Musical Instruments Essays

Musical Instruments Essays Musical Instruments Essay Musical Instruments Essay Name Instructor Course Date Musical Instruments Native American Musical Instruments Music played an important role in the Native American culture. Particularly, musical instruments were valued as an important part of the culture. Musical instruments in the Native American culture can be classified into four groups namely idiophones, membranophones, aerophones and chordophones. The musical instruments include the Seri split-cane clapper, the Choctaw clapping sticks, the marimbas, the Mixtec and Maya turtle shells, the Pueblo basket drums and the log drum or the Teponaztli. The musical instruments played several roles in the Native American culture. One role important role is that musical instruments carried symbolic significance. The names of the instruments mainly reflected the community’s social ideologies while the decorations made on the instruments were mainly used to symbolize spirituality. These two roles played a major role in spiritual rituals and traditional ceremonies. For instance, the Anishnabe water drums had two different sizes. One called the grandfather and the other one little boy to signify the social relationship between the two. The Banaras Gharana in South Asian music The Banaras Gharana is an Asian musical instrument that was designed by the Indian musician Pandit Ram Sahai. It is classified under the Tabla style of playing made up of membraphone percussion instruments. The Banaras Gharana is played by the use of the fingers and the palm in different motions that produce a wide variety of musical sounds. The musical sounds are classified in categories of mnemonic syllables that are known as the Bol. This musical instrument is well known for its powerful sound and it is popularly associated with famous tabla soloists like Pandit Kishan Maharaj, Pundit Samta Prasad and Pandit Shadra Sahai.