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The Hocket-Technique in African Music

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

J. H. Kwabena Nketia
J. H. Kwabena Nketia*
Affiliation:
University of Ghana
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Extract

Studies of the musical instruments of Africa by Kirby, Wachsmann, Maquet, Solderberg and others, have demonstrated that, in addition to drums, examples of all the main classes of musical instruments are to be found in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to drums, there is a wide variety of idiophones (including xylophones), as well as various types of lutes, zithers, flutes, etc.

In spite of this variety, there appears to be a widespread tendency to use these instruments not in large heterogeneous ensembles, but in homogeneous ensembles, or in limited combinations in which one type of instrument predominates. There are, for example, ensembles of drums or xylophones, ensembles of flutes or trumpets, or ensembles in which these are combined with “secondary” instruments—usually of a percussive nature. Here and there a flute, a fiddle or a lute may be found in a secondary role in an ensemble, with the function of providing particular effects or enriching the texture of the music.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Folk Music Council , Volume 14 , January 1962 , pp. 44 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © International Council for Traditional Music 1962

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References

Notes

1. Merriam, A. P., “The Bashi Mulizi and its music,” Journal of American Folklore, LXX, April-June, 1957, pp. 43–56 Google Scholar; “Musical Instruments and Techniques of Performance among the Bashi,” Zaire, IX, II, 1944, p. 122.

2. Amstrong, R., Talking Drums of the Benue-Cross River District of Nigeria, Phylon.Google Scholar

3. Carrington, J. F., The Talking Drums of Africa, London: Carey Kingsgate Press, 1949, P.77.Google Scholar

4. Kirby, Percival R., “The Reed-Flute Ensembles of South Africa,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. LXIII, 1933, pp. 313–388.Google Scholar

5. Ibid., p. 382.

6. Kubik, G., “The Structure of Kiganda Xylophone Music,” African Music, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1960, pp. 6–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7. Ibid., p. II.