CONTEXT

Sub-Sarahan/ traditional West African music. Features repetition, call and response, improvisation, complex polyrhythms and polyphony. Passed on by oral tradition. The mood is upbeat and achieved by fast tempo and repetitive patterns with major vocal parts.
Drumming

talking drums used to send messages to other tribes; the local materials used help the instrument speak the local language.

Some African languages are known as tone languages as the pitch of the words contributes to the meaning

Playing techniques= a slap, a bass and a tone

Dampening = resting hand or stick on the drum skin while playing with the other

Changing pitch done by tightening the skin

Striking wood creates a contrasting sound

The master drummer leads the group : he controls the tempo, dynamics, pitch, rhythms and the build up of tension

Call and response is used to structure the music- master drummer rhythmic call, other players response.

Griots = groups of professional musicians

MELODY

mostly hexatonic- (leading note F not used very often)

lots of syncopation

octave doubling

repetitive and short

balafon parts include acciaccaturas and tremolos

simple and regular 2 bar phrasing

balafons have regular octave leaps and semiquaver demisemiquaver patterns- virtuosic

no dynamics

free tempo at the start established by the balafon- moderato tempo

RHYTHM AND METRE

MAIN RHYTHMS- balafon ostinati- when combined produce complex polyphonic texture- drum ostinati- 1 bar pattern pretty much throughout- vocal line- pentatonic call (solo) and response (choir)

Syncopation an important rhythmic feature, drum plays same ostinato rhythm, polyrhythms important, vocal line uses triplets

free unmetred opening after which constant moderato tempo is established

STRUCTURE

intro, series of chorus, verse and instrumental sections

coda- end signaled by bell and there are 5 two bar phrases with dramatic rests by all instruments creating a sense of a strong riff

Piece ends with solo agogo bell

TONALITY

Gb major but sounds modal as the piece is hexatonic and leading note avoided

Not much harmony

INSTRUMENTATION

call and response between the vocals and instruments

djembe (goblet shaped drum)

balafon (play ostinati patterns based on Gb major, have improvised in between sections, often featuring tremolos. In the piece there are two balafons, a higher and lower pitched one. They are African versions of xylophones. Tremolo playing is common as the notes don't sustain for very long.)

dundun (double headed bass drum played with sticks)
talking drum (hourglass shaped drum held under the arm, played with a hook shaped beater or hand. Have strings at the side which can be used to change the pitch)
vocals (sing in call and response, solo call with chorus responding, some music used in each verse with slight changes to the pitch and rhythm to accommodate word setting)
vocables (effects used by voice by using vowel sounds and body percussion)
ululation (long, wavering, high pitched sound like the howl of a wolf)
Tam Tam
Maracas
Agogo bell
4 groups of instruments in this piece- balaphones, percussion, voices and drums

TEXTURE

starts monophonic with the balafon solo
2nd balafon joins in- parallel octaves then heterophonic (5ths in one bar)
voices sing in unison
when all parts together (polyphonic texture)
call & response

1 st motif- dominant (Db) then tonic
main metre 4/4 (simple quadruple), few bars in other metres
Musicians performed 'Yiri' from memory. Score was made later by notating the music heard on the recording. This type of score is called a transcription.

GCSE Music Revision 3