What is this music? What instruments does it have? What part of the world do you think it is from?

African Music

Learning Outcomes Where African Music comes from History of African Music Types of instruments Features of African Music

Where is Africa? AFRICA!!

Why do you think drums are used a lot in African music? Very traditional, used a very long time ago, no communication through telephones or Think about the materials they have in Africa – not a very wealthy continent, like America or Europe

African Drums! The most commonly used instrument in Africa, apart from the voice Traditionally used as an accompaniment to singing, dancing, working and communicating between villages Children are taught to play the drums by ear at a very early age

Repetition is used a lot in African music Used as a basis for improvisation Polyrhythms (lots of rhythms at the same time) were very important Drum ensembles have 3-5 players, who each have their own striking method and their own rhythms that weave in together.

Other Percussion Instruments Other percussion instruments also join in, creating a thick musical texture Call-and-response is used a lot – one person might sing/drum a part, which is then responded to with a different pattern or part of the song This is different to echo – where one person sings/drums a rhythm which is repeated by the rest of the group.

Instruments Djembe drum – skin-covered hand drum Made out of a single tree trunk and is said to contain the soul of the tree, which is shaped and hollowed out Drumhead usually made out of goatskin and rope is used to tighten the skin to tune the drum to the right pitch Djembe can make 3 different tones – bass, slap, and open tone.

Talking Drums Usually played with sticks Changes in pitch by tightening or loosening the strings which run along the length of the drum Used for communication

A Form of Communication Drum rhythms can imitate well-known phrases Drums were used to send messages and communicate through villages, using a combination of rhythms and pitches to imitate speech

Master Drummer Usually a senior member of the drumming ensemble Directs the group, issues drumming cues to indicate new sections of the music, and improvising complicated rhythms over a repeated pattern A master djembe player is called the djembefola

Most important features of African Music: Use of dynamics – louds and softs Polyphony – lots of melodies (tunes) all happening at the same time and interweaving together. Polyrhythms – each drummer has their own rhythm they must remember Each rhythm fits in together so that when all the drummers play together, it becomes a polyrhythm Pitch- high and low according to tuning of drums

How can you explain what you hear? Rhythm or beats? Texture – thick/thin? Pitch – high/low? Instruments Tempo – speed Timbre – what does it ‘sound’ like? Think of one word to explain what it sounds like. Dynamics – loud/soft?

Polyrhythm task Split class into 3 groups Each group will have their own rhythm Then clap all rhythms at the same time This makes a polyrhythm!

Polyrhythms: Rhythm 1 : Rhythm 2: Rhythm 3: Rhythm 4:

Learning Outcomes for today: Learn how to work as part of a group to perform an African song Make up your own polyrhythms Decide who you want to sing, and who is drumming Perform as a group, and assess others