Chapter 8: Introduction to the Region

2. Chapter 8: Introduction to the Region • In the Tibetan monastery… • Mandalas – elaborate symmetrical paintings that serve as objects of contemplation • Mantra – repeated spiritual textual formula • To the Tibetan Buddhists, music is both a means to understanding and enlightenment as well as a reflection of the ultimate truth made briefly audible in this transitory world

3. Chapter 8: Elements and Characteristics of Central Asian Music • Characteristics of Tibetan music include: • Epic Songs - narrations of grand mythic poems • Multiphonic Singing - a remarkable vocal technique in which a single singer can produce two or even three tones at once • Tone-Contour Melodies - follow subtle and continuous fluctuations of timbre, loudness, and slides between tiny pitch differences

4. Chapter 8: Tibetan Music • Music for the Buddhist monks has two components: • an external music, which is what we hear, and • an internal music that accompanies the external in the musician’s soul • Tantras - books of esoteric religious teachings central to Tibetan Buddhism • Shamans - practitioners of Tibet’s indigenous religion, known as Bön

5. Chapter 8: Tibetan Music • Ritual Music and Its Instruments in Tibet • dung-chen – large Tibetan buzzed-lip instrument • rul-mo – Tibetan ritual instrumental music • Dbyangs - chants where the “melodies” consist of subtle changes in timbre, loudness, and sliding pitches • ngachin - double-headed bass drum

6. Chapter 8: Tibetan Music • A Tibetan Music Performance • Brdung - whole series of accelerating strikes on the cymbal

7. Chapter 8: Tibetan Music • Folk and Art Music in Tibet • Melismas - many notes to a single syllable • sgra-snyan - a lute with a long, unfretted neck • Lhamo – Tibetan folk theater • Nangma – Tibetan folk and popular music • Töshe – Tibetan instrumental art music • Yangqin – Chinese hammered box zither

8. Chapter 8: Mongolian Music • Ger – large round felt-covered tent that is the traditional home of Mongolians • urtyn duu - a Mongolian long song • Named for their free, expansive rhythms, which the singer may draw out to any length • The subjects of Mongolian songs reflect the importance of animals and nature in the lives of the people • songs about love for a horse are as common as songs about romantic love are in other cultures

9. Chapter 8: Mongolian Music • Traditional Songs • urtyn duu • Long song subjects may be heroes, myths, praise of nature, or praise of one’s community • these songs are always serious and deeply felt • bogino duu – short songs • often sung informally for different everyday situations • short songs tend to be lively and syllabic (one note per syllable), with relatively simple tunes that repeat (strophic form)

10. Chapter 8: Mongolian Music • Traditional Songs • tuul’ – epic songs • Strophically - a repeating melody for the verses • morin huur – Mongolian bowed “horsehead” lute

11. Chapter 8: Mongolian Music • Höömii Singing • höömii or khoomei • multiphonic singing • the singer sings a low and timbrally rich, sometimes growling tone while contorting the vocal cavities to resonate certain partials • the overtones become so loud that they emerge as a kind of a whistle • it is not possible to sing words on these tones, however höömii may be inserted into songs, especially at the ends of phrases or verses

12. Chapter 8: Mongolian Music • Instruments • Khomuz – Mongolian jaw’s harp, a stiff tongue of metal or wood that is plucked and resonated in the player’s mouth • morin huur or hil huur - a large, bowed instrument of the lute type • Topshuur - a twostring unfretted lute, but held laterally and plucked • Limba - a small, portable, transverse bamboo flute