Yiri - Koko section B

Instrumentation:

• The following 3 instruments are heard in Koko's 'Yiri':

• The djembe - a drum that is played with the hands.

• The Balafon - it's an instrument similar to the xylophone but is made up of wooden bars which are all tuned to different pitches.

• The Talking Drum - a drum played with a hooked stick. Talking drums can be used to imitate speech by creating different slides and pitches.

• The musicians also sing and are split into a soloist singer and a chorus.

Structure:

The piece is in 3 different sections:

• The introduction, in which the Balafon plays a solo using tremolo(very quick repetition of a single note).

• The main section which consists of the drums playing an ostinato and a strong clear pulse. Choruses and Balafon solos alternate in this section and in the very middle there is a vocal solo in which call-and-response is used.

• The coda, in which a short phrase for Balafon is played 5 times but varied slightly each time.

• The drum ostinato, first heard in the main section, is interrupted by rests and a bell is sounded to mark the end of the piece.

Melody:

• The balafons play short patterns that fall from high to low and tend to emphasise the notes G♭ and D♭.

• During the choruses, the group sings together and, much like the balofon, they sing short, falling phrases that emphasise the G♭ and D♭ notes.

Rhythm, Metre and Tempo:

• The main metre is 4/4, although there are a couple of exceptions.

• After the introduction, the rest of the piece stays at a steady pulse.

• Syncopation is used frequently throughout, especially in the vocals and balafon parts.

• Triplets are used by the vocal soloist.

• During one of the vocal solos the balafons create cross-rhythms by playing semi-quavers in    groups of 3.

• Rhythmic ostinatos are created by the drums and continue throughout the whole piece. The ostinato consists of a quaver and then 2 semi-quavers that are repeated.

Texture:

• The majority of the piece has a layered texture, however the introduction has a monophonic texture.

• Occasional heterophonic textures are created, for example, when the two balafons play different versions of the same tune simultaneously

Dynamics:

• There is very little variation in dynamics in Yiri.

Harmony and Tonality:

• Yiri is in the key of G♭ Major.

• Most of the music is hexatonic (based on a 6 note scale).