This document provides an overview of characteristics of non-Western music. It discusses how non-Western music reflects its supporting culture and is often linked to religion, dance, and drama. It is commonly transmitted orally rather than through written notation. Characteristics include improvisation based on traditional phrases, various vocal and instrumental techniques, and scales that differ from Western music. Non-Western music has been influenced by Western music in the 20th century.

1. MUSIC: AN APPRECIATION
7TH BRIEF EDITION
BY ROGER KAMIEN
2011 © McGraw-Hill Higher
Education

2. PART 7 NONWESTERN MUSIC
• Reflects/expresses world’s diversity
• Each culture has its music practice
• Some have all 3—folk, pop, & classical
• These musics influence western music
• Especially true in the 20th Century
• French composer Claude Debussy
• British rocker George Harrison
• Jazz artist John Coltrane

3. MUSIC IN NONWESTERN CULTURE
• Characteristics on Nonwestern Music
• It reflects its supporting culture
• Frequently linked with religion, dance and drama
• Often used to communicate messages & relate traditions
• Oral Tradition
• Frequently transmitted by oral tradition
• Music notation far less important than in western culture
• Many cultures do not have a music notation
• When they do, it serves as a record, not for teaching or performance

4. CHARACTERISTICS OF
NONWESTERN MUSIC
• Improvisation
• Improvisation is frequently basic to the music
• Improvisation usually based on traditional melodic phrases and
rhythmic patterns
• Voices
• Singing usually main way of making music
• Vocal approach, timbre, and techniques vary throughout the
world
• Nasal sound
• Strained tone
• Throat singing
• Many others

5. CHARACTERISTICS OF
NONWESTERN MUSIC
• Instruments
• Four types based upon sound production:
• Membranophones—stretched skin
• Primarily drums
• Chordophones—stretched string
• Harp-types
• Aerophones—performer’s breath
• Flutes, trumpets, etc
• Idiophones—instrument’s body is sound generator
• Bells, gongs, scrapers, rattles, etc.

6. CHARACTERISTICS OF
NONWESTERN MUSIC
• Style and application within culture causes particular types of
instruments to dominate
• Strings allow great flexibility of pitch
• Idiophones/membranophones: rhythmic emphasis
• Aerophones aid in outdoor performance
• Geography & materials availability influences
• Religion also influences instrumentation

7. MELODY, RHYTHM, & TEXTURE
• Most nonwestern music is monophonic
• Sometimes accompanied by a drone
• Some cultures use heterophony
• All perform same melody with different ornamentation
• Scales in nonwestern music are frequently quite different than
western musical scales
• Intervals between tones can be larger or smaller
• Much nonwestern music has very complex rhythms

8. NONWESTERN & WESTERN
• Nonwestern music has been greatly impacted by western
influences due to:
• Increased urbanization
• Spread of technology
• Almost worldwide access to recorded music
• Some governments subsidize traditional music to preserve
cultural heritage