Music from All over the World Presents a Range of Musical...

Music from all over the world presents a range of musical theories. Some of these are documented in writing whilst others are transmitted orally. Discuss and give examples with reference to both Western and non-Western music. Music Theory can be understood as chiefly the study of the structure of music. With the idea of both written and oral notation, it may be understood through recognized systems of indication, and used as systems of memorizing and transmitting the theories themselves. Western music theory is significant for its quantity and range whilst those of non-Western traditions are also notable in possessing major works of theoretical oration and literature. Melodies for texts of the liturgy of the early Western Church were†¦show more content†¦Another method that was used in enriching a melody was by doubling it through the use of parallel consonant intervals. This practice was already employed in the ninth century treatises ‘Musica enchiriadis’ and ‘Scolica enchiriadis’, and the term organum was adopted for several styles of polyphony illustrating two or more voices singing different notes in pleasing combinations according to the set system. The various styles of organum – such as parallel organum, mixed parallel and oblique organum, and free organum – illustrated in ‘Musica enchiriadis’ were ways for singers to embellish chant in performance based on given rules for developing added voices from the chant. Guido of Arezzo described organum in his ‘Micrologus’, allowing a range of choices that could result in a variety of organal voices merging oblique and paral lel motion. In most cases, these organal voices were composed orally, either improvised by a soloist or rehearsed beforehand. Evidence for such oral composition can be seen in the ‘Winchester Troper’; a manuscript of tropes and other liturgical music from an English monastery in Winchester. It contains 174 organa where only the organal voices are notated in neumes which do not indicate exact pitches but serve as a reminder for a singer who already knows the music. This strongly suggests that the organal voices were composed and transmitted orally and were written down as an aid to memory. The earliest