ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the connections and synergies of rhythm and pitch elements in a variety of musical contexts. Global means are applicable to a wide variety of music cultures and useful for illuminating the synthesis of such cultures in single works, where cultures may refer to any number of differences across geography, time, and/or style. The chapter also examines five melodically focused examples of Central African Aka, Messiaen, J. S. Bach, Bla Bartk, and Chinese-American Tan Dun. In both the Aka and Messiaen examples, the analysis demonstrates how features of rhythm and pitch correspond in creating musical shape according to comparable principles, yet in noticeably different ways. Human music-making offers infinite variety precisely because such variety may successfully be pursued within the parameters of identifiable human musical principles.
