by Prof. Lydia Ayers

1. Exploring Music Introduction 8 by Prof. Lydia Ayers

2. Chordophones: Strings • A vibrating string produces sound. • Important elements are the string and a rigid frame to hold it tight. • Plucked • Struck • Bowed • Air

3. North American Folk Music • Where was the farmer who wanted to win the Nobel prize? • Out standing in his field….

4. African Bow Harp • <8:07> lullaby • accompanied by bow harp with gourd resonator, struck with stick • Zulu people, Republic of South Africa • African myth about the origin of the bow harp: Swazi man plays a musical bow http://viewimages.lycos.com/LycosPurchase.asp?imageid=AR000357&partnerid=12 A young girl went out for a walk. She knelt down and drank water with cupped hands at a stream. At the very moment when she had satisfied her thirst, a man dealt her a strong blow on the nape of the neck. As she died, she immediately transformed into a musical bow; her body became the wood, her limbs the cord, her head the sound box, and her spirit the melancholy and sentimental music.

5. Berimbau • bow and arrow-like instrument • folk ritual • from African jungles of Angola to Bahia, Brazil • played by striking the string with a stick while stopping the string with a coin and holding a shaker

6. Berimbau • How to build and play the berimbau probably came to Brazil from Africa • Often compared to the moans of slaves longing for their African homeland • African musical bow primarily a solo instrument • Brazilian bow developed into an ensemble instrument, employed in public performances of capoeira and samba • The word berimbau is Portuguese

7. <8:08> Capoeira • Brazilian dance from martial arts • accompanied by berimbau • high note produced by coin pressed against string (stopped) • low note on open string (unstopped)

8. EKTARA / GOPI YANTRA • Bengal folk instrument • Spherical resonator made of dried pumpkin, wood or coconut • Split bamboo cane neck • String attached through skin membrane on the bottom of the resonator http://www.indian-instruments.com/stringed_instruments/ektara_gopiyantra.htm

9. One String Phono Fiddle • A web search for “one string instrument” produced a picture of the phono fiddle • The bell amplifies the sound!! http://www.carolenoakes.co.uk/market/otherstrings/CNS730.htm

10. Monochord: Đàn bầu • Vietnamese • Wood box resonator, with a flexible vertical stick (neck), to which one end of its string is tied • Uses mostly harmonic overtones • Subtle ornamentations, glissandi and imitation of the human voice produced by simultaneously plucking the string and pulling the vertical stick • [iii:38]Hanh van from Tieng Đàn bầu

11. <7:8> Bow Harp • man singing and playing 2 bow harps • Baule people, Ivory Coast http://www.artichokeguitars.com/published/our_collection/string_ethnic_instruments.htm

12. <7:9> Kora • body half a large gourd • thick center pole with 10 strings on one side, and 11 on the other kora maker kora player

13. <5:5> Kulibit • Bamboo tube zither from the Philippines http://www.geidai.ac.jp/~odaka/gcat/image/212.jpg

14. Zheng • popular during the Warring States period • 12 to 21 strings, with movable bridges like flying wild geese • plucking techniques • pressing techniques • <3:13> shaking techniques

15. Zheng • [iii:8]<3:14> The Lotus is in Blossom Above the Water • The beginning of the music, like the red lotus blossom out of the water, symbolizes the prettiness and tenderness of the lotus blossom

16. Qin • the most ancient Chinese string instrument used today • playing was cultivated as a literary pastime and for spiritual elevation • Typical performing environment • privacy and intimate surroundings of a gentleman-scholar’s study • Programmatic titles dominate

17. Qin / Guqin • 7-string zither • an instrument that has survived more than 2,500 years • an indigenous musical instrument (not imported)

18. Qin • The sound of the instrument is extremely soft • dynamic variations are confined to a small range • Minute differences in finger techniques produce many shades of musical timbre • e.g. many kinds of vibratos, glissandi, harmonics, etc. • <3:15> video of qin on No 17 Cotton Mill Shanghai Blues, Music in China

19. Qanoun • zither • groups of three strings, like the piano, but is plucked • tremolo technique • tuning levers Umut Yesilmen

20. Harry Partch's Instruments

21. [iv:37]Whoopie Ti-Yi-Yo,Get Along Little Doggies • Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer accompanied by guitar and violin

22. Pharoah Sanders Foday Musa Suso Listening Practice • [11] Samma means raining in Mandinka • Rain is a blessing that helps new life to grow and a hindrance that prevents a man from visiting his girlfriend. • Foday Musa Suso, Kora • Pharoah Sanders, Tenor Saxophone • M1831.M36 J35 CD3510

23. Sources • Books • Nettl, Capwell, Bohlman, Wong and Turino: Excursions in World Music • Willoughby: The World of Music • Mickey Hart & Fredric Lieberman: Planet Drum • Jeff Todd Titon, ed.: Worlds of Music (3rd edition) • Web • http://music.acu.edu/www/iawm/pages/enhed.html • http://128.174.172.76/~mjwetzel/mjw.inhsCAR.html • http://www.pubaf.bnl.gov/pr/bnlpr092299.html • http://www.patsweb.com/Lightning.jpg

24. Sources: Videos & CDs • Videos • The Nature of Music, RM Arts [ML2790 N478 1988] • Exploring the World of Music, vols. 1, 4[MT7 E97 1998 v.4] • Dizzy Gillespie: an all-star tribute to the jazz master[M1366 .G555 1989] • JVC video anthology of world music and dance; v.29 [M1627 .J4 1991 v. 19, 29] • Personal videos from Bali, Korea and Vietnam