Musical transcription: The Great Domba Song

The domba song follows many of the rules which apply more generally to most Venda music. Those which apply particularly to domba are given below: additional rules, necessary to explain the other songs of domba, are given separately.

Social and Cultural Factors

1.0.0. Music is performed as part of a social situation.

1.0.1. The Venda classify different musical styles according to the social events which they accompany.

1.1.0. Performers are recruited according to their roles in social situations (i.e. master, novices, graduates etc.).

1.1.1. Their performing roles are a function of their social roles (i.e. the master is soloist, the novices are the chorus, the graduates perform bvumela, senior and experienced novices play the drums).

1.2.0 The form of the music reflects the social situation.

1.2.1. The choice of instruments (if any) is relevant to the social situation (e.g. the bass drum is used for tshikona and domba because it is music of national importance).

1.2.2. The style of dancing (if any) is relevant to the social situation (e.g. the novices dance anti-clockwise in a chain, but graduates dance clockwise and independently).

1.2.3. The basic form of the music expresses both the social situation which it accompanies and the intended content of the situation (e.g. the call-and-response pattern reflects the teacher/pupil situation; and the development of the domba song expresses the growing participation of the novices in their society, as well as the pattern of sexual communion which the dance symbolises).

1.2.4. The length of performances depends on social conditions (thus, regular performances of domba are of standard length, depending on the habit of the master, but special performances, as on the last night of the school, may be much longer).

1.3.0. Ideals and variations of performances are social rather than musical.

1.3.1. Distinctions between rehearsal and performance depend on the social background of performance (thus, girls rehearse their tshigombela dance, but the worst performance of domba cannot be a rehearsal because of its ritual significance).

1.3.2. Performances are subject to the competence and experience of the performers (e.g. at the beginning of a school, domba is performed incorrectly, or at least badly; the extent of musical variation depends on the performers' experience).

1.3.3. The dynamics of performance are a function of the social and physiological condition of the performers (i.e. domba becomes louder as the number of novices and their confidence increases: unless they are tired, sick, or discontented, they perform 'flat out' all the time. If some parts of the chorus sound softer than others, it is only because they lie at the bottom of the vocal register).

1.3.4. Variations in the words of the soloist, which affect the pattern of melody, primarily express aspects of the social situation.

Tempo, Metre and Rhythm

2.0.0. Metre and rhythm vary considerably within different categories of music, but tempo remains more constant. There is a tempo characteristic of Venda music, which is common to several categories.

2.0.1. The general aim in performance is to establish and maintain an almost metronomic tempo.

2.0.2. The basic tempo is expressed implicitly by accented performance, or explicitly by a time-setter, such as the tenor drum in domba.

2.1.0. Metre consists of the repetition of total patterns of movement (a drum beat is part of a total movement of the body).

2.1.1. The elaboration of patterns is the result of the addition of social elements (e.g. the combination of a tenor and alto drummer, each playing a self-contained pattern, can produce a more elaborate pattern).

2.1.2. If the social elements are different, the patterns must be combined polyrhythmically (thus, two alto drummers may play in unison, but an alto and a tenor drummer may not).

2.1.3. If, however, a polyrhythmic pattern has been established, different social elements may combine musically, each following different parts of the musical pattern (thus the feet of the domba dancers follow the tenor drum, whilst their voices in khulo follow the alto).

2.2.0. New metrical patterns may be created by combining existing patterns in canon.

2.3.0. New metrical patterns may be created by combing or sub-dividing existing patterns in the ration of 2:3.

2.4.0. New metrical patterns may be created by combining or sub-dividing existing patterns both in canon and in the ration of 2:3 (the domba rhythm combines alto and bass drum canon, whilst both are in the ration of 2:3 with the tenor drum).

2.5.0. Drums are assigned different musical roles according to the number used and the nature of the social event they accompany.

2.5.1. In all but 'foreign' music, the tenor and bass drums are played with a stick, and the alto with the hands.

2.5.2. The tenor drum is the 'time-keeper', announcing the basic metre of the song, and entering first.

2.5.3. If the bass drum is played, it is used to add polyrhythmic variations to the tenor.

2.5.4. One alto drum may reinforce the time-keeping of the tenor (see Figure 1, and also the transcription of domba Song No. 8).

2.5.5. A second alto drum may reinforce the rhythm of the bass drum (see domba Song No. 8).

2.5.6. In special cases, such as the tshikona and domba, alto drum(s) may unite to add a third pattern to those of the tenor and bass drums.

Speech-Tone and Melody

3.0.0. The speech-tone patterns of the initial words of a song may provide the germ of its rhythm and melody, but ultimately they are subordinate to musical factors.

3.1.0. Once the musical pattern of call and response has been established, the words and melody of the response remain constant, though additional parts may be added as harmony.

3.1.1. Variations in the speech-tone patterns of words of the call, or solo, bring about variations in its melody.

3.1.2. Variations affect only the first part of each phrase. The melody of the second part, like the melody of the response, remains constant.

3.2.0. Variations in speech-tone may create rhythmic variations by means of agogic accents.

Harmony and Tonality

4.0.0. The Venda have no word for 'scale', but the word mutavha refers to a set of twenty-four heptatonic reed-pipes, twelve pentatonic reed-pipes, or a row of keys on the xylophone or hand-piano.

4.0.1. The tones of each mutavha are named.

4.0.2. In the mutavha of heptatonic reed-pipes used for the national dance, tshikona, the keynote is called phala, and the tone above it, which acts as leading-note, is called thakhula.

4.0.3. In tshikona, the keynote begins each pattern, and the 'leading-note' ends it. Thus, tonality moves from tonic to 'dominant'.

4.1.0. There is a relationship between the scales of reed-pipes and the modes on which Venda melodies are based.

4.2.0. There is a relationship between the tonal and harmonic systems of music played with the fixed scales of reed-pipes, and that sung by voices.

4.2.1. Certain chords are accepted in instrumental music, but avoided in part-singing (e.g. the tritone: see Figure 3).

4.3.0. Melodies may be called bi-tonal, in the sense that they shift from the influence of one implicit or explicit tone-centre to another.

4.3.1. In antiphonal music, or music modelled on the antiphonal situation of solo and chorus, tonality shifts regularly between solo and chorus sections.

4.3.2. Since the chorus is constant, its tonality is more fundamental than that of the solo (i.e. in terms of tshikona, it has phala tonality, the tonality of the tonic).

4.4.0. Every tone may be conceptualised as having a companion tone in harmony with it.

4.4.1. Any melodic may be conceptualised as a stream of chords.

4.4.2. Melodies may therefore be as much selections of tones from 'hidden' patterns of chords, as the generators of patterns of chords.

4.4.3. Two melodies which are harmonically equivalent are regarded as the same, even though their melodies may sound different.

4.5.0. Tshikona serves as a model for tonal and harmonic principles in heptatonic music; or at least tshikona and other heptatonic music follow the same, unstated model.

4.5.1. Chorus sections of melodies should begin on the tonic or its related tone.

4.5.2. In a sequence of seven descending tones, the first may be taken as the tonic; and the last as the 'leading-note'.

4.5.3. The closest companion to any tone is the tone an octave above or below it. This relationship is often expressed in terms that resemble the grouping of people by age. For example, the tone an octave above phala is called phalana (little phala).

4.5.4. The second, and perhaps more intimate, companion of any tone is that which is one-fifth below it, or its octave a fourth above.

4.5.5. The third related tone is that one-fifth above it, or its octave a fourth below.

4.7.0. Harmonic variation and shifting tonality are achieved both by melodic movement and by changing the companion of tones (thus, in khulo and tshikona, the tonic and the 'leading-note' each have two companions).

4.7.1. Harmonic cohesion and 'direction' may be reinforced by establishing a tonal bridge between two contrasting tones (thus, in khulo and tshikona, the tonic is heard first with its own companion, and then with its 'leading-note', which in turn is heard with its companion before the return to the tonic and its companion. (See Figure 3f.)

Musical Development of Songs

5.0.0. Once a song has been established, its sound may be embellished by expanding its basic structure.

5.0.1. There are purely musical variations which do not depend on changes in personnel or words as described in 1 and 3.

5.1.0. Rhythmic variations must follow the established basic pattern.

5.2.0. The improvisation of melodic variations and harmonic additions should emphasise the existing tonal and harmonic progression (e.g. u bvumela in bars 15-18).

5.2.1. The choice of tones in improvisation is guided by the principles of harmonic equivalence, incorporated in rules 4.4.0., 4.5.0. etc.

5.3.0. Passing-notes may be used between the main notes of chords of a melody.

5.4.0. The soloist my improvise (perform bvumela), while the chorus is singing (e.g. bars 16b and 17b).

5.5.0. The chorus may add chords to their basic melody (see bars 2,3 and 5 of tshilalelo).

5.5.1. The chorus may develop a new and more elaborate melody on the foundation of their basic response (e.g. khulo).

5.5.2. The chorus may reduce the melody to its tonal and harmonic essentials, and then develop these (see u bvumela in domba, bars 15-18; and domba Song No. 24), abandoning words for vocables such as hee, ahee.

Transformation Processes

Some transformation processes have been mentioned in the previous sections, but it is thought worthwhile to group them here with others. The second digits are related to previous sections, so that 6.4.1., for example, covers harmonic and tonal transformations.

Only radical transformations of musical sound are considered. I do not include variations in the quality, quantity, dynamics, duration of performance etc., which are affected by changes in social situations.

6.1.0. Music designed for one social situation may be adapted for another (e.g. khulo is a vocal adaptation of the instrumental tshikona).

6.2.0. The tempo of the most frequent rapid notes (marked as quavers in the transcriptions of domba) is relatively constant in many songs. Thus a song with four doted crotchet beats may also be heard with six crotchet beats. Either rhythm is a transformation of the other, since both are aspects of a 'hidden' 2:3 rhythm (see Figure 4).

6.2.1. Techniques of polyrhythm may be applied to melodic instruments (as in tshikona) or to voices (as in khulo).

6.3.0. Changes in patterns of speech-tone, arising from the addition of new words to an existing melody, may transform its sequence of intervals and even its rhythm. Thus, as in 6.1.0., a musical variation is precipitated by a non-musical process.

6.4.0. The harmonic equivalent of any melody may be sung as the melody, either alone or with its own new harmonic equivalent, or with the original melody accompanying it in a subordinate role (see Figure 3). This is not a straightforward transposition, nor necessarily a regular process.

6.4.1. Just as several different melodies may be described as tshikona (see Blacking 1967b:177), so a melody's pattern of intervals may be transformed by selection of a different mode and/or different tones harmonically associated with the 'original' mode.

6.4.2. The melodic, tonal and harmonic patterns of many songs are transformations of the music of tshikona, the national dance for reed-pipes tuned to a heptatonic scale (cf. 6.1.0.).