The Essence of World Percussion: Exploring Membranophones
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Abstract
The purpose of my project is to incorporate the sound and technique of membranophones into Indian rhythm. By analyzing all cultures of rhythm music, it helps me not only to improve my music skills as a tabla player, but also to find new compositional, rhythmic and percussive techniques that I can use in my music. Firstly, I analyzed playing methods, videos, and albums. Through the process, I broadened my knowledge of the history and technique of all the instruments and discovered several great examples of traditional music and improvised playing of membranophones. I further discovered how membranophones can be used in both traditional and contemporary music. In the second stage, I interviewed 5 artists from over the world which gave me a perspective and information about culture and instruments. I composed and recorded four tracks using Ableton push (i.e., different time signature, meter, groove, instrumentation), which were selected from availability and requirement in the groove. Also, two more tracks were recorded which include use of inspired electronic sound and Western/Indian music fusion. I hope this will help future musicians to understand the playing of membranophones in a more contemporary approach but without harming the authentic playing of instruments.
Publication Date
7-1-2021
Campus
Valencia (Spain) Campus
Keywords
creative project; composition; tabla; cross cultural; ethnomusicology; membranophones; percussion
Recommended Citation
Chintamani Natu, Chaitanya. “The Essence of World Percussion: Exploring Membranophones.” Master's thesis, Berklee College of Music, 2021. https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-contemporary-performance/199.
Comments
Project Components: paper (.pdf), presentation (.pdf), interview videos (ZIP file containing 5 .mp4 files), percussion videos (ZIP file containing 4 .mp4 files), audio files (ZIP file containing 2 .wav files), score (.pdf).