In this section of our Music of World Cultures course we�ll be exploring the continent
of Asia.
Now, Asia is a vast area to study, especially since there are about 4 billion people living
there within 48 different countries.
With that in mind, we�ll take a look at three different regions within Asia and examine
the music and people from those regions.
Within the continent of Asia we will begin this journey through the Republic of Tuva,
which is located in the centre of the continent, and is part of the Russian Federation.
You�ll hear some unusual sounds, often referred to as �throat singing�.
This method of producing sound goes beyond entertainment and has been proven useful in
calling livestock and in human communication in a very mountainous region.
After Tuva, we�ll then journey to Tibet to visit some Buddhist monks as they perform
traditional chant.
Like the throat singers of Tuva, some of the Tibetan Buddhist chant performed by monks
can be quite unusual sounding.
At times, one singer can produce two notes simultaneously, called vocal overtones.
In our case study video, you�ll probably notice their brightly colored garments.
And in our last region, we�ll look at mainland China and some instrumental music.
The music here tends to be based a five note or pentatonic scale.
So, instead of do re mi fa so la ti do, as found our Western tradition, the Chinese traditional
music is slightly different.
Two of the more common folk instruments include the Erhu, a two stringed fiddle, and the Zheng,
which is oftn called a Chinese Zither, or Chinese Harp with it�s many strings.