ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to put all readers on an equal footing by explaining basic music concepts, as well as introducing certain terms peculiar to the discipline of ethnomusicology. The ability to recognize various musical traditions and express some knowledge about them is a good start toward crossing the cultural boundaries that often divide us. A musical sound has four basic components: timbre, pitch, rhythm and dynamics. Timbre, or the quality of a musical sound, is inherently linked to a medium—that is, to the object or person producing the sound. Rhythm depends on durations of sounds, which are often organized into regular patterns. The easiest way to learn to recognize a world music tradition is to become familiar with its media—that is, the sounds of its typical instruments and vocal qualities. In the case of instruments, timbre is closely related to instrument construction.
