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pÏob mhûr: Literally ìgreat pipes, the Gaelic name for the Scottish Highland bagpipes.

palm harmonics: Overtones produced on the steel guitar by flattening strings with the palm of the hand. Also called "chimes".

panoptic mode: Viewing an event or performance form a distance, from a detached vantage point (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1991:413). Contrast with panoramic mode.

panoramic mode: Viewing an event or performance from within a setting in which the spectator enters (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1991:413). Contrast with panoptic mode.

parallel motion: Different parts moving in the same direction at the same time; a type of homophony.

part: The melodic line of a particular voice or instrument.
This example has three parts: voice, didjeridu (aerophone), and clapsticks (concussion idiophones).

partials: Another term for harmonics.

participant-observation: The process used to study a living tradition during fieldwork.

pawwaw: Nineteenth-century Algonquin word for powwow.

pentatonic scale: A scale that contains only five pitches, as well as the music that is based on such scales. Pentatonic scales may contain intervals of different sizes; in Western music, pentatonic scales can have intervals a whole tone or a semitone apart.

performance practice: The manner in which music is interpreted and performed.

Persian (Iranian) music: Reza Vali incorporates various characteristics of Persian music into his Concerto for Flute and Orchestra.

Pham Duy: The famous Vietnamese composer who lives today in California.

phrase: A brief section of music, analogous to a phrase of language, that sounds somewhat complete in itself, while not self-sufficient. One phrase may be separated from the next by a brief pause, as if to allow the singer or player a moment in which to breathe.

Piazzolla, Astor: Argentinian tango composer and bandoneûn; player, 1921-1992.

pibroch: A genre of solo bagpipe music which consists of a set of elaborate variations on a theme, called the allrd urlar.

piobaireachd: See pibroch.

pipe band: A military-style marching and performing ensemble consisting of Scottish Highland bagpipes and drums.

pitch: The vibration frequency of the fundamental of the harmonic series is perceived by most listeners as the pitch of a sound.

pizmon: (pl. pizmonim) Hymns with sacred Hebrew texts and popular Arabic melodies sung by Middle Eastern Jews.

plainchant: See chant.

Plains: Region of western-central North America extending from Texas north to southern Alberta, Canada and for approximately 400 miles east from the base of the Rocky Mountains.

plainsong: See chant.

plectrum: (pl. plectra) A piece of a hard material such as horn, shell or plastic used to pluck a stringed instrument.

plucked idiophones: Idiophones which have plucked metal tongues such as the Jewís harp.
Norton CD: Mbira: [Norton Media Manager:Media Library:Instrument, Folk:kalimba.jpg]

polka: A fast dance in duple meter which originated in central Europe in the middle of the nineteenth century.

polka-step: The polka dance step: usually described as a heel-and-toe half step performed in duple meter.

polyphonic texture: A texture which features polyphony.

polyphony: A musical texture where the parts move in different directions from each other and at different points in time. Contrast with homophony.

Portugal: A country in southwestern Europe, on the Atlantic. Its capital is Lisbon. Among its colonies were the Cape Verde Islands off of the western coast of northern Africa.

powwow: Native American social gatherings that feature ceremonies, celebrations and dance competitions.

prayer staff: Staff on which dabtaras lean when performing the Ethiopian liturgy and which becomes an idiophone pounded on the floor during dance.

pulse: A single, regular element that underlies most music and against which rhythm is organized.

Punjab: Formerly a state of India, the Punjab region was divided in 1947 between India and Pakistan.

push button accordion: See bandoneûn;.

ìpush-ups: Insider term used by the Shoshone and other Native Americans to indicate thenumber of times a song is repeated.