Pasibutbut is a music piece from Taiwan. This piece is a vocal piece which is sung by a group of males from a village, Mingde, from Taiwan. This piece is an excerpt from Pasibutbut which is sung for agricultural or hunting rituals. Pasibutbut has multiple layers with simple patterns that are repetitive in each part. Each melodic line has varying narrow ranges which are usually found in pieces that have very repetitive parts. The first voice part comes in at the very beginning of the piece. Then, the second voice part joins in almost a beat after the first voice part enters. At 0:06, the third voice part joins in with the other voice parts. Then the fourth voice part comes in at 0:10. The dynamic of this piece gets louder and louder as all of the parts join in. When the fifth voice part enters, all the parts try to blend with each other by adjusting their volumes to one another. There are five layers that are very dissonant from each other. The tempo of this piece is very constant throughout. This piece makes it difficult for listeners to find the pulse and figure out the direction of the piece.
When this piece is performed, there are a group of males who gather around in a circle. They are dressed in their robes which are worn when they are performing this ritual prayer piece. Its purpose is to thank the supernatural being. They place their hands on the backs of people who are standing right next to them. It is important that males dress up for this event because of how seriously they take this. It is very important that people work together and understand each other to know how their singing parts fit together. This piece is performed by males only because of its context which is hunting. Taiwanese culture shows that females are to do the housework and males are to go out and gather food.
Males who are participating in this ritual have been exposed to this for a long period of time since they are to go out and hunt animals since they were young. The simplicity of each line is connected to how males learn this piece. They learn this piece through oral tradition.
Charlie's World Music Pedagogy 