Ari Eschtruth

Prof. Kenagy
Mus. of the Afr. Dsp.
6 June 2019
Reading Notes #1

You Will Never Understand This Music

● Insiders and outsiders have different perspectives on ethnic music
● Western ethnomusicologists studying non-Western music can be viewed with a colonial
perspective which leads the non-Western musicians to resist teaching them
○ Reasons why:
○ They may be looking more to compare ethnic music to Western music, rather
than to learn it as its own thing
○ They may try to apply Western practices to non-Western music
■ Non-Western music doesn’t easily conform to Western practices,
instruments, notations
○ Grouping music into broad categories like “African” and “Asian,” ignoring the
plethora of different styles they’re lumping together with this designation
● One should not approach ethnic music with a sense of superiority, but rather a desire to
learn the way the insiders will teach them
● Who are insiders?
○ It’s a matter of identity, somewhat subjective
○ Generally people who grew up studying a style are insiders
○ “Exposing” culture to outsiders can be a risk

Southern
● West Africans used different kinds of music in every ritual for every occasion
○ Everybody participated in the music making
○ Used in worship
● Skilled and professional musicians were lauded, expected to be knowledgeable of
history and literature
○ Emphasis on improvisation
● Instruments
○ Membranophones - drums
■ Made from skin tied over wood or a gourd
○ Idiophones - general percussion
■ Pitched percussion - tuned xylophones made from bamboo tubes
○ Aerophones - horns and flutes
■ Less common
■ Made from wood, tusks
○ Chordophones - strings
■ Gourd lutes
○ Vocals
 ■ Singing in falsetto register, usage of shouts and guttural sounds
● Theory
○ Pentatonic and modal structures
○ Repetition of short phrases with variation
○ Call and response