UNIT CODE AND TITLE: MUSIC AND DANCES OF AFRICA I

BMAM 120

TOPIC OF ASSIGNMENT: CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICAN MUSIC INSTRUMENTS

Submitted by

NAME OF STUDENT: PETER KAMAU KIARIE

REG NO: BMTC/M/1609/09/19

KABARAK UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS

Submitted to

Full name of lecturer: PROFESSOR MELLITUS N. WANYAMA

Due date: 1^ST APRIL 2020

Submission Date: 1^ST APRIL 2020

Musical instruments play a vital role in African music as most African music has at least one instrument to accompany it. There are many musical instruments among the different communities in Africa. These instruments play different roles and possess different characteristics. It was discovered that some of these instruments have similar characteristics and were grouped into four main divisions by Hornbostel and Sachs. These groups are the membranophones, aerophones, chordophones and the idiophones. 

Membranophones are instruments that produce sound by the vibration of a stretched membrane.  The membrane is mostly made from cow skin or reptile skin such as that of the monitor lizard. The resonator is usually carved from wood. There are two major classifications of membranophones, the single-haded and the double-headed drums. Single-headed drums like the mabumbumbu are placed on the ground while playing. Other single-headed drums like the isukuti of the Luhya are worn around the shoulders or neck while playing. Double-headed drums are held around the waist or neck while playing. Membranophones provide rhythmic accompaniment to African music and can also be used to mark the climax. Membranophones also play musical interludes.

Chordophones are instruments that produce sound by the vibration of a string.  Chordophones can be further classified as lyres, fiddles, harps and ground bows. Lyres are played by plucking of the strings to produce sound. Their resonators are made from wood and the strings are made from animal tendons. the number of strings varies for different lyres, depending on the community the instrument comes from. An example of a lyre is the seven-stringed litungu from the Luhya community. Fiddles are instruments played using a bow to vibrate the string instead of plucking. The string commonly used is made of metal and the rest of the instrument is from wood. The tuning peg may be made from a nail. An example is the two-stringed wandindi of the Kikuyu. Harps are made from wood and the strings from animal tendons. The number of strings on the harp also depends on the community the instrument is from. An example of a harp is the five-stringed adeudeu of the Teso community. A ground bow is a stringed instrument made from a bent flexible branch with a string tied at the top and held firmly to the ground. It is played in the kneeling or squatting position and plucked to produce sound. The pitch is altered by holding the top of the branch and tightening or loosening the string.  Chordophones are majorly melodic instruments and hence provide melodic accompaniment to the music. They are also played with a solo singer in a call-response style. 

Aerophones are instruments that produce their initial sound by a vibrating air column. The most common types of aerophones are flutes and horns. Flutes can be further divided into vertical and transverse flutes. Vertical flutes are those played by blowing directly into the mouthpiece, holding the instrument vertically. Under this category, there are also single reed and double-reed instruments. An example is the nzumari from the Mijikenda. Transverse flutes are those played facing to the side of the player. an example of such is the chivoti from the Mijikenda. Horns are mostly made out of animal horns and sometimes from carved wood. An example is the lwika horn from the Luhya community.  

Ideophones are described as self sounding instruments. Idiophones are further divided into rhythmic idiophones, slit drums xylophones and lamellaphones. Rhythmic idiophones are the gourds, rattles, jingles just but to mention a few. they are played by shaking to produce sound and to offer rhythmic accompaniment to the song. An example is the kayamba from the Mijikenda. Lamellaphones are the thumb pianos which are plucked to produce sound. An example is the mbira.

Refernces

Britannica online accessed on 1^st April 2020 https://www.britannica.com/art/African-music/Membranophones

Africa museum online accessed on 1^st April 2020 http://music.africamuseum.be/instruments/english/congo%20drc/nkutu_kubidi.html