Toussaint Music Music

El Condor Pasa, is a song which was recently proclaimed to be a part of Peruvian cultural heritage. El Condor Pasa has entered the Western stream of music, as has been adopted by the cosmopolitan formations. The modern and the traditional means of music making mix to form a much different “El COndor Pasa”: Example 1 Example 2 The piece has perfused throughout the world taking on different forms, instrumentation, and rhythms as it moves from place to place. Example 3

This piece is quite an entertaining one. It appears that there are three separate parts to the piece: an idiophone, which accompanies a male vocalist, and a ringing percussive tone that is heard whenever the lower bass notes of the idiophone are played. The percussion is possibly tied to these bass strings and are a secondary effect of the musician playing these lower notes. The piece is both polyphonic and heterophonic in texture. The vocalist often either improvises over the idiophone’s melody or sings a similar melody to that of the instrument. Because the vocalist and the instrument are often incredibly in sync throughout the piece, I am led to believe that the vocalist and the instrument player are the same musician. What strikes me as most interesting however is how the idiophone is played. There is a fairly repetitive bass line, however the musician improvises a bit with the higher notes over the bass. Often the notes are played/plucked very quickly similar to vibrato.

The relationship between the vocalist and the idiophone are intimate! The vocalist’s sound is reminiscent of the highly dynamic nature of the idiophonic melody.
The social context and the function of this music is unclear to me. The sound of it reminds me of the Islamic call to prayer and thus I believe that music to have some form of religious or ceremonial role.

These sounds are very different from the others we have studied in class up to this point. It is sound based primarily on the voices of a group of people. A flute of some sort may be incorporated into the performance but as a whole the voices of people make up the bulk of the sounds. The format is call-and-response. A man sings a short phrase, and the group as a whole responds in time. The backdrop to the call and response are a few singers who softly sing the chorus throughout the entire piece, giving the music as a whole a polyphonic feel. The piece is not faced-paced and the rhythm is at a walking-pace. The music reminds me a bit of wave-action on a shore, mostly because of the repetitive aspect of the piece. The soloist man’s melody (call) is like the ebb phase and the loud response from the chorus is like the flow phase.

These sounds are most likely produced in a community setting “in the rainforest.” A group people gather together, and to entertain themselves, begin to sing. The call and response format allows for a great deal of improvisation and talent on the part of the soloist and the role of the soloist is fairly important as he/she carries the song.

Indonesia is home to a wide variety of people and sports incredible cultural diversity within its borders. The musical/sound-making differences that exist within Indonesia are especially notable. Two forms of gamelan, Balinese gamelan beleganur and Javanese gamelan are typical examples of how diverse the form and the role of music can be within the same country.

Javanese gamelan plays an important role for the Javanese people, whom make up the majority of the population in Indonesia. The music emphasizes the use of gongs that work together to form a meshwork of interlocking melodies that provide a stratified and yet unified texture. The sounds are often cyclical in nature and songs can therefore last for long periods of time. In addition, different instruments, depending on their pitch and tone quality play on different beats emphasizing different portions of the melody. Interestingly, the speed, the rhythm, and melodical patterns are often changed as the gamelan pieces continue. Much of the conducting is done however by the drummer. The social context of the music is that of performance. Javanese gamelan often performs at dinner parties, or accompanies dance, theatre and shadow-puppetry. In addition, outdoor events are usually accompanied by gamelan although gamelan is never seen as the focus of the event, and is simply a part of the greater scheme of the event.

Balinese Gamelan beleganjur although similar is quite different and unique in comparison to Javanese gamelan. For example, Gamelan belenjagur is unique in that all the instruments are portable. Often one musician often will play only one gong, while the other percussive instruments will be tethered to poles and played during the procession. In contrast, Javanese gamelan is often seated, and is in hardly portable at least during the performance. Also, in the practice of Javanese gamelan, often one musician may play multiple gongs. Gamelan belenjagur emphasizes different instrumentation (as compared to Javanese gamelan). There is a great emphasis on “cymbal-like” crashings that punctuate the piece, giving it in my mind is a bit more of an aggressive feel. This feeling of great volume and presence within the Balinese gamelan stems from its role in a social context. This type of gamelan is often accompanies processions during temple anniversaries and cremations. It highly intertwined with the spirituality of the Balinese people and the music is thought to have a protective effect during cremation processions (protecting the procession from evil spirits). Similarly to Javanese gamelan, the music is very cyclical in nature, and again can be played for long periods of time.

It’s an interesting dynamic really between how similar forms of playing music can take on such different roles dependent on the society in which they are played. Music is often not isolated and should most always be thought of in a cultural context. I struggle to find meaning however to much of Western music. Does the commercialization of music destroy its fundamental social role, or is the role of music in Western culture simpler?

Gamelan plays an important role in the Indonesian music-culture dynamic. The music often accompanys certain rituals, ceremonies (religious) and dance performances. In the clip one can hear the chatterings of people in the background, almost as if the gamelan piece was occuring at a dinner party or a wedding.

In the piece it sounds as though there is an ensemble of musicians playing primarily idiophones. Gamelan is based on the striking of gongs of various pitches to produce multi-layered melodies as can be heard in this piece. In the piece there is also a membranaphone that beats a drum to signify a “downbeat.”  I hesitate to write about a downbeat in this piece however because the tempo seems to vary quite a bit from the start to the end. There is no clear indicator of measures and rhythm throughout most of the piece. Towards the end a 4/4 time signature may be superimposed onto the piece but often the ends of the bar will be extended as the tempo appears to slow over time. The piece also gradually builds up as more musicians are incorporated into the melody. In the beginning of the piece, there seems to be only one idiophone player playing primarily, however as the piece goes on, other musicians add to the rhythm of the first player and eventually the piece begins to take shape. Towards the end of the piece, there are multiple musicians playing and harmonizing with the main melody which can be heard over the rest of the piece (the melody is played with the highest pitch and can easily be distinguished from the rest of the supporting notes). The music is has a calming effect on the listener. In addition, the harmony and the dynamic nature of the music keeps the listener engaged.

A young man sings in a foreign language, and according to the title of the piece is calling his comrades to prayer. His voice is an alto. He sings alone and sings with great passion. Most of the sung notes are straight tones held for a long time with vibrato (osscillations) at the end of the notes. The melody is slow, deliberate, and yet dynamic in its movement. The intensity of the music is kept fairly constant as the man sings with a loud chest voice. There is no clear tempo and no clear means of designating one section from another. This is due to irregularities within the melodical movement of the piece.

I find the piece beautiful. It is interesting and aesthetically pleasing. The notes are sung with incredible accuracy and clarity, giving me the feeling of tranquility. Of course this is most likely an example of cross-cultural misinterpretations, as I doubt the people who listen to this call to prayer view it as the “Art” that I see it as. Often, as was said in class, the call to prayer is seen as another part of the religious practice, not performance.

An icon is a type of sign that calls something else to mind because of similarities between the sign and the object. In Pachelbel’s Canon, the same basic melody is repeated throughout the piece. In the recording, the  two violinists that play the melody use the same basic note progression as they play through the piece. The listener is constantly reminded of the very solid and stable structure of notes upon which the piece was founded. This piece is an extreme example of musical motives (melody that is repeated often within a piece).

An indexical sign is defined as one that connects directly to a listener’s actual experience. For example, listening to the Windows Operating System startup sounds, brings back the experience of starting up a computer. Even if these sounds are heard without the visual stimulus of the start-up screen, anyone familiar with Windows remembers the experience of using the computer.

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