Article

Name: How, where and when Part 3: The influence of the materials for manufacturing, their availability and the history of their manufacturing technologies on the acoustic properties of Jaw Harp and tonal organization of its music

Authors: Nikolsky А. V., Alekseyev E. Ye., Alekxeyev I. Ye., Dyakonova V. Ye.

Nikolsky А. V. (Los Angeles, “Braavo Enterprises”); Alekseyev E. Ye. (International Institute of Boston); Alekxeyev I. Ye. (М.К. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University); Dyakonova V. Ye. (Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts)

In the section Этномузыковедение

Abstract: This article completes the series dedicated to the methodology of research of the vocal system of Jaw Harp’s articulation within the surviving indigenous traditions of Siberia and the Far East. This last part introduces and examines the relation between the tonal organization of Jaw Harp music and the material of Jaw Harp’s making. The acoustic properties of five most common materials (grass, bamboo, wood, bone, and metal) are discussed in relation to specific traits of Jaw Harp music in the context of the archaeological evidence for a possible timeline of human mastering of the principal manufacturing technologies while taking into consideration the general availability of necessary raw materials throughout the Holocene in Northeastern Eurasia. The authors introduce a novel concept of spectral texture, instrumental for the analysis of timbre-oriented forms of music (such as Jaw Harp music). The results of such analysis are cross-examined against the available data on paleoclimatic conditions in a geographic area of distribution of each of the principal Jaw Harp constructions. This new multi-disciplinary approach enables the authors to infer two pan-regional traditions: Jaw Harps made of metal versus Jaw Harps made of organic materials. Each of these traditions is characterized by its own tonal model, preferred types of musical texture, semantic sphere of use, the area of geographic distribution, and the general vector of historic spread. The new proposed methodology can be applied to other musical instruments that are commonly manufactured from different materials.

Keywords: ethnomusicology, Jaw Harp (khomus), timbral music, spectral texture, acoustic properties of Jaw Harps, manufacturing technologies, etymology of Jaw Harp’s names, the history of metallurgy in Eurasia

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