In the first part of my discussion I began to discuss the essential question, "What is Music?". Where is the line that distinguishes what is music and what is just noise? But the question is much broader than that. In the world of music there are two distinct entities; Western music and what I will refer to as World music. The how and where music is produced could also have an influence on what many people think is music and what isn't.
Western music is music that is rooted in Western European and American tradition. This includes everything from Bach to Blink182, Mozart to Mahler, Strauss to Sweeny Todd. This is probably what you think of when you hear someone say the word "music".
It has a specific structure of melody and harmony closely linked to rhythm. There are time signatures and scales, sound and silence intermingling to form beautiful patterns.
But what about the rest of the world? There are hundreds of different cultures that are producing their version of music. It is similar to Western music in that it has structure, sound and silence. It is in the way that this music is created that makes it so strikingly different from Western music. It could be the instruments, it could be the country, it could be the morals and ethics of the area that separate the music of the World from the music of the West.
I guess the question that remains is not "Is it music", but "Is it music to you?" Does the subjective nature of music erase this music from our minds? Does our typically America-centric view of the world take away from the immense creativity and beauty of World music? I have included some links to websites where you can listen to different types of World music.
*If you decide to listen to these World Musics, please take the time to listen/watch the entire clip. Be slow to make an initial judgement. A few of the clips actual feature several pieces of different songs in the same video.*
Japanese Shakuhachi Flute
Indonesian Gamelan
Ravi Shankar, Indian Sitar Player
South African Traditional Music and Dance
Highland Bagpipe Competition
I apologize for the poor quality of the video, but if you really focus on just listening to the music, that's really what I want you to notice. Do these examples affect you the same way that Western music does? Or do you find these other types of music to be just noise?
To be concluded in Part III...
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