Author Question: What is the source of the mbiras vibration? Under what major classification of musical instruments ... (Read 72 times)

stephzh

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 556
What is the source of the mbiras vibration? Under what major classification of musical instruments does the mbira fall? Why?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

What is the relationship between the mbira music and Shona spirits? How do Shona spirits come into being?
 
  What will be an ideal response?



kbennett34

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 333
Answer to Question 1

 The plucking of thin, long keys (tongues) produces the mbira's tones. Since the tongues of the instrument itself are plucked and vibrate to produce the tones, the instrument falls within the major classification of an idiophone. (A jew's harp operates on a similar principle.)
 The mbira is also called a linguaphone (from lingua or tongue) or a lamellaphone, a plucked idiophone. (See entries for these terms in The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, Edited by Don M. Randel, 1986, p. 434 and p. 452.) Other common names for the mbira are sansa, kalimba, and, outside of Africa, thumb piano.

Answer to Question 2

 Mbira music helps connect the living with their ancestral spirits who can help and advise the living.
 These spirits can enter the body of a living person through possession trances.



Related Topics

Need homework help now?

Ask unlimited questions for free

Ask a Question


 

Did you know?

The horizontal fraction bar was introduced by the Arabs.

Did you know?

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA was discovered in 1961 in the United Kingdom. It if often referred to as a superbug. MRSA infections cause more deaths in the United States every year than AIDS.

Methicilli ...
Did you know?

The term pharmacology is derived from the Greek words pharmakon("claim, medicine, poison, or remedy") and logos ("study").

Did you know?

About 100 new prescription or over-the-counter drugs come into the U.S. market every year.

Did you know?

Warfarin was developed as a consequence of the study of a strange bleeding disorder that suddenly occurred in cattle on the northern prairies of the United States in the early 1900s.

For a complete list of videos, visit our video library