Shelemay, K.K. (2017). Sound: The materials of music. In K.K. Shelemay (Au.). Soundscapes: Exploring Music in a Changing World. Ch. 1. Pp. 26-76. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc. ISBN - - 10: 0393918289 ISBN - 13: 978 - 0393918281
In this article, one of the examples I found most interesting was the “Katajjaq Inuit”, which is known as Inuit throat-singing. This type of singing is performed by Inuit people who live in the Canadian Northern Arctic. Although, unlike normal singing, this type of singing would have a performer sing more than 2 notes and produce them at the same time. When I first listened to this recording of it being performed I was very confused but also impressed at how they could produce those sounds. This Inuit throat-singing is a game that was made for their entertainment and is usually performed by two women who make eye contact with each other until one loses their breathe and laughs. I admire how back in their time they played around with the sounds of their own voice could make a game out of it. To better understand how this idea came about, I looked into how the game was formed and it was mainly just a form of communication that they used back in the day. Understanding the culture and how they used this form of art to communicate with each other is evoking compared to us nowadays with our cellular devices.
Inuit throat-singing is a well-known competition in Canada and this is a clip of two women who applied to take part in the 2008 Arctic Winter Games. There are different sections where they change the way they perform the art. They usually use the syllable “hamma” and the overtone singing which makes them sometimes sound like they are imitating animals. Although this is impressive, I find that this would actually hurt your voice and that not ideal for a vocalist. The women do a great job and reach some notes that I did not know they could hit. This is a game, but can also be used tell a story and be performed with different types of percussion instruments.
Another example that I took away from this article was the “didjeridu” also referred to as the didgeridoo. The didjeridu is a musical wind instrument that is in a form of a straight wooden trumpet. Myself, being a trumpet player I found this aerophone to be quite impressive. When listening to a recording of someone playing it I found it quite different from any normal aerophone instrument. It sounds like there was more than one sound being made by the one person and definitely takes a lot of air control. This aerophone was made in Australia and was used for many rituals. The sound that it produces is loud and captivating and would catch your attention. This can be performed with dance and chants and is very unique for its mouthpiece and long shape. This instrument can also be referred to as a “drone pipe” and is an instrument I knew nothing about until this reading.
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