Broderick Lemke

MUSI 150

December 13, 2015

World Music Final Exam

d. Name one culture with a complex theoretical system for music, and name another culture that has elaborate

music, but no specific theories about music. Compare what you hear in these different types of music. Can the

differences be explained because of theory or lack of theory?

Carnatic music from south India has a rich history of tradition and practice, one that is rooted in musical

theory which mirrors our musical culture in the western world. Between 200BC and 200 CE the Natya Shastra was

written and serves as the many treatise on theory of the performing arts in India. This text was much like the western

worlds Treatise of Harmony by Jean-Phillippe Rameau, although it predates it by over one thousand years. The

Natya Shastra serves as the basis for Carnatic music theory including concepts on the ragas (scales), table (the

rhythmic cycles), and many other parts used in the production of music. These elements would be evolved upon and

tweaked throughout the years into their current system of musical theory, but it still shows just how central these

concepts are as they still continue in their tradition today.

On the other side of the spectrum, African drumming does not have a large set of music theory. Drummers

in African tribes do not sit in school and read textbooks on rhythmic notation and why rhythms are chosen, but

rather grow up in an environment where the music and rhythm surrounds them. Growing up in this surrounding, as

well as certain apprentices serving under musicians and learning drumming from a teacher, promotes a learning style

not rooted in the theoretical realm.

These two cultures music are very different from each other in some ways, while not in others. For

example, they both have similarities in the fact that they use percussion instruments, which is common for many

cultures around the world. In addition the learning style of their percussion teaching is similarly taught, as African

drummers will work on rhythmic patterns with teachers, much as Indian teachers will work on Solkattu and rhythms

with their students. A major difference that should be noted is that Indian music focuses heavily on melodic and

harmonic lines, while African drumming often does not have melody, and if it does it is even rarer to hear harmony

with it. This difference may be in the fact that Indian music has worked for year centuries creating rules of what

sounds good to their ears, and having it written down, while the African drumming thrives because of the lack of a
melodic line. It is hard for rhythms to sound bad together as long as they are semi-consistent as they will eventually

line up, even if it takes many polyrhythmic cycles to do so. They are both equally complex, and the only difference

may be that Indian music was able to evolve more complexity in their understanding of melodic and harmonic

content than African drumming because of their musical theories.

e. Choose one musical culture and compare what it would be like to perceive this culture as a performer, and then as

an outsider/audience member, with little knowledge of the music.

As a performer-

My fingers glide with ease, my heart beginning to slowly race as I pick at the strings. I feel comfortable,

my ears tuned in to the constant emission of tones from the shruti box, my fingers flowing as the sultry sound flows

out from the resonator. It sounds almost as if its toying with the tone, coming to it and running away, darting

around and not ever sure where it wants to go, but it all fits, it is what I have learned. As the minutes pass my fingers

begin to move from the familiar paths of the tune I was playing, slowly adding in ornamentations, traveling up and

down ragas as the music evolves in front of me and the audience, neither one of us quite knowing where it would go

next, but it is relaxing that my fingers know where they need to be, they dont lead me astray. The table join in and

my entire body relaxes, going into a trance as we interact with each other, excitement building, but I know not to go

to fast or get too caught up, the concert will continue for hours and I dont want to get exhausted too soon. I let the

music take over as I sit there experiencing it, the mood changing almost imperceptibly over the hours as we get from

phrase to phrase. The changes are so small, almost imperceptible, so much that if I werent the one playing them I

would barely notice where they came from, only that we got from point A to point B in some way or another. This

will continue for hours, a musical look into my soul, the music pouring from my body and out to the Audience, the

best form of expression I can muster.

As a first-time listener:

As I settled into my seat I noticed something was odd. The stage was set, and this concert was not what I

had been expecting at all. I thought I was walking into a traditional performance of the rite of spring, but I got

something that was even more unfamiliar to my ears. I had the wrong theater, and this stage wasnt set for the large

group of musicians or dancers I was accustomed to, but rather a small rug with two small platforms. Could this be a

world premiere of a new Avant Garde piece? When the instrumentalists walked out I applauded, but my eyes were

straining to understand the instruments in their hands. Not only did those drums look too small for any orchestral
pieces, that string instrument didnt belong in any notion of a concert hall that I held. The audience didnt seem to

quiet down as much as Im used to as the performance began, people still shuffling in their seats, doors opening as

they entered and exited throughout the first movement, if you could call it that. The string instrument started off

slowly, a constant drone being played which led me to believe I was listening to some imitation of Percy Graingers

Immovable Do, but something was off here. Not only did the first movement take a while to get moving and seemed

to be a constant flow of notes from the plucked strings, but it was unaccompanied except for that drone. Eventually

those small drums came in, and I SWORE there were only two of them, but with the myriad of sounds coming from

the stage I was convinced they had to be hiding a number of other percussionists in the pit. There is no way that any

instrument could produce that many sounds. I began to notice that the pieces tempo changed slowly throughout and

sped up and slowed down, but what happened in-between changed so little that I was almost in a trance state,

experiencing somewhat looping-sounds as if I was listening to Reichs Piano Phase, and I only had several

moments of lucidity. The other final odd thing that I heard was the fact that the instrument almost seemed out of

tune, but could it be microtonal like Karlheinz Stockhausens Studie II, or perhaps Charles Ives 3 Quarter-Tone

Pieces. This music didnt sound as inherently dissonant though, it sounded mysterious and foreboding, the out-of-

tune scale leaving this eerie feeling. After the first two hours I gave into my concert etiquette of not checking my

phone, and was shocked to see how much time had passed, and it didnt seem to be coming to an end. I had

somewhere to be that evening, and I needed to go, but I would be back, this didnt seem like it would be ending any

time soon anyways, I was sure they would still be there in an hour or two.