World Music

1. World Music Area of Study 4

2. Set Works Capercaillie: Skye Waulking Song (Chuir M’Athair Mise Dhan Taigh Charraideach) Various: Indian music - Rag Desh Koko: African music - Yiri

3. Capercaillie – Chuir M’Athair Mise Dhan Taigh Charraideach Skye Waulking Song Students will need to be familiar with traditional Scottish folk instruments and social traditions such as waulking of cloth. Awareness of the role of music – and singing in particular - in work places, and the different types of folk music is essential and a wide range of British folk music must be heard and performed if possible. These should include examples such as work songs and shanty (e.g. Drunken Sailor / Haul Away Joe), music for celebration (e.g. harvest, Christmas, sowing etc / dancing and Morris Dancing melodies and Ballads which tell family and community histories. Vocabulary such as stanza; oral / aural tradition; strophic ; monophonic; antiphony and epic song should be familiar to students. For the wider curriculum students should be made aware of the social issues & cultural differences in the music of different areas of the British Isles due to limited opportunities to travel very far. The set work must be placed in context as a work song and the meaning of the title and the use the women put the song to – keeping the rhythm of the Waulking actions explained and demonstrated. Students could also try singing (e.g. Drunken Sailor as they act out hauling the anchor or climbing a mast). Students should be able to recognise the instruments used and that they are typical folk instruments and the reasons why they are acoustic rather than electric. Similarly attention should be drawn to the quality of the singer’s voice – very natural and direct. They could compose their own folk music, using strophic form with a typically simple drone accompaniment using a quaver-crotchet rhythm in 6/8 time and limiting the range of notes to either a mode (e.g. Dorian or Mixolydian – both popular in British folk music) or a pentatonic scale – as used in this set work.

4. Capercaillie – Skye Waulking Song “Waulking” is a process of repeatedly beating the cloth to full it and prepare it for use. The process is called "orain luaidh" in Gaelic. The music associated with this labour contains vivid and intimate personal poetry, mostly the composition of women. It is a system of rhythmic choral responses intertwined with Gaelic verses, pounded to the time of the wool being moved around the waulking board, where these women sat for hours working the tweed.

5. Instruments used in British Folk Music Irish Bouzouki Accordion Bodhrán Fiddle & Accordion Tenor Banjo Tin Whistle Uilleann Pipes Clarsach

6. The Role of Music in the Workplace Work Songs & Sea Shanties Slavery Songs & Prison Songs

7. Music for Celebrations

8. Pentatonic Scales & Modes

9. Rag Desh Students will need a good understanding of the structure of Indian Classical music and the sounds and roles of the instruments used – sitar; tambura;tabla; bansuri (a gentle wind instrument). Many will be familiar with units of work such as are found in Music Matters / Music File etc which are widely used at KS3. They must understand that rag or raga (the melodic pillar of Indian music) refer both to the scale used in the piece and to the finished composition and how motifs are developed in the alap; gat; jhala and jor sections, including the introduction of the tabla improvising around the tala (the rhythmic, cyclical pillar of the music). Students shouldtry composing their own raga (which must always have at least 5 notes) which may ascend and descend using different notes – compare this technique to traditional Western scales e.g. the melodic minor – then create improvisations around these notes before adding a suitable drone based on the sa or principle note of their rag. Many keyboards have an effective sitar sound and this could be effectively combined with guitars to give a flavour of the atmosphere and character. Students should note the drone and understand which instrument plays it (the tambura) and how; note bending and how the different tones are produced on the tabla.   They must be sufficiently familiar to be able to identify which of the 4 sections the extract is taken from – the structure of the music – the Alap being slow and rhythmically very free & improvisatory as the mood of the piece is set; the Jor is characterised by its slow rhythm and is unaccompanied; the Gat, faster, where the tabla player establishes a clear pulse and the music is clearly a fixed composition; the Jhala section is the climax of the piece, identified by its speed and the excited interplay between sitar and tabla.   The unfamiliar sounds of Indian Classical music will be best introduced to students through seeing live performances such as the excellent examples available on You Tube.

10. Instruments of North Indian or Hindustani Music Bansuri Anoushka Shankar at the Sitar Tampura Tabla

11. Elements of an Indian Raga A typical performance of a raga is divided into four main sections: the alaap or alap, which introduces the notes and mood of the raga in a slow and unmetered fashion; the jor, which introduces the piece's rhythm and in which the melody begins to evolve; the gat, faster, where the tabla player establishes a clear pulse and the music is clearly a fixed composition; and the concluding jhala, giving the performance a brilliant and fast-paced close.

12. Koko: African music – Yiri It is important in the study of African music that students are made aware that there is more to it than “drumming” although complex multilayered rhythms are an essential part of most pieces from the continent. Familiarity with the sound of instruments such as the mbira,kora and balafon is important as well as the different types of drums, including djembe, dundun, donno. Cowbells& agogo should be familiar already. Exploring polyphony and polyrhythm, with the patterns interweaving and crossing each other should be a rewarding and exciting class activity as will performing some simple call & response work – vocal and instrumental – over an ostinato rhythm. This is a great introduction to the music of Sub-Saharan Africa. This music uses djembe and dundun and the melodic kora. . The music of Western and Southern Africa shows the roots of Western music – students should be aware of the influence of the slave trade and missionaries on the music of this region, which is often acapella, though richly harmonic and reminiscent of western church music.

13. “When we discovered Koko, we were struck by the sheer wealth of music they produce. This group occupies a very special position in the widely renowned cultural heritage of Burkina Faso. Koko draws its inspiration from the subtle mixture of living cultures that are to be found in that part of Africa. The group is led by Madou Kone, who plays the balafon and is also an exceptional singer. The themes of Koko's songs evoke some of man's greatest battles, including the fight for survival and protection of the environment, but also creation, celebration and friendship, and attachment to the earth.” Further research on the internet gave the following information about the personnel of the band and the instrumentation; Koko are Madou Kone, vocals, balafon, flute; Seydou Traore, vocals, balafon; Jacouba Kone, djembe; François Naba, vocals, tam-tam, dunun, maracas; Keresse Sanou, talking drum; Tidiane Hema, vocals, bâra (?), maracas.

14. Ladysmith Black Mambazo and other African Choral groups

15. Mbira, Mbira with resonator & treble Kalimba Tuning of the Treble & Alto Kalimba

16. The Kora

18. African Drums Agogo Djembe Dunun Talking Drum