Jude Kafuuma
2 July 2007
Kigali — In the practical world, everything is controlled by rhythm and beat just the same way as music can not stand out without the two animals. From humble beginnings and creativity of man kind have come modern subjects like Religion, which seeks to put God and man into a right relationship; Philosophy and Science that seek to understand and explain both internal and external forces that play upon man; and Literature which explains recordings of ancient stories for man's aspirations, pleasures and grief.
However, music, dance and drama were first used to communicate with gods or spirits but later each one became a centre of communal celebration and eventually a means of self-expression intended for pleasure for people and for the gods.
This is probably the best we can tell of how sing song and music began with its roots older than the roots of speech itself.
Development of musical instruments
Primitive societies and children in grazing grounds used simple yet magical sounds of early percussion instruments. They could be a hollow of a pawpaw tree trunk that was accidentally struck by a hand-held stick, or a pair of dried animal bones that produced a strange yet attractive repetitive sound.
From these simple sounds that our ancestors thought had a mysterious magic, it was later discovered the intoxicating power of rhythm that propelled their ritual dances with the accompaniment of music.
At this time, it was simple to use rhythmic beats to match the movements of labour, and so magically lighting the burden of daily toil.
Our ancestors also used the most natural, expensive and flexible device of all instruments - the human voice.
They may have used their voices to imitate birdsongs, the crying and mating calls of animals and the sounds of wind and rain. As early as man developed more and more skills in the use of musical tones of definite pitch, this element joined rhythm to create a primitive melody that resulted into musical beats.
It is from this musical background, that scholars developed the formal definition of music as an organised sound or movement that must have a rhythm.
Greek mythology traces music to the gods. The word Music, in fact stems from Muse which denotes to one of the nine goddesses who watched over the arts and the sciences.
Music is a language of communication through which one can have a personal expression- be it of joy, sorrow, illness, suffering, fear, depression or any other feeling.
The musical aspect of listening, singing, instrumental work, reading, writing plus movement and dancing make music the most universally accepted art right from ancient times.
Right from the time of our ancestors who discovered the art, music has embraced different names depending on the era within which it fell.
It is possible you have heard of Ancient Music (500-900 BC) played in the period of antiquity giving ancestral melodies a more secularised and Gregorian chant.
Other periodical names that followed included:
Early music (Polyphony and Folk) (900-400) that left us with secular and sacred music.
Baroque (1400-1500BC)
Classical (1500-1700 BC)
Romantic (1700-1800)
Modern and Jazz (1800-1900) that combined elements of African and Western European music
Contemporary (1900-2000)
These are the different eras music has gone through and each epoch leaves a multitude of great composers.
Rhythm is the regular pattern of movement in music - that is the flow of music. It is a metrical movement determined by various relations with a measured flow of words and phrases in verse or proxy.
In music we talk of rhythm as a music composition concerned with periodical accents and duration of notes or breathe. It is one of the necessary and indispensable materials without which a piece will cease to be called so. It determines the sounds and silences which you may recognise or fail due to the pleasure derived from the music.
Beat in music is what we may refer to as the pulse of the heart.
The beat in music provides the basic structure around which rhythm is built. Beat is what governs the speed of a particular song when it combines with rhythm. Just as in the motorcycle the more one accelerates in a high gear the higher the speed, so is the same with music where beat and rhythm govern the tempo of the song.
The two animals (rhythm and beat) are necessary tools in music that govern whoever has a passion for dance to the tunes of musical instruments. If composers have failed to say whatever they wanted in words, they have not bothered to say it in music. Were it not for music, men like famous Luck Dube would not make such overwhelming contribution to South Africa's liberation.
Contribution to society
Music says that which cannot be said and expresses what is impossible to keep silent. Since everything in the world is driven by rhythm and beat just like in music, it is such an important art to society. With music's two powerful animals of Rhythm and Beat, it has transcended all psyche powers.
As tribal societies evolved in history, music remained part of the social life and of man's response to the environment and daily life events. Music and beat controlled people's lives differently by responding to various occasional needs.
Today there is not much a difference, except that it is continually gaining momentum better than any other sector. Music has penetrated systems of education, governance, and economy and is driving continental blocs.
Ceremonies are accompanied by singing, dancing, and playing the music whose rhythm and beat respond to the mood of the particular occasion. At the end of the day, this brings out the essence of the ceremony whether a celebration of new life or farewell to a loved one.
Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes. That is why even labourers have been helped by rhythm and beat as they chant their work songs, just as it were in early times. A sorghum harvester, coffee farmer, alcohol brewer, all will tell of the pleasure derived from the musical melodies while at work.
Music is also medicine for the mind. From a Lawyer in a busy office, taxi driver, to a journalist beating a dead line in a newsroom, what drives their work is the rhythm and beat in a softly sounding music. This is always at the back of one's mind while at work that quite often you will hear people humming or whistling as they execute their duties.
Brick makers and poled electricity workers accompany their works songs to break the silence, boost their energy and lighten the burden of the load. This is for purposes where men need to work in rhythm of a call-and-answer format to keep the workers together. Music is in such a manner a friend and catalyst of labour for it tightens the task by relishing the nerves and spirit of the worker.
Music is an outburst of the soul, so much that one becomes the music while the music lasts. Children spontaneously create their own little songs and dances to express their inner feelings just as it were in earlier times. This has been carried on to the education sector where teacher use music from such little songs between lessons to motivate children's concentration levels.
Motor drivers who may lose attention on a soft terrain will use music with so strong a beat and rhythmic flow to keep them alert behind the steering.
Music as the literature of the heart commences where speech ends. It expresses that which the tongue has not said but can keep on rhythmically extolling to the sleeping mind. It is amazing to note that even mothers have always hummed the first lullabies to their sleeping babies just as hunters and warriors buck up their courage with chants, cries and calls with the beat of sticks and drums.
There is a double play of its contribution to advocacy programmes like peace building and conflict resolution, poverty eradication plus various awareness programmes. Such programmes use different rhythms and beats to carry their messages across to society.
"If music does not lift up one's thoughts to God then it is noise" said Mozart a great classical composer. Augustine added that "He who sings well prays twice" Religious communities will praise the creator and prime mover of all things in an organised sound. It is through music that petition and thanksgiving to God are expressed.
This discourse on the music discovery is to give you a picture that musical rhythm and beat have undergone a historical development. This development has been tied to the deepest human expressions of desires and emotions that include play, love, work, prayer and education. It is the shorthand of emotions to the extent that where all these end, it takes on with a new breath.
Our ancestors played, sang and danced to its tunes expressing their joy, sorrow or fears and accompanying them in battle. Such is the role of rhythm and beat in music which roars away the threats of life.
The two animals: Rhythm and Beat have been discovered as the most assured friends to all that love and learn music. That is why it is proper to say:
What it has contributed to society, one can not tell it all but bow down to the prime mover who moves us differently from various directions.
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