Chapter 11: World Music
Preview Questions
Introduction
We’ve tried to concentrate on the essentials in this book and to remember that it’s an introduction to music. We weren’t able to cover all of the classical music that has come from the Western European art music tradition, nor jazz, nor popular music. This chapter will perhaps be the most superficial of all since we will now be looking at the rest of the world. The goal is to expose you to the musical traditions of a few other countries in order to broaden your horizon and hopefully put a dent in your ethnocentrism, where you consider your culture as normal and everything else as weird. Appreciating music from other countries can help you get to know their people and how they think, and perhaps as a result you’ll become less reactive when you come upon differences in language, religion, dress, and diet. You’ll also see how music can be used for a variety of purposes, and not to affect your mood or to lubricate social interactions. Classical North Indian music can be used to open one’s mind to divine influences. In traditional cultures illnesses are seen as disturbances in the balance between the person and spiritual forces. The goal of healing is to restore the equilibrium, and music can be a bridge to connect the physical and spiritual, and the most vital part of the healing ceremony.
Review Questions
- Describe the music you’ve heard from another country. What is similar to the music from the United States?
- What purposes are there for music besides affecting your mood and selling products?
- What instruments are used in Indian Music?
- What is a gamelan?
- Where is Bali?
- How many countries can you name in Africa? What instruments were developed there?
- What elements of African music have had the greatest impact on popular music North and South America?
- Who are the Cajuns? Where did they come from?
- What is zydeco?
- What language is spoken in Brazil? What type of music is the most popular there? What instruments are used to play it?
- Why is it hard to translate lyrics to songs into another language?
- Who is the most famous Brazilian composer of popular music in the world?
- What does K-Pop sound and look like compared with American pop music?
Introduction
We’ve tried to concentrate on the essentials in this book and to remember that it’s an introduction to music. We weren’t able to cover all of the classical music that has come from the Western European art music tradition, nor jazz, nor popular music. This chapter will perhaps be the most superficial of all since we will now be looking at the rest of the world. The goal is to expose you to the musical traditions of a few other countries in order to broaden your horizon and hopefully put a dent in your ethnocentrism, where you consider your culture as normal and everything else as weird. Appreciating music from other countries can help you get to know their people and how they think, and perhaps as a result you’ll become less reactive when you come upon differences in language, religion, dress, and diet. You’ll also see how music can be used for a variety of purposes, and not to affect your mood or to lubricate social interactions. Classical North Indian music can be used to open one’s mind to divine influences. In traditional cultures illnesses are seen as disturbances in the balance between the person and spiritual forces. The goal of healing is to restore the equilibrium, and music can be a bridge to connect the physical and spiritual, and the most vital part of the healing ceremony.
Review Questions
- What are some uses for music besides making money for companies and changing your mood?
- List as many of the cultures that you can that were covered in this chapter. What are some characteristics of each one? What instruments do they use?
- Which one did you enjoy listening to the most? What other country’s music would you like to investigate?
- What purposes are there for music besides affecting your mood and selling products?
- What instruments are used in Indian Music?
- What is a raga?
- What is a gamelan?
- Where is Bali?
- How many countries can you name in Africa? What instruments were developed there?
- What elements of African music have had the greatest impact on popular music North and South America?
- What is polyrhythm?
- What is call and response?
- Who are the Cajuns? Where did they come from?
- What language are Cajun and zydeco songs often sung in besides English?
- What do Cajun and Zydeco music have in common?
- What is difference between the way Cajun and Zydeco music has developed compared with K-Pop?
- What language is spoken in Brazil?
- What type of music is the most popular there?
- What is Brazilian Carnaval like?
- Why is it hard to translate lyrics to songs into another language? Why is it also hard to understand the cultural associations that the lyrics depend on?
- Who is the most famous Brazilian composer of popular music in the world?
- Describe the industry behind K-Pop. What does it sound and look like compared with American pop music?
- What resistance might you have to listening to music from other countries?
- Who is in control of the pathways for new songs that you are exposed to? Why might it not be to their benefit financially to promote world music?