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| A Georgian Folk Group, picture by "Tbilisi." - Viljandi Folk Music Festival. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. |
In
addition to both Georgian folk music and Jethro Tull contain varying vocal and
instrumental parts, the musical elements that combine the parts into one piece
of music host a slew of similar and different uses. Georgian folk music is, for
the most part, a voice-dominated polyphonic music ("Georgian Voices").
There are over fifty types of vocal parts, all of which have specific names and
functions in the polyphony of the music. One type of voice is called
"Krimanchuli," which literally translates to "yodel." The
Krimanchuli voice part is called a "gutteral voice.” Despite the name,
which makes Krimanchuli sound like it would be a lower voice, this vocal part
is usually a high-pitched, throaty voice, and allows the singer more freedom in
performing jumps and melodies in the music. What is particularly interesting
about this voice part is that, contrary to how most pieces of music rely on the
lighter or piercing voice part to be heard, such as sopranos or tenors in most
traditional Western music, the Krimanchuli can be easily distinguished in a
song ("Manjgaladze")
An example of the polyphony used in
Georgian folk music is a musical group called the Georgian Voices, a group that
was begun in 1986 to preserve traditional folk and ritual songs of Georgia.
This group is comprised of ten male members and performs traditional folk songs
all over the world. The group is only comprised of male singers because,
traditionally, it is the males of this culture who sing the folk music. Of
these ten singers, three can sing in the Krimanchuli voice that was mentioned
above (“Georgian Voices”). The voice parts have no English equivalent, but the
voices can more or less be split into the Georgian equivalent of three first
tenors (the highest parts), two second tenors (who sing just below the first
tenors), two baritones (who sing between the second tenors and basses), and
three basses (who sing the lowest notes.) These singers all have unique and
distinct musical parts so that, regardless of what piece is sung, all of the
parts can be distinguished by the audience.
Melodies of Jethro Tull
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| Jethro Tull, photo by "Jethro Tull." PopMatters. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. |
While polyphony and a voice-dominated
music are huge parts of Georgian folk music, Jethro Tull is slightly different
in that their music has more supporting and lead instrumentals than Georgian
folk music. The guitars, drums, and flute usually do not have separate
melodies, but the few songs that this is included in could be considered
similar to the Georgian folk polyphony (PopMatters).
Jethro Tull is also, much like the majority of Georgian folk music, comprised
of all male vocalists, so all of the harmonies that are done are in the lower
range. This puts the vocals of Jethro Tull, even without the specific voice
parts used in Georgian folk, at a similar range to the lower vocal parts of
Georgian music (Jethro). Dissimilarly, because Georgian folk music is
traditionally comprised of only male singers, the upper range of Georgian folk
music is much higher than the upper range of the members of Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull classifies itself as a folk
rock band, which means that it takes traditionally folk melodies and ideas and
infuses these into its songs. The idea of a folk rock band was popular in the
1960s and 70s, especially in Britain (PopMatters). This use of traditional
music is similar to the use of traditional rituals and songs by the Georgian
Voices, as mentioned above. Instead of large amounts of polyphony, Jethro Tull,
like many other "folk rock" bands, utilizes harmonies in its music.
This means that, similar to Georgian folk music, the band incorporates
different voice parts to create their music (Unterberger). Different from
traditional Georgian folk music, the parts of the music used to create these
harmonies are more likely to be instrumental instead of just vocal.
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