I am curious about the rules to make such music...
Now this is an interesting stance... rules? I really don't think that you should rely on them at all. Listen to arab/india/chinese musics if you like them most and make something with the assimilated experience. There shall not be any "rule" in the world of music.
Every kind of music has rules or features.
I heard that chinese music is pentaphonic, but I do have any idea of what it means.
It's not pentaphonic, it's pentatonic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatonic_scale). in a nutshell, pentatonic is "the stuff that sounds asian/chinese".
Quote from: "PabloLuna"Every kind of music has rules
Not in my dictionary :D.
As long as it sounds ok, the sound or the variation will get in my compositions.
the big secret (that is no secret at all) is, that there are still rules, even if you deny that, psishock. you're working with western note material, you're following the rules of trance, etc. It all fits into our western scales and all that. There were some crazy guys in the beginning of the 20th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonality) who wanted to do the contrary, music without rules, but even they failed in doing so. c'mon, you have 12 different keys, there's always some rules!
Rules are not the right word for this Jojo. We have various features in genres yes, as PabloLuna said, but they can be altered as well if one needs that. I am not "following" the rules by the meaning of the term, but use the features from a number of genres.
How should i describe you the way of my thinking? hmmmm.... lets see, i have a big sound chaos in my mind when i'm composing and i'm trying to put every "good" idea on the "paper" before it slips away from my head (some of them slips anyway, some them can be saved, but nevertheless new ones comes all the time). After that, i post-edit the "idea" a bit more to shift the sound, appealing more to the "naked" and my ear also.
it *are* rules, believe me, even if you don't think it are rules. you don't think that because everything that follows the rules sounds nice, and thus, "doesn't need rules" as those would say who don't know better.
For chinese use pentatonic. For indian try this scale: C, C#,E,F,G,A#,C
Quote from: "Jojo"They *are* rules, believe me, even if you don't think it are rules. you don't think that because everything that follows the rules sounds nice, and thus, "doesn't need rules" as those would say who don't know better.
oh my.... i am doing it somewhat subconsciously you're saying?
very much so, yes.
Right up my alley, Pablo!
I have NEVER composed the musicks you ask, because upon serious research to do so, i ran across an interesting tidbit:
there are RULES! :wink:
Just like composing Western music, these cultures have their own scales, and Arabian music in particular has notes that are foreign to Western ears and Western instruments. (Not only that, each subculture of the Arabic and Islamic world has their own scale!) Far Eastern music not only has an unusual scale (based on the pentatonic, depending upon the region), but as in many Oriental languages, note "inflections" can change the note "meaning".
May i suggest that you visit the Wikipedia and search Arabian or Islamic music. You'll be flooded with a load of information!
Well, rules are there to break, but I don't think it's the right term. I would say 'properties'.
As psishock states, first it's a matter of listening and analyzing the music.
1 - Chinese. Of course the pentatonic is the cliche thing that sounds 'chinese'. But every province has its own music.
2 - Indian. A classical raga has an ascending and descending scale. I still don't understand how that works.
The rhythm pattern (tala) can be anything upto 19 steps.
3 - Arab. Until the western dance thing came along with the 4/4 thing, most pieces were played in 6/8.
Another aspect : In classical arab music the orchestra plays in unison with the singers melody (Um Khalthoum)
A common characteristic for this "world music" is the fact that no harmonic three-tone chords (solfège) are used as in western music.
Do any of you make any?
I am very far from those countries to get such music.
So I would not be able to listen their music.
In my country such music does not get into the stores.
Only crappy reggaeton with vulgar lyrics.
Quote from: "PabloLuna"I am very far from those countries to get such music.
Not a problem matey, the internet is invented and we don't need to face with these limits anymore.
Have you tried Youtube or similar sites example? There a lot of ways to listen freely to the compositions without pirating them down. Also there are a heavy number of online stores, you can get the desired songs legally for a fair amount of cash, just like you would do in regular stores.
Youtube is a nice tip.
China :
Vangelis - the Dragon
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=tIR9dVx8uGE
Traditional Chinese Music
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=7okLGfDULmI
Arab :
Omm Kalthoum-Inta Omri
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=vjfH8a8wDOU
Cheb Khaled - Wahran Wahran (Live)
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=xCh9R3gk3yY
Indian
Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha - Rag Charukeshi
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=JctKjVHmo2g
Anoushka Shankar-Naked
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge8zyUDrA6Y
Also a nice example for arab music:
The intro from "Prince of Persia 2" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=GnWA__CZ5lo)
Some nice choices Sam, i loved those calming and meditative Indian sounds, also i'm a fan of the most non traditional Japanese music, but the old ones also had their own charm 4 sure.
Japanese, like Tomita ? Or even more contemporary ?
Yes Tomika is great, but he is more likely a "special" category to me, just like Vangelis example, not exactly Japanese type of music.
I've had Yoko Kanno in mind, she is a perfect example to it.
Yoko Kanno - Kiseki no umi (beautiful piece, and great transitions)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_a30xaK1Rs
Yoko Kanno - Sora (short but impressive)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAgoRWzXbdQ&fmt=18
Yoko Kanno - Replica (some great combination of different styles)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz4tdfqEsBM
Yoko Kanno - I can't be cool (there is a nice charm in this song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TkvgbveuSs&fmt=18
You're right about Tomita, japanese, but not specifically making japanese music.
Nice, I questioned, in the hope that you would come up with some examples.
Replica is definetely my fav. Nice production too.
Found some recent chinese band Mirotic at tudou.com (western influences) :
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/GmC1H7yhmS8/
Lotsa Arab music can be found at : http://www.6arab.com/
(most files in the dreadful Real format)
http://songs.6arab.com/a7lam..a7tagik-ana.rm
Of course the same navigation problems as with tudou, but with hovering the mouse over a link,
and checking the browserbar left bottom, it can be done.
Sam
I have nothing against a good Asian pop music, but Mirotic has 2 much hip-hop influence imo, and i don't really consider hip-hop as a real music genre. It is very much focused on the lyrics and very little on the actual sounds.
I can recommend Nami Tamaki example as a good jpop music artist, i like her style very much:
Tamaki Nami - Believe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExRRaxZAxnE
Nami Tamaki - Reason
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD-1ndkRQOo
Nami Tamaki - Realize
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzK-wN7zk-4
A good jpop music (for me) is always a mixed genre of electronic (strong like rave or techno), metal guitars, and pop singing.
Quotei don't really consider hip-hop as a real music genre. It is very much focused on the lyrics and very little on the actual sounds.
I consider hip-hop as a musical genre which is very much focused on the lyrics and very little on the actual sounds.
Although in 60/70 it would have been more an artform than music, called "jazz and poetry".
You're right about Mirotic. It was more that I was looking for chinese artists in stead of japanese.
About Tamaki : Too poppy to my taste although some nice electronics. Maybe a genre should be added : amusement.
Some things found in my archive :
Modern South Korea :
http://www.louigiverona.com/webarchive/samzen/download/media/Ruby.rm
Modern North Africa :
http://www.louigiverona.com/webarchive/samzen/download/media/mdj_arabic.ra
If one needs a self-contained Real-file player, find it
here (http://www.louigiverona.com/webarchive/samzen/download/mpui.7z)
About Tamaki: well, its japanese pop (jpop) so it's meant to be poppy :D, and i'm finding it really amusing, but you already know that i'm listening to a big wide scale of musics genres.
Nice to hear something from Korea and North Africa 2.
For every media type, i'm using Media Player Classic (real media is not an exception), i can only recommend that great and compact free software (only 1 executable, every setting is saved in 1 .ini file, no install)
I found an interesting webpage about that. :wink:
See end of this webpage : http://umlautllama.com/Audio/theory/theory.html
thanks jikoo, a very nice document indeed.
Quote from: "Jojo"the big secret (that is no secret at all) is, that there are still rules, even if you deny that, psishock. you're working with western note material, you're following the rules of trance, etc. It all fits into our western scales and all that. There were some crazy guys in the beginning of the 20th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonality) who wanted to do the contrary, music without rules, but even they failed in doing so. c'mon, you have 12 different keys, there's always some rules!
Atonal music definitely has rules. And in fact random music has rules. The only music that has no rules is music you do not control in any way shape form or fashion.
By the very act of controlling sound, however you do it, you impose your will and therefore some rules.
Quote from: "PabloLuna"Every kind of music has rules or features.
I heard that chinese music is pentaphonic, but I do have any idea of what it means.
pentatonic is a 5 note scale of which there are several
the most easily understood pentatonic scale is using only the black keys on a keyboard
g flat, a flat, b flat, d flat, and e flat.
I do not know any of the composition rules though.
Indian music has so many rules that performers take a life time to understand the codified rules of improvisation.
I have no knowledge of arabic music.