At the Dwarsloop church I saw a few hymnals lying about, so I opened one. I don't know what language they sang in, though one would assume it is the Tsongan language, since that's the group we were with.
What especially intrigued me was the way music is noted. It took me a little while to figure this out, but I eventually did. I wonder if you can figure it out, too? If you do, add a comment, below.
You know the hymn, "The Cleansing Wave"—an old gospel hymn that we used to sing at baptisms. Here's the first phrase of it.
Hint: The Sound of Music.
4 comments:
Do, a deer, a female deer...etc.
Wonder why they use the do, re, me method instead of notes? Very interesting.
Carole
Carole gets the prize! Its called the Tonic Sol-Fa method, or the Curwen Method, and it took shape during the Victorian Sunday School movement as a way to teach singing. It apparently still has life in Africa.
Loren
It is also called solfege and goes back to the 10th Century. A monk in teaching chants assigned each note of the diatonic scale to a portion of his hand. By pointing to the various portions of his hand he could teach the chant without written music. Today music teachers use it widely not only in teaching small children, but also in colleges and universities in teaching sight reading and ear training. Although rather than point to a specific portion of the hand, today the hand takes various positions to designate what note is to be sung. Even when not using the hand, such as with this African music, the harmonies are easily learned without the use of sheet music.
Thanks for that additional information, about the hand movements. It apparently has a very long history.
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