Explore West African Rhythms

Introduction

African music is recognized for its sophisticated rhythmic textures. In fact, many American styles, such as jazz, R&B, and funk, use rhythmic structures that are rooted in African music.

In this activity, you will create a song that incorporates a variety of musical arrangement styles. These styles use the Adowa rhythms of the Ashanti people from the West African country of Ghana.

In this project, you will:

• Examine West African rhythms.
Learn a song accompanied by West African rhythms.
• Compare the effects of West African rhythms when used in different arrangements of a song.
• Create music in one of the following ways: write and sing original lyrics; improvise vocal parts; or perform melodic and percussion instrumental parts.

 Print the worksheet before you begin.

Now continue to Section 1.