CLASSIFICATION OF AFRICAN INSTRUMENT

 Idiophones
 Chordophones
 Aerophones
 Membranophones

# IDIOPHONES
it’s a self-sounding instrument when struck, shaken and scraped
RYPES OF IDIOPHONES
Primary idiophones Secondary idiophones
Bells Instrument attach to the ankle
Rattles Instrument attach to the wrist
Percussion sticks
Stamping tubes
Hand piano
Xylophones

CATEGORIES OF IDIOPHONES
1SHAKEN IDIOPHONES:
There are two types of shaken idiophones, which are primary rattles and secondary rattles

A primary rattle: these are rattle objects made from seeds, beads, or pebbles, enclosed in a gourd. They held
in the hand to play e.g. trowa of the akan, axatse of the ewe, faw of krobos

B secondary rattles: they are attaching to an instrument or part or part of the body the dancer e.g. leg, ankle,
waist, or wrist

2 STRUCK IDEOPHONES:
these are wood or metal which are struck with the same object or other than materials to produce sound e.g
wooden clappers, single bell, doublebell,gakogui,gongota,castanet,{afrikyiwa,},xylophone{gyile}

3 FRICTION/SCRAPED IDIOPHONES;
these are instrument which are either with rough or smooth surfaces scraped against one another to produce
sound e.g Karrada, sraka and etwei of Asante.

4 STAMPED IDIOPHONES.
A stamping stick; these are type of sticks held vertically and they are used to hit the ground or an object to
company singing.

B stamping tubes; Bamboo beams/sticks of various sizes and length cut and hallowed out and one end used
to hit the ground that is an old mortar e.g adenkum by Hausa Shanta by Nigeria.

5 PLUCKED IDIOPHONES;
this are instrument that have some lamellae design to be plucked to produce sound. e.g penpesewa of the
Akan.
 # CHORDIOPHONES
are refered to as the stringed instrument. They are either played with the hand or with a bow to produce sound
by setting the strings into vibration.

TYPES OF CHORDOPHONES
1 MUSICAL BOWS;
There are two musical bows and they are earth bows and mouth bow. The earth bow consist of string tied to a
flexible stick stack in the ground and the other end of the string buried in the ground. The mouth bow uses the
mouth as resonator. e.g benta , gonge.

2 HARPS;
The string of a herp are vertical and are attached to a sound board and they run vertical away from it. It called
saprewa in Ghana and Ilanga in Congo.

3 LUTES
; are composed of body and a neck which serves as handle and as a means of stretching the strings beyond
the body the strings are horizontal e.g benta , goge , goji, called in Ghanian Language.

#AEROPHONES
These are wing instruments. They are played by blowing air through them to produce sound by the vibration
column of air inside the tubes of the instrument e.g Horns, trumpets, and flutes.
A HORNS
These are made out of animal’s horns or elephant stucks others are carved out of wood and they are usually
side-blown. e.g aremmenta, mmensona.

B FLUTES
They are made up of wood, bamboo, cane, millet stalk. e.g atenteben , odurugya.

# MEMBRANOPHONES

These are drum with parchment heads which produce sound from the vibration that result from the
membrane or the parchment stretched over an opening when struck, hand or the heel of the player.

TYPES OF MEMBRANOPHONES

Drums made of strip wood Drums carved out of solod Drums made out of large
logs or wood calabashes
Kagan Petia Mpintitoa
Kidi Apentema Bentere
Sogo Kwadum
Atimevu Aburukuwa
Gome Etwie
Atunpan
 SHAPES OF MEMBRANOPHONES
 Cylindrical
 Bowl shapes
 Cup and bottle
 Single Headed
 Double headed

ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN MUSIC

1 VOCAL MUSIC
This music is sung by higher percentage of female. Example. apatampa, bragoro,dipo,Akosua tumtum

Forms of vocal music

 Solo singing: these songs are sung by an individual’s women sing lullabies, dirges, etc. fishermen sings
as they mend their nets or drag I their nets
 Solo with instrumental accompaniment: singing that goes on along with instrument
 Solo and chorus: solo refers to as the contour and being the entire group

2 INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
These are music played using instrument e.g. frontonfrom, mpintin, kete and Takai

3 VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL ENSEMBLES

These is the combination of of both instrument and vocal music. they have two sections. Vocal section and
instrumental section

SOME ENSEMBLES AND MASTER INSTRUMENTAL

Ensemble Master instrument
Adowa Adumpan
Agbadza Sogo/asimevu
Boboobo Vuga
Bawa Gyile/xylophone
Frontonfrom From /bomaa
Gahu Soga/atsimevu
Kete Kwadum
Kundum Edomgbole
Mpintin Mpintintoa
Takai Donno
 USES AND ROLE OF DANCE IN GHANA
 TRADITION AND CULTURE: music and dance are used in performing the rites such as Dipo, brogoro,
funerals and marriage ceremonies
 RELIGION: music and dance are used in ritual sacrifice and worship in general
 ECONOMCS: most women other traders uses music to advertised the products.
 POLITICS: music and dance is used to praised chiefs, wealthy people and other important
personalities in the community
 SOCIAL: music is used is to express one’s pride in the tradition of the society .in storytelling, folktales
 MORALITY: music and dance are may also be used as an advice for moral training and social control
 ENTERTAINMENT, RECREATION, AND MEDICINES: music serves as source of entertainment and
relaxation
 COMMUNICATION: music is also way of communication in Ghanaian society
 DEATH AND FUNERALS: music and dance are used to announce the death of a member in the
community.
MUSIC
Music can be defined as the artistic arrangement of and silence
ARRAGEMENT OF SOUND
 Melody: when sound is heard one after the order of succession or horizontal
 Harmony: when sound is heard simultaneously

ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
Elements of music are the basic component or fundamental of music. they are
 Rhythm
 Pitch
 Melody
 Dynamics
 Timbre
 Texture
 Harmony
 Form
 RHYTHM AND RYTHMIC NOTATION
Rhythm is the arrangement of sounds and silence in time. The length of sound is measured in beats

CHARACTERISTIC OF RHYTHM
 Beats
 Rest
 Notes
 Accent
BEATS/PULSE
Beats is a regular recurring pulsation that divides music equal unit of time .it can be slow or fast
TYPE OF BEATS
a. Strong beats
b. Weak beats
EXAMPLES OF BEATS
 Clapping of hands
 Tapping of foot
NOTE DURATION /VALUE/LENGTH
this simply means the length of sound or duration .it is measured in beats.

PARTS OF THE NOTES

 REST
A silence created in music is called rest
 DOTTED NOTES /AND TIES
A dot place after a note or rest or rest on the staff indicates that the notes length or rest length is increased by
half the original length the note or rest

ACCENT/TIME METER
An accent is the grouping of sounds into stronger and weaker pulse to produce time.
METER
This simply means the number of times a rhythm occur which is unite of measurement
TYPES OF TIME SIGNATURE
 Simple time signature {one}
 Compound time signature {more than one}

 Simple duple
  Simple triple

 Simple quadruple

signature Name Description

2/2 Simple duple Two beats per bar with half note receiving the
beats
2/4 Simple duple Two beats per bar with quarter note receiving the
beats
3/4 Simple triple Tree beats per bar with the quarter notes receiving
the beats
4/4 Simple Four beats per bar with the quarter notes receiving
quadruple the beats
 BAR LINES
Bar lines are short vertical lines placed Infront of accented beat to show the position of the accents. They are
used to show the number of beats per bar

NOTE: the spaces between two bar lines is known as bar or measure
Double bar line indicates the end of the music I section of the music

Examples of bar lines

PITCH AND PITCH NOTATION

pitch is generally referred to as the highness or lowness of a sound
Sound making materials
 Voice [human or animals]
 Instrument [organ, reed, or trumpet]

NOTE: most men speak and sing in a lower range of pitches that women or children do
PARTS OF PITCH IN MUSIC [CHORISTERS]
 Soprano ----highest
 Alto
 Tenor
 Bass -------lowest
NOTES: the differences in frequencies of different pitches is called an interval
The two main system used in representation of pitch on a piece of paper is staff notation and tonic
Solofa notation

 Staff notation
It’s the combination of five parallel line. We count from down to the top. Staff means singular and
staves means plural

STAFF

STAFF LINE
 STAFF SPCAE

CLEFF [ lateen -clave] [French-clef]

A clef is used to indicates the pitch of notes on the staff

F clef or bass clef G clef or treble clef

LINE AND SPACE NAMES OF THE F OR BASS CLEF

LINE NAME

SPACE NAME
 BOTH LINE AND SPACE NAMES OF THE F CLEFF

LINE AND SPACE NAMES OF THE TREBLE CLEFF

LINE NAMES

SPACE NAME

BOTH LINE AND SPACE NAME OF THE TRBLE CLEF

NOTES: musical notes can also be positioned on the staff and outside the staff is called ledger
AGAIN: lines and space of the staff is named using using the first seven letters of the English alphabet
[ABCDEFG]

ACCIDENTALS
Accidentals are specially design symbols used to modify a note or sound which are placed immediately
before a note.it showed that the note is raised or lowered or brought back to its original position

EXAMPLES OF ACCIDENTAL IN MUSIC

MELODY
Melody is the up and down movement of series of single that add up to a recognizable whole
NOTE: when a melody is played or sung in a smooth connecting a style it is called
Legato
Melody can be performed in a short-detached manner called staccato
HARMONY
Harmony is created when two or more different sound are made at a time
EXAMPLE: when you listened to the choir singing, you hear many voices part singing the same song. generally,
the soprano part which is the highest female voice singings the main melody while the other voice part alto,
tenor and bass sings the accompanying melodies
 TIMBRE [TONE COLOR]
The quality of the sound of voice or an instrument is referred to as timbre
NOTE: each object produces different sound because they possess different quality
TEMPPO
The speed of the beats is known as tempo, the basic pace of the music. the speed of a music can slows or
fast.
NOTE: a fast tempo is associated with the feeling of energy

SOME TEMPO INDICATION AND THEIR TERMNOLOGIES

TERM MEANING
Largo Very slow, broad
Adagio Slow, leisurely
Andante Moderate slow, walking
Moderato Moderate
Allegra to Moderate fast
Allegro Fast
L” vase Lively, animated, brisk
Presto Very fast, rapid
Prestissimo As fast as possible
Larghetto Note as slow as largo
Lento Slow
Andantino Faster than andante
Grave Very slow, solemn
 TEXTURE
It refers to how different instrument are combined in a piece of music.
BASIC MUSIC TTEXTURE
 Mono phonic texture: mono means single or one, this is a texture of single melodic line having one
sound without accompaniment

 Polyphonic texture: this simply means many melodies.it refers to a type of music which contains more
than One melody going on the same time.

 Homophonic texture: this is a type of melody accompanied by chords as in hymns

DYNAMICS
This refers to the amount of energy used in musical performances.in music dynamics deals with two things
speed[tempo] and intensity [volume]
1. Speed [ tempo]: tempo in music is performed at various speed levels within the same performances
2. Intensity of sound [volume]:in music the term dynamics refers to the softness or loudness of a sound
or denotes

ENGLISH ITALIAN
Adagio, largo Slow
Allegro, vivace Fast
Presto Very fast
Rallentando[rall] ritenuto Becoming slow
ritardando[rit]
Accelerando[accel] Becoming fast
Andante At a walking pace
Poco allegro A little fast
Affrettando Hurrying
Moderato At a moderate pace
Pianissimo Very soft
Piano Soft
Mezzo piano Moderately soft
Mezzo forte Moderately loud
Forte Loud
Fortissimo Very loud
Crescendo Increasing in loudness
Decrescendo Decreasing in loudness
Diminuendo Diminishing in loudness
Rinforzando Sudden increasing in loudness
Sforzando Play the note with sudden emphasis
ITALIAN LITERAL ENGLISH ABBREVIATION
WORDS[S] TRANSLATION MEANING USED
Piano Soft Soft P
Forte Loud Loud F
Mezzo forte Half loud Moderately loud Mf
Mezzo piano Half soft Moderately soft MP
Pianissimo As soft as Very soft Pp
possible
Fortissimo As loud as Very loud Ff
possible
Forte piano Loud soft Loud than Fp
immediately soft
i.e. an accent
Forzatoor Forced/forcing Accent Fz or sf or sfz
sforztoor
sforzando
Rinforzando Reinforcing Sudden accent Rf or rfz or rinf
Crescendo Get louder Get loud Cresc or
Diminuendo or Get softer Get softer Dim or decresc or
decrescendo
 SOME MUSICAL TERMINOLOGIESAND THEIR MEANING
TERMINOLOGY MEANING
Animato Animated, lively
Calando Gradually softer and slower
Cantabile In singing style
Con Anima With life and animation
Con brio With Vigor and spirit
Con fuoco With energy or passion
Deciso Decisively
Dolce Sweetly
Doloroso Sorrowfully
Espressivo Expressively
Furioso Furious
Grazioso Gracefully
Legato Smooth and connected
Leggiero Lightly
Maestoso Majestically
Pesante Heavy
Semplice Simple
Sostenuto Sustained
Soto voce In an undertone
Staccato Short and detached.

CLARITY TERMS MEANING

Con With
L’istesso tempo Same tempo
Meno Less
Non troppo Not too much
Poco Little
Poco a poco Little by little
Sempre Always
Simile In the same manner
Subito Suddenly
 MUSICAL FORM
The word form is associated with shape, structure, organization and consistency.

Musical form refers to overall structure or plan of piece of music.

FORMS OF MUSIC[ABB] [ABB] [AAB]

1 BINARY FORM.
this is two parts of music which gives as a sense of statement and counterstatement.

EXAMPLE.
A. Odo Nyankopon
B. He is king of kings
C. O God, our Help in Ages past.

2 TERNARIES[ABA]
Ternary is three parts of music and they are

1 RONDO [AB
ACABA] [ABACADAEA]; This form has recurring theme alternating with different section called episodes.
ABACA represent musical section. E.g. [Oman papa bi wo ho ma yen]

2 CALL AND RESPONSE; Call and response also known as solo and chorus singing is a musical structure
commonly found in African music. The music is divided into two groups. Every good singer who leads group is
called Cantor.

3 HOCKEY TECHNIQUE; This is a technique which involves the breaking down of a melody into its constituent
notes by dividing the notes among the performance.

IMPACT OF MUSIC ON THE SOCIETY

 Music is used to encourage women during child birth.
 Music is used to educate the people.
 Music is played to advertise their waves.
 Music is used to encourage and entertain the people.

CATEGORIES OF MUSIC
1 TRADITIONAL MUSIC; This type of music is closely linked to traditional Ghanaians social land political
institution. E.g. hunters perform [Abofo]. Age group perform [Anhwewakyire] Funeral music and called [dirge]

CHARACTERISTICS OF TRADITIONAL MUSIC

A. Traditional music is more associated with dance.
B. Traditional music is netronomic -feeling of strict sense of time.
C. The audience is not used as an idiophone’s device
D. There is variation and improvisation.
2 ART MUSIC; Is a which has been notted and performed to be listened to. E.g. this type of music are hymnals,
anthem and choral music.

3 POPULAR MUSIC; FOLK TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORAY IDIOM.

Popular music is a music connected with dancing in nature. E.g. Gabada, Agbadza, boboobo, Gahu,
Kolomeshie, Kpalogo, Gome, Otafo.

TYPES OF MUSIC
# OCCASIONAL MUSIC; These are music perform during occasion. ; Life-cycle Event -Socio-Political
Institution -Religious Music.

LIFE CYCLE EVENT SOCIO POLITICAL RELIGIOUS MUSIC

INSTITUTION
Birth rites Enstoolment Worship
Naming ceremonies Enskinment Akom of the Akans
Puberty rites Destoolment
Marriage ceremonies Deskinment Yeve of the Ewes
Death and Funeral

# INCIDENTAL MUSIC; These are music associated with activities which are non-ritual or non-ceremonial in
nature. examples are music when performing household chores, music connecting games, music connecting
occupation like hunting, farmers

# RECREATIONAL MUSIC: these are music performed for entertainment and relaxation. They are also non-
ritual and non-ceremonial