Expert: Donald - 2/9/2011

Question
Hi,

I am doing an Musical Investigation for my IB Music program and I am supposed to compare and contrast a musical feature on two very different world music cultures. It has to be a specific topic and I don't know what to write about. Can you please help me decide? I was thinking of comparing Russia and and probably Africa (North, West, or South). Or maybe Japan or China vs. a European country...if you get what I mean. Can you help me find a question worth researching and writing a report on? Thank you very much.

In addition, I have been thinking of doing "death rituals" as my topic. I don't know if it will work because I haven't found a lot of information about it. My research is about "Describe the musical features used in death rituals of (Africa) and (Mexico/Japan/China)." I don't know which countries to choose either. Musical features worth mentioning may include scales, instruments, mood, etc. I don't know where I can find more information on this. Please help.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE!!!

Sincerely,
Max

Answer
Hi Max,

Thank you for your question! You are off to a great start!

Researching how different cultures utilize music in the grieving process seems like a fascinating study to me. You could talk about customs in America versus customs in a Far Eastern culture. It seems to me that we have a hymn tradition that can be traced back to Martin Luther and Johann Walter, while some cultures on the other side of the world might have rituals based in oral traditions of musical expression. That's not to say that you won't find hymns in some cultures across the globe, but you might find more of an oral tradition than we have here.

As far as musical analysis is concerned, you might want to focus on specific elements, such as pitch, rhythm, harmony, form, style, etc.

I hope that this helps, and I wish you much success!

Best regards,

Donald