https://emsenn.net/tags/relational-practice/ Recent content in Relational-Practice on emsenn.net Hugo en Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://emsenn.net/library/domains/humanities/domains/music/texts/hindustani-classical/ Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://emsenn.net/library/domains/humanities/domains/music/texts/hindustani-classical/ <p>Hindustani classical music is the art-music tradition of North India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, organized around two fundamental structures: raga (a melodic framework specifying pitches, characteristic phrases, mood, and time of performance) and tala (a rhythmic cycle of defined length and internal accentuation). A performance is not the execution of a pre-composed work but an extended <a href="../terms/improvisation.md" class="link-internal">improvisation</a> within the constraints that a particular raga and tala establish.</p> <h2 id="method-and-structure"><a href="#method-and-structure" class="heading-anchor" aria-label="Link to this section">¶</a>Method and structure </h2> <p>A typical performance unfolds in stages. The alap is a slow, unmetered exploration of the raga — the musician introduces the pitches one by one, establishing the raga&rsquo;s character through <a href="../terms/melody.md" class="link-internal">melodic</a> movement, ornament, and <a href="../terms/intonation.md" class="link-internal">intonation</a>. There is no <a href="../terms/rhythm.md" class="link-internal">rhythmic</a> cycle yet; time is organized by breath and phrase. The jor introduces rhythmic pulse without a fixed cycle. The gat or bandish introduces the tala (rhythmic cycle) and a composed theme, and the performance builds through increasingly virtuosic improvisation within the raga-tala framework, often culminating in rapid exchanges between soloist and tabla player.</p> https://emsenn.net/library/domains/humanities/domains/music/texts/west-african-drumming/ Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://emsenn.net/library/domains/humanities/domains/music/texts/west-african-drumming/ <p>West African drumming traditions — including the djembe and dunun ensembles of the Mande-speaking peoples (Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia), the Ewe drumming of Ghana and Togo, and the Yoruba dundun traditions of Nigeria — constitute some of the most highly developed <a href="../terms/polyrhythm.md" class="link-internal">polyrhythmic</a> musical practices in the world.</p> <h2 id="method-and-structure"><a href="#method-and-structure" class="heading-anchor" aria-label="Link to this section">¶</a>Method and structure </h2> <p>The ensemble is the fundamental unit. Solo drumming exists, but the tradition&rsquo;s core is the interaction between multiple drummers, each playing a distinct <a href="../terms/rhythm.md" class="link-internal">rhythmic</a> pattern that interlocks with the others. No single part carries &ldquo;the beat&rdquo; — the beat is a collective product, emergent from the relations between parts. This makes the ensemble a working model of relational constitution: the musical whole is not the sum of its parts but the product of their interaction, and each part changes character when heard against different combinations of the others.</p>