Year 8

What role does rhythm play in West African music?

Year 8

What role does rhythm play in West African music?

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. In this lesson, we will introduce West African music with reference to the context and history of the song "Kuku" and the djembe. We will listen to traditional and contemporary music before learning how to play rhythms from "Kuku" using body percussion.

Licence

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is a rhythm?
Correct answer: A pattern of sounds of different lengths
A pattern of sounds of the same length
A regular, steady beat
Q2.
Which statement is not true?
The djembe is one of the most popular instruments from the West African music tradition
Correct answer: West African music is only played in West Africa
West African music varies from country to country
Q3.
Tone, bass and slap are all different strokes you play on a djembe. What is a flam?
Two strokes played almost simultaneously with an 'accent' on the first note
Correct answer: Two strokes played almost simultaneously with an 'accent' on the second note
Two strokes played at the same time
Q4.
What is the oral tradition ?
Correct answer: Music, art and stories are passed down by ear through generations
The name of a traditional djembe song
The sheet music used to learn songs from West Africa
Q5.
What is the role of the master drummer?
The player who gets the biggest drum
Correct answer: The player who leads the drum circle; this player plays the start/stop signal
The player who organises the group performances and arranges the music
Q6.
The start signal in 'Kuku' is
'Let's play djembe, let's play djembe'
Correct answer: 'Play the djembe and here we go'
'Play the djembe and shout Africa!'