Andes Music and Debussy

Music of The AndesMusic of The Andes

Ecuador

Ecuador

Demographics• Ethnicities: Andean Indian (Incan decent),

Spanish

• Religions: Roman Catholic, Catholicism blended with local tradition

• Languages: -Spanish (official),-Amerindian languages (especially Quechua)

• Population: 14.79 million

Inca Influence• Began in Cuzco, Peru, in the 1100s

• Empire stretched down the coast along the Andes Mt.

• Civilization was ended in the mid 1500s by the Spanish who were looking for gold.

• Ultimately stretched from top of Ecuador down to bottom of Chile.

Inca Culture

• Religion: pantheistic

• “Spartan” Art. Valued functionality over esthetics

• Kingdom was widely spread. Culture varies.

• Like their tapestries: each are slightly different with unique traits woven in.

• No written records. History is all oral.

Religion in Ecuador

• Like much of S. America, Catholicism becomes “synchronized” with local traditions and indigenous customs

• Roman Catholic 95%, other 5%

• Andean music plays a large part in religion, tying old traditions in with the Spanish-brought Catholicism.

Recourses

• Ecuador contains 42 species of bamboo

• Bamboo located around tree line on mountains.

• Armadillo

The Andes

My father

My parentsMe free-climbing PinchinchaValcano

• Peak of Mt Chimborazo is the furthest point from the earth’s core.

• Weather in the mountains changes rapidly.

• Groupos Andinos

Instruments

• Charango

• Bombo

• Quena

• Zampoña

• Guitar

Charango

• Evolved from the Spanish guitar

• 5 pairs of strings

• Tuned to an Am7 chord, or gg, cc, eE, aa, ee.

• Originally made from Armadillos

Quena

Pan Flute or Zampoña

• Vary in size from a few cm to a meter, allowing for wide pitch range.• Tuned to the G scale.• Dates back 5,000 years• Sound reflects Mt. wind.

San Juanito

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daTXFS3dxy

Music Theory

• In 4/4 duple time.

• Solid 106 bpm tempo

• Key of G (or Em)

• Using primarily G Major (E minor)pentatonic scale

• Repeated melodies and themes

Song consists of two chords: Em and G. Melody carried primarily by zampoña and the quena.

Music Reflects Heritage

• History of people unclear, only oral.

• Myth and fact blend and mix

• Music built on the simplicity and familiarity of the pentatonic scale. People’s tradition is old and familiar, retold.

• Flutes and trills swell and fade, like stories and myths amid reality.

Sound reflects Environment

• A song is lengthy, moves easily, subtly from one section to another. Reflects weather and “seasons.”

• Airy flutes emulate winds.• Tinkle of Charango’s double strings imitates sound of water.• Quena mimics bird’s singing• Overall lack of breaks and stoppage in songs reflects pace and flow

of society and region.

Music in Culture

• Dance music often does not have lyrics

• Mood of music primarily melancholy. Subjects include death, lost love, loneliness, but all embrace tradition

• Andean music dismissed by younger generation, following instead western music.

Claude Debussy French Impressionist Composer

*(sexy pose courtesy of Claude Debussy)

Claude Debussy Life

• 1962-1918, residing primarily in France• Entered the Paris Conservatory at the age

of ten.• Traveled as a teacher through Europe and

Russia.• At 22 he won the Prix de Rome, a

competition for composers.

His Music

• Considered French music to serve primarily on the “sensuous plane”

• "The primary aim of French music is to give pleasure.“

• This idea lead him away from traditional music theory (i.e. alternate scales, harmonies, and structure)

Debussy’s Influences

• Writer and poet Edger Allen Poe

• Oriental and Russian Music

• German Romantic composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). Imitated his styles and moods, but not his flambunctuality. Debussy was more subtle.

Prelude to the Afternoon of a FaunWritten 1894

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_7loz-HWUM

Background of Prelude

• Based of a poem by French poet Stéphane Mallarmé

• Portrays the thoughts and dreams of a Faun. The faun plays a flute.

Music Theory

• No continious beat or pulse; swells and falls.• Chromaticism: moving by half steps, free from

the traditional church modes.• Somewhat ambiguous melodic lines serve to

paint a bigger mood and feeling, as apposed to conveying ideas through individual melodic lines.

• Thru-composed. Builds up then fades away.

¿What’s a French Impressionist got in common with Incan

Tradition?

Andean Music and Impressionism

• Impressionistic music uses “clusters” of Impressionistic music uses “clusters” of notes to “paint” a picturenotes to “paint” a picture

• Similarly, Andean music layers rhythms Similarly, Andean music layers rhythms and melodiesand melodies

• Andean music “paints a picture” of the Andean music “paints a picture” of the Andes by utilizing instruments that portray Andes by utilizing instruments that portray aspects of it.aspects of it.

Mood and Effect

• The Prelude contains an air of uncertainty The Prelude contains an air of uncertainty and “drifting;” unpredictability not found in and “drifting;” unpredictability not found in Andean music.Andean music.

• Piece lacks concrete theme; the overall Piece lacks concrete theme; the overall mood and feeling of the piece becomes the mood and feeling of the piece becomes the “theme.”“theme.”

• However, both convey an overarching However, both convey an overarching setting and picture.setting and picture.

• In a sense, the music of the Andes becomes In a sense, the music of the Andes becomes “impressionistic.” It conveys the and spirit “impressionistic.” It conveys the and spirit of the of the altiplano.altiplano.

Instrumentation

• Opening flute compares to the sound of the quena.

• The gentle harp relates to the Charango.

• Piece contains no brass instruments, like Andean music.

Bottom Line

• The music of Claude Debussy and the Andes, while composed using different instruments, both serve to echo the culture and feelings of their respective authors, yet differ as the work of Debussy breaks free from tradition while Andean music embraces its ancestry.

Work Cited• http://www.imagesofanthropology.com/Peru_South_America_People_and_Places_page_1.html• http://www.native-languages.org/andean-culture.htm Andean tribes• http://www.deathreference.com/Ho-Ka/Incan-Religion.html Incan Religion• http://www.about-peru-history.com/inca-music.html Instruments• http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/history/history-mod-comp.htm composers of the 20th century• http://boleadora.com/andes.htm Mp3s• http://www.about-peru-history.com/inca-art.htm Instuments• l• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ec.html • http://www.markamusic.com/ZamponaBook.htm zampoñas• http://www.discpro.org/andean/ • http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/composer/debussy.html Debussy Bio• http://www.fotolog.com/contrapuntos/19347120• http://www.andrewclem.com/CultureTravel.php Chords• http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2466 Prelude analysis• http://www.notablebiographies.com/De-Du/Debussy-Claude.html Debussy Bio• http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.debussy.fr/icono/pourville.jpg&imgrefurl=http://

www.debussy.fr/encd/bio/bio5_03-09.php&usg= Debussy Photo• http://www.destination360.com/south-america/ecuador/ecuador-andes Andes of Ecuador

Media Preparations

• 1. Opening Quena: (Stop at 0:22!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOZjfSm72dg&feature=related

• 2. San Juanito: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daTXFS3dxyM• 3. Dancing with live band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=OnnV9J5pTBw&feature=related• Vasijo de Varro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nBrOArVjEI• 4. Prelude: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_7loz-HWUM• 5. San Juanito 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mej5w-

MRwG0&feature=related