyrythmic (Rhythms counteract each other)
 Improvised & learned
 Ostinato patterns
 Syncopation

African Vocal Music:

 Southern Africa
 Instruments used; drums, mbira (thumb piano), xylophone,
chorus of voices
 (soloist)Call and (Chorus) response(sometimes imitation)
 Harmony (mostly) in thirds and are very close.
 Small pitch range
 Mostly major mode
 Syncopation
Latin American Music 4/24/2018 11:43:00 PM

Andean Music:
 Guitars, Panpipes, Quena flute (bamboo)
 Strong melody, much use of repetition
 Strong sense of beat, clear time signature
 Homophonic because chords and one clear melody, however
sometimes heterophonic because 1 melody with
ornamentation(trills, pitch bending)

Tango Music:
 From Argentina
 Minor
 Bandoneon
 Syncopation

Mariachi Music:
 From mexico
 Guitars, maracas, brass, occasional singing.
 Mixed meter (Changing time signature)
 Repetition
Arabic Music 4/24/2018 11:43:00 PM

Arabic Music:
 From arab
 Instruments used: Ud, Rabab.
 Strong Patterns made from hand clapping and drums(ostinato)
 Regular pattern, often doesn’t change through song (ostinato)
 Based on arabic poetry
 Fixed rhythmic patterns or cycles
 Call and response by vocalists
 Short melodic phrases which are repeated
 Often no harmony
 Ostinato (constantly repeating musical idea)
 Melody is based on the scale called the Maqam, with quarter
tones
 Melodies with small pitch range
 Lots of ornamentation (trills and pitchbending)
 Texture: heterophonic
Chinese Music 4/24/2018 11:43:00 PM

From china
 Often based on a major mode and generally a clear sense of
pulse.
 Pentatonic scale
 Instruments: Ch’in (plucked), Er’hu (bowed string instruments),
Sheng (mouth organ)
 No harmony (not significant)
 Heterophonic texture
Japanese Music
From Japan:
 Pentatonic scale, minor mode
 Lots of ornamentation
 Increases tempo over time
 3 sections, introduction, breaking away and then hurrying
 Heterophonic
 Harmony not important
 Generally through-composed, few compositional devices used
 Koto (plucked string instrument). Shakukachi (the flute), Sho
(mouth organ), Shamisen (guitar like instrument)