Traditional Music
Non-lexical vocables are used in Blackfoot music and other American Indian music, Pygmy music, the music of the Maldives and Highland Scots music. Vocables frequently act as formal markers, indicating the beginning and end of phrases, sections or songs themselves, and also as onomatopoeic references, cueing devices, and other purposes.
The Blackfoot, like other Plains Indians, use the consonants h, y, w, and vowels. They avoid n, c (ts) and other consonants. i and e tend slightly to be higher pitches, a, o, and u lower ones.
The AIM Song has its origins in the Plains; as such, it holds similar characteristics to Blackfoot song. It is intended as an intertribal song, so the use of non-lexical vocables prevents bias to one particular language.
Other traditional musical forms employing non-lexical vocables include:
- Canntaireachd (ancient Scottish practice of noting music with a combination of definite syllables for ease of recollection and transmission)
- Eefing (Appalachian vocal technique similar to beatboxing)
- Puirt à beul (traditional Scottish and Irish song form that sometimes employs nonsense syllables)
- Nigun in Jewish religious music
Read more about this topic: Non-lexical Vocables In Music
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