World and Traditional Musics
World and Traditional Musics
This domain examines non-Western classical and traditional repertoires with the analytical vocabulary appropriate to each: raga and tala, maqam, gamelan tuning, African polyrhythm, flamenco palos and jazz forms. The exam rewards the right term attached to the right tradition.
India
- Raga: a melodic framework with ascending and descending forms, characteristic phrases, a mood (rasa) and an associated time; it is not simply a scale.
- Tala: a repeating rhythmic cycle - teentaal (16 beats), jhaptal (10), rupak (7). The tanpura supplies the drone; the tabla keeps the cycle.
- Hindustani (North) forms: alap, jor, gat, jhala. Carnatic (South) forms: kriti, with vina and mridangam.
Arab and Turkish worlds
- Maqam / makam: a mode defined by scale, characteristic intervals (often neutral thirds) and habitual phrases and modulations; usul and iqa' are rhythmic cycles. Instruments: oud, qanun, ney, darbuka. The Turkish fasıl is a suite.
Indonesia and Africa
- Gamelan: slendro (five roughly equal tones) and pelog (seven unevenly spaced tones); metallophones and gongs; colotomic structure (gong cycles); interlocking parts (kotekan).
- Sub-Saharan traditions: polyrhythm, cross-rhythm, call and response; mbira, kora, djembe; music tied to social function.
Flamenco and jazz
- Flamenco: cante, toque, baile; palos such as soleares, alegrías, seguiriyas; many use a 12-beat compás with shifting accents and Phrygian-flavoured harmony, with palmas and cajón.
- Jazz: 12-bar blues, swing, the ii–V–I; New Orleans, bebop (Charlie Parker), cool, modal (Kind of Blue, 1959).
Worked example
A 12-bar blues in F with a quick change. Bars 1–4: F7. Bars 5–6: B♭7. Bars 7–8: F7. Bar 9: C7. Bar 10: B♭7. Bars 11–12: F7, with C7 in bar 12 to turn the form around. The quick change is the B♭7 in bar 2, replacing the second bar of tonic. Naming the piece as 'blues' without the chord map earns only partial credit.
Traps that cost marks
- Calling a raga a scale, or a maqam a mode with extra notes.
- Swapping slendro and pelog.
- Hearing a flamenco soleares as 4/4 because its accents are syncopated.
- Confusing Hindustani with Carnatic tradition, or placing the sitar in Carnatic music.