World Music exam review
This list is intended to guide you to the essential terminology for understanding the musical examples in class. It is not a "formula" for preparing for the test. Learning the terms on this list is no substitute for a broad understanding that can only be acquired by doing the assigned reading and listening in their entirety.
Exams 1-2 format
- 1/3 listening identification
- 1/3 matching, fill in the blank, etc.
- 1/3 longer answers
Course introduction
- active listening
- culture vs. nature
- ethnocentrism
- cultural relativism
- Western culture
- chordophone, aerophone, membranophone, idiophone
- electronic instruments
- rhythm vs. meter
- free rhythm
- beat (pulse)
- pitch
- interval
- melody
- scale
- major vs. minor
- octave
- timbre
- monophonic, heterophonic, polyphonic, homophonic
- form
- strophic song
- chorus
- bridge
China
- Han Chinese and minorities
- Chinese Nationalists and Communists
- Communist Revolution
- economic liberalization
- Tiananmen Square protests
- Taiwan
- Hong Kong
- Cantonese and Mandarin dialects
- shan'ge
- vocables
- jiangnan sizhu
- silk and bamboo ensemble
- erhu
- yangqin
- pipa
- dizi
- beiguan
- suona
- qin
- Confucianism
- tablature
- harmonics
- Chinese piano music
- Beijing opera
- Cui Jian
- Winnie Hsin
- Twelve Girls Band
India
- Hindusthani and Carnatic music
- guru
- improvisation
- veena
- tambura
- mridangam
- sitar
- sarod
- tabla
- harmonium
- drone
- raga
- tala
- adi tala
- kriti
- alapana, tanam, kalpana svara, idam
Indonesia
- Bali and Java
- gamelan
- kempul
- kenong
- bonang
- slenthem
- gender
- rebab
- suling
- kendhang
- slendro and pelog
- soft and strong styles
- shadow puppets
- gong cycle
- balungan/skeleton melody
- gamelan gong kebyar
- dangdut
- fusion jazz
Middle East
- diaspora
- Silk Road
- Arabia in American popular culture
- Middle East/Muslim World/Arab World
- Mashriq and Maghrib
- umma
- Mesopotamia
- azan (adhan)
- muezzin
- singing the Qu'ran vs. reciting it
- haram
- takht
- 'ud
- qa'nun
- nay
- buzuq
- riqq
- mijwiz
- heterophony
- iqa'
- dumm and takk
- ostinato
- taqasim
- maqam
- tarab
- Umm Kulthum
- Gamal Abdel Nasser
- Rahim Alhaj
- program music
- Baghdad
- Palestinian-Americans
- marginal preservation
- Yemeni Jews
- Sephardim and Ashkenazim
Europe
- Roma/Gypsies
- Europe as a concept
- Form in European music
- major and minor tonality
- ganga
- Podhale
- Tatra Mountains
- Górale
- góralski (po góralsku)
- muzyka Podhala
- nuta
- basy
- ozwodna
- ostinato
- krzesana
- Trebunie-Tutki family
- worldbeat (world music, global pop)
- cultural fusion
Africa
- polyrhythm
- syncopation
- improvisation
- call and response
- Ewe
- Shona
- BaAka
- San
- "Pygmies"
- "Bushmen"
- Agbekor
- gankogui
- jali/griot/géwël
- mbira
- kushaura and kutsinhira
- hosho
- bira
- spirit possession
- hunter-gatherer
- mabo
North America
- lining out
- shape notes
- singing convention
- folk hymn
- gospel
- soul gospel vs. country gospel
- emancipation of slaves
- Civil Rights Movement
- black church
- spiritual
- whooping
- field holler
- work song
- minstrel show
- Jim Crow
- blues form
- race records
- downhome, vaudeville, electric blues
Latin America
- mestizo
- sesquialtera
- panpipes (zampoña)
- kena (quena)
- Imbabura harp
- ira and arca
- hocket
- k'antu
- Quichua (Quechua)
- Nueva Canción
- Ché Guevara
- African heritage in Latin America
- bomba
- güiro
- landó
- cumbia
- button accordion
- bambuco
- salsa
- salsa dura
- guajeo
- montuno
- clave
Final exam format
- 50% similar to exams 1-2, but covering material since exam 2.
- 50% large essay question (see below)
Final exam essay questions
Your final exam will contain one of the following four questions. You should be able to write a five-paragraph essay on each question. Be sure to answer the entire question!
The final exam is closed book. I choose the question.
- Heterophonic texture is unusual in European or North American music, but it is commonly found in other parts of the world. Define the concept of heterophonic texture and describe at least three different musical traditions that employ heterophony. What kinds of musical learning encourage heterophonic texture?
- It is commonplace to say that in the United States, one of the functions of music is for people to express themselves. Yet there are other traditions of music in which self-expression is not nearly so important. Discuss two types of music making where the performer is expected to express something other than his or her own emotions and thoughts, as well as two traditions from outside the United States where self-expression is important.
- A major theme in this course has been the process of musical modernization. Discuss how three different musical traditions have responded to changes in technology, increased contact with other cultures, and the international expansion of media conglomerates.
- The authors of World Music: A Global Journey make a striking argument about the music of the United States:
Most musics that have come to represent America's energy and innovation have come from African-Americans. Because so many of these musics have been absorbed into "white" culture, it would not be too outlandish to describe the United States as an "Africanized" culture, in which people of all races participate in and appreciate African-American forms [of music], and in which commercial music has "black" roots. (p. 346)
Do you agree or disagree with this proposition? (Or are you ambivalent?) Make your case using as evidence at least three different musical traditions that we have studied in this course.