UKS2: Africa Theme 2: Land of Diversity

UKS2: Africa Theme 2: Land of Diversity

Session 9: Music Roots Music / Session 9a: Kye Kye Kule Music
Range and Breadth: Mus:5e Study a range of live and recorded music from different cultures. / Range and Breadth:Mus:5e Study a range of live and recorded music from different cultures.
PoS / Music: Listening, and applying knowledge & understanding / PoS / Music:Controlling sounds through singing and playing
Objectives / Listen to and discuss a range of music from the African continent, 5e Experience a range of live and recorded music from different times and cultures, 4d Know how time and place can influence the way music is created, performed and heard. / Objectives / Learn a Ghanaian song by heart, 1a Sing songs, in unison and two parts, with clear diction, control of pitch, a sense of phrase and musical expression. 1b Play tuned and untuned instruments with control and rhythmic accuracy. 2b Explore, choose, combine and organise musical ideas within musical structures.
Whole class teaching:
Find out what chn already understand by the term African music. What instruments/ artists do they think of? Scribe these on f/c. Explain that Africa is a vast continent and that there is a huge variety of musical styles and traditions within it. Show the ethnomusicological map (session resources, or on Wikipedia) showing how parts of Africa have common musical features. Tell them that Western music has many of its roots in Africa, including rap, hip-hop, the blues and jazz. Tell chn that they are going to hear 4 excerpts of music today, and they will need to listen hard to decipher which instruments they can hear, and draw/ write them on their sheet (see session resources). They could also make note of any other reflections on the extract they hear.
There is a list of suggested artists/tracks in session resources that you will need to have downloaded, or find on You will need one from each of the four main regions – North, South, East & West Africa (include one by Toumani Diabate playing the kora if possible). / Whole class teaching:
Recap briefly on previous session. Explain that today we are going to learn a song from West Africa (Ghana), which is a ‘call and response’ song. Tell them that this style of song is typical of the region and this form is used in a lot of Western music. Warm up by using call and response, the children copying you as you call out nonsense sounds and encourage them to call them back. This usually helps chn to lose their inhibitions!
Teach Kye Kye Kule line by line (seesession resources). There is a version of this on that you will need to have looked at beforehand, or another on (it is one of the 3 songs introduced in the online ‘lesson’). Explain that it is an action song designed for helping younger chn learn the parts of the body. Sing through a couple of times with you leading, then a child might like to do the call for others to respond. Add in actions and sing through again. Now introduce a rhythm on a djembe or similar drum: a good one is 1-2-345,1-2-345, and practise the song using volunteers to keep the rhythm going throughout (you might have 5 or 6 drums to accompany)
Easy/Medium/Hard: Play approx 2 minutes of each piece of music, allowing a short pause between each for them to finish drawings/ notes and briefly share their thoughts with a partner, before moving on to the next. Repeat this (maybe playing each extract for a shorter time) and allow them to add to their drawings or simply listen second time around.
Bring the class together to discuss the music. They could compare their drawings/ notes and discuss any differences in what instruments they heard and perceptions of each piece. Listen to extracts one last time, discussing what aspects of the music they like/ dislike and why, the mood of the piece and the pace. / Easy/Medium/Hard:
Use a class set of untuned percussion instruments. Divide the class into groups of 5 or 6 and ask them to devise a different rhythm to accompany Kye Kye Kule. Give them a few minutes to rehearse their rhythms and song in their groups. Encourage them to use different parts of their instrument/ hand to vary the sounds they produce.
Some chn might want to notate this rhythm in some form, but this is not a requirement, and depends on the class’ prior experience of notation.
Plenary / Tell them that one extract was from West Africa, a region particularly rich in music. Show them a picture of the kora (played by Toumani Diabate-session resources), explain that it is made of a hollowed-out gourd with numerous strings. / Plenary / Choose two groups at a time to perform their rhythm whilst the audience sing (with you or a child leading the ‘call’) Forewarn them that they must concentrate hard on their own rhythm so that they are not distracted by the other groups different one. Note how different rhythms fit together.