Area of Study 3: Rhythms of the World
What's covered
Key facts
African drumming and polyrhythm
The djembe is a West African hand drum.
Central and South American music (samba)
Brazilian samba is played by a samba band with layered percussion (surdo, agogô).
Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern music
Eastern Mediterranean (Greek) music features the bouzouki and often irregular metres.
Indian classical music (raga and tala)
Indian classical music features the sitar, tabla and a drone (tambura).
African drumming and polyrhythm
African drumming uses polyrhythms and call and response.
Central and South American music (samba)
Samba is in fast duple metre with heavy syncopation and call-and-response between a leader (mestre) and the band.
Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern music
Greek and Eastern Mediterranean melodies are modal and heavily ornamented (melisma, slides), and the bouzouki is often played with fast tremolo.
Indian classical music (raga and tala)
Indian classical music uses a raga: a melodic framework.
African drumming and polyrhythm
A polyrhythm layers two or more contrasting rhythms at once.
Central and South American music (samba)
In a samba band (bateria) the surdo is the large bass drum that anchors the beat, the caixa is a snare drum, and the agogô is a pair of pitched bells.
Practice questions with answers
A taste of the 25 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What is a polyrhythm?
- •A rhythmic cycle counted in an odd number of beats
- •A single rhythm played very slowly and steadily
- •One melody repeated by different instruments in turn
- ✓Two or more contrasting rhythms layered at once
In a samba band, which instrument is the large bass drum that anchors the beat?
- •Agogo
- •Caixa
- ✓Surdo
- •Tabla
Which is an example of an irregular metre common in Greek music?
- •2/4
- •3/4
- •4/4
- ✓7/8
In Indian classical music, what is a raga?
- •A continuous sustained drone
- ✓A melodic framework
- •A plucked string instrument
- •A repeating rhythmic cycle
The djembe is what kind of instrument?
- •A Brazilian metal whistle
- •A Greek plucked lute
- ✓A West African hand drum
- •An Indian string instrument
Brazilian samba is typically performed by a?
- •A four-piece brass quintet
- •A single solo pianist
- •A small string quartet
- ✓Samba band with layered percussion
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Practise all 25 Area of Study 3: Rhythms of the World questions with spaced repetition, so what you revise today is still there in the exam. Free to use, no card needed.