Music Banter - View Single Post

TechnicLePanther · 08-22-2015, 07:42 AM

Tribal Music

At this point in the timeline, music still isn't really a big deal in most places, but we already have a lot to talk about. Once culture began to emerge, music emerged with it. So let's discuss some of this music. The tribal music that most of us think of today is african. The sub-saharan portion of Africa display the most of the traits of tribal music, so that's where I'll focus when talking about this.

Music of Sub-Saharan Africa

In sub-saharan Africa, life is music. Music is used as a way to communicate, or for ceremonies. It is a way to represent blessings, or criticisms of members of the community. And rhythm is a major part of that. Therefore, the drum is almost certainly the most important instrument is African music. The music of sub-saharan Africa is heavily focused on syncopation and polyrhythms, or putting one rhythm over top of another.

This rhythmic style inspired several Western composers in the late 19th century, but really took their place in history due to the use of the rhythms in Afro-American genres such as blues, jazz, R&B, and hip-hop. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but just consider this a little spoiler for things to come.

The other lesser known characteristic of African music is their harmony. The most popular method of harmonizing is called "homophonic parallelism". It's a bit of a mouthful, but what it means is not. The idea is to match the motion of one note except on a seperate note. So, say the melody moves up a third. Then, the harmony would also move up a third. If the melody goes down a whole note, then the harmony would go down a whole note as well. Harmony can also be created by simply have a secondary melody that fits with the primary melody well. This can sometimes come in the form of an ostinato, or a small melody that repeats throughout the song, like much of modern popular music (bass lines, guitar riffs, etc.).

The last major characteristic of African tribal music is improvisation. Variations on the original melody or harmony are just the tip of the iceberg, as rhythmic variations are also very common. Listen to any piece of traditional African music, and you can hear the embellishments and small changes to invigorate repitition of a melody.

It's hard to accurately define the history of tribal music, because the era in which it is practiced goes from ancient history to today, with very little change or innovation. This plays into the traditionalism of many African societies. And yeah, I'm hitting a dead end here.

Let's head up north for the next post.

08-22-2015, 07:42 AM	#8 (permalink)
TechnicLePanther and the livin' is easy... Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: New York Posts: 1,997	Tribal Music At this point in the timeline, music still isn't really a big deal in most places, but we already have a lot to talk about. Once culture began to emerge, music emerged with it. So let's discuss some of this music. The tribal music that most of us think of today is african. The sub-saharan portion of Africa display the most of the traits of tribal music, so that's where I'll focus when talking about this. Music of Sub-Saharan Africa In sub-saharan Africa, life is music. Music is used as a way to communicate, or for ceremonies. It is a way to represent blessings, or criticisms of members of the community. And rhythm is a major part of that. Therefore, the drum is almost certainly the most important instrument is African music. The music of sub-saharan Africa is heavily focused on syncopation and polyrhythms, or putting one rhythm over top of another. This rhythmic style inspired several Western composers in the late 19th century, but really took their place in history due to the use of the rhythms in Afro-American genres such as blues, jazz, R&B, and hip-hop. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but just consider this a little spoiler for things to come. The other lesser known characteristic of African music is their harmony. The most popular method of harmonizing is called "homophonic parallelism". It's a bit of a mouthful, but what it means is not. The idea is to match the motion of one note except on a seperate note. So, say the melody moves up a third. Then, the harmony would also move up a third. If the melody goes down a whole note, then the harmony would go down a whole note as well. Harmony can also be created by simply have a secondary melody that fits with the primary melody well. This can sometimes come in the form of an ostinato, or a small melody that repeats throughout the song, like much of modern popular music (bass lines, guitar riffs, etc.). The last major characteristic of African tribal music is improvisation. Variations on the original melody or harmony are just the tip of the iceberg, as rhythmic variations are also very common. Listen to any piece of traditional African music, and you can hear the embellishments and small changes to invigorate repitition of a melody. It's hard to accurately define the history of tribal music, because the era in which it is practiced goes from ancient history to today, with very little change or innovation. This plays into the traditionalism of many African societies. And yeah, I'm hitting a dead end here. Let's head up north for the next post. __________________ Many have tried to destroy it... but... true evil never dies. It is only... REBORN *SUGGEST ME AN ALBUM* - I'm probably not going to listen to it but I will if you bother me enough. Last edited by TechnicLePanther; 10-03-2015 at 08:41 AM.