Morris, Bobbi, 6th Grade Music

South of the Sahara

Traditional Instruments

Idiophones (main parts vibrate)

Dawuro - one of many types of single iron bells shaped like a curled up leaf; played with a metal beater
Gankogui - metal double bell found throughout West Africa; played with a wooden stick
Thumb Piano or Mbira (also known as sansa or kalimba) - a hand-held hollow box of board with metal tongues plucked with thumbs; often played inside a large gourd resonator; may have bottle caps or other metal attached to produce a buzzing sound
Xylophone - wooden keys played with mallets; may have gourd resonators under each key
Shekere - a medium-sized calabash gourd which has outer netting with attached seeds or shells
Slit Drums or log drums - also known as slit gongs are large hollow logs played with large wooden beaters; they are the ancient relatives of the modern wood block or tongue drums.

Membranophones (membrane vibrates)

SOGO a barrel drum found among the Ewe people of Ghana; played with hands or sticks
Frame Drums - may be round or rectangular; played with the hand
Djembe -  a goblet-shaped drum played throughout West Africa

Aerophones (air column vibrates)

Natural Horn - made from an animal horn; blown like a trumpet
Flute- natural wooden flutes of all sorts are played throughout Africa. (The flute comes in around the 45 second mark.  What other instruments is featured?)
Panpipes - a bundle of reeds or hollow wooden tubes of graduated lengths; played by blowing over the top

Chordophones (string(s) vibrate)

Musical Bow Story- a single stringed instrument; played by plucking or hitting the string with a stick; often with an attached gourd resonator
Tube Zither - strings (may be from the body of the tube) around a hollow wooden tube
Arched Harp - one of many types of stringed harp-like instruments found throughout part of Africa; plucked