Music revision note

• Advances in music technology became increasingly important, with new methods of recording, electronic instruments, and the use of computers having a major influence on modern music.
• New genres emerged alongside the classical forms of 20th-Century art music: blues, jazz, rock 'n roll, and electronic music.
• Some important composers of the period were: Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Gustav Mahler, John Cage and Phillip Glass.

The Baroque era was a period of great change in music. It is here that the foundations of harmony as we know it developed, as composers replaced modes with the familiar major and minor scales. Music was written to order in these times and all composers worked for a patron - such as the Church, a royal court, or a wealthy noble.

Key musical features

• Music is generally polyphonic in texture.
• There is usually a harpsichord continuo part.
• Music is clearly defined in major and minor keys.
• Melodies are long and flowing imitation and sequences.
• Terraced dynamics are employed where the music is either loud or soft, depending on the texture of the music.
• Ornaments are used frequently.

Important composers:

• Claudio Monteverdi 1567-1643
• Henry Purcell 1659-1695
• Antonio Vivaldi 1678-1741
• Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
• George Frederick Handel 1685-1759

Types of composition:

Pitch, texture and timbre

The following glossary covers all the important musical features used in the Baroque period. To make your revision easier they are divided into subheadings.

Pitch:

• Polyphonic/counterpoint is where the melodies of the music interweave with each other. Often used in Fugues.
• Figured bass or continuo is a bass line for the continuo player (harpsichord, organ or lute) shown by numbers. These indicate the intervals of the chords to be played.
• Ornaments include Trills, Appogiatura, Turn, Acciaciatura and Mordent.

Texture:

• Orchestra: The Strings - 1st and 2nd violins, violas, cellos, double basses. Woodwind - a pair each of: flutes, oboes, oboe d'amore. Brass - 3 trumpets. Percussion - kettle drums (timpani). Keyboard - harpsichord.
• Solo instruments: e.g. organ prelude, violin partita.
• Choral: Choirs (sometimes a capella) or accompanied by ensembles or harpsichord.
• Ripieno/ Concertante: Group of instruments/solo group of instruments. The Baroque composers made use of contrasts between groups of instruments and solo instruments.
• Sequence: Melodic phrases repeated at different pitches, has the effect of smoothly flowing lines of melody.
• Homophonic: A musical texture which involves a melody accompanied by harmonies.
• Polyphonic: This is where the melodies of the music interweave with each other.

Timbre:

• Bach trumpet: Sounds much brighter than a modern trumpet. Parts were florid and difficult to play.
• Harpsichord: Typically Baroque, very distinctive tone colour, main keyboard instrument.
• Oboe: Reed instrument. Two kinds, oboe and oboe d'amore, the latter is lower in pitch.
• Violin: Replaced the viol. Vivaldi composed many brilliant violin pieces.

Musical forms

Orchestral:

• Fugue: A musical form based on imitation. It has main melodies (called subjects), and counter-melodies (called counter subjects) and these are repeated at higher and lower pitches and different keys and also can be altered in different ways. The effect is of very interweaving textures. It is like a very large and complicated round. Bach is the mater of this form and has a book of Toccata and Fugues.
• Overture: A piece of instrumental music written in 1 movement. Introduction to an opera or oratorio.
• Concerto: Solo instrument accompanied by orchestra, usually in 3 movements
• Concerto Grosso: Same as concerto, however, uses a group of solo instruments (concertante) and a group of accompanying instruments (ripieno).

Vocal/Choral:

• Opera: A plot set to music for solo singers and chorus with orchestral accompaniment. There are two main features: 'Recitative', quickly sung dialogue and 'Aria', a song usually for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment.
• Oratorio: Similar to opera but a) it is performed as a concert without costumes or acting and b) the words have religious meaning e.g. the Messiah by Handel.
• Chorale: Solemn hymn tune, harmonised in 4 parts, invariably without syncopation.
• Passion: An oratorio in which the words are about the suffering and death of Jesus e.g. St. Matthew's Passion by Bach. The crucifixion.
• Cantata: A short oratorio with solos, chorus and instrumental sections.

The phrase 'classical music' often refers to all music which is not 'pop'. But in music history 'Classical' refers to the music composed between 1750 and 1810.

Evolution from Baroque to Classical

Although we date the Classical period as starting around 1750 the transition from Baroque was an evolution not a clean break. Many musical forms persisted, and the Classical symphony grew out of the Baroque trio sonata:

Key musical features

• Music has simple, 'singable' melodies
• Music usually comprises 4-8 bar phrases
• Clear, homophonic texture (usually)
• Dynamics (volume) now uses crescendo and diminuendo (getting louder and quieter
• Timpani are often the only percussion used

Important composers of the Classical period:

• Mozart 1756-1791.
• Haydn 1732-1809.

Types of composition:

Pitch and texture

Pitch:

• Theme or subject: an important melody which occurs more than once in a piece of music. A theme may be just a melodic figure.
• Sequence: the repetition of a melodic figure or phrase is repeated at a higher or lower pitch
• Figure (motif): a short melodic phrase
• Concord: a harmonious chord
• Alberti bass: a bass line that consists of broken chords - a prominent feature of Classical music.
• Arpeggio the notes of a chord played one after another instead of at the same time

Texture:

• Chamber music: for playing in a room or chamber: ie, written for a small number of instruments. For example, string quartet: (2 violins, viola and cello) piano trio: (violin, cello and piano) or string sextet.
• Orchestra: expanded in size, dynamics and textual range.
• Music is more homophonic (in contrast to mainly polyphonic Baroque) - and so lighter and clearer.

Musical forms

Many forms - e.g. the suite, the concerto, the overture, the mass, the chorale - continued little changed from the Baroque period.

Below are some distinctive forms typical of Classical music.

Orchestral:

• Symphony: a large orchestral work, usually in four contrasting movements.
• Minuet: a dance in 3/4, often part of a Minuet and Trio.
• Sonata form: consisting of two themes or groups of themes, linked by a bridge passage. The three sections are known as 'exposition', 'development', and 'recapitulation'.

Vocal/Choral:

• Requiem: a Roman Catholic mass for the dead. Solo voices, chorus and orchestra.
• Opera: a large orchestral work, usually in four contrasting movements.

Evolution of orchestra and piano

Changes to the orchestra:

• Harpsichord continuo gradually fell out of use.
• Growing use of wind instruments, especially horns.
• In the early classical period, orchestras were still small and variable, typically strings, 2 horns, 1 or 2 flutes or a pair of oboes.
• Later composers included flutes and oboes, 1 or 2 bassoons, and occasionally 2 trumpets and a pair of kettledrums. Clarinets found a regular place towards the end of the 18th century.

Evolution of the piano:

• During the Classical period music for instruments became more important than music for voices for the first time.
• Bartolomeo Cristofori from Italy invented the piano as early as 1698. By 1700 he had built one and called it gravicembalo col piano e forte, (harpsichord with soft and loud). Instead of plucking the strings they were struck by small hammers.
• With lots of piano music being written the Alberti bass developed - consisting of simple broken chords repeated in the left hand.
• Mozart was one of the first musical celebrities when he performed as a child before the Emperor of Austria in Vienna.

Symphony and concerto

The symphony:

• Essentially this was a sonata - which had 3 or 4 contrasting sections - played by the orchestra.
• Also influenced by the Italian overture, which had three sections, quick - slow - quick.
• Perfected by Haydn and Mozart during classical period.
• The three movements of the early symphony became four with the addition of the Minuet and Trio.

Basic symphonic form:

The concerto:

• Solo instrument in competition with the orchestra, developed from Baroque solo concerto.
• Soloists and orchestra are of equal importance.
• There is a dialogue between melodic lines and themes between the soloist and orchestra, with each taking turns to accompany the other.
• Three movements - fast-slow-fast - like the early symphony (no minuet or trio).
• Concertos usually last 35-40 minutes.

The emphasis in Romantic music was much less on formal balance and much more on individual expression.

Key musical features

• More freedom of form and design, and an emphasis on intense expression of feeling (contrast with balance between expressiveness and formal structure in Classical period).
• Emotional music, with dramatic contrasts of dynamics, registers, tone colours and tempos.
• Song-like melodies, often above homophonic texture.
• Classical forms expanded, leading to large scale compositions.
• Much music for soloists - especially on the piano - was written, designed to show off the player's brilliance of technique.

Important composers:

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
• Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
• Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
• Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
• Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Types of composition:

Pitch, texture and timbre

The following glossary covers some of the most important musical features of the Romantic period.

Pitch:

• Modulation: moving from one key to another.
• Modes: now came back into use, particularly in music drawing on folk traditions.
• Register: the pitch range of an instrument. Extremes of pitch were now being used, made possible by advances in instrument making and playing techniques.

Texture:

• Symphony orchestra: Typically consisted of strings - up to 60 violins, violas, cellos and double basses; woodwind - piccolo, 3 flutes, 3 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, high clarinet, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons and double bassoon; brass and percussion.

Timbre:

• Glissando: sliding quickly over adjacent notes.
• Flutter tonguing: a way of blowing an instrument, usually the flute, and has the effect of very fast trilling.
• Arco: bowing a stringed instrument.
• Pizzicato (pizz): plucked strings.
• Tremolando (tremolo or trem): literally means trembling
• Ponticello (pont): draw bow across string very close to the bridge on a stringed instrument.
• Sotto voce: very softly (literally, under the breath).

Musical forms and styles

A few forms - such as the mass and the requiem - continued little changed from the Baroque period. But many new and distinctively romantic forms were developed:

Orchestral:

• Symphony: expanded compared to the classical symphony.
• Solo concerto: a large scale work in 3 or 4 movements for solo instrument and orchestra.
• Symphonic poem (tone poem): a piece of music in one movement which explores emotions, programmatic.
• Sonata: a composition for a solo instrument with piano or solo piano. A fairly long work in several movements e.g. Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.
• Programme music: a composition for orchestra based on a story or a particular idea.
• Dances: new folk dance forms were introduced, partly as a result of the interest in nationalist musical styles. The Waltz was a dance in 3/4 time; the Polka a round dance in 2/4 time; the Mazurka was a Polish dance in 3/4 time.

Vocal / Choral:

• Opera: a wider range of subjects, and - in the case of Richard Wagner - much bigger in scale.
• Lied (plural is Lieder): a German song (always sung in German).
• Song cycle: a collection of Lieder.

Styles:

• Nationalist: music concerned with creating specifically national styles different from the dominant Austrian and German styles created by Beethoven, Schubert and others. Major composers include Dvorak and Greig.
• Impressionist: a style which sets out to create a sensory impression, often of aspects of the natural world (e.g. La Mer by Debussy).

Expansion of the orchestra

It was the demands of Beethoven's symphonies that brought about the dramatic expansion of the orchestra during the Romantic period. Beethoven's First Symphony is the real beginning of the modern orchestra.

Note that in Beethoven's orchestra:

• The keyboard instrument was replaced by strings.
• The development of the valve meant that brass instruments now had greater range and flexibility.

The symphony

In the Romantic symphony:

• The first movement is always fast (Allegro).
• The second movement is usually much slower (Largo) and varies in mood.
• The third movement is a Scherzo - energetic with strong rhythms and sometimes using folklore.
• The fourth either imitates the first or contrasts it.

Three important symphonic composers were Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Mahler.

The 20th Century was a time of great exploration and experiment in music. This unit will help you revise the main features of twentieth century 'art' music - ie music composed for the concert repertory rather than the pop music charts.

Key features

Key Musical Features

• Harmonic exploration, moving away from traditional keys.
• Development of new composition techniques, e.g. tone row and serial music.
• A backlash against Romantic ideals, with new focus on sound and timbre rather than melody.
• Improved communications brought much bigger - ultimately worldwide - audiences, and introduced composers to a wider variety of musical styles.
• Composers drew on 'popular' influences such as ragtime, blues, jazz, folk music and popular dance styles.
• New techniques in recording, instrument making and amplification lead to new ways of music-making.

Important composers:

• Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
• Arnold Schöenberg (1874-1951)
• Benjamin Britten ((1913-1976
• Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
• Bela Bartok (1881-1945)
• Oliver Messian (1908-1992)

Pitch and texture

New kinds of pitch and texture were widely experimented with in this period.

Pitch:

• Tone row (note row): a compositional technique which uses all 12 semitones organised into an order by the composer.
• Retrograde: the playing of a musical figure such as a tone row backwards.
• Inversion: playing a musical figure upside down, with the intervals inverted.
• Modulation: moving from one key to another.
• Atonal: music with no key.

Texture:

• Orchestra: As Romantic, but extended use of percussion including a variety of drums, rattle, tubular bells, gongs, cymbals, xylophones, glockenspiels, marimba etc. Saxophones sometimes added also.
• Electronic music: music produced by electronic means, often recorded and then manipulated.
• Experimental sound production: for example, in prepared piano, invented by John Cage, objects such as rubber bands, nuts, bolts and hairpins are attached to the piano strings to produce unusual sounds when the keys are struck.

Musical forms

New forms were developed while many traditional forms continued to thrive.

Traditional forms:

New forms:

• Serial music: music that uses the Tone Row
• Microtonal music: music composed using tones smaller than a semitone.
• Minimalist music: music in which phrases are repeated over and over, with small changes introduced one by one.
• Neo-Classical: music which uses much dissonance and less feeling of key - developed by composers such as Stravinsky and Batok who wanted to move away from the emotion of Romanticism.
• Aleatoric music is the music of chance applied to many works written after WWII. Composers using this technique include Cage, Lutoslavski, Stockhausen and Xenakis. Often the actual musical material is pre determined but it is the performers who decide which sections are played in which order.

The influence of black African music is widespread, not only within communities of African heritage but across the world, having been brought to the Caribbean and the Americas by the slave trade.

Traditional African instruments

Drums

African drums come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The bodies are usually made from wood, gourds, and clay; drum heads are made from animal skins.

The djembe drum has been called "the healing drum". It dates back to the 12th century Mali Empire of West Africa. It has a very wide tonal range setting it apart from other drums.

The sakara is a hand-held drum made in Nigeria, West Africa. It comes in a family of four sizes, from tiny(Atele) to large (Iya-Alu). It has goatskin stretched over a rim of red clay and is played with a light stick. These drums are played all over the world in a variety of ways.

Talking drums belong to the family of hourglass shaped pressure drums. The gan gan is the smallest, the dun dun is the largest. They have a drum head at both ends.

The doumbek drum comes from the middle east, originally played in Egypt, Turkey and Armenia. The drum is played with the fingers. Dum is the bass tone played with your right hand in the middle of the drum. Tek is a high ringing sound played with your right hand. Ka is the same sound as tek, but played with your left hand.

Other percussion instruments

The gonkogui is a traditional double bell which is held in the hand whilst being struck with a stick. It has one high and one low tone.

The yenca rattle is a gourd containing seeds that make the sound. It has a sponge plug which can be removed to change the seeds for different sizes, to give a different sound.

The axatse or shekere also has seeds loosely covering a hollowed gourd. It is played by striking it on their hand, then on their leg, in various patterns. The top of the ball can be hit to create a deeper tone.

The toke or banana bell is played by striking it with a metal rod whilst it is lied across the palm of the hand. It can also be hung on the side of drums. A pair of these bells, tuned a fourth apart, usually play together.

Stringed instruments

These include lutes, lyers, harps and zithers 

The kora is a 21- string harp-lute, which includes both plucked and sympathetic strings. It is used by professional musicians among the Mandika people of Gambia.

The xalam is the most common stringed instrument in Senegal in west Africa. A plucked lute which is a close relative of the African American banjo.

Other instruments:

African wind instruments include flutes, whistles, oboes and trumpets. The flutes were made from bamboo, reed , wood, clay, bones and other materials found in the sub-Saharan region.

Trumpets, often associated with royalty, were made from animal horns or wood. Clarinets, from the Savannah region of West Africa are made from guinea-corn or sorghum stems, with a reed cut from the surface of the stem at one end. Double-reed instruments, such as the hasua algaita, are derived from North Africa.

Musical regions of Africa

North Africa:

This includes all the countries north of the Sahara. The main type of music here is Islamic, which uses drums such as the doumbek and string instruments such as the ud. Voices often use ornaments and melismas (lots of notes to one syllable).

Tribal Africa:

This includes the sub-Saharan countries of Africa such as Senegal, Ghana, Central African Republic, Congo. Music here uses the djembe drum and the kora, with much call-and-response singing. The music often has ostinato patterns, in the rhythm or the instrumental or vocal parts.

Southern Africa

Music in the southern countries of Africa, which include South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zaire, have been influenced by Western church music, introduced by missionaries in the 19th century. Choral singing is very important in this part of Africa.

Caribbean traditional instruments

The Caribbean (also known as the West Indies) is made up of many island states that speak English, Spanish or French.

Here are some of the more common instruments.

Cuban Percussion:

Puerto Rico Percussion:

Haiti Percussion:

Trinidad Percussion:

The instruments that North Americans usually refer to as "steel drums" are called "pans" in Trinidad, the country in which they were invented.

Lead Pan or Tenor: the steel drum is divided into 30 notes, depicted by indentations in the surface. There would also be a bass, double seconds, guitars pans, cello pans and tenor bass pans.

Instruments used in religious ceremonies in Trinidad:

Bahamas percussion:

Musical styles: African

In African music repetition is often used to organise the music.

In the mbira music of the Shona people of Zimbabwe, the interaction of players hands establishes a repeating pattern which players use as a basis for improvisation.

Polyphony and Polyrhythm are also important. Polyphony has many musical parts or rhythms interweaving with each other. Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more individual rhythms (eg 3 against 4).

In West Africa, drum ensembles have 3-5 players, each with a distinctive method of striking their drum and playing interlocking patterns. Sometimes other percussion instruments join in, creating a thick musical texture.

Call-and-response is very popular. The chorus repeats a fixed refrain in alternation with a lead singer, who then has more freedom to improvise. This makes the music conversational.

Pitch in African music is largely determined by the tuning of the drums.

Drum rhythms can imitate well-known phrases. It's said that when Napoleon was defeated at the battle of Waterloo, the native people in West Africa knew about it before their English or French governors, because the news was drummed down the coast from North Africa.

Talking drums are used to send messages, using a combination of pitch and rhythm to imitate speech.

Musical styles: Caribbean

Most Caribbean music is a mixture of African and Western music.

African musical influences include: syncopated rhythms, call-and-response and extensive repetition of melodic or rhythmic phrases.

Western influences include the tonal system of harmony (major and minor scales).

Genres of Caribbean music:

Reggae:

• Started during the 1970s in Jamaica.
• Lyrics sung in a Jamaican dialect, often about local people and events.
• Slow 4/4 time with accents on beats 2 and 4.
• Harmonies are often limited to a few chords, which are repeated many times in the same sequence.
• Loud bass riff played on the bass guitar

Calypso:

• Lyrics about local people and issues.
• Carnival music.
• Uses lots of syncopated rhythms.
• Use of Steel bands.
• In Trinidad, they are accompanied by steel guitar and maraca.
• Today popular Calypso's are arranged for trumpets, saxophones, electric guitar, keyboards and percussion.
• In duple time, 2 beats to every bar.

Mento:

• Lyrics about local people and issues.
• Accompanied by banjo or guitar.
• Also played by bands to bring the music to urban centres.
• Banjo/guitar play fast, syncopated chords, while other instruments play their own syncopated rhythms.
• Popular mento melodies are also played on a fife (bamboo flute) and accompanied by the banjo, guitar, percussion and string bass.

Ska:

• Emerged in the 1960's
• Words again about local issues.
• Fast with syncopated rhythms.
• Uses amplified and electric instruments like the 1960's African-American Rhythm'n'Blues.

Rock Steady:

• Developed from Ska - but is slower.
• Made more use of bass riffs in the bass guitar.
• Off beat chord.

The music of South and Central America is a rich mix of native Indian music and Western and African musical influences that arrived with the Spanish and Portuguese colonists, and their African slaves.

Brazilian music

Brazil is a distinct Portuguese-speaking region of Latin America. It has developed a number of traditional percussion instruments:

Repinique: A small high-pitched double-headed drum used to play solo cues such as call and response.

Chocolo: A shaker that plays notes throughout the piece/performance.

Apito: A whistle used by the leader to signal an instruction to the group. For example: Start the piece, tamborim and agogo start a new rhythm, silent bar, solo improvisation etc.

Surdo: A large bass drum that is hit with soft beaters. They keep a steady pulse and alternate between higher and lower pitches to keep everyone in time. They are divided into 2 groups: high and low.

Reco-reco: A scraper, which plays the same time values as the chocolo.

Tamborim: A small-headed drum with a single drumhead. The player can press and tighten the skin or dampen the sound while playing. Played with a drumstick and plays more complicated rhythms than the surdo or chocolo.

Ago-go: A cowbell with 2 pitches, high and low. Held by the left hand and is hit with a drumstick. Notes can be dampened by the left hand to stop them ringing. Plays quite complicated rhythms.

Caixa de guerro: A snare drum that is played with one hand facing upwards and the other in a loose closed hold facing downwards.

The Samba

The samba is a type of popular dance music with infectious rhythms and a number of features:

• Very syncopated rhythm which gives the music an African sound
• Usually has a solo singer with alternating chorus, accompanied by percussion
• Dancing is done in a group dance, often in a circle.
• In 2/4 time, with complex rhythms
• A distinct jazz influence

There are many different types of samba but the most popular is samba batucada.

Tango from Argentina

Tango is a modern ballroom dance from Argentina. It was introduced into Latin America in the early 1920's and soon became popular.

Tango is a slow, graceful dance, in 2/4 time or 4/4 time, with dotted rhythms.

An accompaniment is usually provided by an orchestra, but a bandoneon (type of accordion) can be used.

Andean music

The central Andean regions includes Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. Its musical traditions date back at least 1000 years to before the Inca civilisation.

Andean music is usually in a minor key, highly syncopated and accompanied by a steady simple drum beat.

Instruments used include:

The charango is a small guitar originally made from the shells of armadillos due to the lack of wood in the high lands of the Andes.

The wancara is a Bolivian drum made from wood and shell with a goatskin head - around 26" in diameter and 13" deep, with a big sound.

The zampona is a cane panpipe native to the highlands around lake Titicaca between Peru and Bolivia.

The quena - pronounced kay-na - is generally tuned in G.

The tarka - is a flute carved out of wood with a whistle-type mouthpiece and small air hole. The sound and scale are different from any other Andean flute.

Since the 1970's there has been a more universal musical style originating from southern Peru and Bolivia. It is played on quena flutes, siku panpipes and charango guitars.

This section will help you revise key features of the music of India and Indonesia.

Indian Bhangra

The Bhangra is one of the oldest folk dances in the world. It comes from the Punjab in India, and was sung and danced at the end of the harvest season by farmers to celebrate and give thanks for the harvest.

Some key features

• Dance rhythms were played on a dhol, a double barrelled drum banged with two sticks.
• Introduced into British popular music in the 1970s, using western instruments such as electric guitars, bass and keyboards.
• In modern western bhangra looping beat of the dhol has been replaced by a drum machine.

Indian classical music

The classical music of India is extremely old, having developed in temples and royal palaces over 2000 years ago. The music is closely related to the Hindu religion, with performances often having a spiritual significance.

Indian classical music has three parts: raga, tala and drone.

Raga:

• Played by the solo instrumentalist or singer.
• Solo instrumentalist often plays a sitar.
• The sitar is the best known instrumental used for solo improvisation.
• Has a gourd sound box and a long neck with moveable frets.
• 7 main strings, one of which is the main melody string while the others play drone notes.
• Main string is often pulled to bend notes.

Tala:

• A drummer plays the tala on the tabla.
• Tabla are a pair of single headed drums.
• Different parts of the drum-head make different sounds.
• The drummer improvises around the tala.

Drone:

• Performed by the Tambura player.
• Similar in shape to the Sitar.
• Played vertically.
• Has 4 strings each tuned to the notes of the drone.

Key musical features: India

Raga:

The term raga means a scale of notes or series of motifs. A raga is a long piece of music with the melody improvised on the basis of a given pattern of notes.

• The raga is the scale used in Indian music. The 7 notes of the scale are known as Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni.
• Ragas are placed in three categories: odova or pentatonic (5 notes) / shadava or hexatonic (6 notes) / sampoorna or heptatonic (7 notes)
• Every Raga must have at least 5 notes, starting on Sa, one principle note, a second important note and a few helping notes.
• The ascent and descent of the notes in every raga is very important. Some ragas in the same scale differ in ascent and descent.
• Raga can also mean mood. Different types of raga were composed for different occasions and times of day.

Tala:

Tal means 'clap', and tala refers to a repeated rhythmical pattern of beats.

The rhythms are made of different parts:

• Tali: This is the pattern of clapping. Each tal is characterized by a particular pattern and number of claps.
• Khali: In addition to claps, there are also a number of waves. These have a characteristic relationship to the claps.
• Vibhag: Each clap or wave specifies a particular section or measure. These measures may be of any number of beats, yet most common 2, 3, 4, or 5 beats are used.
• Matra: This is the beat. It is subdivided if required.
• Bol: This is the mnemonic system where each stroke of the drum has a syllable attached to it. These syllables are known as bol.
• Lay: The tempo. The tempo may be slow (vilambit), medium (Madhya), or fast (drut).
• Sam: This is the beginning of the cycle. The first beat of any cycle is usually stressed.
• Avartan: This is the basic cycle.

Drone:

Drones are prominent in Indian music.

• A drone is a sustained note(s) played throughout a section or through the entire piece of music.
• Drone notes are usually the tonic and dominant notes, or the two notes in the raga that sound the strongest.

Indonesian Gamelan

Gamelan music comes from two of the Indonesian islands, Java and Bali.

Some key features

• Gamelan orchestra are usually percussion based (the word Gamelan means 'to hit with a hammer').
• Heterophony– a texture in which two or more voices or parts elaborate the same melody simultaneously, often the result of improvisation, and is often heard in Gamelan music.
• Some varieties feature bamboo flutes (suling), bowed strings (rebab), or vocalists in a prominent role.
• Other instruments include mettallophones, gongs, cymbals and drums. They are often very ornate and brightly painted.
• The Indonesia double-headed drum is called a kendang. Players sit cross-legged on the floor and with drum resting horizontally across their lap. Sometimes the drum sits in a frame. The drummer has a very important role as they direct all the other players using special signals on the drum, so they know when to speed up, slow down, change tune or finish a particular section.

Key musical features: Gamelan

Indonesian music does not have the same scales as Western music, and is rarely written down. Here are some other key points:

• Gamelan music often consists of tunes that are played over and over again (cyclic melodies).
• Typically, a fast interlocking pattern (played on the pemade and the kantil) is layed over the melodic patterns played on the ugal.
• Western musicians who wish to perform Gamelan use a number notation system instead of the Western staff notation.