The area now referred to as Mongolia is in Central Asia,
around China’s northern border and Russia’s southern border. Mongolians were
nomads; so their music was influenced by the tribes they lived together.
Their
music consists of many different forms: there are many types of vocal music for
different occasions, some to celebrate certain things and some to describe the
cycles of nature (long songs) (Face Music, 2014).
One technique used in singing
Mongolian Folk Music is “overtone singing”, where the singer holds a note and
sings another melody above it, simultaneously, creating a drone.
There are
several unique instruments of Mongolian which provide different timbres. Some of
these are: “tsuur” and “limbe”, wind instruments made out of wood, the “bishgüür”,
a metal trumpet.
 |
| A Bishgüür |
 |
| Man playing Limbe |
The piece I will be comparing is a Mongolian Idyll. An idyll
is “a musical composition that evokes rural life” (The Free Dictionary, 2014). The
piece is based on a pentatonic scale, and makes use of many rhythmic motifs.
