Some notes on a theory of African rhythm advanced by Erich von Hornbostel

John Blacking

Abstract


In an article on African Music written in 1928, Hornbostel offered an explanation of certain features of African rhythms which may puzzle Western ears. Until Hornbostels theory has been hammered out and proved true or falseor perhaps true and false, according to its application in different parts of Africaaccurate research into African music is seriously impeded.

Keywords


Hornbostel, Erich Moritz von, 1877-1935 -- Criticism and interpretation ; Musical meter and rhythm -- Africa ; Xylophone -- Africa -- Methods ; Drum -- Africa -- Methods ; Dance -- Africa ; Syncopation ; Polyrhythm

Full Text:

PDF

References


Hindemith, P. 1937. The Craft of Musical Composition, Book I: Theoretical Part. Associated Music Publishers Inc., New York.

Von Hombostel, E.M. 1928. African Negro Music, Africa, Vol. I, No. 1.

Jones, A.M. 1934. African Drumming, Bantu Studies, the Journal of the University of the Witwatersrand, Vol. 8, No. 1: reprinted 1949, No. 4 of the Occasional Papers of the Rhodes-Livingstone Museum.

Jones, A.M. 1952. The Icila Dance, Old Style (with L. Kombe), African Music Society.

Rycroft, D.K. 1955. Tribal Style and Free Expression, African Music, Vol. 1, No. 1.

Sachs, Curt.1937. World History of the Dance.

Sachs, Curt. 1943. The Rise of Music in the Ancient World East and West.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21504/amj.v1i2.251

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.