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85
Contemporary Composers
Look to World Music
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Listening Guide
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Eastern African Music: Ensiriba ya munange Katego
89"GDB
89"GDB
89"GDB
Kampala (former kingdom of Buganda), Uganda (Ganda tribe)
REGION:
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Ceremonial court music
FUNCTION:
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Pentatonic melodies with gapped scale (not equidistant intervals),
polyrhythm
CHARACTERISTICS:
3 basic patterns (A, B, C), played in 21⁄2-octave range
5 notes in lowest octave, with lines under numbers
5 notes in middle octave, no lines
2 notes (1⁄2 octave) in highest octave, with lines above notes
MELODIC PATTERNS:
12 tuned (melody) drums (4 players) and 3 bass drums (2 players)
MEDIUM:
Entrance of tuned-drum players, one by one.
Change from playing side of drum to drum head.
3 pentatonic patterns, each played in different range.
Dense polyrhythmic structure that results from combination of
3 melodic/rhythmic patterns and bass drum.
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR:
Arrangement of drums and players:
Player:
II
1
–
2
–
IV
3
–
Octave:
I
5
–
4
–
1
3
4
5
middle
lowest
Player:
2
III
VI
–
1
–
2
highest
V
Who plays what:
Player
Pattern
Drums
I
1
2
3
4
5
A (24 notes long)
II
1
–
2
–
3
–
4
–
5
–
A' (1 octave below A)
III
3
4
IV
3
–
4
–
5
5
–
–
1
–
2
1
2
B and C
B' (1 octave below B)
V
Punctuates patterns
VI
Punctuates patterns
Listening Guide continues
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THE NEW MUSIC
Players begin to establish patterns rhythmically while striking sides of
“clicking” sound); larger bass drums occasionally punctuate the ensemble; complexity and
intensity increases as all patterns are interlocked.
Player I moves to drum head so that melodic pattern A is heard.
Next player moves to drum head, followed by the others, so that melodic pitches can be heard in a
dense texture; moves at a frenetic pace; lower-pitched drum moves to drum heads, creating more
depth of sound.
Lower-pitched drums drop out and texture thins, as one melodic pattern is heard above other
parts; one drummer moves to side of drum (“clicking”); tempo slows to the end.
Resulting interlocking melodic and rhythmic patterns after all melody drums enter on drum
heads (note that pitches do not align in the parts, illustrating the polyrhythmic nature of the
work):
A and A':
B and B':
C:
3 4 3 4 3 1 3 3 1 4 1 1 2 3 4 5 4 2 3 4 2 5 2 2 3 4 3 4 3 1 3
– –
– – –
– – – –
– –
–
1 1 4 5 4 2 1 2 4 4 2 1 2 2 5 4 2 1 5 2 3 5 4
–
– – –
–
– –
–
1
1 1 2
2
2 2
1
Bright Sheng and the Meeting
of Musical Cultures
“People acknowledge artistic license; I embrace cultural license.”
A
Bright Sheng
Bright Sheng (b. 1955) is one of the most innovative composers on the contemporary scene. He blends two different musical cultures—Western and Asian—into a
new soundscape that respects the essence of each. Even his name crosses cultures:
his official Chinese name is Sheng Song-Liang (Liang means “bright lights”), so he
uses Bright as his Anglicized first name.
Born and raised in Shanghai, Sheng began studying piano at the age of four. But
at the onset of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, the Red Guards took away his piano
because it was considered “bourgeois.” During the Revolution, all high schools and
colleges were shut down, and Sheng, along with many other youths, was sent to
Qinghai province, formerly part of Tibet. There, his talents allowed him to work as a
musician, and he taught himself to play other instruments and began gathering folk
songs as well. When the Revolution ended in 1976, he was one of the first to enter
the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he studied composition. He came to
New York in 1982 to study at Queens College and then at Columbia University,
where he worked with Leonard Bernstein, Mario Davidovsky, and Chou Wen-Chung.
Since coming to the United States, Sheng has won many awards—including the
coveted MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for “exceptional originality and creativity”—and has received numerous commissions from orchestras and from solo performers. He has held composer-in-residence positions with the Chicago Lyric Opera,
the Seattle Symphony, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and has written
pieces for pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Sheng currently holds the
Leonard Bernstein Distinguished Professor Chair at the University of Michigan. In