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Music History
World Music - Introduction
Lecture Notes
All of these elements apply to ALL music. Our music is world music, too!
I. Introduction
A. Greatest influence today on music around the world today is Western classical
and popular music.
1. Orchestras around the world play Western classical music.
2. Sounds of Western pop music are in Africa, India, Indonesia, and Middle East.
Western artists are heard and seen around the world. The same is not true for
musicians of other cultures.
3. The world can be divided into two large areas. Each with many different
cultures yet has certain unifying features. Both western and non-western
cultures have:
a. Sophisticated “classical” repertoire of music that is performed by
professionals
b. Folk music in rural area away from the educated, urban elite
c. Popular music
II. Listening to World Music
A. Music is an art or activity that appears in all cultures and societies that have ever
existed.
B. To understand world music, you must:
1. Listen to its style (defined by the use of musical parameters)
2. Understand its cultural context
3. Relate it to your own experience
C. Commonalities in all world music
1. Much of the music is part of an oral tradition. It is not written down, but
passed on from generation to generation through memory.
2. All cultures use both voice and instruments
3. Music is a reflection of culture. To understand the music, we must have a
basic understanding of the culture.
III. The Cultural Context
A. Each culture possess its own “musical dialect”
B. Context in which the music is heard
1. Original intent – why was the music created?
2. How is the music used?
C. Two main cultural influences
1. Societal customs – weddings, funerals, celebrations, holidays, etc
2. Religious customs – music used specifically for religious services and events
D. As a listener from a different cultural, it is important to understand these
concepts and relate them to your own experiences to find the meaning in them
IV. Elements of Music
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A. All music, regardless of when or where it came from or how it was created, is
constructed of two essential parts – time and pitch.
1. How long does a sound last? (time)
2. How high or low is that sound? (pitch)
B. Aspects of Time
1. Pulse – strong, underlying beat; pulse can be strong or weak
2. Rhythm – patterns within a pulse; can be long or short
3. Tempo – speed of the pulse or beat; can be fast, slow or medium or can change
4. Meter – groupings of the pulse
a. duple meter – groups of 2
b. triple meter – groups of 3
c. compound meter – groups of 6
d. irregular meter – groups of 5, 7, 11
e. syncopation – strong beats in weak pulses
f. no meter – no detectable grouping
C. Aspects of Pitch
1. Melody – Single identifiable line of music
a. melodic contour – distance between high and low notes in the melody; can be
large or small
b. Melodic motive – short melodic idea that is repeated
c. melodic theme – longer melodic idea that is often made up of motives and is
repeated
d. Frequent use of improvisation
2. Harmony – underlying supporting pitches for the melody; there may or may not
be harmony present
3. Texture – Relationship of melody to harmony
a. monophonic – one melody with no harmony
b. homophonic – one melody with harmony
c. polyphonic – multiple melodies
d. call and response
D. Form
1. How a piece is put together
2. Can be simple or complex
3. Vary in length
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