An experimental approach to developing music literacy in central Zaire
Analysis of the traditional music system
The field methods applied in designing the notation system were not unusual. We discussed the project extensively with musicians and church leaders. We recorded and documented performances by dozens of performing groups, encompassing hundreds of songs. We recorded in both rural and urban settings, both sacred and secular. We transcribed a sampling of several dozen songs and began taking marimba lessons from a local marimba teacher. Our inquiry into traditional music in an urban context gave the music new status, which it had previously lost because many city folks have been happy to leave behind practices that they themselves considered "primitive," in favor of the Kinshasa jazz sounds. This also led to lengthy discussions with musicians about appropriate instruments and styles of music for church services. In earlier times, these issues were decided unilaterally by the missionaries and imposed upon the churches. Now, it is the Kasaian church leaders and musicians themselves who are wrestling with these questions.
We were prepared to do an extensive emic analysis to determine which pitches of the transcriptions were meaningful to the system and required notation. In this case, however, the presence of the marimba made such an analysis unnecessary. The study of the transcriptions and the layout and playing technique of the marimba showed that, indeed, the pitches of the marimba were the emic pitches of the music system, and that there were no others, at least as far as the traditional music is concerned.
The church music was not as easily deciphered, due to its blending of traditional and Western elements, and its lack of accompaniment by melodic instruments. Nevertheless, it was found that both traditional and church music are based on a seven-note scale, consisting of two interlocking triads and a lowered seventh degree. It approximates our Mixolydian mode.