An experimental approach to developing music literacy in central Zaire
Proposed notation system
Once the elements of the music system were isolated, they had to be notated. This process began with the principles of transitional bilingualism used in applied linguistics. The Roman alphabet has been used in many minority language development projects because of its adaptability. Chances are that, in areas where the national language uses the Roman alphabet, people are already familiar with how it looks, even if their own language is as yet unwritten. Similarly, since Zaireans have already seen staff notation and have a basic, albeit incomplete, understanding of it, it seemed appropriate to start with what they already knew. There is no reason to introduce a whole new system of notation simply for the sake of novelty. The important factor is that each element of the notation system be carefully defined, used, and taught.
The decision to base the notation system on Western staff notation did not mean that each symbol could be used as is. Each element of the Kasaian music system was studied to consider how it could best be notated, and alternative ideas were suggested. In this way we intentionally "reinvented the wheel," so to speak. We wanted to be sure that each element of the notation system was chosen because it accurately reflected an aspect of Kasaian music, and not simply because we were used to it.
As it turned out, Western staff notation proved to be quite flexible, and unusually suited to notating Kasaian music. For example, the Western five-line staff represents pitches alternately on lines and spaces. The West Kasai marimba is set up to mimic the local thumb piano (tshisanji), so that its longest bars are in the center of the instrument, and they ascend in pitch by alternating left to right. Thus, the two highest pitches on the marimba are commonly at opposite ends of it. Each of the player's hands normally plays only the pitches on its own side. As these pitches fall on the staff, all of the pitches on lines are played by the left hand and all of the pitches on spaces are played with the right hand.
As for rhythm, we felt that the use of bar lines and time signatures was inappropriate. Bars tend to imply a relationship of weak beats and strong beats within a measure. Kasaian music is based on a continuous even pulse, and not on groups of three or four pulses together. A quarter note was used as the basic unit of time. Longer notes are notated by tying quarter notes together for as long as the note lasts. Quarter notes are subdivided into shorter values according to Western practice. Bar lines were used to separate sections of music. Key signatures and accidentals are, of course, unnecessary.
Once a preliminary notation system was decided upon, we began producing materials to teach it. We developed some basic rhythm exercises and began holding seminars and discussions with some of the local musicians. I must say that I often reflected on the absurdity of a white man from the American suburbs supposedly teaching African musicians about rhythm. But I assure you, that is not what we were doing. We were using the rhythm exercises to teach a new type of reading skill, which is of course very different from a performance skill. It did, however, force us to very carefully define and continuously refine our purposes in being there in light of the skills, needs, and interests of the musicians themselves.
Initial reaction to the notation was very positive. One person said that he especially liked the idea of not having bar lines. He felt that bar lines inhibited the flow of the music, but that this system was much freer and easier to read. They also began to invent their own terminology for the symbols, which we began to incorporate into our vocabulary. A quarter rest was called kanyoka, which means 'a little snake', and a quarter note was called tshibuenga, which is a club that is used for killing small rodents.
One of our original goals was to produce a new hymnal of about 100 songs, all of which had been composed recently by Kasaian composers in their mother tongue. However, before undertaking such a large work, we had to be sure that the notation system worked. Was it accurate? Was it easily learnable and teachable? Were there improvements to be made? We hoped that all these questions would be answered in working through our class materials before we published the hymnal. But we still needed materials to work from. That's where the centennial songbook came in.
As mentioned previously, the first missionaries arrived in this area in the spring of 1891. It was now the spring of 1991, and all of the Presbyterian churches were celebrating. New choirs were formed, new songs were composed, and big celebrations were held at the soccer stadium. We took advantage of this special circumstance to produce our first piece of literature in the new notation system. In linguistic terms, this would be considered publishing a piece of trial literature to test the new orthography. We recorded some of the songs composed in honor of the centennial and compiled them into a songbook. It contains 17 songs, and is called Misambu ya centenaire or 'Songs of the centennial'. We also compiled a cassette of the same songs to go with it.