RadioUTD, The sounds of UTD

RadioUTD is probably a name that quite a few of you recognize. They are the official radio (though they don't actually have a on-air frequency) station of UT Dallas, and have their own room in the Student Union building (right across from the software kiosk on the first floor). RadioUTD also has its own website at Http://Radio.UTDallas.edu/ , which is also a portal into what is being played by the station should you not be in the Student Union at the moment. While the station itself keeps mostly American-made music, the music itself is influenced from all over the world (many of the songs came from Europe for example). Even then, much pride is taken by the station in the level of diversity in songs, many of which are formed by "Indie bands," or bands that haven't been signed under a major music company. Though, even with their desire to go with new and unique songs, room is still made for more popular bands/songs (when I was there a request came for an Elvis song, which was then promptly played on the fly). Though the group is bound together by the radio, the musical styles that the individuals play is not; with multitudes of the broadcasts having drastic shifts in styles based on who is on the air at the time. Though they get their name from the radio station that they run, the dance parties they host are something not to be missed. The long bouts of random insanity are sure to bring a smile to your face.

Noh, a Japanese Drama

Noh is a bit different than the other forms of music featured thus far. Unlike the others, it is also a form play, with music used to accent the actor's performance. The actual music is made up of chanters (known as a "hayashi" ensomble), drummers (a "shimi-daiko" drum, a kotsuzumi drum, and an otsuzumi drum), and a flautist (playing a shinobue). An example of this is an aptly named "Noh in Nagoya." Assumably named due to being a Noh performance in Nagoya (sadly, the play name was not listed).



The song is highly disjointed (almost disjunct), and is carried along by a highly sporadic beat. This ends up giving the song a very "random" feel to the overall beat of the song (though, it is by no means random). While all of the performers in the piece have cadences throughout the piece, there are very few times where they come to rest at the same time, with the only example of one being at the beginning with the main character of the play singing (though, it is rather hard to hear the singer as the video fails to really capture the singers voice). What is most interesting to me are the drums. Looking at what they're doing it seems that a majority of the time they are switching between drums, forming a kind of ornamentation loop. As one drum leaves another comes in as ornamentation, as that one leaves it gets ornamented by the next, etc. However, the complexity of the song comes from the fact that they don't actually follow that with the drums, as each drum keeps its own part of the rhythm for the chanters throughout the song (not just being some form of ornamentation of each other).

Hindustani, the Music of Northern India

Hindustani is the combination of the various influences of Northern India: vedic chants, Musiqi-e assil (the name for the traditional Persian music), folk traditions, etc. It uses a twelve note scale (the same scale as is used in Western music styles) but with the base frequency not fixed on one note, and is heavily focused on the melody and beat. An example of this style of music is "Telephone" by Ar Rahman.



The song has many long cadences for the singers, many lasting for more than a second. It also uses ornamentation after many of the phrases. Despite the Arabic feel to the entire song (progression, breaks, etc.) the ornamentations do not last for very long. The repeating beat in the background forms the pulse for the song, making the song very easy to keep with the beat (further helped by the slow pacing of the song). The song is homophonic, with the melody switching between the two singers. The song is made using a synthesizer, chordophones (most likely sitars), aerophones (most likely flutes), and two singers (whom are a bit too special to list under chordophones). The aerophones and chordophones are used to accent or ornament the vocalist's melody throughout the song, with some ornamentation of the synthesizer towards the beginning. The singers keep the melody, however they never compete for the melody due to not singing at the same time. The female singer, however, has a modified voice (using the synthesizer), causing her to sound higher in pitch.

Googoosh: The Iranian Pop Idol

Googoosh is a Iranian pop idol that is popular world-wide. Even though she was not allowed to sing due to laws passed in Iran, her popularity grew over time, until 2000 when she left the country and began to perform again. The control she has over her voice has made her known across the globe, and is shown well in her song "Hejrat" (the video is on the bottom of the post). Many of her phrases end in a long vibrato ornamentation, sometimes lasting for several seconds at a time (even when the phrase itself was quite long). Many of the phrases have large cadences afterwards, with small ones seemingly just to let her catch her breath. The slow tempo helps her pull off the long "drags" that she does with her ornamentation. Similarly, she places a large amount of accentuation on the ends of phrases, with each phrase coming with its own crescendo. The song is played in a simple meter, with the drums in the background causing the pulse of the song (quasipulsatile).

The song is made up from very few instruments: just vocalists, a keyboard, and a drum (assumably a tombak/darabukkah). While Googoosh herself never fades out, the other vocalists spend much of the song fading in and out, accenting the various phrases. The keyboard plays the bulk of the song (along with Googoosh) and harmonizes with Googoosh when she sings. The drum keeps the beat of the song, keeping rhythem throughout the life of the track. The melody is done solely by Googoosh's singing