A cultural area is a region (area) with one relatively homogenous human activity or complex of activities (culture). These areas are geographical rather than historical, and while they are used to determine historical trends, they are not considered equivalent as in Kulturkreis. A region can be any area that has some unifying feature. ... This article explains the meaning of area as a physical quantity. ... Look up Culture in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikinews has a related story: Culture and entertainment Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Cultural Development in Antiquity Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Culture and Civilization in Modern Times Classificatory system for cultures and civilizations, by Dr. Sam Vaknin Categories: Culture...

A music area is a cultural area defined according to musical activity, and may or may not conflict with the cultural areas assigned to a given region. Bruno Nettl (p. 142-143) divides the world into three large music areas, each containing a "cultivated" or classical musics "that are obviously its most complex musical forms," with, nearby, folk styles which interact with the cultivated, and, on the perimiter, primitive styles: Bruno Nettl is a musicologist and ethnomusicologist. ... Classical music is music considered classical, as sophisticated and refined, in a regional tradition. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ... In the history of music, prehistoric music (previously called primitive music) is all music produced in preliterate cultures (prehistory), beginning somewhere in very late geological history. ...

• Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa
  • based on shared isometric materials, diatonic scales, and polyphony based on parallel thirds, fourths, and fifths.
• North Africa, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and Indonesia.
  • based on shared small intervals in scales, melodies, and polyphony.
• American Indian, East Asia, Northern Siberian, and Finno-Ugric music
  • based on shared large steps in pentatonic and tetratonic scales.

However, he then adds that "the world-wide development of music must have been a unified process in which all peoples participated," and that one finds similar tunes and traits in puzzlingly isolated or separated locations throughout the world. The music of Europe includes the music of Western Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe. ... Africa is a large and diverse continent, consisting of dozens of countries, hundreds of languages and thousands of races, tribes and ethnic groups. ... Isometre is the use of pulse without regular meter. ... In music theory, a diatonic scale is a scale whose notes are built on the natural staff positions of lines and spaces, with no accidentals, with or without a key signature. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... The term Parallel has a number of important meanings: Parallel (geometry) occurs in geometry. ... In music, see the following intervals: Major third Minor third The mediant, and the chord built on the mediant, is often called simply the third, as it is the third degree of the diatonic scale. ... The musical interval of a perfect fourth, often P4, is the relationship between the first note (the root or tonic) and the fourth note (subdominant) in a major scale. ... The musical interval of a perfect fifth is the relationship between the first note (the root or tonic) and the fifth note in a major scale. ... North Africa has contributed much to popular music, especially Egyptian Arab classical and al-jil, Algerian raï and Moroccan chaabi. ... The music of Southwest Asia includes the music of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, West Bank, and Yemen. ... The music of South Asia or the Indian subcontinent includes the music of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. ... In music theory, an interval is the distance in pitch between two notes, the lower and higher members of the interval. ... In music, a scale is an unordered collection of notes or pitches, as opposed to a series of intervals, which is a musical mode. ... }} Wiktionary has a definition of: Melody In music, a melody is a series of linear events or a succession, not a simultaneity as in a chord. ... There are hundreds of tribes of Native Americans (called the First Nations in Canada), each with diverse musical practices, spread across the United States and Canada (excluding Hawaiian music). ... The music of East Asia includes the music of China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and the Music of Taiwan. ... The Inuit live across the northern sections of Canada, especially in Yukon, Nunavat and Northwest Territories, as well as in Alaska and Greenland. ... Finno-Ugric music includes the music of Ural mountains and Uralic language speaking people: Estonia, Finland, Hungary (and Hungarians in Romania and Vojvodina), Russia and the Sami music of Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden. ... See also: Dance step, Stairway. ... In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ... In music, a scale is a set of musical notes in order by pitch, either ascending or descending. ...

Source

• Nettl, Bruno (1956). Music in Primitive Culture. Harvard University Press.