MUSICAL CULTURES OR GENRES

Comparison of Function of Rhythm in any two of the Musical Cultures

Comparison of Function of Rhythm in any two of the Musical Cultures

Introduction

Throughout history the unspoken but highly evocative language of music has exerted powerful influences on individuals and societies alike. Felix Mendelssohn once remarked that music is more specific about what it expresses than words written about those expressions could ever be. That music has the power to express, convey and illicit powerful emotions is without question, however the issue of music's moral and ethical power, and how that power affects individuals and societies, is one that receives too little attention in our post-modern world. Ancient cultures held strong beliefs in the moral and ethical power of music and as such it was imperative for artists within those cultures to exercise a certain moral and ethical responsibility in their creative endeavours.

The Ancient Chinese

It is not far-fetched at all to suggest that today's attitudes about music might be surprising, even dismaying to Confucius, Aristotle, Ptolemy, St. Augustine and Boethius. To the ancients' music and values were juxtaposed in ways that many today might find uncomfortable or politically incorrect. The axiological and spiritual aspects of music -- as both indicator and measure of values -- was a readily accepted notion in the cultures of China, Egypt, Greece and India, There existed a common belief in these cultures that music had a fundamental power that could either uplift or degrade and therefore enhance or corrupt entire civilizations.

Greek culture has had a profound influence on Western art and culture; however Chinese musical philosophy was also a highly developed system of theory and mysticism which was most prescient in its attitudes about music. The Chinese attached a great deal of importance to the transcendent and therapeutic power of sound and music. Individual pieces of music possessed an "energy formula" which had the power to exert various influences over those who listened to it. This metaphysical concept of music had religious connotations as well as moral and ethical implications. To the ancient Chinese, music's power and how that power was utilized was of great importance. Musicologist David Tame obverses: "The particular mystical influences of a piece of music depended upon such factors as rhythm, its melodic patterns and the combination of instruments used. Like other forces of nature, music itself, as a phenomenon, was not biased towards producing either beneficial or destructive effects. The Chinese understood the power within music to be a "free energy," which each man could use or misuse according to his own free will.

What is significant here is the issue of freedom and its correlation to responsibility. Chinese philosophers understood that music was not composed or performed in a social vacuum and consequently there were great social implications in the creation and presentation of music. Due to this heightened awareness of the influence of music on self and society, Chinese philosophers and educators directed a great deal of attention to the music of their culture and as such ...