Huun-Huur-Tu is a Tuvan music group that tours throughout Russia, Europe, and the U.S. Their style of singing is one wholly unique to their culture. Tuvan throat singing is creates an intricate sound that mimics the natural world, and connects the Tuvan people spiritually, to the land they inhabit. The layered sound is analogous to that of Mother Earth, camels growling, birds whistling, wind blowing. Huun-Huur-Tu's performance in Berkley, California was both distinctive and dynamic. The performance as a whole was drenched in authenticity, one because the performers themselves are native Tuvans, but also because of their traditional dress and use of Tuvan instruments like the igill. The Chiraa-Koor section was particularly interesting, because of the complex relationship between the Tuvan cowboy sound from the instruments and the consistency of their voices, a mixture of xöömei, overtone singing, and simple sounds. The entirety of the sound is one of travel and adventure, just like Cowboys in America. In that way a very foreign culture becomes to feel familiar. In general, the a …show more content…
On one hand, the sounds themselves indicate specific feelings especially when accompanied with the more familiar sounds of string instruments. For example, after what seems to be an a cappella call, from three minutes on, the song seems to be pleasant and optimistic. That is just how the music feels. It can then be said that the language of music is an inexplicable internal feeling. With that being said, without knowing the actually language it is impossible that an audience will ever be as connected with the music as they might be if it was in the native tongue do the audience members. The hegemony of the West, and in particular America, means that Western music can be heard and understood nearly everywhere. This cannot be said for the small republic of
1. Music is a strictly local expression, rich in variety since each culture expresses affective differences through art, 2. Music is a poetic process--complex, vague, and irrational--based upon borrowed traditional musical materials (melodies, rhythms, forms, etc.), 3. Music is for a religious, elitist-class performer who can understand and appreciate its mysterious nature and power, 4. Music is played softly in intimate gatherings, 5. Music making is the activity of Everyman, exacting the talents of variously trained amateurs who, with industry and practice, decorate their recreation and leisure in moments of social intercourse.
They captured the elegant plucks and rhythms of their crowd favorite, “Tamacun,” off their eponymous first album Rodrigo y Gabriela, dazzling with the intricate licks and folk sound they honed in their early years in Ireland.
The first one that will be described is the traditional song structure. This includes a lead, second lead, primary verse, secondary verse, and a stop or tail. Within this structure different aspects of the song are introduced and performed. It starts out with one male singer, transitions to all of the men singing, and then finally all of the female singers join in during the primary verse and continue until the song repeats. The repeat occurs after the second verse and is known as a “start” on the Southern Plains and a “push up” on the Northern Plains. Honor beats also play a key role in the song structure. For a Southern Plains song there are usually only three honor beats, which occur between the primary and secondary verses. A Northern plains song can have anywhere from three to twelve honor beats within a song and these are placed three fourths of the way through the secondary verse.
Music and dance are important parts of Peruvian culture. “Andean Folk Music is common in Peru. People perform a stylized dance to energetic music mixed with sad songs. Popular instruments include clay panpipes, flutes, conch shell trumpets, and puma-skin drums”(Falconer, Kieran, and Quek 102). The music follows themes of religion, war, and profanity. Peruvians are always found dancing, whether at a festival, carnival, or just for fun. Music shows important parts of Peruvian culture.
Music is an art and a wonderful gift to human race. It soothes, stimulates and makes us feel happy. It affects our moods in many different ways from lullaby to war cry for changes in the society. Music is actually distinct to different people. Above all, it has a transformational importance that is captured in its art and nature. Music draws our emotions and it has an impact of bridging different cultures across the continents. Slave songs were very vital channels through which all kind of information was conveyed both positive and negative.
The trumpet section usually comprises four (sometimes five) players, each playing a separate part. The section leader is usually the first (or lead) trumpet, who plays the highest and most strenuous part. When the whole band is playing tutti (in unison, or all the same), the lead trumpet player is still considered the lead player of the band and is followed in phrasing, articulation, etc., by the rest of the band. The second trumpet player is usually the jazz soloist. The other players are generally assigned progressively lower pitch parts. The trumpets often play the highest parts of the music because of their higher register and are often harmonied in the So What voicing style.
This is why I have selected a piece called, “Kuniburi no Utamai” that features the sho in the context of a gagaku ensemble. Throughout this selection you can hear that it encompasses a taste of ancient Japanese songs with their traditional instruments incorporated in. These instruments serve the foundation for the sound of typical gagaku music, by having an ancient and mystical timbre to it. The tempo of the piece is very slow and controlled and is considered to be free rhythm. The free rhythm aspect is due to long extended notes that are played and led by the fast drum patterns of the concert master. The overall texture is quite bright due to the high pitched mouth organs that are paired with the sho’s extended notes. The sho’s purpose in this piece is mainly to be used as a supporting harmonic structure to the piece and serves its purpose through using multiple drones. The main reason is provided by the function of tone clusters. It uses these tone clusters to support the full orchestration and provide a solid harmonic foundation to the piece. The sho’s timbre would be considered warm because of the diversity of pitches it has available and its ability to blend accordingly to its supporting instruments. It tends to be the foundation of the overall ensemble, which is crucial because it is what everything else is centered
While the musician?s were playing, I was surprised how the audience was. Most of the audience was talking loud, drinking alcohol and eating snacks. Some audience was even clapping hands and humming along with the song. This was quite an opposite environment compared to the concerts I went to. Sometimes the audience was so loud that I could barely hear the songs. It was interesting that even though the crowd was so loud, the musicians seemed very comfortable with it. They played the song as if the audience?s voice was also part of their song. When audience was loud, they would play loud and when audience became quite, they played very soft and tender. It might be to get audience?s attention. But, it seemed the m...
Song of Ariran is a collaborative work of great importance. The book, written by Nym Wales, is a personal account of Kim San, who was a Korean rebel leader based in China. San was fighting the Japanese occupation of his country. The book emerged out of Wales’ interviews with San, which took place in the summer of 1937. While Wales admits that he was not entirely interested in devoting his time and energies to an in depth investigation, he was soon won over by San. According to Wales, even though he had come to China to study China, she could not help but want to write a book about the fascinating Korean revolutionary leader Kim San, and this is exactly what she did by conducting in depth interviews with San.
Some may say music is just music; a song is just a song. However, music plays an enormous role in our psychology, because a single song has the ability to bring about many kinds of thoughts and emotions in the listener. Music is subtly one of the main factors in which people identify with certain groups and establish their belonging in society. It shapes people’s perspectives on how the world functions and the roles they play within it. Music can function the same way in a culture; it can reflect many of the culture’s values and ideologies. Music can have many effects on culture and the people’s idea of who they think they are within that culture. Music can serve in a way that promotes cultural identity and pride, yet it could also play a role in the separation of social and economical identities in within cultures.
This chant is significantly different from the theory of musical Encounter that involves singing with a single tone that falls to a lower pitch when the shaman briefly pauses to recollect breath (Olsen & Sheehy, 2008). There are other performances in shaman music that includes dances as well as certain kind of dress like the shirt associated with rainmaking. In most cases, these ritualistic events utilize instrumentation from the influence of post Encounter. For instance, performances that accompany rainmaking include guitar usage although to some point the words of the song may be ancestral instead of Christian-European. In addition, these words reference the Maya viewing of the universe and its
Throughout the semester, various styles of music and the aspects of culture associated with these styles have been analyzed. Musical elements such as dynamics, texture, form, timbre, melody, instruments, etc., have been used to thoroughly explore each kind of music from different areas of the world, with an emphasis in music from Africa, India and Indonesia. These aspects of music go far beyond just music itself. Culture also plays a huge role in music and the accompanying musical elements. Each country and culture has a different style and distinctiveness that add to what makes the music of that certain culture unique. Music in Africa may differ dramatically from music in Indonesia or India not only due to those certain elements but also due to how it is interpreted by people and what it represents for those people. In addition to this, what one may consider music in one culture may not be music to another. These differences have been made apparent in the several demonstrations that we have been exposed to in class.
Music and singing are a medium of emotional expression that also uses volume, pitch, rhythm and tonal changes to express emotion and feelings as a part of its natural form of expression. Think of a Hollywood movie that plays dramatic louder movie to signal dangers etc. It would seem then that we have a natural inclination to universally understand these changes even if we are unconscious about their seconding’s. Other cultures use different tones and scales but still have the same dynamic in music as they do in speech.
“Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb; Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow.” For centuries “Mary had a little lamb” has become one of the most universally recognized nursery rhythms since being published in 1830. Centuries later it is still one of the most popular songs of the world. Merriam Dictionary defines music as “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity.” With that in mind, music is found everywhere. Whether it’s in the Great Wall of China to the jungles in Africa, music is found everywhere. The main purpose of this paper is to show that music is in fact a universal language by comparing music with other official languages, showing how music influences emotions and how music literacy and emotions helps people understand music as a language. In order to fully execute my purpose of proving that music is a universal language, I will be focusing on using personal experiences, researching articles and specific musical examples from class.
The influence that music has throughout the world is immeasurable. Music evokes many feelings, surfaces old memories, and creates new ones all while satisfying a sense of human emotion. With the ability to help identify a culture, as well as educate countries about other cultures, music also provides for a sense of knowledge. Music can be a tool for many things: relaxation, stimulation and communication. But at the same time it can also be a tool for resistance: against parents, against police against power. Within the reign of imported culture, cross cultivation and the creation of the so-called global village lies the need to expand horizons to engulf more than just what you see everyday. It is important to note that the role of music in today’s world is a key tool in the process of globalization. However, this does not necessarily provide us with any reasons that would make us believe that music has a homogenizing affect on the world.