To begin please watch the following video featuring master percussionist Valerie

Question

To begin please watch the following video featuring master percussionist Valerie Naranjo in a class she taught last fall here in Blacksburg. You may recognize Valerie from her weekend gig as the percussionist in the Saturday Night Live Band. The instrument Valerie is playing originated in West Africa and is called the “gyil”, which is similar to western instruments such as the marimba or xylophone (if you are unfamiliar with these instruments, check them out on Wikipedia). I always find it fascinating how in West African culture, such a wide variety of ideas can be communicated via relatively simple (on the surface) instruments.

So here’s the question: are African cultures the only ones to communicate specific ideas via music? Do other cultures (western or non-western) use music in a similar way? Can you think of examples of other situations where music (not just lyrics or text) is used to communicate a specific message to an audience? These examples could be simple, like a specific piece of music that is associated with a specific place or event. There might even be examples of music being used as a means to expose an audience to narrative content (i.e., to tell a story). Or, you might find something totally unrelated to these ideas that fits the bill.

Explanation / Answer

There is diversity in music and instruments played throughout the world. It includes the woodprint and the Noh ensemble of songs and music from japan. It is played in the form of kabuki style. The Kangen ensemble includes an assembly of instruments played by a group of musicians sitting on the ground. A group of instruments were organized in the confusian ritual with worshipping of the sun and the moon. In Zimbabwe, Shona music is famous. The Ottoman empire plays music named as the Mevlevi Ayin. The sufi music is famous throughout the world. The USA groups and the Beethoven groups were very famous with the playing instruments. The families in Africa have a family tradition of music and the next generations can excel in music only by inheritance from their forefathers and ancestors who played instruments in the early part of evolution. In japan, the study of the thirteen string koto, and three string shamisen is popular from ancient history times. The music organization called as the Bartok and Kodaly played instrumental organizations . The mbira music of the Zimbabwe Shona, is based on the principle of the basic or clear distinction of the superimposition of patterns and sounds of music which is famous in africa. Repetitiveness is an important part of music, and the same sounds should be present in the music. Other african musicians include the Andrew Tracey, whose compositions are called as kaleidophonic.These music compositions are in comparison to the music played by Valerie Naranjo The same sounds are generated with the generation of the new sounds.The seeds are music are sung again and again with variations in the music from the other musician. In india , the raga and tala is famous. The harp ,violin and the guitar are very important and famous playing instruments. The melody, rhythm and pitch of the sound played by the instruments in africa are compared with the instruments sounds in phillipines and south-east asia. The bamboo tube instrument called as the kolobit is played with solo and group dances. The gongs are played which have different timber, pitch,frequency and sound of sound waves with dampening effects at closed and open boundaries. There are gamelan orchestra in china,and korea. The Drums instruments are famous in africa. The instrument saung gauk of burma is famous with the pattern of sounds originating from strings. The african marimba is famous for generating sounds with tunes, patterns and new sound waves. The Mexican marimba can be compared to the african marimba.

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