A CONTEMPORARY STUDY OF MUSICAL ARTS INFORMED BY AFRICAN INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS VOLUME 3 THE FOLIAGE – CONSOLIDATION Meki Nzewi Ciimda series A contemporary study of musical arts informed by African indigenous knowledge systems Volume 3 Author: Meki Nzewi Music typesetting & illustrations: Odyke Nzewi Reviewer and editor: Christopher Walton Copy editor: Hester Honey Proofreading: Chérie M. Vermaak Book design and typesetting: Janco Yspeert ISBN 978-1-920051-64-8 © 2007 Centre for Indigenous Instrumental African Music and Dance (Ciimda) First edition, first impression All rights reserved Production management: Compress www.compress.co.za CONTENTS INTRODUCTION VII MODULE 301: MUSICAL STRUCTURE, FORM AND THE COMPOSITIONAL PROCESS 1 UNIT 1 – ELEMENTS OF COMPOSITION – INDIGENOUS AND WESTERN CLASSICAL 3 TOPIC 1 Seventh chord and inversions 3 TOPIC 2 Minor scales 5 TOPIC 3 Imitative entries 8 TOPIC 4 Indigenous harmonic features 9 TOPIC 5 Cadential and starting idioms 11 TOPIC 6 Accidentals, modulation and transposition 13 UNIT 2 – HINTS ON ORIGINAL COMPOSITION AND ARRANGEMENT 18 TOPIC 1 Original composition 18 TOPIC 2 Transcription and arrangement 27 TOPIC 3 Open-ended composition 28 MODULE 302: FACTORS OF MUSIC APPRECIATION 31 UNIT 1 – CREATIVE LISTENING 33 TOPIC 1 More exercises in matching melodies 33 TOPIC 2 Improvising/extemporizing on a shared fundamental melody – the unilinear ensemble structure 34 UNIT 2 – ANALYTICAL PERCEPTION III 36 TOPIC 1 Aural reproduction and analysis – rhythm patterns 36 TOPIC 2 Aural reproduction and analysis – melorhythmic statements 40 TOPIC 3 Aural reproduction and analysis – melodies 40 TOPIC 4 Aural reproduction and analysis – identifying intervals 41 TOPIC 5 Hearing, spelling and identifying chords 41 UNIT 3 – TECHNICAL REPRODUCTION OF RECEIVED SOUND III 42 TOPIC 1 Hearing, reproducing and writing rhythm statements 42 TOPIC 2 Hearing, reproducing and writing melorhythmic statements 42 TOPIC 3 Hearing, reproducing and writing melodies 42 TOPIC 4 Hearing and writing intervals and chords 43 TOPIC 5 Transcription techniques for multiple voices 43 UNIT 4 – SETTING TEXTS TO MELODY 45 TOPIC 1 Composing with texts in local and foreign languages 45 MODULE 303: MUSIC INSTRUMENTS 47 UNIT 1 – TRADITIONAL ENSEMBLE TECHNIQUE 49 TOPIC 1 How music instruments relate in an ensemble 49 TOPIC 2 Practical ensemble experience as a learning process 57 MODULE 304: MUSIC AND SOCIETY 59 UNIT 1 – THE INTERRELATIONSHIP OF THE ARTS 61 TOPIC 1 The synthesis of the creative and performance arts disciplines in indigenous music theory 61 TOPIC 2 Factors of musical intention and cognitive appreciation 64 UNIT 2 – INDIGENOUS DANCE CONCEPTS 72 TOPIC 1 Free medley dance concept 72 TOPIC 2 Stylized formation (choreographed) dances 73 UNIT 3 – THE STRUCTURE OF AN INDIGENOUS FESTIVAL 76 TOPIC 1 Features of festival preparation 76 TOPIC 2 Features of the core event 79 TOPIC 3 Features of the celebration events 81 TOPIC 4 Implications of the idea that informs a festival 82 UNIT 4 – THE CONTEMPORARY MUSIC SCENE IN AFRICA 84 TOPIC 1 The nature and features of popular music 84 TOPIC 2 Comparative features of indigenous music, tradipop and modern pop music 93 TOPIC 3 Contemporary trends in musical arts creativity and practice in Africa 102 MODULE 305: RESEARCH PROJECT 111 UNIT 1 – APPLIED FIELD RESEARCH 113 TOPIC 1 Summary of field research guidelines 113 TOPIC 2 Guide for collecting, collating and analyzing field data 116 TOPIC 3 Creative application of research data 120 MODULE 306: MUSICAL ARTS THEATRE 123 UNIT 1 – RE-CREATING CHILDREN’S MUSIC IN DRAMA AND MOVEMENT 125 TOPIC 1 – Continued activities in stimulating creativity 125 UNIT 2 – CLASS THEATRE PROJECTS 127 TOPIC 1 Class production project: dramatization in mime or danced drama 127 TOPIC 2 Class production project: improvised sketches – solo/duet/trio/quartet 128 MODULE 307: TECHNIQUE FOR SCHOOL SONGS 129 UNIT I – THE MOUTH AS AN ORGAN FOR MUSIC MAKING 131 TOPIC 1 The sound system of the music-making mouth 131 TOPIC 2 Categories and styles 133 UNIT 2 – ESSENCE AND NATURE OF MELORHYTHM 136 TOPIC 1 The melorhythmic principle 136 UNIT 3 – INSTRUMENTS IN VOCAL MUSIC 138 TOPIC 1 Vocal-instrumental textures 138 UNIT 4 – ESSENCE OF MOVEMENT 140 TOPIC 1 Integration of artistic disciplines 140 UNIT 5 – GENERAL 142 TOPIC 1 Cultural integrity in modern creative advancement 142 MODULE 308: PERFORMANCE 145 UNIT 1 – STUDY OF SOLO AND ACCOMPANIMENT INSTRUMENTS 147 TOPIC 1 Specialization on an instrument or voice 147 UNIT 2 – DANCERS AND MUSIC DRAMATISTS 149 TOPIC 1 Specializing as a dancer 149 TOPIC 2 Specializing as a music dramatist 149 MODULE 309: AFRICAN MUSIC AND THE HISTORICAL PROCESS 151 UNIT 1 – HISTORICAL PROCESS IN INDIGENOUS MUSIC 153 TOPIC 1 Definitions and methodology 153 TOPIC 2 Conceptual foundations of indigenous music 155 TOPIC 3 History of musical arts in a community 164 TOPIC 4 History of indigenous musical arts styles 166 TOPIC 5 History of musical arts personalities 168 UNIT 2 – MUSICAL DATA IN HISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTION 174 TOPIC 1 Musical data in the history of human groups 174 TOPIC 2 Dating of data in music history 175 UNIT 3 – HISTORICAL PROCESS IN CONTEMPORARY WRITTEN MUSIC 176 TOPIC 1 The literary documentation process 176 TOPIC 2 Stylistic trends in written classical African music 178 TOPIC 3 General features of contemporary written compositions 184 TOPIC 4 Makers of modern musical arts history in Africa 185 TOPIC 5 The literati in African musical arts history 187 TOPIC 6 Popular music in African musical arts history 188 MODULE 310: HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF EUROPEAN CLASSICAL MUSIC 191 UNIT 1 – PERIODS AND CHARACTERISTICS 193 TOPIC 1 Periods of European classical music history 193 TOPIC 2 Main characteristics of each period 193 UNIT 2 – VOCAL/CHORAL MUSIC 194 TOPIC 1 Sacred choral forms 194 TOPIC 2 Secular choral forms 194 UNIT 3 – INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC 195 TOPIC 1 Solo instrumental forms 195 TOPIC 2 Ensemble forms – chamber music 195 TOPIC 3 Orchestral forms 195 UNIT 4 – OPERA 196 TOPIC 1 Development of European classical music drama and operatic forms 196 UNIT 5 – THE GREAT MASTERS OF EUROPEAN CLASSICAL MUSIC 197 TOPIC 1 Short biographies 197 ADDENDUM 199 TOPIC 1 Musical change, culture and identity 199 TOPIC 2 Listening and analysis 201 TOPIC 3 Perception of music in indigenous cultures 203 UNITVOLUME 1 3 INTRODUCTION The dry wood in a people’s environment cooks the food they need for nourishment. To understand others enriches one’s own. Igbo maxims Need Modern literacy education in African music has hitherto focused more on observed con- text studies. The philosophical rooting, the psychological and therapeutic force, and the humanning imperatives that ground African indigenous musical arts conceptualizations, theoretical-musicological content and contextual practices have not been much discerned or integrated. Much needed in contemporary education, then, are integrative studies and literature materials that represent the intellectual base of the knowledge owners and creators, and which will ensure cognitive understanding of the indigenous musical arts systems of Africa. There is as yet no comprehensive, learner-centred book that fosters African indigenous knowledge perspectives and rationalization about the musical arts. The concern over the years has been for the production of research-informed books for modern, systematic education in African musical arts that derive in essence from the original African intellectual perspectives about the sense and meaning of music – indigenous to contemporary. Such books would enable discussion and research of the theoretical content, the philosophical and psychological foundations of creativity and practice, the nature and principles of musical arts theatre, and the historical process. The five volumes of the musical arts study series (the first three of which are progressive levels of study) address the pressing need for learning texts informed by the indigenous African musical arts systems that target tertiary education. The texts incorporate knowledge of conventional European classical music as they relate to the unique features of African musical arts thinking and theoretical content. The contemporary African musical arts spe- cialist needs secure grounding in her/his own human-cultural knowledge authority in order to contribute with original intellectual integrity to African as well as global scholarship discourse and knowledge creation. CIIMDA appreciates the collaboration of Professor Christopher Walton who reviewed and edited Volumes 1 and 2 of this series. A CONTEMPORARY STUDY OF MUSICAL ARTS – VOLUME 3 Background The five volumes of A contemporary study of musical arts derive from 36 years of research and analytical studies in African musical arts – indigenous to contemporary. Sixteen years of practical research and advancement activities were undertaken in the Ama Dialog Foundation, Nigeria from 1983 to 1999. Subsequent research undertakings in southern Africa as a staff member of the Music Department, University of Pretoria, from 2000, with funding from both the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa, and the Centre for Indigenous African Instrumental Music and Dance Practices (CIIMDA), funded by the Norwegian Foreign Office, have informed the series. The series further derive from my intensive creative and performance involvement in both indigenous and modern ensembles (modern African classical as well as popular), the teaching of African music, also the creation (dialogue and composition)