Pitch structures: the western and african perspective

Author: 
Okafor, J. E

Though music is almost part of every culture on earth, it varies widely among cultures in style and structure. No two pieces of music within the same musical culture and within the same musical sub-culture sounds similar. Evident within these music pieces are variance which may be similar and dissimilar during performances. What are these similarities and differences? The common central indices are the pitch structure. Different cultures different perspective of pitch structure, different sonic sounds and different aesthetics values. What is the perception of Western culture of pitch structure, what is the African perception of pitch structure? The discus shall be in two parts (a) concept of pitch: western and African perceptive and (b) scale: western and African perceptive - these form the thrust of this paper.

Paper No: 
2066