Posted on December 1st, 2008 by Pauline Abrons
The instruments in the Karnatak music consist of a sitar and some sort of drum of a high pitch. I noticed that there is a very long introduction, something I think I’ve found to be somewhat characteristic of Indian music as well as Middle Eastern Music. Other characteristics of this music is the scale with very small intervals between each note. There is a highly ornamented melody in Karnatak over a drone that seems to shift between two lower notes. The introduction is very soothing and slow, it seems to linger just the right amount of time on each note – it doesn’t keep to any rhythm while still moving along nicely, it sounds correct to the ear. The sitar then moves at a faster tempo, introducing the drums, after which the song moves at a quick pace. The rhythm after this point seems quite complicated. It brings me into the music; it moves and involves me.
“Kudi Kudi” is much more pop-y, clearly a cosmopolitan interpretation of classical indian music. It involves a drum of a sharp tone, a cymbal, and a man’s voice. It sounds like some synthesizer replaces the sitar in this cosmopolitan song. The melody (the voice), as in much Indian music that I have heard, is still highly ornamented. The introduction is much more fast-paced than the introduction in Karnatak, the moving beat already part of the song in the very beginning. It’s interesting to me how the beats in Karnatak and Kudi Kudi are not the same, but have a similar effect on me, but at different levels of intensity. Kudi Kudi, then, is clearly directed to people to entice them to buy it. Indeed, I already have this song in my music library.
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Posted on November 25th, 2008 by Pauline Abrons
I think these are both songs in a shadow-puppet play. They both sounded pretty theatrical to me (which is to say only a bit more dramatism), especially compared to the other gamelan pieces we’ve been listening to. Before I realized this my first thoughts towards Ladrang Wilujang were that it was a happy song for a happy occasion. Then, however, noting the differences between this song and other wedding or festive songs we’ve heard, I thought of changing my description of “happy” to “triumphant.” Pembang Pacar also had this effect on me. My first thoughts were that it was simply a low-key song with a strange vibe (to Western ears). The tempo changes of the song towards the end, however, changed my mind, and I was suddenly convinced the song sounded just like a journey. Heavy, regular beats like footsteps. When it sped up, something intense was going on, and when it slowed down, the obstacle had been passed and the travelers had arrived at their destination.
Do you think there is a notable difference between this music and the gamelan music we were hearing before? Does it sound more dramatic to you? I think it would be interesting to listen to the other gamelan music with a mindset to interpret it as for a shadow-puppet play, and see what happens.
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Posted on November 24th, 2008 by Pauline Abrons
Placido Domingo:
The Muppets:
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Posted on November 24th, 2008 by Pauline Abrons
In Campanas de Santa Cruz, strings introduce the panpipes. The strings become the background for the panpipes. There are two sets – one with an airy tone that is the first to come in, and then another set with a clearer, sharper tone like a flute. At first they pass the melody back and forth, but then join together – the airy panpipes playing decoratively over the deeper flute-sounding instrument (is it even a set of panpipes?), the main melody. The song ends with the sound of the airy panpipes. There’s a strange scratching noise underneath the main sounds, I can’t figure out whether it’s part of the music or whether it’s a flaw in the recording – it sounds irregular. The song is all about its melody – the background notes played on the guitar repeat for the most part, leaving the only change in the song up to the flutes.
The song sounds like it must be mestizo because of the presence of a string instrument (classical guitar?) in a indigenous-sounding song. The melody is made up of a scale with small intervals between each note, and the song is generally in a minor tone.
In the first one, the strings in the background sound distinctly like a banjo, with panpipes playing over it. This song is much more upbeat, though, and the banjo goes through various chord progressions that reflect the elaborate, harmonic, major-sounding melodies. It also seems to fit under the label “mestizo,” because of the presence of the banjo in an indigenous-sounding song. The musicians playing the panpipes ornament the song in what is recognizably an indigenous Andean style (known from traveling to Ecuador before).
The first therefore sounds much more contemplative in comparison to the second, which sounds like it could be played for a celebration, or a party, or simply in front of an audience, as they seem to be in the clip judging from the applause that follows. They both sound highly planned out, true to their title of “ensembles”: The songs are in closed-form, some instruments serving as repeating background music for other instruments with distinct, complicated melodies.
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Posted on October 30th, 2008 by Pauline Abrons
This is probably a high fidelity recording, it sounds much more cosmopolitan and mainstream than the indigenous music we were listening to before. Western instruments are used, I hear a trumpet in Hwahwa, and possibly the electric piano. However there are also clear influences of indigenous music techniques playing into this presentational main-stream music. It feels like the hosho of indigenous music are replaced with some sort of electronic equivalent (I can’t really think of what it actually is), that serves the same purpose and sounds similar (Hwahwa). Another component of indigenous music used in the cosmopolitan music is the incorporation of ululations (Hwa Hwa).
The absence of a participatory framework changes the sound and structure of the high fidelity music as well. For example, the melody is much more distinct and changing than in the Shona music, whose melody tends to repeat (maybe with a few variations here and there) in order to provide a base for participants to play off of to add to the music. These cosmopolitan songs are also in closed form – they have introductions, beginnings, middles, and ends.
What other components of indigenous music can you hear in the cosmopolitan music? How else do you think the music is influenced by being part of a presentational framework rather than a participatory framework?
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Posted on October 11th, 2008 by Pauline Abrons
Balinese gamelan beleganjur is clearly a different style of music than the gamelan we’ve been listening to before. Most noticeably, there are more percussive instruments played than in, say, Javense gamelan, where there are more distinct melodies created either by string instruments, voice, or kettle gongs. Cymbals are therefore a big component of beleganjur whereas they aren’t as much a part of the music in the other types of gamelan we’ve heard. It’s also always oriented around 8 beats, whereas gamelan in general may be centered around more.
Balinese gamelan is a precession, affecting which sorts of occasions it can be played for, namely temple anniversary festivals and funerals that involve a ceremony or some sort of formal procedure. The fact that the music is moving makes it the main attraction; it’s not really background music (especially with all the loud percussive instruments). The only time I’d assume beleganjur is stationary is during competitions, when it’s the main attraction, displaying extremely complex interlocking. It seems that, while, for example, Javanese gamelan can be played at religious or life-cycle ceremonies, it is also played during more laid-back social occasions, or for entertainment, like for shadow-puppet plays.
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Posted on September 21st, 2008 by Pauline Abrons
The first soundtrack, Pajdusko, sounds like an eastern European traditional song with Spanish influences. The scale is western-based, first of all, but the pitches in this song are of a narrower range that are generally associated traditional, old, European music, that often in fact uses instruments like the accordion, a very distinct old instrument. The incorporation of the minor key in the middle of the song sounds a lot like Jewish songs that manage to make the minor key sound happy with a fast tempo and complicated melodies.
There are two aspects of this piece that have Spanish undertones for me. One is the plucked guitar in the middle of the song, like a Spanish romance. The other is the percussion beat, little taps, light in quality, maybe because that type of percussion is used quite a bit in Spanish dances. On that note, this song seems like it should also be danced to because of all the traditional aspects in this song and the fast pace.
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Posted on September 17th, 2008 by Pauline Abrons
Welcome to CMUS 103. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
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