Music Rocks
...ly instrumental, characterized by changes in tempo and loudness, and requires great skill and technique of the musicians playing the instruments. First off, the music consists mainly of percussion instruments. Gongs are very popular and are round disks of metal with a knob that projects from the disk that is struck to create sound. Secondly, the tempo of the music quickly changes. For a quick period of time, the musicians quickly play a 2-3 second piece and then abruptly stop for a few seconds and then repeat the sequence. The musicians who play Balinese gamelan music are very talented. Multiple musicians play the same sequence of gongs at the same time. Precise timing must be practiced in order for the music to be performed properly. In contrast to much of western music, Balinese music isn’t performed for the sake of entertainment. Rather, it is only performed at religious celebrations such as weddings, births, and Odalans. Trinidadian music is categorized into two sections: calypso and soca. The most popular musical time of the year in Trinidad is known as Panorama. Panorama is played using steel drums called “pans.” Pans originated when people of the lower-classes formed small tin cans into instruments. Pans progressed into modern day steel drums with the help of Ellie Mannette who first created steel drums from 55 gallon barrels. The larger barrel size allowed steel drums to become fully chromatic. Steel drumming is a unique talent to possess. An arranger writes a song based off a western pop song and the musicians are taught to play the song by demonstration. The music is not written down because musicians do not know how to read ...