African music

African music

1. Main features

   • African music has widespread influence. It came over to America with African slaves and combined with European folk music to create...
     • The blues
     • Gospel
     • Jazz
   • It is part of everyday activities - everyone joins in
   • It is part of rites and ceremonies - performed by specialist drummers and court musicians
   • Not usually written down - passed down through oral tradition

2. Drums

   • Djembe drums
     • Shaped like a goblet. Body is carved from a hollowed trunk and is covered in goat skin.
     • Played with bare hands
   • Features of an African drum
     • Made from wood, metal, earthenware or hard-rinded fruit
     • Different shapes: tubular, bowl-shaped, friction drums. Can have one or two heads.
     • Different sizes: bigger the drum, lower the note. The more tension in the drum head - the higher the note.
     • Played using hands or sticks (or both)
     • Can have rattling metal and jingles attached to the outside, or seeds/beads placed inside.
     • May be held under armpit / sling
   • Talking drums
     • Imitate the rhythms and intonations of speech. Can be used as signals for warnings/announcements
     • Double headed; hourglass-shaped
     • Played with a beater. Pitch is changed by squeezing/releasing strings with the arm

3. Drum ensembles

   • Music is very complex in rhythm and texture
     • Master drummer has most elaborate part
       • Leads ensembles and plays solos
       • Gives other drummers musical cues - rhythm patterns
       • Gives cues to dancers to signal changes of tempo or steps
     • Several different rhythms are played at the same time
     • Rhythm patterns interlock and overlap - forms polyrhythmic patterns and exciting cross-rhythms
   • Cross rhythm - effect produced when two conflicting rhythms are heard together
   • Polyrhythm - two or more rhythms with different pulses are heard together
   • Timeline - short repeated pattern, often playing by a single/double bell. Holds the piece together

4. Other instruments

   • Kora - long-necked harp with many strings. Accompanies songs of worship. Play complicated melodies at great speed
   • Balafon - xylophone made from logs or bamboo
   • Mbira - thumb piano made of wooden/metal tongues
   • Wind instruments e.g. bamboo flutes, horns, trumpets, reed pipes

5. Singing

   • Songs for occasions such as: birthdays, marriages, funerals, religious/tribal/political occasions, childhood lullabies and play songs
   • Accompanied and unaccompanied (a cappella) solos, duets and choruses
   • Strophic (with verses) or call and response
     • Chorus stays the same, soloist improvises. Overlapping between the two
     • Chorus part is usually homophonic
   • Glissandos, slurs, whistles, yodels and swoops are used
   • Melodies - usually organised within a scale of 4,5,6 or 7 notes. Small melodic intervals. Recurring patterns and descending phrases