Teacher:
Desiree Witt, Allegany
High School (contact Desiree)
Arts Discipline: Music/Dance
Grade Level: High School
Team: G
Topic: Africa & its Influence
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to accompany this lesson.
Overview--Inter-relationship
between music and dance:
In tribal
societies, there is no such thing as 'art.' Life is
strictly utilitarian.
-In Africa, culture has an atmosphere of communalism and team
spirit.
-Each individual has his or her role to play, every activity,
every object and item, from pots and pans to totems and masks,
(has its own particular function).
-In African society, life is set to music and translated through
dance.
Music and
dance are not intended for an audience for passive listening;
to understand them fully, to get the most out of them, it
is necessary to join in.
-The performance of music and dance in African societies often
provides experiences that involve inter-relationships among
many senses (creates a social dialogue)
-Communication is transmitted through storytelling:
Stories of heritage, history, religion,
spirituality, celebrations, ceremonies, skills, relationships,
and others.
-Essentially music and dance are intrinsic in African life
Music:
-African music can be described as unstructured and repetitive.
African instruments: Drums--percussion,
wind, string.
-The human body is the oldest of all musical instruments;
singing, hand clapping, foot stamping or chest-beating predate
the invention and use of instruments.
Dance:
Serves as a significant educational tool in advancing the
traditional objectives of society.
-A form of non-verbal communication; facial expressions, gestures,
and body movements often carry meaningful messages.
-The performer's facial expressions and movements of the body
carry messages that enhance the participants or audience's
understanding of the music.
Reasons
for music and dance:
Occasions of birth
Puberty rites
Hunting trips - animal dances
Battles - war dances
Harvests
Marriages - wedding dances
Healings (shamans) - zar dances
Funerals - spirit dances
Religious occasions - ritual dances
Work songs (also in America with slavery)
Communication
- Rhythm & Melody
The relationship between melody and meaning in African music
is closely linked to the spoken word; i.e. one syllable on
different pitches has different meanings.
The relationship
between African dance is linked to music by its rhythm.
It is rhythm that makes dance possible.
Rhythm can communicate
Rhythm and dance enhance organization and
energy.
Rhythm is the heart and soul of African
tribal music.
Multi-linear
rhythm: many rhythm lines played at the same time.
Poly-rhythms -
two or more rhythms of different metrical beats sounding against
each other.
Drumming:
Drummers are also dancers.
During the performance, the master drummer plays rhythm or
makes changes according to the dancer's movements.
Talking drums - reproduce the inflections, pitch, and pace
of speech; tone and pitch are equally significant.
Drum is an excellent means of communication - announce the
news.
Used over great distances, stretches of jungle, water
Songs
from Africa heritage:
Field holler - were melancholy songs about the hard work or
unfortunate aspects of the worker's condition sung late in
the evening. (solo performance closely related to verse/refrain,
sung in the singer's upper range.)
Work song
- strict rhythmic pulse by a group of workers; integration
of music with a task, hypnotic repetition, serving as an anesthetic
for laborers; lift the burden of such labors as threshing
or pounding grain, hauling logs or lifting loads, by turning
them into another musical occasion.
-Call and response
Big Idea: Communication
Essential Understandings:
Develop communication skills through the arts.
Communication through the arts is an essential component of
African culture.
Music and dance are a fundamental means of communication in
African society.
Essential
Questions:
In African society, what ideas are communicated through the
arts?
How has African art influenced our society?
How can one demonstrate a form of communication that is based
on African style?
Lesson
Objectives:
The students will:
Identify various functions of music in diverse cultures throughout
history.
Demonstrate knowledge of the diversity of musical expression
and the creative processes from which these endeavors emerge.
Investigate the specific contributions of dance as a means
of communication by various cultures.
Discuss ways that culture is reflected through social, ceremonial,
ritual, and concert dance.
Lesson
Activities:
Students will identify how music and dance do not exist for
pleasure and entertainment, but instead have specific purposes
in the lives and routines of the African tribe. In small
groups, students will clap/chant Polyrhythms and recognize
the talking drum as a means of communication. Individuals
will find purposes for which dance is used as a means of communication.
Assessment:
Criteria:
Students will be able to make inferences as to how music and
dance inter-relate as a means of communication.
Evidence:
Students will participate in the performance of poly rhythms
and will sing a work song.
Works Cited
Asante,
Kariamu Welsh. Zimbabwe Dance - Rhythmic Forces,
Ancestral Voices - An Aesthetic Analysis. New
Jersey: Africa World Press, Inc., 2000
Blackwood,
Alan. Music - The Illustrated Guide to Music Around
the World From Its Origins to the Present Day. N.J.:
Mallard Press, 1991.
Edwards,
sr., Walford I. "Africa." Music Educators Journal.
Sept., 1969. 63-65.
Goines,
Leonard. "Musics of Africa South of the Sahara." Music
Educators Journal. Oct., 1972. 47-51.
Haskins,
James. Black Music in America - A History Through
Its People. N.J.: Harper Trophy, 1987.
Jonas,
Gerald. Dancing - The Pleasure, Power, and Art of
Movement. N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publisher,
1992.
Joyner,
David Lee. American Popular Music. MA:
McGraw-Hill, 1993.
Kebede,
Ashenafi. Roots of Black Music - The Vocal, Instrumental,
and Dance Heritage of Africa and Black America.
NJ:
Africa World Press, 1995.
Klotman,
Phyllis and Robert H. "Impressions of Music Education
in East Africa." Music Educators Journal. Oct.,
1972.
105-106.
Mathieson,
Carol Fisher. Music of Many Cultures. Mark
Twain Media / Carson-Dellosa Publishing Co., Inc., 1996.
Slobin, Mark.
"Musics of West Asia - North Africa." Music Educators Journal.
October, 1972. 44-45.
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