An overall rhythmic “ground plan” serves as a point of reference for the varieties of rhythmic detail possible within the scheme. Although many such formats are possible, here they are divided into five categories applying to the overall rhythm of the voices.
Read the Coding Guide for this Line. Listen to each example at least twice. Once you have listened to all the examples, take the Test which follows.
S. America, Interior Amazonia. Asháninka. Campa have small, relatively egalitarian, decentralized communities and live by fishing, hunting, and cultivating with digging sticks. One drum is joined by a second, making for an overlaid syncopated effect. (Tschopik, B7) E. Asia, Japan. Buddhist monks chant morning prayers to a one-beat accompaniment on a wooden gong. One-beat rhythm can occur in ritual contexts in complex societies but not in other settings. (Haring #1, A2) S. America, Interior Amazonia. Asháninka. Campa women celebrate the manufacture of manioc beer. (Tschopik, B7) In the following examples, the beat patterns are also demonstrated on the bongo. Oceania, Melanesia, Molucca, Aru Islands. Dobo tribesmen playing slit drums and a gong in unison to a simple four-beat meter. (Kunst & Lomax, A7) S.E. Asia, Philippine, N. Philippines. Mangyan (Hanunoo) sing and play portable instruments: a gitgit, hand-sized fiddles, and the kalutang, two handheld sticks manipulated so as to make a three-note xylophone. (Conklin, B 3) N. America, Northeast U.S. Bongo player. (Loughborough, B2)N. America, Southeast U.S. Cajuns. The French-speaking bayou-dwellers and rice farmers of Southwest Louisiana developed a distinctive regional dance music, which this waltz exemplifies. Fiddle with guitar. (Bonstein, B1) C. Africa, Equatorial Africa. Mboko villager with a mouth bow. (See Line 11, #3 for description.) (Didier, A5) Australia, N.W. Arnhem Land. The didjeridu is a long trumpet made of a tree branch hollowed out by white ants and trimmed for blowing by the player. It requires expertise such as circular breathing on the part of the performer. Male solo with didjeridu and sticks. (West, A3) W. Africa, W. Sudan. A Dogon healing song picked out on a harp-lute. (Calame-Griaule & Calame, B6) S. E. Europe, Balkans, Bulgaria, Pirin. A Macedonia horo, one of the ancient choros, or circle dances known to plow agricultural villagers from Morocco to Tibeto-Burmaland. It is here played by two Muslim gypsies on plucked lute and drum. (Lloyd #1, A8) W. Asia, N.E. Afghanistan. A similar rhythm played on a clay calyx-shaped drum comes from Badakhshan in the Hindu Kush, where Tajiks cultivate irrigated mountain valley farms. (Delparaz, B5) N. America, Southwest U.S. Kawaik (Laguna Pueblo). The leg bells of the dancers produce an irregular meter in unison, matching the rhythm of the unison chorus. (Superchief, A; see Line 3, #9) Australia, Arnhem Land. Sticks accompany the didgeridoo played in unison with the singers, who sing a terraced melody to an irregular meter in unison with one another. (West, A6) C. America, Honduras, Valle. Two guitars (European) playing a waltz (European) in irregular meter (Amerindian) in rough unison (also Amerindian). This is a frequent mestizo-American pattern. (Smith, Peter, A4) E. Asia, Japan, Chiba. The ornamented long phrases of the shakuhachi (flute) are a prelude to a song commenting on the loneliness of life. Such elaborate preludes are a notable feature in the music of highly stratified societies where free orchestra rhythm is most frequent. (Masu, A4) Middle East, Armenia. Two duduks (double reed woodwinds) played in free rhythm in the microtonal, ornamental, glissando style of the ancient empires. (Cowell #2, C5) E. Asia, Tibet. Masked lamas prepare to drive out the demons of the old year and call on the good spirits to aid them in the new. Shawm, trumpet, drum, and cymbals. (Bourguignon, B4)Which form of Overall Rhythm of the Orchestra is recorded here?
For each example below, choose the feature that best fits from the following scale.
None
One-beat rhythm
Simple meter
Complex meter
Irregular meter
Parlando rubato
Consult the Coding Guide as needed. Note your answers in order to check them against the answer key.
N. America, Southeast U.S. A Southern White mountain fiddle tune named for the abolitionist John Brown. Male solo. (See Line 4, #17.) (Lomax #4, B4) Reveal Answer W. Africa, Bulu (Fang). A women’s dance song performed by a leader with mellow chorus and clapped accompaniment. (Cozzens, A8) Reveal Answer S.E. Europe, Bulgaria. A Northern Bulgarian lament for Georgi Dimitrov, the Bulgarian charged with starting the Reichstag fire in 1933, played on the kaval (seven-holed shepherds’ flute), producing a sound which might have been heard when Middle Eastern culture first entered the Danube Valley. (Lloyd #1, B31) Reveal Answer N. America, Southwest U.S. Akimel O'odham (Pima) men with drum accompaniment in the tonally individualized but rhythmically cohesive unison style of the Southwestern cultivators. (Boulton #4, 1) Reveal Answer S. Asia, India. An Oriya tribal song in two short phrases with repetitive text, notable raspy delivery, and drum accompaniment. (Sweden #2, A1) Reveal Answer S. Europe, Greece. Peloponnesus. A Peloponnesian dance, in which dancers in a line move sideways to an additive (“limping”) rhythmic pattern played on plucked chordophone and fiddle with much glissando. (Notopoulos #2, A2) Reveal Answer S. Asia, N.W. India, Kashmir. Both Kashmir and Georgia are blessed in climate, their irrigated mountain crops, and their heritage of the poetic lyricism of Middle Eastern culture, such as this song for a nightingale. Flute and drone. (Bhavain, B1) Reveal Answer E. Africa, Nilotic Kipsigis. The Kipsigis practice intensive terraced agriculture in the mountains of northeast Kenya. This chorus is sung in overlapped counterpoint to a six-string lyre accompaniment. (Tracey #2 (TR-166), A6) Reveal Answer N. W. Africa. Mauretanian griots (bards) perform hanoun praising the emir, accompanied by a lute and by drumming on the sound box of a harp. Male and female soloists. (Rouget, A1) Reveal Answer S. Asia, S. India. From Malabar, a stupendous trivan drum song for kathakali (mimed dance drama) by male soloist with drums and cymbals. (Danielou #2, B14) Reveal AnswerLine 13 Test Answers: 1) Simple meter. 2) One-beat. 3) Parlando rubato. 4) Irregular meter. 5) One-beat. 6) Complex meter. 7) Parlando rubato. 8) Simple meter. 9) Irregular meter. 10) Complex meter.