What Is Music? Flashcards
John Blacking’s definition of music
Humanly organized sound
Semiotics
Systems of symbols and their meanings
Poietic
Process of encoding/interpreting music
Esthetic
Process of people listening to music
Ethnocentrism
The assumption that one’s own culture is normal and other cultures are weird or strange
Ethnomusicology
The study of any music within its contemporary context
Folklore
The study of orally transmitted folk knowledge and culture
Fieldwork
The first-hand study of music in its original context
Postmodernism
De-emphasizes description and search for absolute truth in favor of interpretation
Four basic phases of ethnomusicology
Preparation, fieldwork, analysis, dissemination
Balkan’s five perceptions of music
- Basic property of all music is sound
- Sounds and silences of music are organized
- … by humans
- Human intention and perception (HIP)
- “Music” term is tied to Western music and assumptions
Universal properties of music
- All societies have music
- All people sing
- Music is used in religion to experience the supernatural
- All musics have history
- The term “music” is tied to western music and assumptions
Timbre
The quality of a musical sound
Pitch
Frequency of a sound measured in hertz
Rhythm
The lengths of sound as patterns of time
Dynamics
The volume of music
Sachs-Hornbostel System
Universal instrument classification system used by ethnomusicologists
Aerophones
Instruments that require air to make sound. Subdivided into three categories: flutes, reeds, trumpets
Chordophone
Having one or more strings attached between two points. Four subcategories: lutes, zithers, harps, lyres.
Idiophones
Instruments that vibrate themselves to make sound
Membranophones
Stretched membrane that makes the sound
Monophony
Music with a single melodic line
Polyphony
Overlapping multiple lines of music
Homophony
Type of polyphony; multiple lines of music expressing the same musical idea in the same meter
Independent polyphony
Multiple lines of music expressing independent musical ideas as a cohesive whole
Heterophony
Type of polyphony; multiple performers playing variations of the same musical line
