Discussion Assignment: Tell us about another musical tradition.
As I mentioned earlier, the "Western" musical tradition that our ears are accustomed to stems from Europe. It has a specific set of notes - each octave has been equally split into 12 tones. There are scale types that our ears are used to - major, various minor types, and mode, and theory that is based on those. There are also specific rules for notating compositions, so that another person can play the music correctly without ever hearing it. We'll be exploring all of this during the semester. Most music that we hear in this country is based on this tradition - classical, folk, jazz, rock, latin, etc.
Before we delve in to it though, I'd like to take a brief look at some other musical traditions around the world. Please pick another musical tradition and find out a little bit about it. Post some information for the rest of us.