Tonality and Atonality of Speech Surrogacy as Resource for African Pianism

Abstract

While a good portion of African traditional music exists in the song idiom, a sizable part of the music of indigenous Africa is expressed in the speech mode, seen predominantly in drums and other instruments performance. The resultant effect of speech mode in Indigenous African instrumental music is known as speech surrogacy, which is the utilising of musical instruments to communicate like in spoken words. This paper investigates the aspect of pitch organisation, within the context of tonality and atonality, in ‘Verve Dialogues with Àjàntálá', an ensemble piece by the author, in which the piano plays a prominent role, within the principles of African pianism and makes use of speech mode as it exists in Dùndún tradition. Through the analysis of the case study piece, the extensive use of speech surrogacy in the piano part score and the process through which tonality and atonality lend credence to the ‘traditionalisation’ of the piano as a modern African instrument – a practice now known as ‘African Pianism’ is discussed. This paper ultimately presents the potential in the tonality and atonality of speech surrogacy as a tonal resource cardinal to evolving a viable model in African pianism.

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