Folk Music and Rhythm

Names
 Sing your way home
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcJa3KiTHIs

• Move your hands up and downs to follow the rising and falling of
the pitch
• What mood do you think the song creates?
• Mood: Tired but happy to go home
 Recall Note Values
• Ti-ti : quaver (1/2 beat) • Ta-a : minim (2 beats)

• Ta-a-a : dotted minum

• Ta : crotchet (1 beat)
 Music Theory
Dotted crotchet

= +

Ta- i- ti
 Dynamics
f - forte = loud
p - piano = soft
Crescendo = gradually louder

Decrescendo = gradually softer

(Diminuendo)

What do you think means?

Fortepiano: sudden dynamic change from very loud to very soft

 Traditional Instruments and Music
Kompang

Traditional Malay percussion instrument

that originated from Arab
Traditional Malay music has influences
from India, China, Thailand and Indonesia
The core of the music is percussion
instruments
 Traditional Instruments and Music
Tabla

Traditional percussion instrument used in

various cultures, including India, Pakistan,
Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri
Lanka
Common in Hindu classical music
 Traditional Instruments and Music
Tanggu
Traditional Chinese barrel-shaped drum
Animal skin is stretched across both ends
of the drum
Played with two sticks
Traditional Chinese music has four
categories : bowed strings, plucked strings,
woodwind and percussion
 Perform
• Look at the following rhythm:

Dotted Minum (3 beats)

Crescendo Decrescendo
 Listen to Arirang
• Arirang is a folk song from Korea
• Folk songs are traditional music written by ordinary people
• It is rare to know the composer of folk songs as they are handed
down from generation to generation by word of mouth

• What is the time signature of Arirang?

Answer:
Arirang (16 bars)
 Arirang
Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo...
Arirang gogaero neomeoganda.
Nareul beorigo gasineun nimeun
Simnido motgaseo balbbyeongnanda.

Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo...

Crossing, crossing, over Arirang Pass.
He who loved me and abandoned me
Shall not travel far without sorrow and pain.
 Characteristics of Traditional
Korean Music
• time signature
• Repetitive poetic lines
• Pentatonic scale – soh, la, do, re, mi

(3 crotchets in a bar)
 Accompaniment
• A simple ostinato (repeating) accompaniment
• This can be playing on pitched or non-pitched instruments
The pattern is repetitive
Regular repeating pulse of 3 beats in the bar (triple time)

• How should we perform the accompaniment for this song so as to

enhance the mood of the song? (loudly, softly, gently, aggressively?)