1. Music GCSE Unit 3 Area of Study 4 : World music Background notes GCSE Music to go Rob Jones

2. Folk music background info Not written down handed down from an aural tradition (sung and copied), then memorised Simple lyrics Sung by ordinary people, usually workers to make boring jobs interesting also sung in pubs, fields 3. Types of Western Folk music Work songs Sung by farm labourers, builders, sailo rs and miners Unaccompanied (no instruments). Sometimes in call and response style (where one person would sing and others respond) Example : Call and response sung by Masai Mara (Kenya) Ballads These tell stories love stories, legends, tragedi es usually and often end up with someone dying Some tell about real events such as battles and shipwrecks (sea shanties) Ballads were important because many people couldnt read so they were a type of news Simple instruments such as mandolin or drums sometimes Sometimes monophonic (solo voice) Dance music Party music weddings and special festivals Usually played in the street Instruments such as flute, drums, brass instruments Morris dancing, sword dancing, Scottish country dancing etc. Example : Geese in the bog Irish Jig 4. The melodies in Western folk music Usually strophic. (Verse Chorus Verse Chorus with different words for each verse) Sometimes the verses have a slight variation to keep things interesting Usually use the pentatonic scale (5 note scale think the 5 black notes of the keyboard) No semitone intervals (notes do not go up by a half step e.g. C to C sharp) 5. Indian Classical music The Raga A raga is a set of 5 or more notes used in Indian Classical music There are lots of different ragas. In North India, they are linked with times of the day or different seasons A lot of Indian music is improvised around the notes of a raga a bit like jazz. 6. Indian instruments Tabla Baya A tabla-baya usually plays the rhythm. The tabla is the smaller drum and the baya the larger, deeper one. Good players will bend notes on the baya and create other sound effects like pitch bends. Rhythms are called talas. Each tala has a different number of beats divided in different ways. Tabla players improvise around the tala. For example, a Jhaptal tala has 10 beats divided up into 2+3+2+3 beats. 7. Indian instruments - Sitar A sitar is a large stringed instrument. The frets can be moved for different ragas. There are drone strings and melody strings. The notes are often ornamented Look at the picture of the strings. You can see the 3 small drone strings and the 4 strings used to play the raga Drone strings melody strings 8. Indian instruments - Tambura The tambura is a drone instrument with 4 strings which is used as an accompaniment, while a singer or sitar plays the melody. Think of the tambura as the left hand of a piano part Listen to the clip which has a tambura playing a drone, which is actually an ostinato (repeated pattern) of 3 notes. This time a vocalist is improvising notes of a raga 9. How much do you know? What are the main characteristics of Western Folk music? Use and explain as many terms as you can. Remember SPAG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) What are the main characteristics of Indian classical music? Use and explain as many terms as you can. Remember SPAG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) 10. Extract question 1. What type of song is this? Where might it have been sung? 2. The texture changes in the chorus (Rolling down to old Maui me boys). Explain 3. This song is strophic. What does this mean? 4. Is this in a major or minor key? Turn to the next slide for answers 11. Extract question - Answers 1. This is a ballad. It is really a sea shanty and would have been sung onboard a ship. The words give this away 2. The song is sung a capella (unaccompainied) and begins with a solo singer in monophonic texture. Then the other male voices join in harmony in a homophonic texture for the chorus. 3. Strophic means that it has verses with different words and a chorus in between each verse 4. It is in a minor key 12. Glossary Strophic verse chorus structure with different words for each verse Homophonic sung in harmony in block chords Monophonic a single melody line Drone a repetitive sound played on the bottom strings of the sitar or by a Tambura Raga an Indian scale. Each raga is associated with a different season or time of day Tabla-baya Indian drums, consisting of a small high pitched drum (tabla) and the low sounding deeper drum (baya) Ballad a song conveying a story, such as a battle song or love story or ships voyage Sea shanty a ballad sung on a ship A capella unaccompanied song without instruments Accompanied with instruments Ornaments twiddly bits when a musician bends notes etc. Improvisation when a musician makes the music up around a scale Tala an indian pattern of rhythm played on the tabla baya Pentatonic a 5 note scale on which much Western folk music is based Ostinato a repeated pattern of notes Semitone the smallest distance between 2 notes, e.g. C to C sharp Call and response solo singer answered straight away by many other voices (dont confuse this with a solo singing the verse and a choir singing the chorus)