This project discusses The Kora, a popular African harp like instrument. The Kora is played in places like Gambia, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and more. It is made from calabash gourd in half and partially covered with cow skin. The Kora’s features contain twenty one strings, a hardwood neck, a sound hole, an iron ring that the strings are attached to, calabash gourd, and more. The strings on the Kora are made from fishing lines. Everything the African people used to make the kora out of was from creativity because in Africa they did not have many things to make a simple instrument, so they had to improvise.
The Kora is the highest developed string instrument in Africa, it is very unique because it was made only by the things that they had. The Kora is played in events including oral traditions, praise singing, and other important events. It became popular through griots who
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Although there is one instrument from a different culture that is kind of similar in some ways, that instrument is the Veena. The Veena is a handmade instrument just like the Kora. It is also a string instrument, and it is played the same way as the Kora is played with the performer sitting down with his legs crossed and the instrument on his or her lap, while the fingers of the right hand are used to pluck and twang the strings which is also the same as the Kora. The stem of the Kora and The Veena are both made of wood with the stem attached to the head, they are almost the same shape instrument although, the Kora is larger than the Veena. Both instruments are very popular in their cultures, in India the Veena is one of the most played instruments, and in Africa the Kora is also very popular and was passed down through many generations from griots. Also in India the Veena is the oldest instrument to be made and in Africa The Kora is also a very old instrument that got passed down for many
In Africa, music helps define its culture by expressing emotions through each song. Drums play a very important significance in African culture; they are always present in ceremonies such as births, deaths, and marriages along with a ritual dance. Ompeh is an organized system with many rules and is performed by recreational amateur ensemble of singers and percussionists. Maru-Bihag is loosely structured, performed only by experts, and is used more for entertainment. In India, the sitar instrument is taken very seriously; a student must apprentice with a master for 15-20 years before being allowed to play this
The book America’s Musical Landscape starts by looking back to early North American Music from the American Indians, to the religious and non religious music of the European and African settlers. According to the book “Native American music was and is song, sometimes supported by instruments.”1 The Native American used different types of instruments to accompany their songs or chants such as the drums, flute and rattles. Like music for us today the Native Americans used music in all different aspects of their lives. The early European settlers br...
Fullen, Matthew. "Characteristics of West African Music | EHow." EHow. Demand Media, 02 June 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. .
Throughout the semester, various styles of music and the aspects of culture associated with these styles have been analyzed. Musical elements such as dynamics, texture, form, timbre, melody, instruments, etc., have been used to thoroughly explore each kind of music from different areas of the world, with an emphasis in music from Africa, India and Indonesia. These aspects of music go far beyond just music itself. Culture also plays a huge role in music and the accompanying musical elements. Each country and culture has a different style and distinctiveness that add to what makes the music of that certain culture unique. Music in Africa may differ dramatically from music in Indonesia or India not only due to those certain elements but also due to how it is interpreted by people and what it represents for those people. In addition to this, what one may consider music in one culture may not be music to another. These differences have been made apparent in the several demonstrations that we have been exposed to in class.
The modern piano is an odd mix of instrument types; it’s both a percussive and a string instrument. When a key is pressed, a hammer strikes a string, which produces the note. We know that percussion instruments such as drums were made as far back as we have discovered written documents and probably long before. However, it is more difficult to determine exactly what the string instruments were like. We have some documentation found in the Bible that speak of harps and lyres, but there is no concrete knowledge of tuning or the style of music played; we can only guess at it using what few written sources that survive. However, we have drawings of the lyres and harps that were used. The harps used by the Assyrians for example, were held or hung against the player’s chest while he played which also enabled him to dance or walk easily during ceremonies. Conversely, the Egyptian harps were made in a variety of sizes and were either set on the floor or a stand. The player stood or crouched to play it during more intimate settings. (Blom 8) The Greek lyre however was plucked compared to the harp’s...
“How Musical is Man?” was published in 1974. This book was written by John Blacking, a musician turned social anthropologist. His goal in writing this ethnography, and several other papers during this same time period, was to compare the experience of music-making that takes place within different cultures and societies throughout the world. In this book, he discusses and describes the musicology of the Venda people in South Africa. Though he does go to Africa to research and learn about the Venda people and their music, he specifically states that his book is “not a scholarly study of human musicality” (ix), but rather it is a summary (written from his point of view), which is both expressive and entertaining, of several different issues and ideas that he has seemingly been contemplating for some time.
There are more than fifty different types of percussion instruments, possibly starting with the antique cymbals and maybe ending with the xylophone. There are many different classes of percussion instruments. For example there is Latin percussion instruments, Classic percussion instruments, and Modern percussion instruments. Most percussion instruments are played by shaking, using hands or using a mallet or stick and have stretched membranes. Percussion instruments also have been used to emphasize rhythm and to heighten climaxes.(1) The drums are part of the percussion instruments and is one of the world’s oldest instruments. An instrument, that is the only orchestral drums of definite pitch, is the timpani, which is also called the kettledrums.(4)
The third rhythmic procedure will be most emphasized throughout this report for a few reasons. One reason is that it is not possible to make generalizations about drumming as a whole, used as communication devices because every society in early Africa had it’s unique fingerprints on sounds of the rhythmic beats they have played. Another reason for the emphasis on this rhythmic procedure and not the first two is the accessibility of rhythmical facts pertaining to each. Unfortunately, much of the known facts about rudimental African rhythmic procedures is stored within the minds of the tribal musicians themselves. One phrase I learned from researching this topic is that "the life and energy of the drummer lives half within the drummer’s soul, and half within the drum he plays".
The legacy of slavery is seen today as a type of music, different cuisine, language and slang or festivals. As slaves came from different parts of the world, they brought their different food and music with them. Colonialists would bring instruments from their countries so that they could have music for enjoyment. Slaves who could play musical instruments were valuable. Music from colonialists’ countries e.g. Dutch folk songs was adapted by slaves. Other music that developed was from the Malay and Afrikaans. Instruments such as the “ghomma”, a small drum held between the knees, were created. Denis-Constant Martin said that the Governor of the Cape had a slave orchestra from 1676. The first Capetonian song was in 1707 which was a song that was half Malay and half Dutch. Th...
Before the use of synthetic materials in the development of guitars, a guitar was defined as being an instrument having “a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard, ribs, and flat back, most often with curved sides” (citation). The oldest known guitar-like instrument that displayed these features was the string instrument a Hittite bard was holding in a stone carving, showing how much guitar-like instruments had already gained popularity within societies of the past.
The new era in plectral instruments began in Iberia, Spain in the mid 15th century with the creation of the vihuela (Bellow). The vihuela was practically a flat backed lute with six paired strings, which were most commonly plucked at the same time. Since there was no machined production at the time, many vihuelas were unique to whoever built them, the number of sound ports, shape, or neck varied. However, a majority of them had the same build and concept of a modern guitar. These were the one of the first instrument to feature...
In a standard percussion set another instrument feature in the music inside folk music was bones. Handmade musical instruments implied onto a pair of castranets stringed collaborate in one piece. Bones would be played by a musician when only using one hand. Another instrument would be found in a musical band during African slavery was a concertina, a small instrument build very similar to a portable keyboard. Unique musical on each side gives of the instrument it gave off sounds controlled the density of the music pitches. Using the concertina, accompanied along to the music push the sides of the instrument in and out. One of the first well-known music piece would be classified was a piece titled “Jim Crow”. An interesting piece of information was the composer of the song was not a slave or African American. He was a white man although he was known in his musical compositions as a founding “father” in ministerial song writing.
Every West African village had its own professional musicians and singers who would perform for the community. Musicians were idolized in their villages. They normally sat with the king or chief because of their elevated status.
Many of the ethnic instruments they brought with them were adapted into the drum set: gongs, “Chinese” cymbals, tacked tom toms, Temple Blocks, Woodblocks and Cowbells. Greek immigrants contributed a small musical disc known as the “Greeko” cymbal, and a Turkish immigrant family named Zildjian brought with them an ancient technique for manufacturing high-quality, hand-hammered cymbals that would shortly make them a household name among drummers around the world. This early sit down “contraption” included a variety of percussion instruments including whistles, sand paper blocks, gongs, woodblocks, triangle, temple blocks, cowbells, and a goose neck style cymbal stand. By 1920, this set up became the standard. these early sets were known as “trap kits,” a name that’s still used occasionally to describe the drum
Achebe uses the symbol of tribal drums to show the flourishing culture and life that Umuofia experiences before the Europeans arrive. The symbol of drums is often present during cultural gatherings and celebrations in Umuofia. During the feast, which marks a new harvest year, “drums [are] still beating, persistent and unchanging. Their sound [is] no longer a separate thing from the living village” (104). Drums distinctly relate to the culture and traditions of the village. Moreover, the “persistent and unchanging” beat to the drums also reflects the unity of the society, and how the tribe currently operates (104). These traditions are unique to Umuofia and are an integral part of African culture. However, this unchanging and pe...