:

STARTER ACTIVITY

Listen to the track ‘Yiri’ by Koko:

Where do you think the music comes from and why?

What instrumentation is used in the piece?

What do these keywords mean?

IMPROVISATION CALL & RESPONSE CROSS-RHYTHMS

POLYPHONIC OSTINATO ORAL TRADITION

‘Yiri’ by Koko

Sub-Saharan African Music

Edexcel Music GCSEArea of Study 4

KOKO: ‘YIRI’

In the study of this set work you will learn about:

The rich and diverse cultures of sub-Saharan Africa

The social importance of African music

How music is learnt and passed on through the oral tradition

The key common techniques used in African music

Rhythmic and melodic patterns and procedures in African drumming, balaphone music and choral singing

How the set work ‘Yiri’ is constructed

AFRICAN MUSIC IN SOCIETY Sub-Saharan African music = rich, diverse and colourful

Covers a range of 50 different nations

Each nation has its own musical traditions and languages

Music plays an important role in African society

Music used to communicate different feelings and emotions

Music important in social gatherings: weddings, harvest, birthday, funeral.

AFRICAN MUSIC IN SOCIETY

Music combined with speech, dance and vibrant costumes = exciting and dramatic performances

‘Yiri’ = strong emphasis on dance

Dancers = vivid costumes, body painting and elaborate masks

Stories told through body actions and mime

BURKINO FASO: MASKS & DANCE

BURKINA FASO DANCERSVideo

AFRICAN MUSIC

3 main areas:

Drumming Choral Song (tribal music) Instrumental music

AFRICAN MUSIC: COMMON FEATURESRepetition: Repeating a section of music. Just a few notes or a whole section.

Improvisation: Music is made up spontaneously (on-the-spot) without written notation.

Polyphony: 2 or more independent parts playing different things at the same time. Multi-layered texture

Call and Response: Solo (call) followed by a group answering (response) a phrase.

AFRICAN DRUMMING

Drum considered to be most important of all instruments

Drum = form of communication

Different rhythms mean different things

Hundreds of drums, different in every region

AFRICAN DRUMMING: DJEMBE

DJEMBE is the most common African drum (single-headed)

Goblet shaped

West Africa

AFRICAN DRUMMING: DUNDUN

Double Headed Drum

Played using sticks

AFRICAN DRUMMING: DONNO

Known as the Talking Drum Held under the arm Played with the hand

AFRICAN DRUMMING: DIFFERENT SOUNDS Playing hands on skin of drum – different

sounds when fingers open/closed

Playing hands on wooden edge of drum

Using sticks = sharp, staccato sound

Stretching drum membrane to produce different pitches (mainly donno)

AFRICAN MUSIC: PERFORMANCE

Oral tradition: no musical notation.

Master drummer directs whole performance (signals to start often with a vocal cry)

Performs a rhythmic solo to set mood and tempo – called a cue.

Cueing happens throughout the performance – creates structure and contrasting sections

AFRICAN MUSIC: PERFORMANCE

Players then come in together and play a response

Response could be the same or different to the Master Drummer’s rhythm.

Call and response = main feature of tribal music

Other players perform solos when Master Drummer signals to them

Solos = variations/development of original rhythmic pattern

AFRICAN MUSIC: PERFORMANCE

Steady continuous beat performed by Master Drummer = ‘timeline’

Performance can also include percussion rattle or bells – most common are agogo bells.

AFRICAN MUSIC: PERFORMANCE

Music increases in tension as the piece progresses

Tempo and dynamics vary from section to section

Master drummer controls change - music must not become monotonous

Performances can take up to 5 hours

AFRICAN MUSIC: PERFORMANCE TEXTURE Complex rhythms played by drummers

create polyrhtyhms

Stresses conflict with each other and the ‘timeline’ creating cross-rhythms

Polyrhthmic texture

AFRICAN DRUMMING & PERFORMANCE: KEYWORDS

IMPROVISATION CALL & RESPONSE CROSS-RHYTHMS

POLYPHONIC OSTINATO ORAL TRADITION

PLENARY: KEYWORDS RECAP

What is the master drummer responsible for in an African drumming performance?

What is the most common African drum called?

What is another name for the donno drum?

What are the three main strands of African music?

From which African nation does ‘Yiri’ originate from?

What texture is associated with African drumming?

When stresses conflict with each other and the steady constant beat, what type of rhythms are created?

What 2 main elements vary from section to section in African drumming music?

‘Yiri’ by Koko

Sub-Saharan African Music

LESSON 2

Edexcel Music GCSEArea of Study 4

SPEED DATING!

Write down 3 keywords/facts you can remember about Yiri

Pair up with someone else and think of as many more keywords/facts that you can remember

When I say ‘change’ move onto someone else and think of some more.

AFRICAN MUSIC: CHORAL SINGING

Sub-Saharan Africa = centred around singing

Music serves as a link to the spirit world

African languages = tone languages

Tone languages = pitch level (high or low) determines meaning of words

Pitches of melodies and rhythms can match meanings and speech rhythms of words

AFRICAN SONGS: COMMON FEATURES Basic form = call and response

Short simple, repeated melodies

Melodies = scale of only 4, 5, 6 or 7 tones

Melodies changed and developed during a piece = theme and variations

Singers improvise new melodies over the original melody = polyphonic

AFRICAN SONGS: COMMON FEATURES Music can often be sung in rounds

Musical texture is always changing

Harmony varies from tribe to tribe = Unison Parallel octaves, with odd fourths or fifths. Thirds or fourths in 2 or 3 different parts.

COMPOSITION TASK

Compose a short repeated melody using only 4-5 notes

Perform the melody with your group as a round.

EXTENSION: Add harmonies to your melody (4ths or

5ths) Create a vocal performance of your

piece

HOMEWORK

Revise what we have learnt so far for a test next lesson.

11th March

ACTIVITY: WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT SO FAR?

Pass the parcel!

BLUE QUESTIONS: EASY (ONE WORD ANSWERS)GREEN QUESTIONS: SLIGHTY MORE DIFFICULTRED QUESTIONS: CHALLENGING (DEFINITIONS AND HIGHER ORDER ANSWERS)

‘Yiri’ by Koko

Sub-Saharan African Music

LESSON 3

Edexcel Music GCSEArea of Study 4

STARTER ACTIVITY What are the 3 main areas of African music? (3)

Where in Africa does ‘Yiri’ originate from? (1)

What is the name of the main African Drum? (1)

What is the Donno also known as? (1)

Who directs the whole performance in African Drumming? (1)

What does the director of the performance do to start different sections (what is the keyword

for this)? (1)

What 2 main instruments (other than drums) are used in Yiri? (2)

When stresses conflict with each other and the steady constant beat, what is created? (1)

What is the musical device where the same melody is developed throughout a piece known as?

(1)

How are African vocal pieces structured/performed? (1)

Name 3 different ways in which harmony can applied to African vocal performances. (3)

Write a definition of the following words (4):

Ostinato Oral Tradition Unison Polyphonic

AFRICAN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

IN PAIRS, LIST THE INSTRUMENTS IN THEIR CORRECT INSTRUMENTAL FAMILIES: TRUMPETS (WOOD/METAL) RATTLES LYRES FLUTE PIPES OCARINAS BELLS PAN PIPES ZITHERS MUSICAL BOWS MBRIA (THUMB PIANO) HORNS CLAP STICKS SLIT GONGS STAMPING TUBES WHISTLE LUTES

IDIOPHONES (resonant/solid)

AEROPHONES (wind)

CHORDOPHONES (strings)

AFRICAN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

IDIOPHONES (resonant/solid)

AEROPHONES (wind)

CHORDOPHONES (strings)

Rattles (shakers) Flutes (bamboo, horn)

Zithers

Bells Ocarinas Lutes (kora)

Mbria (thumb piano) Horns (animal tusks) Lyres

Xylophones (balaphones)

Trumpets (wood, metal)

Musical bows

Clap sticks Pipes (single and double reeds)

Slit gongs Panpipes

Stamping tubes Whistle

AFRICAN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

Balaphones – xylophones

Wide range of pitches

Smaller xylophones = higher pitches

Membrane in between bars made of natural materials such as orange peel

AFRICAN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC: COMMON FEATURES

REPETITION

IMPROVISATION

CYCLIC STRUCTURES

POLYOPHONIC TEXTURES

INTERTWINING MELODIES

BACKGROUND TO ‘YIRI’

Musicians in Koko are:

Madou Kone: vocals, balaphone, flute Sydou Traore: vocals, balaphone Jacouba Kone: djembe Francois Naba: vocals, tam-tam, dundun,

maracas Keresse Sanou: talking drum Tidiane Hema: vocals, maracas

BACKGROUND TO ‘YIRI’

From Burkino Faso: West Africa

Burkino means ‘men of integrity’

Faso means ‘father’s house’

People from Burkino Faso are called

Burkinabe Themes in music include battle, fight

for surival and the environment; creation, community celebrations and friendship.

MUSICAL STRANDS IN ‘YIRI’

There are 3 clear musical strands (ideas that run the whole way through the piece/shape the piece) in Yiri. What do you think they are?

Balaphone ostinati – complex polyphonic texture

Drum ostinato – based on a one-bar pattern (little variation)

Vocal line – pentatonic, call and response

CONSTANT FEATURES IN ‘YIRI’

Unvaried tempo Regular and unvaried beat Drum ostinato Pattern of voices and instrumental

breaks Largely unvaried dynamics

Listen to the introduction of ‘Yiri’. What do you hear with regards to the following:

Instrumentation Texture Patterns in the music

1. What happens after the introduction (after bar 9)?

2. Describe the tempo of the piece. Is the piece in a major or minor key?

3. Are the drums all playing at the same pitch?

4. How does the size of drum determine the pitches that are heard?

5. How would you describe the rhythms of the instrumental melody?

6. Are the different balophones playing the same thing?

7. What and how are the drums playing when they enter?

8. What are the different textures heard in the first part of the piece? Justify your answers.

‘YIRI’

0.00-0.18: Intro

Free tempo, high balaphone improvised solo played at a soft dynamic.

Monophonic texture.

Solo balaphone in G flat major, fast high and low rolls on every note.

Simple and repetitive.

‘YIRI’0.18-0.34

Moderato tempo established by first balaphone.

Second lower-pitched balaphone joins in after bar 9 – mainly playing octaves

Both balaphones play for whole piece – polyrhythms and independent of each other

Strong sense of major tonality as opening two notes of melody are dominant (D flat) and tonic (G flat).

Melody built on 2 bar phrases with a strong rhythmic basis.

Second balaphone plays the same melody but with different pitches.

Heterephonic texture – contours of melody roughly the same.

Rhythms – mainly quavers and semiquavers with some tied notes.

‘YIRI’0.34-1.09

Large donno, small donno and djembe enter with a half bar ostinato:

When the drums come in they all play the same rhythm

The drums are at different pitches (smaller = higher, larger = lower)

Drums can get different sounds depending on how they’re played

Balaphone plays variation of original melody

Lower balaphone plays an ostinato in bars 17-20

Occasional djembe fills

Melody includes syncopated rhythms and octave repetitions on tonic (G flat) and dominant (D flat)

‘YIRI’1.09-1.25Chorus A1 Voices in unison Melody = short, simple, repetitive No harmony Semi-quaver, quaver, semi-quaver rhythm

1.25-1.44 Short balaphone instrumental Drums ostinati 1.44-2.01Chorus A2 Voices again – music same as before

2.01-2.10 Voices out Solo instrumental on lower balaphone Variation in balaphone melody

‘YIRI’

2.10-2.45 Solo with choral responses (call and response)

New melody with long held notes and short notes on ‘Yiri’

Vocal melody with triplet figures – variation on original melody

Lower pitched balaphone plays same ostinato heard in bars 17-20

Voices (choral response) in unison at bar 63

New melodic riffs in balaphone based on original melody

‘YIRI’2.45-3.14 Solo voice (call) with long held notes

Drums same as before

Balaphones play rhythmic 3-note semiquaver melodic figure – cross-rhythms created

Bar 71 = solo voice singing variation of original melody Triplets, syncopated rhythms and semi-quaver/quaver rhythms (heard

before)

3.15-3.19 Vocal response from choir in unison

3.20-3.28 Solo voice (call) with balaphone rhythms in solo break

‘YIRI’

3.28-3.59 Instrumental solos continue New melodies on balaphones Short rest (one bar/3 beat) rest before next chorus

4.00-4.31Chorus B1 Full choir in unison singing ‘Yiri’ Short instrumental interjections to break up vocal

lines

4.31-4.35 Dialogue between voices and instruments

‘YIRI’

4.45-5.20 Balaphone break instrumental Riffs with variations Extended section but based on original melody with

variations Rapid figures Octave leaps Semi-quaver and demi-semi-quaver patterns

5.20-5.36Chorus A3 Full choir in unison Instrumental interjections

‘YIRI’

5.36-6.24 Instrumental ending – balaphone break Syncopated Drums re-enter at bar 153 (one bar before coda)

6.24-endCoda 5 two-bar phrases – in octaves and dramatic rests Sense of a strong riff Heterophonic texture Drums play familiar ostinato from bar 153 Piece concludes with a single strike on a bell