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Topic outline

 

  • Time: 20 hours
    Level: Advanced

 
 

Introduction

  • Introduction Resource
  • This unit explores two important concepts relating to the creation of music, namely composition and improvisation. The concepts of composition and improvisation are closely linked, and the reason for looking...
 

1 The creation of music

  • 1.1 Composition and improvisation in the world's musics Resource
  • I want to begin with some general issues. Since the words composition and improvisation will play an important role in this chapter, where better to start than with definitions of these two terms?
  • 1.2 Different perspectives on the creation of music Resource
  • If a simple division into composition and improvisation is not going to be adequate, particularly when considering music beyond the Western art tradition, then what can we usefully say about the different...
  • 1.3 Studying unwritten musics Resource
  • I want to move now from concerns relevant to all music to those more relevant to the study of unwritten musics in particular. One of the biggest distinctions between the European art tradition and most...
  • 1.4 Models and building blocks Resource
  • When any musicians perform they refer to something pre-existent, something we might call a ‘model’ or ‘referent’. For musicians performing written music, the most important of these (although not necessarily...
  • 1.5 The limits of memory Resource
  • In unwritten music, a factor which places a constraint on the number of fixed elements – the degree of detail specified by any model – is memory. Whatever is fixed must be memorised; as a matter of necessity,...
  • 1.6 Summary Resource
  • You may find it useful to go over the main points of the first section again.
 

2 A performance of North Indian art music

  • 2.1 An introduction to khyal singing Resource
  • I now want to move on to explore the first of two case studies of non-Western music-traditions: North Indian art music, also known as Hindustani music. (There are two major art music traditions in South...
  • 2.2 Notation Resource
  • The next thing to consider is the role of notation in this tradition. At one point on the video you saw Veena Sahasrabuddhe singing from a printed notation, from a collection first published in the first...
  • 2.3 Conclusion Resource
  • As I warned you, it has been necessary to introduce here a fair amount of technical detail on North Indian music. You will not need to remember all of this – indeed, apart from a little basic terminology...
 

3 A performance of Sundanese gamelan music

  • 3.1 An introduction to gamelan music Resource
  • The previous section introduced you to a music tradition which places great demands on the inventiveness and virtuosity of a single individual. Although this individual is supported by accompanists, it...
  • 3.2 Parts of the gamelan salendro Resource
  • The next set of video sequences feature a type of Sundanese ensemble called gamelan salendro. You will need to know that this music is based on a pentatonic scale, also called salendro. The Sundanese use...
  • 3.3 The musicians at work Resource
  • 3.4 Variation Resource
  • In order to take us this far, I've had to write down a few parts and analyse them. This has clarified some points, but obscured others, the most basic of which can be stated bluntly: virtually every part...
  • 3.5 Expansion and contraction of the piece: wilet Resource
  • It should already be clear that, in order for this music to work, musicians need to listen out carefully for what their colleagues are doing. For instance, since the saron I has at least three possible...
  • 3.6 Conclusion Resource
  • I asked the question at the beginning of this section on Sundanese gamelan music: how is it possible for a group of musicians to play highly complex music, in a cohesive manner, without the use of notation...
 

4 Some final thoughts

  • 4.1 What is a composition? Resource
  • We are used, in Western art music, to being able to identify a piece of music and its composer. The ‘piece’ is represented by the written notation; it can be realised in somewhat different ways in different...
  • 4.2 Summary: creating music Resource
  • Both of these performances clearly belong to traditions where the ‘composer’ and the composer's identified works are rather less important than they are in Western art music. Every performance of Indian...
 

References and Acknowledgements

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