Sunday, December 30, 2007

117. Concept, Style and Structure . . .

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My music-theory oriented paper on Pygmy and Bushmen music (in response to Furniss and Olivier) is finally available. Here's how I just a...
Friday, December 28, 2007

116. Music of the Great Tradition -- 17:Gamelan

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As should be clear from posts 107 through 115, there are many correspondences, on many different levels, between Pygmy/Bushmen style and the...
Tuesday, December 18, 2007

115. Music of the Great Tradition -- 16:Gamelan

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Returning to Indonesia, let's listen to an example of some very interesting and unusual vocal hocket, from the island of Flores , near B...
1 comment:

114. Music of the Great Tradition -- 15:Gamelan

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As we have seen, the more elaborate gamelans are organized in terms of layers, in a manner roughly analogous to the stratigraphic layers so...
Friday, December 14, 2007

113. Intermezzo

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I must interrupt my disquisition on the "Great Tradition" to update my loyal readers (you know who you are) with respect to some n...

112. Music of the Great Tradition -- 14:Gamelan

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Now that I've listed several points of similarity between the Pygmy/Bushmen and gamelan traditions, it's time to focus on one very i...
Tuesday, December 11, 2007

111. Music of the Great Tradition -- 13:Gamelan

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More list items: 16. Polyrhythm can be defined as the simultaneous presentation of two or more independent rhythms in such a way as to prod...
2 comments:
Sunday, December 9, 2007

110. Music of the Great Tradition -- 12: Gamelan

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The list, continued: 9. Tonal displacement -- notes from the nuclear theme are routinely displaced at the octave in gamelan music, to accomm...
Tuesday, December 4, 2007

109. Music of the Great Tradition -- 11: Gamelan

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Is the gamelan music of Java and Bali part of the "Great Tradition" I've identified, originating in musical practices ancestra...
Sunday, December 2, 2007

108. Music of the Great Tradition -- 10: Gamelan

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Let's look more closely at the two examples from the previous post, beginning with the BaAka pygmy song, as outlined by Michelle Kisliuk...
Monday, November 26, 2007

107. Music of the Great Tradition -- 9: Gamelan

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In earlier posts I traced an "African signature" along some Out of Africa pathways, illustrating the connections with various audi...
4 comments:
Monday, November 19, 2007

106. Music of the Great Tradition -- 8

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I have only one more item to add to the list -- for now. I'll sneak it in here: 19. Most songs in both traditions are sung to meaningles...
Thursday, November 15, 2007

105. Music of the Great Tradition -- 7: The List Completed

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16. Polyrhythmically related vocal parts. 17. Polyrhythmic percussive accompaniment, usually but not always, limited to handclapping. 18. Th...
Monday, November 12, 2007

104. Music of the Great Tradition -- 6:The List continued

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9. Tonal displacement -- pitches in a repeated motive or phrase can be displaced, most usually at the octave, but also at other intervals, s...
1 comment:

103. Music of the Great Tradition -- 5: The List

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Last time I promised a list of certain points of similarity between the musical traditions of the African Pygmies and Bushmen that seemed pa...
Tuesday, November 6, 2007

102. Music of the Great Tradition -- 4

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I've been doing a lot of research and writing on "Pygmy/Bushmen" style these days, trying to make sense of all the various pie...
3 comments:
Tuesday, October 30, 2007

101. Music of the Great Tradition -- 3

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The narrative I'm about to relate is admittedly speculative. However, it is rooted in a premise that, as far as I'm concerned, is ro...

100. Music of the Great Tradition -- 2

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If my last post was a bit over- exuberant , it's because I am truly excited about the possibilities opened up by all the revolutionary n...
Sunday, October 28, 2007

99. Music of the Great Tradition

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No not THAT tradition. If you're into classical music you've heard all about the "Great Tradition," starting I suppose wit...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

98. Did the Pygmies Ever Have a Language of Their Own?

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Sorry for the sudden change of pace, but a thought occurred to me the other day that won't let me alone. I've been thinking a lot ab...
44 comments:
Tuesday, October 16, 2007

97. Is Money the Problem?

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In the last installment I briefly described three very different examples of what can happen when dedicated people work together to support ...
Tuesday, October 9, 2007

96. The Lesson for Today -- Carried Over from Last Week

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I see that it's almost a week since my last post. Sorry, but I've been really busy for some time now, with various responsibilities ...
3 comments:
Thursday, October 4, 2007

95. The Lesson For Today -- Continued

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I think the most important recommendation I could offer with regard to the whole issue of cultural "equity" (assuming anyone with ...
Saturday, September 29, 2007

94. The Lesson for Today

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The United Nations has recently adopted an important declaration regarding indigenous rights, which Peter Jones is now discussing on his blo...
Sunday, September 23, 2007

93. The Double Standard -- continued

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Please don't misunderstand. I am not advocating for the maintenance of the status quo in our own society. On the contrary, I firmly bel...