MUSIC/AAAS 789: PERFORMANCE PRACTICES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN MUSIC

CREDIT: 5 HRS Meetings: Tue, Thur 2:30:00 – 3:48

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Daniel Avorgbedor CONTACT: 101C Hughes Hall 292-9441; Avorgbedor.1@osu.edu

VENUE: Sullivant Hall 166 (basement, seminar rm)
PREREQUISITES: Graduate standing; upper undergraduate with permission of instructor

Homepage: http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/avorgbedor1/

[all assignments, handouts, research guidelines and resources are linked at this homepage—click here]

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
RESERVE ITEMS

DESCRIPTION

This course will examine a limited corpus of musical traditions from sub-Saharan Africa in order to understand how , why, and what types of compositional choices are made, as well as the local ideas or concepts that support these choices. The goal of the course is to explore the specific ways in which these choices and conventions represent for the participants an ideal way of presenting music. Conventions such as tuning patterns, ensemble formation and selection of instruments, vocal timbre, different manifestations of the notion of "heterogeneous sound ideal," and the importance of social and musical cues or markers in building form and general musical coherence will be studied in detail. An additional goal is to highlight those conventions that inform much of the performance practices (e.g., techniques of improvisation, pitch-bending, use of speech surrogates, etc.) associated with African-American genres. Musical examples will include the following: the kora performance tradition of the Mande Sunjata epic, the Adzida ensemble of the Anlo-Ewe of Ghana, and the Amadinda/Akadinda (xylophone) traditions of Uganda, East Africa, etc. We will also explore the specific performance modes identified with panegyric or praise song genres such as Zulu izibongo. and Yoruba Ijala. The course will be supplemented by intensive listening and live demonstrations.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

--to build close familiarity with African musical traditions through the study of representative examples from diverse geographic regions and historical times

--to enhance students’ level of understanding and appreciation of African music and dance traditions through live demonstrations and limited participation in class

--to enhance students’ musical and cultural sensibilities through the exploration and integration of the contextual (e.g., cultural, social, religious, economic, political, etc.) factors that shape and give meaning to the musical traditions

--to equip students with advanced and new analytical skills and techniques that integrate music and the related arts

--to enhance students’ general analytical skills and general musical understanding through the exploration of specific African musical elements, such song form, rhythmic structures, and types of sound forms preferred

Texts (reserve, if a small class):

Kubik, Gerhard, A Theory of African Music, Vol. 1. Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Florian Noetzel Verlag, 1994

Nketia, Kwabena J. H. The Music of Africa. New York: W.W. Norton, 1974

Nketia, Kwabena & Djedje, Jacqueline Cogdell, ed. Studies in African Music [Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology, V], Department of Music, UCLA, 1984

REQUIREMENTS, EXPECTATIONS, AND EVALUATION

Non-majors: While an ability to read and write music will be advantageous in this class, it is not absolutely necessary that all students possess those skills.

Grading*

Grades will be assigned according to the following criteria and will take into consideration the class standing of students (e.g., graduate, upper level undergraduate):

Research Paper = 40%

Students will complete and original research paper that is between 15 and 30 pages long. In the special circumstance of an undergraduate in the class, that student will have an option of submitting a shorter paper, between 15 and 20 pages long (excluding appendices such as scores or extended transcriptions). Term papers should provide an in-depth analysis of the concepts and examples presented in class (or relating to these). Topics must first be approved by the instructor. A final paper must be submitted after an oral presentation of the same in class.

LAB: intensive analytical listening: weekly exercises, written analytical overview of assigned audio/visuals = 20%

20%: brief written and oral reports in class-- reports will be based on specific tasks involving ideas discussed in class, critical overview of assigned essays drawn from the reading list; they will include also listening and analyzing specific musical selections.

10% a book report

10% quiz based on recognition of significant terms and processes

*Letter grades will be assigned in all cases. 95-100 =A; 90-94-A-; 85-89=B+; 80-84=B; 75-79=B-; 70-74=C+; 65-69=C; 60-64=C-; 55-59=D+; 50-54=D; 45-49=D-; 44 and below = E

Attendance: Regular attendance is required and students must submit proofs (or a doctor’s note) of unusual circumstances or emergencies (such as sickness, bereavement, etc.) in cases of absence in class.

Quizzes/Exams: The format of the mid-term will include T/F, multiple choice, short paragraph responses. Requests for make-up exams are extremely discouraged and will most likely be denied. In the unlikely event of extreme emergency, students must contact an instructor or the music department office in advance of the scheduled exam.

Written Assignments and Final Paper: Guidelines (and deadlines) for brief written or oral reports will be circulated in class. All Written work must be typed or word processed, double-spaced, and must conform to one of the standard citation formats consistently throughout the text. [See details below under Research Paper.] The final research paper is due on the last day of regularly-scheduled classes (oral summaries will be presented in class prior to the last day of classes).See under “Grading” for length specifications.

The Research paper must be based on a topic that must first be approved in consultation with the instructor and must relate to specific aspects of the topics, issues and examples discussed in class and must draw on materials and data focusing on the African continent or the African diaspora. It is highly recommended that students submit a research proposal early by the end of the fifth week of classes in order to receive useful feedback from the instructor. Sample research proposals and topics are accessible from the instructor’s homepage, which is given at the heading of the syllabus. [http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/avorgbedor1]

The paper must be between 15 and 20 pages. However, quality is far more important than quantity and thus, a solid 15-page paper with coherent arguments and supportive examples presented in concise format and well documented is far more worthy than a 20-page paper that is filled with long quotations and with 5-page irrelevant appendices or examples. The instructor’s homepage also maintains Research links and Assignments for this course with important resources, including hardcopy and electronic citation formats.

Students will be required to complete all reading and listening assignments (indicated in the detailed weekly schedule) before each class.

A 10% penalty will be deducted from the grade for the assignment if submitted late--no exceptions

Plagiarism: It is against University regulations to "steal" answers from your classmates during exams/quizzes. A research paper or assignment that is composed mostly of unacknowledged sources will be treated as a case of plagiarism, and after a consultation with the student concerned. The Internet: All information downloaded/ printed from the internet/WWW must receive proper citation, as detailed below. It is being considered unethical, troublesome and even "illegal" in certain academic sectors when student purchase ready-made term papers on the Internet. Identifiable cases will be processed according to university regulations. (Visit http://www.osu.edu/offices/oaa/procedures/1.0.html for details).

Academic Misconduct

It is the responsibility of the Committee on Academic Misconduct to Investigate or establish procedures for the Investigation of all reported cases of student academic misconduct. The term "academic misconduct" includes all forms of student academic misconduct wherever committed; Illustrated by, but not limited to, cases of plagiarism and dishonest practices In connection with examinations. Instructors shall report all Instances of alleged academic misconduct to the committee (Faculty Rule 3335-5-487). For additional Information, see the Code of Student Conduct (http://studentaffairs.osu.edu/Info_for_students/csc.asp).

Disability Services

Students with disabilities that have been certified by the Office for Disability Services will be appropriately accommodated, and should Inform the Instructor as soon as possible of their needs. The Office for Disability Services Is located In 150 Pomerene Hall, 1760 Neil Avenue; telephone 292.3307, TDD 292.0901; http://www.ods.ohio-state.edu

Reserve Materials:

-- A set of listening tapes and video selections will supplement class discussions/examples. These items are available at the Audio-Visual section of the Music and Dance Library, Sullivant Hall

-- Supplementary reading materials are also on reserve at the Music and Dance Library

[Search under instructor’s name or course number to access reserve list online from OSCAR]

SCHEDULE**

Week 1

overview of "performance practice" in ethnomusicological perspectives

unity in diversity--overview of concepts and processes in music making in sub-Saharan Africa

Reading Assignment:

Béhague, Performance Parctice: Ethnomusicological Perspectives, "Introduction"

Kubik, A Theory of African Music, "Introduction," pp. 9-46.

Nketia, Kwabena J.H. “The Intensity Factor in African Music.”

Nketia, The Music of Africa, chapter 20--"The Conventions of Musical Practice," pp. 231-240.

chapter 2--"Music in Community Life," pp.21-34.

Week 2

• the temporal,structural, and general stylistic aspects of Time-Line (TL) in African music

• detailed analysis, regional distribution, and performance of selective TLs, with emphasis on their

musical attributes

Reading Assignment:

Kubik, A Theory of African Music, pp.44-46.

Kubik, "Oral Notation of Some West and Central African Time-Line Patterns"

Kauffman, "African Rhythm: A Reassessment"

Nketia, The Music of Africa, chapter 12--"The Rhythmic Basis of Instr. Music," pp.125-138.

Stone, "In Search of Time in African Music"

Week 3

• tuning systems--musical and cultural considerations

• tuning preferences/discriminations in string instruments--the kora tuning modes

• tuning preferences/discrimination in percussion instruments--drums

--Mandinka and Anlo-Ewe drums--non-pitched

--etenga tuned drums of Uganda

--musical and linguistic constraints

Reading Assignment:

Knight, "The Style of Mandinka Music: A Study in Extracting Theory from Practice," in Studies in African Music, pp. 3-66.

Kubik, A theory of African Music, chapter 5, section 3--"Likembe tunings and Musical concepts" pp.328-404; “Embaire xylophone music of samusiri Babalanda.” In Composing the music of Africa : composition, interpretation, and realisation, pp. 107-133.

Anderson, "Multipart Relationships in Xylophone and Tuned Drum Traditions in Buganda," in Studies in African Music, pp. 121-144.

Week 4

• three primary performance modes in Mande Sunjata epic with emphasis on units of composition--literary, musical, and thematic features:

--praise-proverb mode ; --song-lyrical mode; --narrative mode

Reading Assignment:

Johnson, "Yes, Virginia, There is Epic in Africa"

Johnson, The Epic of son-Jara: A West African Tradition, pp. 97-181 (transcribed text only)

Okpewho, The Oral Performance in Africa, 1990; The Epic in Africa, 1979

Week 5

• adzida ensemble of the Anlo-Ewe

-- pre-performance activities and their musical implications

--rehearsal and oral-aural modes of musical transmission

Reading Assignment:

Ladzekpo, Alfred K.; Ladezkpo, Kobla. "Anlo-Ewe Music in Anyako, Volta Region, Ghana"

Fiagbedzi, Nissio. The Music of the Anlo

Week 6

•musicians, music roles, and arrangements supporting a meaning performance

•form, structure, and influential factors in adzidza

Week 7

•Ensemble procedures in Mande kora, balafon, song and dance

•demonstration by visiting artist

Reading Assignment:

Knight, Roderic. "Music in Africa: The Manding Contexts"

Knight, Roderic. "The Style of Mandinka Music: A Study in Extracting Theory from Practice," in Studies in African Music, pp. 3-66.

Week 8

• influence of language on musical style and performance procedures

• tone-tune relationships in Anlo-Ewe song culture

Reading Assignment:

Agawu, Kofi. "Tone and Tune: The Evidence for Northern Ewe Music"

Nketia, African Music, chapter 16--"Speech and Melody," pp. 177-188.

Nketia, Kwabena J.H. "The Linguistic Aspect of Style in African Musisc"

Mbabi-Katana, "The Use of Measured Rhythm to Communicate Messages among Banyoro and Baganda in Uganda"

Johnson, “Yes, Virginia, There is Epic in Africa”

Cope, The Zulu Izibongo

Week 9

• drum language and speech surrogates

-- the influence of linguistic considerations on the selection and play of instruments

-- the linguistic basis of drumming; musical and signal modes of instrumental performance

-- examples from atumpan talking drum, akadinda/amadinda xylophone techniques; horns,

flutes

BIBLIOGRAPHY (tentative listing—SEE ALSO RESERVE LIST)

Agawu, Kofi

1995. African Rhythm: A Northern Ewe Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University.

1988 "Tone and Tune: The Evidence for Northern Ewe Music," Africa 58/2:127-146.

Anderson, Lois

1985 "Multipart Relationships in Xylophone and Tuned Drum Traditions in Buganda," in Studies in African Music, pp. 121-144.

Avorgbedor, Daniel

1991. "Un voyage vers l'inconnu: Conventions esthétiques dans la musique des Anlo-Ewe du Ghana,"

Cahiers de musiques traditionnelles 7/1:105-119 [English manuscript].

Anyidoho, Kofi

1981 "Musical Patterns and Verbal Structures: Aspects of Prosody in an African Oral Poetry," BlackOrpheus 6/1(1981):27-44.

Babalola, S.A.

1966. Content and Form of Yoruba Ijala. Oxford; Clarendon Press.

Béhague, Gerard

1984 "Introduction," in Performance Practice: Ethnomusicological Perspectives. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, pp. 3-12.

Chernoff, John Miller

1979 African Rhythm and African Sensibility: Aesthetics and Social Action in African Musical Idioms. Chicago: University of Chicago.

Fiagbedzi, Nissio

1977 The Music of the Anlo: Its Historical Background, Cultural Matrix, and Style. Doctoral d iss., Los Angeles, UCLA.

Johnson, John William

1980 "Yes, Virginia, There is Epic in Africa," Research in African Literatures 11/3:308-326.

1986 The Epic of son-Jara: A West African Tradition. Bloomington: Indiana University.

Kauffman, Robert

1980 "African Rhythm: A Reassessment." Ethnomusicology 24/3:393-415

Knight, Roderic

1985 "The Style of Mandinka Music: A Study in Extracting Theory from Practice," in Studies in African Music, pp. 3-66.

Kubik,Gehard

1999 “Embaire xylophone music of samusiri Babalanda.” In Composing the music of Africa : composition, interpretation, and realisation, pp. 107-133. Ed. Malcolm Floyd. Aldershot, England: Brookfield, Vt. : Ashgate

1994 A theory of African Music, Vol. 1. Wilhelmshaven, Germany: Florian Noetzel Verlag.

1972 "Oral Notation of Some West and Central African Time-Line Patters," Review of Ethnology

3/22:169-176.

Kwakwa, Patience

1992 "The Dynamics of Music and Dance Integrations in Traditional Societies," in Working Documents: International Conference on African Music and Dance--Problems and Prospects. Legon, Ghana: International Centre for African Music and Dance.

Ladzekpo, Alfred K.; Ladezkpo, Kobla

1980 "Anlo-Ewe Music in Anyako, Volta Region, Ghana," in Elizabeth May, ed., Musics of Many Cultures: An Introduction. Berkeley: ULCA, pp. 216-231.

Ledang, Ola Kai

1983 "Open Form in African Tribal Music," Studia Musicologica Norvegica 9:9-26.

Lo-Bamijoko, Joy Nwosu

1984 "Performance Practice in Nigerian Music," Black Perspective in Music 12/1:3-20.

1982 "Tuning Methods of African Musical Instruments: Some Examples from Nigeria and Ghana," Nigeria Magazine no. 142:15-24.

Locke, David

1987 Drum Gahu: A Systematic Method for an African Percussion Piece. Crown Point, Indiana: White Cliffs Media.

Mbabi-Katana, Solomon

1985 "The Use of Measured Rhythm to Communicate Messages among Banyoro and Baganda in Uganda," in Studies in African Music, pp. 339-356.

Maultsby, Portia

1979 “Influences and Retentions of West African Musical Concepts in U.S. Black Music.” Western Journal of Black Studies 112:202.

Nketia, Kwabena J.H.

1976 The Music of Africa. New York: W.W. Norton
1992 "The Lingusitic Aspect of Style in African Musisc," in Working Documents: International Conference on African Music and Dance--Problems and Prospects. Legon, Ghana: International Centre for African Music and Dance, pp.214-249.

1988 “The Intensity Factor in African Music.” In Performance in Contemporary African Arts, pp. 53-86. Ed. Ruth M. Stone. Bloomington, IN: African Studies Program, 1988. Published also as Journal of Folklore Research 25/1-2.

Nzewi, Meki

1985 "Traditional Strategies for Mass Communication: The Centrality of Igbo Music," in Studies in African Music, pp. 319-338.

Omibiyi, Mosunmola

1973-74 "A Model for the Study of African Music," African Music 5/3:6-11.

Okpewho, Isidore, ed.

1990 The Oral Performance in Africa. Ibadan, Spectrum Books, 1990

Omondi, Washington

1985 "Tuning of the Thum, the Luo Lyre: A Systematic Analysis," in Studies in African Music, pp. 263-284.

Schmidt, Cynthia

1985 "Interlocking Techniques in Kpelle Music," in Studies in African Music, pp.195-216.

Stone, Ruth

1985 "In Search of Time in African Music." Music Theory Spectrum 7(1985):139-178

Wright, Josephine, ed.

1992 New Perspectives on Music: Essays in Honor of Eileen Southern. Harmonie Park, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 1992.

Wilson, Olly

1992 "The Heterogeneous Sound Ideal in African-American Music, " in New Perspectives on Music, chapter 16, pp.326-337.

RESERVE ITEMS (TENTATIVE LIST)

African music : a bibliographical guide to the traditional, popular, art, and liturgical musics of Sub-Saharan Africa / John Gray Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1991 [SUL / MUS LIB REF ONLY] ML120.A35 G7 1991

African folklore : an encyclopedia / Philip M. Peek and Kwesi Yankah, editors

Publish Info New York : Routledge, 2004 GR350 A33 2004

Kubik, Gerhard Theory of African music Wilhelmshaven : F. Noetzel, c1994-

MUS Multimedia Stacks ML350 .K83 1994 V1DISC ML350 .K83 1994 V1

Africa and the blues Gerhard Kubik Kubik, Gerhard Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c1999

ACK Stacks ML3521 .K83

Ebron, Paulla A. Performing Africa Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c2002

ML3760 .E27 2002

Nketia, J. H. Kwabena e The music of Africa New York: W. W. Norton, 1974

MUS Stacks ML350.N595 M9

The interrelatedness of music, religion, and ritual in African performance practice / edited by Daniel K. Avorgbedor Lewiston, N.Y. : E. Mellen Press, c2003 MAIN Reserve ML3865 .I57 2003

Selected reports in ethnomusicology [Los Angeles] Dept. of Music, University of California, Los Angeles ML3797.1.C34 S4 v.5 1984 MUS A/V Class Reserve ML3797.1.C34 S4 v.5(cassette/cd)

Agawu, V. Kofi (Victor Kofi) African rhythm : a Northern Ewe perspective Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1995 MUS Multimedia Stacks ML3760.7.G4 A3 1995 V2DISK ASK AT DESK MUS Multimedia Stacks ML3760.7.G4 A3 1995 V1

Author Agawu, V. Kofi (Victor Kofi) Representing African music : postcolonial notes, queries, positions / Kofi Agawu New York : Routledge, 2003 MUS Stacks ML350 .A355 2003

Performance practice : ethnomusicological perspectives / edited by Gerard Béhague

Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, c1984 MUS Stacks ML3799 .P47 1984

Johnson, John William Son-Jara : the Mande epic : Mandekan/English edition with notes and commentary / analytical study and translation by John William Johnson ; text by Fa-Digi Sisòkò ; transcribed and translated with the assistance of Charles S. Bird ... [et al.]Bloomington, Ind. : Indiana University Press, 2003

BSL Stacks PL8491.9.E63 J613 2003

The Oral performance in Africa / edited by Isidore Okpewho

Ibadan, Nigeria : Spectrum Books [in association with Safari Books (Export). St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands, U.K., 1990 BSL Stacks GR350 .O72 1990

Okpewho, Isidore The epic in Africa : toward a poetics of the oral performance New York : Columbia University Press, 1979 BSL Stacks PL8010 .O38

Chernoff, John Miller. African Rhythm and African Sensibility: Aesthetics and Social Action in African Musical Idioms. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1979 ML3760 .C48

Wright, Josephine, edd. New Perspectives on Music: Essays in Honor of Eileen Southern.

Harmonie Park, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 1992.

Composing the music of Africa : composition, interpretation, and realisation / edited by Malcolm Floyd

Aldershot, England ; Brookfield, Vt. : Ashgate, c1999 ML350.1 .C66 1999 ML350.1 .C66 1999

Mashindano! : competitive music performance in East Africa / edited by Frank Gunderson & Gregory F. Barz ; [foreword by Terence Ranger] Dar es Salaam : Mkuki na Nyota Publishers ; Oxford : Distributed outside Africa by African Books Collective Ltd, ML350.5 .M374 2000