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From: Adam Rugo  <amrugo@artsci.wustl.edu> (From Djembe-L e-list)
Date: Fri Dec 1, 2000 12:49pm
Subject: Re: [djembe-l]  time signature?

Hi, all,

Wanted to comment on a few issues relating to Western music notation and meter.

Glenda wrote:

(snipped part explaining that these "movements of two" are written as dotted quarter notes...)

6/8 and 12/8 are open to interpretation both as duple and as ternary meters. So to say that 6/8 "is in duple meter" is to limit the flexibility of the time signature to less than half its possible identities.

(BTW, it seems from previous traffic on this topic that some people have been confused by the convention of writing time signatures in email messages as if the meter was a proportion, which, as others (esp. Dennis) have eloquently explained, it is not. It's not 6/8, it's 6
     8

which might be expressed more clearly in email by spelling it out in words rather than using numerals with a slash between them.)

Let's look at a measure of six-eight - it has six pulses (each pulse represented by an eighth note)... Within one measure, you can accent two beats of three pulses:
1 2 3 4 5 6 x . . x . .
(written as two dotted quarter notes)

or you can accent three beats of two pulses:

1 2 3 4 5 6 x . x . x .
(written as three quarter notes)

A characteristic West African rhythm that I have heard reproduced in many cultures' music is:

x . x . x . x . . x . .

(which could be notated in two measures of six-eight:
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 x . x . x . x . . x . .

or one measure of twelve-eight:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C x . x . x . x . . x . .)

(I borrow A,B,C, from the hexadecimal system only because I couldn't think of another way to represent 10, 11, and 12 in a single space on the virtual page!)

In the rhythm represented above, one alternates from the three-by-two feel to the two-by-three feel each cycle of the phrase. You have to be able to feel both the duple and ternary possibilities of the meter to articulate the part. This flexibility of interpreting a piece of music in six-eight meter is one of the keys to playing West African music well.

Glenda said she reads six-eight as implying two accented beats of three pulses each. Twelve-eight tends to imply four accented beats of three pulses each. Both meters can also be interpreted as implying accented beats of two pulses each instead. Here's the "short bell" in twelve-eight interpreted with accents every three pulses:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C   (pulses)
1 . . 2 . . 3 . . 4 . .   (accents) x . x . x x . x . x . x   (part)

Here it is again interpreted with accents every two pulses:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C
1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . x . x . x x . x . x . x

If you tap your foot on the accents while playing the part, you may experience (as I do) the identity of the part change as you alternate between the first example and the second example.

Now try reinterpreting any six-eight or twelve-eight rhythm you know in the meter three-two, that is, a measure of three beats with each beat getting a half note (there are still twelve eighth notes in the measure!). The measure implies three accented beats of *four* pulses each. Here's the "short bell" in three-two meter:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C
1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . x . x . x x . x . x . x

Now the bell part has another new identity! Amazing, isn't it?! Try playing the bell part continuously and tapping your foot on the accents in each of my three examples above in succession. I practice this all the time and I believe that it is an excellent exercise for developing the flexible metrical sense required by West African drum music.

One of the keys to playing Mendjiani is being able to switch between these three accent schemes I outline above. The djembe accompaniment part implies the four-by-three feel within twelve-eight:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C
1 . . 2 . . 3 . . 4 . . s . t s . . s . t s . .

The distinctive djembe solo phrase implies the three-by-four feel:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C
1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . s . . b s . . b s . t t

So Mendjiani could be written in six-eight, in twelve-eight, or in three-two meter and all of them would be correct but imply a different feel.    It could be written in four-four with triplets as well, which would also be correct, but it would look much more complex and messy on the page (rests, flags, and numerals everywhere!).

Here's another possibility. I saw a dancer from Guinea tapping his foot to a Dununba family rhythm once every *six* pulses, which implies the following accent scheme:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C x . . . . . x . . . . .

Try the short bell with this accent scheme:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C
1 . . . . . 2 . . . . . x . x . x x . x . x . x

or how about the Mendjiani sangban part:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C
1 . . . . . 2 . . . . . o . o . . i . . o . o .

and howz about the Dununba-family kenkeni part:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C
1 . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . o . o o . . o . o o

Helps a lot, doesn't it? I have no idea how to notate this feel. It implies two accents of six pulses each, which would mean a 2 in the top of the meter and some symbol expressing the value of a dotted half note on the bottom (a
6?). Under the current rules and conventions of Western notation, this is not permissible. You could write it, but no one would understand what you were talking about!

What we are doing is trying to represent the music as it is performed (the only thing that really counts) in a form of writing. Each convention of writing implies a certain interpretation that may be only one of many possible interpretations of the piece. I believe the best route for becoming a better drummer and better musician overall is to learn all the different interpretive schemes possible and be able to switch between them at will. The more flexibility you have, the more fruitful your lessons with African master drummers will be.

Finally, I want to respond to Johan's statement:

the >territory".

I agree wholeheartedly with these points.

I disagree entirely with this argument. To speak about musical bars and meters *is* very Western, granted. As a Westerner, I can only speak in the language I was raised within. It *is not* inappropriate for us to speak in our own language about another culture. It is self-deceiving to believe that we have fully described what is going on in another culture's music using our notation scheme. But we *do* bring a valid interpretive model to that music by making use of our notation system. What can our notation system do? It can get a player literate in that system up and running on a piece in a matter of seconds. That's a very useful tool. When I work with drummers who aren't readers, it can take a long time to get them up and running on a part. My reader friends are ready to go in a fraction of the time. To get to the true goal - performing the music as best we can - notation has been proven to me to be a very useful and flexible technology.

To claim that "western culture is being forced onto another culture" is an overstatement. No one is "forcing" anything or making any exclusive or universal claims to being "RIGHT."   Uhn-uhn - no way. What was, in the
1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, a valid argument about European cultural and political imperialism, is perhaps overwrought by the year 2000. The more ways we have of looking at a subject, the more insight we can have into it. If you hear Western trained musicians claiming "it's like this and ONLY like this," sure, blast 'em.   But don't assume (or project) maliciously ethnocentric attitudes on others when all they are doing is trying to understand better a foreign culture and its delicious and spiritually powerful art.

In Peace, and with respect,
Adama.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>               > <Tom Daddesio wrote>
               > If a teacher asks us not to distribute through notation what they taught, then it would seem to be a matter of common courtesy not to distribute in this fashion.
 
                 [KD] I agree completely.   I think Abdoul has come to realize that it is
              much more difficult for students outside W. Africa to learn djembe the
              way he did, by watching and imitating over a period of many years.
              There simply isn't the opportunity to apprentice yourself to a master
              and absorb rhythms slowly and   completely.  Therefore, he somewhat
              reluctantly allows his students to notate or record his classes for their
              own use.  I know publishing these notations would probably upset him
               greatly,  unless done with his knowledge by someone he trusted.
              Even then he would probably be pretty wary.  On a side note, he's even
              somewhat wary of sharing knowledge over the internet, since he has no
              idea where it's going or what it will be used for.  His wife can be pretty
              persuasive, though...   :)  I also try to make sure he's comfortable with
              what I share, and in general, the people on these lists seem pretty
               well-intentioned and honestly drawn to learn about the djembe and its
               culture. 

                   I think another fear of his is that students will come to class only a
              few times, notate or record rhythms, take them home, practice them,
              and then claim to know them or even go teach them themselves.  Then
              they have no opportunity to be corrected if they are playing them
              wrong, will probably miss many of the nuances that come with playing
              a rhythm over time, and will also simply miss much of the rhythm itself!
             There isn't a single rhythm that can be fully learned in a few classes. 
>>
                   > <Tom Daddessio wrote>
              > As Rainer argued, whenever we publish a version of a rhythm without reference to a teacher and a specific geographic region, that version may be perceived as THE version of the rhythm and people who use the notation may easily infer that the version is played throughout the djembe area of West Africa.
>>  
                     [KD] That's another reason to learn from an actual teacher vs. videos, audio tapes, or notations.   When Abdoul teaches a rhythm, he will tell his students what ethnic group or what village it comes from, how he                 learned it, what it's used for, where it's played, etc.  I think he's probably just going to tear his hair out the next time he hears someone question one of his rhythms because that's not how Mamady plays it or                 because "so and so from Senegal" taught it this way.  As Paul said,
              he's not going to wait for the "ultimate" book from Mamady or
              Famoudou, and this seems to be a very common attitude.  Not to
              diminish the talents and mastery of Mamady or Famoudou at all,
              but if they were to write a book of rhythm notations, it might be the
              "ultimate" book of rhythms as they know them, from their particular
              ethnic group or from their particular region, not the "ultimate"
              book of W. African djembe rhythms in general. 

              Abdoul has come across people who are absolutely certain that they
              have THE version of a given rhythm because they learned it from
              Mamady, or from someone who learned from Mamady, when really what
              they've learned is the Guinean ballet version of a rhythm that really
              originated in a village in Mali, for example.  Despite this attitude,
              I know Mamady is known for being very clear about his sources,
               fortunately, and Abdoul tries to do the same.

              Generally, what he teaches are the traditional rhythms (although as Rainer pointed out, that can be a somewhat ambiguous term) vs. ballet styles or modern versions, but if he does ever teach those, he's very clear as to what they are.  He's also very clear in differentiating between regional differences in a given rhythm. Sometimes when he's teaching a rhythm, he'll  demonstrate how it would be played in Guinea or Senegal, or even in a  different region of Mali. 

                  Anyway, I reiterate this point because I think it's extremely important for people to realize that there is variation in rhythms between different areas of W. Africa.  I've noticed a tendency for djembe students to think that because certain Djembefola have achieved more fame than others, their rhythms are more accurate or
                  are the "true rhythms".  They may very well be the "true rhythms" --
                  from their area or from their ballet or from their ethnic group.  Maybe
                  they happen to play their rhythms amazingly well, but that doesn't make
                  their version of a given rhythm any more valid than any other version
                  from a different region.    

                I've noticed when notation has been passed around on the internet
                that some people to make an effort to include what teacher or region
                it originated from, but more often than not, it's simply put out there
                as Lamba, Dansa, etc. without qualifying remarks about the origin. 
               Given the cultural and spiritual importance of the music in question,
               I can sympathize with African teachers' fear of notation and recordings.
>>
               Ok, those are my thoughts on the subject...  (more blah blah)

                  Katrina (and Abdoul and Ali)
                  Boulder, CO                

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DJEMBE-L FAQ V5e Discourse on Notation Last edited 02/04/05