UNIT CODE AND TITLE: BMAM 120, MUSIC AND DANCE OF AFRICA 1
TOPIC OFASSIGNMENT: DOCUMENTING DANCES AND INSTRUMENTS FROM CENTRAL, EAST AND SOUTH AFRICA.
Submitted by
NAME OF STUDENT: OGEYA NANCHAH RACHAEL
REG NO: BMTC/M/3151/09/19
KABARAK UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS
Submitted to
Full name of lecturer: PROF. MELLITUS WANYAMA
Due date: 3RD APRIL 2020
Submission Date: 3RD APRIL 2020
Student’s Signature
Lecturer’s Signature
Introduction
The African music instruments can be classified into four namely: Ideophones, chordophones, Aerophones and Membranophones. These divisions may be related to environmental factors, the kind of occupation in which a society engages, or to historical factors. For example some societies are nomadic like the Maasai of Kenya, thus have no drums. Many of them use sticks and other implements they carry with them for musical purposes. Their rhythmic interests are displayed in hand clapping, complex body movements, rhythmic stamping and use of vocal grunts
Idiophones
These are the most common. An Ideophone is a ‘self-sounding instrument, which can be defined as any instrument upon which a sound may be produced without the addition of a stretched membrane or a vibrating string or reed. Most of the societies which have no drums do use idoephones to accompany their songs. They can be divided into two mainly those used mainly as rhythm instruments and those played as melodic instruments. (Nketia, 1974, pg. 69)
According to google an idiophone is an instrument with the whole which vibrates to produce sound when struck, shaken, or scraped.
The divisions are:
v Shaken Ideophones or rattles – They are rhythm instruments which are divided into primary rattles held in the hand and played and secondary rattles which are worn on the body of performers or attached on the body of performers as modifiers. They include Sekere of the Yoruba.
v Struck and Concussion Ideophones i.e iron or wooden bells with clappers pl;ayed by the Bumum of the Cmeroons, wooden slit drum which is struck with beaters.
v Scraped and friction ideophones
v Stamped ideophones which are stamping sticks and tubes.
v Tuned ideophones which include the mbira and the xylophone.
Examples of idiophones include kayamba, mbira, njoga etc.
Membranophones
This refers to any instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. The Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification divides membranophones in a numeric taxonomy based on how sound is produced as follows:
v By hitting the drumskin with a hand or object i.e the timpani.
v By pulling a knotted string attached to the drumskin.
v By rubbing the drumskin.
v By modifying sounds through a vibrating membrane.
Membranophones are rhythmic instruments and they give the music, its rhythmic idea.
Some drums are double headed while others are single headed and every community has its own name for a specific drum.
example of a single headed membranophone, ngomba drums
Example of a double headed drum from the Zulu community, ingungu drums.
The division by shape and technique is as follows:
v Tubular drums
v Cylindrical drums
v Conical drums i.e the chimbangueles.
v Barrel drums.
v Hourglass drums like the talking drums.
v Goblet drums like the Djembe of the West Africa.
v Footed drums
v Long drums like the gufalo of Burkina Faso.
Chordophones
These are stringed instruments that make sound by way of a vibrating string or strings stretched between two points. They can be divided into:
v Zithers like the mouth bow
v Lutes i.e the masinko of Ethiopia and endingidi of Uganda.
v Lyres i.e the Obukano of East Africa, Litungu of Kuria, adeudeu of the Iteso and Kibugander of the Kipsigis in Kenya.
v Harp i.e the ngombi bow lute of the mbaka of Gabon.
A fiddle is a one or two stringed instrument common to have a gourd resonator or cylindrical metal tins covered at both ends with animal skin and with a hole at the back have been observed. P.N Kavyu.
Lyres are also known as harps and are multi stringed chordophones. The lyres vary in size and the number of strings all over Africa. The design of the resonator varies too, from arectangular wooden or tin box with semi parallel arms to a long wooden bowl (skin-covered) with relatively parallel arms and a circular-shaped instrument with triangular-shaped arms.
Aerophones
Aerophones are blown instruments and they can also be divided into flutes, horns and whistles. P.N Kavyu
Most flutes are made from hollowed wood or grass. The flutes have a standard pitch due to lack of standard size nor do they have an equal number of holes. Most of them are blown from the upper tip.
Horns are made from straight or coiled animal horn. The mouth piece is usually at the side of the instrument towards the small end. For example the Eouo of the Maasai community.
In conclusion therefore, African instruments employ repetition, polyphony, they have timbre, pitch and basically they accompany African music and dances.
References
Stone, R. M. (2007). The Garland Handbook of African Music 2nd edition. New York: Garland Publishing Inc.
Nketia J.H (1974). The Music Of Africa. w.w. Norton and Company.
Dominic C. (2008). South Africa; the Culture. Cape Town. Crabtree publishing company.
Tamusuza N. and Solomon T. (2015). Ethnomusicology in East Africa: Perspectives from Uganda and beyond. Fountain Publishers.
Kariamu W. (2010). World of Dance: African Dance, Second Edition. Infobase publishing.
P.N Kavyu. (1980). Traditional music of Kenya. Kenya Literature Bureau.
Dave D. (1970). The Xhosa Umrhubhe Mouth bow: An exatraordinary musical instrument.
Catherine#Membranophones. Essentials of Music. Archived from the original on January 19, 2007. Retrieved January 22, 2007.