Klezmer Music

Klezmer Music – guest lecture by Erin Sharp

Klezmer music is eastern European Jewish dance music

Kle- zmer means vessels (people) of songs

A klezmer is a person

Uses the natural minor scale a lot with a sharpened 4^th note known as Fregyish

Klezmer musicians play for

Gentile (non Jewish) audiences

Jewish weddings and other functions

Nigunum – wordless melodies

Clarinet is a popular instrument in Klezmer but it didn’t come into fashion until the 20^th c.

Debate around the roots of klezmer music but its now thought that it has many roots

- Jewish Romanian

gypsy/Roma other dance musics

Ukranian

Shetel – is a small Eastern European village

Klezmer music is from the shetels

Klezmer is viewed in Israel as European music, played by grandparents who grew up in Europe before moving to Israel.

Standard instrumentation is

Violin bass flute tsimbl/cymbal (hammered dulcimer)

In Europe they added accordion and cornet

Between 1880-1924 many Jewish people moved to US including klezmer musicians

In US klezmer mixed with vaudeville circuit

Klezmer is often used as a symbol of Jewish cultural identity with out the religious aspects

7 characteristics of Sub Saharan musics

These are different from the generalizations of African musics found in the textbook. This list is more technical.

1- Complex Textures – buzzing/timbre

2- Repetition and Continuity

- Repetition is considered to strengthen the aesthetic of music, however repetition is used in conjunction with variety

3. Percussive Approach

- percussive effects are used with percussion instruments, in vocal techniques and on non-percussive instruments

4. Polyphonic Techniques

- very common and used not only between voices but also between instruments

5. Antiphony – Call and Response Forms are common

6. Hawkering and Interlocking Parts

- conversation type structure where the melody is handed around between instruments/voices, in other words no one person plays the entire melody.

7. Integration of Music and Society

-music helps articulate philosophical and moral ideas;

it can be a metaphor for the chosen social structure

articulate or represent or comment on political power

help with work

mark major life cycle stages such as birth, marriage, coming of age, death

and other arts are integrated into one event

Final Exam includes

The final exam for Music 2014 Introduction to World Music will be held in room Music 1032 on Monday December 10 from 7-9:30pm.

The exam will include material drawn from the following:

Latin American music -Worlds of Music chapter
mainly pages 385-420 and 426-437
but it wouldn't hurt to read 420-425 on Andean ensembles
as it would make a good option for an essay question
listening examples are- Worlds of music cd 4 tracks 7,8,9,10,14 and 15

Japanese Music - Worlds of music chapter
mainly pages 331-361 but the rest of the chapter is also good to read and be familiar with
listening examples are - worlds of music cd 4 tracks 2, 3, 4
its worth reading extra material about Japanese theatre in the book Excursions in World music held on reserve in the Music library

African music - Worlds of Music - whole chapter - all 6 styles
this material was covered over two lectures between myself and Curtis Andrews
Listening examples - worlds of music cd 1 tracks 1, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

Klezmer music - this was a guest lecture by Erin Sharp

Greek music - guest lecture by Dr George Minimis - notes are posted here, if you want to see the slides please email me at my yahoo address

The Language You Cry IN - film held in the Music library on the shelf

Orchid Ensemble - lecture held in Petro Canada Hall