Travels with Music Class Clips

All over China, you see this range of instruments.

They all look the same, but some are wider,

some are more narrow. They have a different amount of strings

and it first originated in the warring period of China,

about 771 to 221 BC.

It was...popularised during the Qing dynasty, in China.

In the beginning, we have five notes.

The tone was a lot softer, and it's harder to bend.

The wood has always been paulownia wood for the face board,

right here - the sound chamber.

They use paulownia wood.

Over the dynasties, they changed it from five strings

to 12 strings. Later on, it evolved to 14 and 15 strings.

For a while, China was war torn, and a lot of the traditional music

was disappearing.

But later it was brought back, and towards the 1960s

they developed the instrument a little bit more,

and then you get the 16 strings,

18 strings and you have 21 strings, 23 strings...

And up through...for common use, up through 26 strings.

A lot of the contemporary music still takes a lot of the folk flavour

or even the folk melody, and brings it to a new area,

a new level.

Towards the mid-19th century,

the guzheng musicians did a lot more to turn this instrument

into more of a solo instrument.

They developed a lot more techniques,

a lot more new techniques. Instead of just using the right hand,

as I've been doing this side, the left hand on this side,

doing the bending, the vibrato,

they bring it over and the left hand plays chords.

so we have arpeggios...

And then we have bass...

So they have a lot of accompaniment

and second, third supporting parts to accompany the melody,

so you have this full... full structure in their music,

not just a simple melody.

In China, there's people starting music at any age.

People don't just take it up as a hobby, but as a lifelong career -

their profession.

But because of that, they also have a lot of private lessons,

and that's how I learned, is private lessons.

In the past, a lot of the music is taught orally and visually.

So...although we do have our own music,

our own way of writing the music,

we don't use the grand staff, we use simplified music.

In the past, they didn't really just say, "OK, here's the music.

"Read from it." OK, and then go from there.

The teacher plays a phrase.

And then the student listens, and then...

I guess you could say mimics the teacher. Or repeats after the teacher.

And that's the way I actually was taught.

Through this playing and repetition.

The instrument I'm holding right now, in Chinese name we call hulusi.

It translates in English, we call gourd pipe.

It's very popular in the southern part of China,

the province called Yunnan province.

It's very popular with minority groups.

This instrument has seven holes -

six in the front, one in the back.

And it only contains one octave.

Maybe eight notes.

And it sounds very smooth.

This part is real gourd - that's why we call it the gourd pipe.

And we have three bamboo inserts inserted into the gourd.

People will ask, "How come if you only need one bamboo in the centre,

"why you have two on the side?"

There's different versions of this instrument.

More traditionally, which is the one you see right here,

the one in the middle contains most of the notes.

The two on the side... Sometimes, because the notes are so limited,

we want to promote this instrument, so what we do is...

put two on the side. Nowadays, we put two extra reeds inside,

so sometimes we can have one or two extra notes.

This instrument, we call suona.

In English, it translates as double-reed trumpet.

This instrument originally came through the Silk Road

from the Middle East. Even nowadays, you go to India,

go to Middle East, you still can see similar instruments.

Of course, there's different styles in China,

because our country is so big.

Up north, near the border with Russia...

their local area is very cold,

because all the mountains...snow,

and very cold in the winter.

And because they always see really tall trees,

they always see really big mountains,

so when they're playing, it's wide open - you can hear

for miles away - bang, bang, bang!

Also, if you close your eyes when I'm playing...

..it's supposed to bring you to some open area,

it's very wide open. You can think...

maybe not on a beach, maybe on a really wide open mountain.

That's how their music translates -

how they're language translates to their music.

The way my people learn kulintang music is...

through exposure.

Through playing with other musicians.

My parents are musicians -

I learned this music when I was very young,

from my mother, from my parents.

I always watched old people, when I was a child,

playing the music. I started learning it from my mother.

I remember she had to put me on her lap, guiding my hands

to hit the gong.

And eventually, I learned through exposure.

Because this is a music that is handed from generation to generation.

From families to families.

Many people in the Philippines,

especially the non-Muslim Filipinos in the northern part

of the Philippines, they think that this music

is Muslim music. It's not.

It has nothing to do with our religion.

If we have a wedding, for example - without this music,

you don't expect many people to attend.

It's the music that attracts them to come.

It is an opportunity for young men and women to be able to see each other in public,

because traditionally, we are not even allowed to speak to a woman in public

unless she is your relative.

But with the playing of the music, you have a chance to communicate with them.

SHE SINGS IN NATIVE TONGUE

I belong to Islam,

and I come from Pakistan, and there's all Muslim people.

So...there's like some people...

very hardcore Muslim, you know, like, very strict.

So what I'm singing, this is like Sufi music.

And Sufi's always free.

'You can dance, you can move, you can do whatever.

'Classical music is basic music, you know?'

Any music...like, I'll give you examples.

Bollywood songs, bangla, folk, Sufi music, kawali...

If you don't learn classical raga, you don't know anything.

Everything is a note, like seven notes, you know?

The whole music has seven notes.

If you don't learn those notes, and you don't learn basic,

so you don't know music!

SHE SINGS IN NATIVE TONGUE

The tabla is always tuned to the tonic pitch.

That means, suppose I'm playing with somebody,

and that artist, his...skill,

or his tonic pitch at that time is C sharp...

Now, in Indian music, when a person is singing or playing in C sharp,

he does not change the pitch.

His whole entire concert will be in C sharp.

And so we have to tune our instrument according to that tonic.

OK, say for example this is now... in C.

And if I want to change it to C sharp, what I will do, usually,

I will hit the pegs down.

And...once I do that,

the straps get tightened, and it tightens the skin.

And that's then...you know, the...

the pitch goes up. See, it's already up?

So...

It's already there.

-It is called...the phrasing is...

-HE SPEAKS RHYTHMICALLY

HE SPEAKS IN TIME TO THE BEAT

First note - "tage".

Look at the similarity here...

"Tage".

"Tage Tete".

"Tete". "Tage Tete".

So it is all related.

So if I don't practise,

I may think differently than I am playing.

When you are playing,

it is so fast that things come to your head,

that even before you think, everything will be there.

My instrument is called the sarode,

it's a 25-stringed instrument that comes from India.

And we play north Indian classical music on my instrument.

It has...goat skin on the top,

a steel, fretless plate...

..a bell on the back, for added amplification.

We pretty much play four strings on the sarode.

These are our main playing strings,

and these two strings, which are called chikari strings...

..which we tune to our tonic note.

These strings here are called jawari strings.

And then we have a whole bunch of strings...

We have a whole bunch of strings up here, which are called taraf strings

or sympathetic strings.

And there's 15 of them. We tune them to all the notes in the scale.

And that's how the sarode gets that resonating sound.

When you play a note on it that corresponds with a note here,

it resonates.

We play on our nails to get the sliding sound on the instrument.

There's no frets on this,

so we have to practise for many years,

and learn where the notes are placed.

And that's really important -

the most important thing is to be in tune,

and to be in rhythm.

Before anything else, that's the most important thing -

being in tune. So you have to learn where the notes are.

Like in Western music you say "Do re mi",

you know, you have the names for the notes,

we have "Sa", which I tune to C.

"Sa...ray...ga

"ma...pa...da...

"nee and then sa again".

So, "sa"...

There are ten main scales in Indian classical music -

we call them "thats" - T-H-A-T-S.

Thats, or that.

And in these ten scales, we...all the 75,000 different ragas

are derived from. They come from these ten scales.

So when you're playing a certain raga,

certain moods should be expressed. Like sadness, joy,

detachment, attachment,

these kind of things will be expressed through the ragas and certain notes.

Our music is taught strictly from mouth to ear.

So whatever the teacher says, you hear it like that,

you learn it first from your teacher's mouth,

singing, or demonstrating - you learn it from their playing to your ear,

and you memorise it.

Nowadays, I think it's very necessary to record,

and that's where technology is good, because otherwise,

the teachings may be lost.

And you can get...the way it sounds from your teacher,

and having them on recording is very important.

Back in the old days, they didn't have tape recorders,

so they had to memorise it, or they used this notation system.

But mostly, our music is not notated. Just through discipline

and practise, you memorise these things and you keep on practising,

learning them, and your teacher keeps checking you on it.

TRANSLATION: The raita is a traditional instrument, similar to the modern saxophone.

I can play both of them, but I prefer the raita.

Some people don't care for the raita, but others like it very much.

For example, when people listen to music, they might start dancing.

But in Morocco, there are people who hear raita, and they just start dancing unconsciously.

THEY SING IN NATIVE TONGUE

TRANSLATION: The origin of this music is Arabic.

It has six chords,

and we use a pick to play it - a piece of ivory.

TRANSLATION: I play the flute and the violin.

This kind of music is different - it's full of poetry.

It has two kinds of poems. The first one is in classical Arabic.

The second is in Arabic dialect.

And there is no relationship between the Andalucian music

and Oriental music.

The orchestra of Andalucian music has a lot of instruments,

like the lute, percussion, cello, bass, violin.

TRANSLATION: The rebab is over 2,000 years old.

It came before the violin and the lute.

It comes from Spain as well.

I also play the lute in the orchestra.

TRANSLATION: My nickname is Ghninou.

I'm from Fez, Morocco.

I play all the instruments of percussion,

but I'm professional on the darbukkah.

I'm a professional, and I love its melody.

When I play this kind of music, I play it with my soul

and blood, and I feel that I'm in a different state.

When I was growing up, I found myself playing percussion,

just like a young sportsman would learn a sport.

I found myself playing on my schoolbag, walking to school.

I would play on the table before my mum would bring dinner.

And I found that people were listening.

I really liked it, and they applauded me.

I would walk down the street and hear music playing,

and unconsciously, I would start playing music myself.

In Morocco, there are traditional and modern styles.

They are both 12:8 time,

but the way they are played is different.

A lot of times, we get recordings from the East,

of Arabic music.

And we hear that they've tried to add Moroccan percussion.

But a lot of the times they make mistakes.

It's not played correctly, because it's difficult.

Most of the time, Moroccan music begins with four bars of percussion,

with no other instruments playing accompaniment.

People in other countries don't really care for this,

but Moroccan people get really excited as the percussion builds.

I do this.

If I'm outside over there drinking my tea, talking to friends,

they can just play what I just played...

..for me to come.

They don't have to yell my name.

So if they want me there, I'm outside, they just play this.

I know they play this to call me and I know this is my rhythm

for my family.

I don't have to stop and tell my friends,

or tell my brother or my nephew we're going to switch rhythm.

To go to a second rhythm.

What I have to tell my brother,

I can just say it with the drums. It's all speaking.

That's why we call...that's why we say "Talking drums".

Or sabar, djembe, djum djum,

all those kind of different drums.

And every time I'm with my family,

or relatives, friends,

I always see the happiness round.

That's what we want to share to the world.

To outside Senegal, outside Africa,

inside Africa, we want to share that, we want to show the world

you can learn this to save people,

make people happy.

Make people gathering together.

Make people work together.

This is a cowbell.

Cowbell is universally known here.

And this is a two-tone agogo.

We call it agogo.

And in the village...

..this is one of the first instruments they you how to play.

And if you can hold this down...

..while the masters play solo on top of it,

then you have passed the audition.

But if you cannot,

then you've got more to learn.

On top of that, there will be a lot of criss-cross rhythm

being played to confuse you.

But you may not get confused!

We have shekere here.

Of course, most people here are familiar with...

..the shaker. The maracas.

The original is a fruit. When you caught it,

you scoop the stuff out of it, and you dry it.

And...you make the beads...

..around it. You can play it in different ways.

You can play it this way...

You can play it this way...

Or you can play it this way...

My name is Yehuda Glantz,

and I live in Israel, in Shiloh.

To be here is a big honour for me.

You have many places - that's the energy of this place -

the energy that you get is very strong and powerful.

The inspiration that I receive is from the silence of the place

that I live here. I get a lot of inspiration when I come to this area,

alone, with myself the sky. And God.

So I get a lot of energy from that.

That gives me the possibility to create new music,

and the inspiration to do other things.

The accordion was my first instrument,

and I have something very deep with the accordion.

First of all because the sound of the accordion is a very happy sound.

HE SINGS IN NATIVE TONGUE

Firstly, I want to tell you we tune the violin differently to the Western violin in Arabic music.

This string...we tune it G, D, G, D.

And the Western music is G, D, A, E.

So the reason we tune it that way is because it makes the makam scales,

which we think resonate better.

Because we play a lot more times on the G.

The scales on G. So the two strings resonate...

..together...

..better, and also, it makes it easier to play the quarter tones,

if you want to switch to upper scales.

So the more you practise, the more you become lean and faster.

So...

You go over the scales, then when you learn a few scales,

you can connect those scales together by...

Then we give them a piece of music to learn on that scale,

so it's like an example of that scale.

So they can hear it...with rhythm,

with time and rhythm,

and they can hear it with other instruments too.

Brake drums from the motor car. That will keep you safe,

when you hit the brake.

And as I said, you can tune them,

well, they come already tuned.

Sometimes we heat them in Africa, to bend them

and get different song. You can have a whole range of them,

and then when you have that with other parts of percussion,

we call that the engine room!

So somebody might just play...

Another...

Another...

Then, like what I was saying earlier, about the rhythm

which would be played on two drums, right?

Either part...right?

But if you play what we call on the double iron,

where you're using that pattern, it's like...

Right? So...

So when you put a lot of all these different patterns together...

# People are interested

# To know where calypso originated

# People are interested

# To know where calypso originated

# Some said it came from Cuba

# Some say British Guiana

# Some contend seriously it was sung by Moses crossing the Red Sea

# But I told them, "No, no, no"

# Trinidad is the land of Calypso

# No, no-o, no

# Trinidad is the land of Calypso

# Bam ba-ba da dibi bam ba-da

# Bam-du bam ba-dam ba-dam ba-dam

# Bam ba-ba da dibi bam ba-da... #

And it's... # Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley Have you heard?

# Hey... # I wanna do this.

We do this in schools, and I wanna show you the answer and call,

because all of today's music is answer and call.

So I'll sing the lead line, then you sing, and I want everybody to sing.

I just want to get the impact on film - that whole answer and call.

So everybody here, follow Dave.

And I'll...as all music goes, we have an intro,

to get you on the rhythm, to get you into the beat,

and then I'll start my lead line, and you...spread it out.

All right, "Hey, bo diddly".

And this is definitely the oldest form of black music right here.

# Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley, have you heard?

ALL: # Hey, Bo Diddley!

# I'm gonna buy you a mockingbird

# Hey, Bo Diddley!

# And if that mockingbird don't sing

# Hey, Bo Diddley!

# I'm gonna buy you a diamond ring

# Hey, Bo Diddley! #

The thing that was so unique about Elvis - he was good!

And what they've done - they said, "We can't call this music blues,

"but that's what he's singing." So they said, "Let's call it rock-a-billy.

So they called it rock-a-billy, which was just really rock'n'roll.

You know, and the whole term...

every rocker from the '40s, '50s, '60s,

this was part of their music...

Like the Rolling Stones...

HE PLAYS "Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones

That's the same fingering as...

Only they didn't use... He used actually two fingers,

he didn't use the...

Now everybody knows Satisfaction, but that was part

of that whole blues thing.

And rock music - the only thing again is the beat

was stretched out, and rock music is much more shuffle,

or much more driving shuffle than blues.

Other than that - back to the sound and the guitar and the effects of the guitar.

It would almost become hypnotic -

and to this day, if you go to a Rolling Stones or...

even the Grateful Dead used a lot of black rhythms in their music.

And you become hypnotised, because it's almost the pace of the heart.

And then, you know, the drummer would put a counter-melody there,

then the bass, but everything would be on the one,

and again - James Brown music - all his music is still on the one.

I'll give you an example. Now, with James Brown, he's famous, again,

we're talking about the rhythm and the rhythm that the slaves used

because rhythm, when they say rhythm and blues,

the key to a lot of blues is the rhythm of the song.

And James Brown would use that same...only James Brown used what's called an E9 chord musically,

we're talking music now! And he would use that...

And yet, you hear artists like Prince use that...

And no change! Same thing, and if you listen,

you still hear that click...

The music, the folk music of Chile,

is...kind of,

you encounter it in different areas.

In the north, you have a music that is more related with the Andean music.

Which is a close relation with Ecuadorian music,

Bolivian music, with Peruvian music.

And of course, instruments like the charango,

some ponas, bombo, are in all that zone.

SHE SINGS IN NATIVE TONGUE

In the centre, we have something more directed from the Spanish culture.

And mainly la tonada,

um...other things like vals too,

and using the accordion,

also the guitar,

and the bomba.

Then going to the south, this has some original, um...

..influences. Like in the south of Chile,

where the persons of Mapuches are,

and other...Indian cultures are,

it is also the influence of this part of the population.

This instrument is called charango.

And it comes from Bolivia.

It was first created in Potosi, Bolivia,

and...it's also played in the folk music of Peru,

and the north of Chile and Argentina.

This charango is used mainly in the Andean music,

as as soloist instrument or also along with other instruments,

like these panpipes.

Before, it was made with the shell of an armadillo.

There...some of them are made with the shell of an armadillo.

Today, that practice has been forbidden,

and they're made with wood.

TRANSLATION: This quatro is based on a Venezuelan quatro,

although the Venezuelan quatros are wider.

This one is much thinner.

And we in Chile love the quatro.

Well, because all musicians love different sounds and pitches,

and this pitch is much higher.

So I came across the quatro because I love Venezuelan music

and I think Venezuelan music.

The quatro is my friend because it accompanies me

and my Venezuelan music.

In the new songs I'm creating, I also use Venezuelan rhythms,

because it's Venezuelan, but it also is ours.

It's a Latin American rhythm.

SHE SINGS IN NATIVE TONGUE

TRANSLATION: The musica criolla comes from a mix of black,

Indio and Spanish people.

The name of cajon this is in an African language.

"Nka" is a drum, and "kwa" is wood.

"Wooden drum".

Black people were forbidden to play music.

Their instruments were stolen from them, so they had to make the cajon smaller.

The technique of the cajon - it has highs...

lows...

The cajon has first variation, second variation and third variation.

We have bass, complement and ornament.

These are the parts of the cajon.

For instance, in a festejo, the cajon has to play bass,

a complement and ornament.

This instrument is called cajita, or "small box",

and it comes from churches.

TRANSLATION: Later on, a stick was incorporated.

And then another stick was added to beat the cajita.

Here we have the quijada - "donkey's jaw".

It is also known as caracha, or carachacha.

It is called donkey's jaw because it comes from a donkey.

We play it like this...

The donkey's jaw, along with la cajita,

were the very first instruments that black Peruvians played after la cajon.

This is a tambor.

A drum to mark dancers' movements so there's more brightness in the music

that is played when they perform.

Normally, there is the cajon.

And then the tambor.

When the dancer does this...

..we play like this...

When a dancer moves this way...

we play it like this...

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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