Traditional Meditative Music Flashcards
7 cards from real Meditation Music practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Traditional Meditative Music flashcards as text
What is the fundamental difference between a 'drone' and a 'melody' in traditional meditative music?
Answer: A drone is a sustained unchanging pitch while a melody moves through different notes
A drone holds one or more fixed pitches continuously throughout a piece, providing a stable anchor, whereas a melody is a sequence of varied pitches moving through time.
In traditional Tibetan Buddhist music, the 'dungchen' (long horn) is used primarily for which purpose?
Answer: Signaling and ceremonial ritual invocation
The dungchen is a telescoping brass horn up to 16 feet long used in Tibetan monasteries to summon monks, demarcate ceremonies, and invoke protective deities.
Which concept from music therapy explains why slow-tempo, repetitive music induces relaxation and meditative states?
Answer: Entrainment — the body synchronizes its rhythms to external rhythmic stimuli
Entrainment is the phenomenon where biological rhythms like heart rate and brainwaves naturally synchronize with a steady external beat, making slow music physiologically calming.
The 'Hang' (pronounced 'hung'), a UFO-shaped steel percussion instrument popular in meditation music, was first developed in which country?
Answer: Switzerland
The Hang was invented in 2000 by PANArt in Bern, Switzerland, combining steelpan technology with elements of various world percussion traditions.
In the Islamic meditative tradition, what is the devotional practice of rhythmically repeating the 99 names of God called?
Answer: Dhikr
Dhikr (remembrance) is a Sufi practice of rhythmically chanting or silently repeating divine names and phrases as a meditative means of purifying the heart and drawing close to God.
What distinguishes 'just intonation' tuning, often used in traditional meditative music, from standard Western 'equal temperament'?
Answer: Just intonation uses pure mathematical frequency ratios producing cleaner harmonic resonance
Just intonation tunes intervals using simple whole-number frequency ratios (e.g., 3:2 for a perfect fifth), producing overtones that align and reinforce each other more purely than equal temperament allows.
Which Native American tradition uses peyote songs during all-night ceremonies to facilitate vision and meditative communion?
Answer: Native American Church peyote ceremony
The Native American Church conducts all-night ceremonies where participants sing peyote songs accompanied by a water drum and rattle to guide prayer, vision, and collective meditation.