Transcript African music

5F African Music – Unit 5: World Music
♫ 5F African Music ♫
Unit 5: World Music
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For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation
Flash activity. These activities are not editable.
Composing
activity
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Listening
activity
Performing
activity
Teacher’s notes included in the Notes Page
Sound
Accompanying
worksheet
Weblink
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Learning objectives
To consider the traditional social context of African
music, including the use of dance, drums, vocals and
costume.
To understand the main instruments and playing
techniques employed in African drumming music.
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African music
Africa is made up of 53 different
countries. Their landscapes,
climates, languages and societies
are hugely varied.
The music across Africa is also
diverse, yet there are some common
features that can be studied.
These features include repetition, call and
response, polyrhythm and improvisation.
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Music and dance
Music is used alongside dance
to mark certain occasions.
Music and dance are so closely
linked that often, the same
word is used to describe both.
Using music and dance to
celebrate different occasions is
a significant part of traditional
African life. Music and dance
are used together to express
the emotion of various events.
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African music
Listen to these examples of African music which is used for
certain occasions.
War
Harvest
Coming of age
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Drums
Drums are a prominent feature of African music. The drum
has always been seen as the most important instrument in
Africa, and there are many different types of drum.
Drums are traditionally made from
natural resources, such as trees,
goat skins and twine.
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Djembe
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Doundouns
The djembe is the most commonly played drum.
However, djembes are sometimes accompanied by the
kenkeni, sangban and doundounba.
Collectively, these drums are known as doundouns.
Doundounba
The largest and
lowest-pitched
doundoun.
Kenkeni
The smallest,
highest-pitched
doundoun.
Sangban
The mid-size and midpitched doundoun.
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Talking drum
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Learning to play
African music is part of an oral tradition, meaning that music
is learnt through listening and imitating, rather than by
reading a transcription.
The feeling a rhythm creates is very important, so written
music can only show the basic idea. To fully understand the
rhythm, a drummer must listen in order to learn.
Drumming pieces are made up of
sections of different rhythms.
These sections can be played
over and over help new drummers
learn. This also gives people the
chance to improvise over a set
rhythm to vary the piece.
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Notation
African drumming rhythms are very rarely notated, and when
they are, different methods of notation are used in different
areas. Here is one method of notation:
beats in
the bar
tone and
rhythm to play
Key
1.2.3.4 .
BO. OBOS .
B = bass
O = tone
S = slap
This is how the rhythm could look in Western notation:
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Call and response
Call and response is a typical feature of African drumming.
The master drummer plays a call, usually on the djembe, to
which the rest of the group responds. The response may be:
An exact copy of the call
Call
Response
Call
Response
A refrain which is completely different from the call
A
B
A
B
A response that sounds quite similar to the call
A
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A1
A
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Structure
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