o i t a c i d e iful, aut e b e h t o T e r d l i h c t brillia, d o y S e of Miathe Keya. 2
A Musical Jourey to Keya How It All Started I am, amog other thigs, a childre s miister at First Uited Methodist Church (FUMC) i Fort Worth, Texas. From time to time a missioary would come speak to our cogregatio about a recet missio trip to Africa. We would hear stories of orphas, disease, ad third-world poverty. But there were always stories of hope, too, ad of how people could make a differece. Every time I would hear those stories, I would shake my head ad thik, I ought to go ad do somethig! But the a few weeks would go by, ad I would come up with all the reasos why I could t go. Oe summer aother missioary came ad spoke. I do t kow if I d reached some emotioal critical mass, but somethig iside me said, Eough. I m goig. That s all there is to it! I met with our church s director of outreach, Nacy Tully. I told her that I wated to go to Africa, but I did t kow where, ad I did t kow what I d do. First we talked about what I could do. Well, I could t cure diseases or eradicate huger or poverty. Oe of the best thigs Nacy did was to ecourage me to thik about my gifts what I kow how to do well. That, she said, was how I could best make a differece. Well, I kow music, ad I kow kids. That was the first spark of what would later become the Music Academy, Miathee Syod. The ext thig Nacy did was to help me focus. A lot of people at FUMC were feelig ispired to do somethig i Africa, ad like me, they were overwhelmed by the scope of it all. Africa is a eormous cotiet with may diverse coutries, each with uique ad very real eeds. Nacy suggested that we all focus o oe particular coutry ad o oe area withi that coutry. We would t be able to do everythig for everybody, but perhaps we could make a differece for some. She put me i cotact with aiel ad Stella Mwiti, a couple who were livig ad studyig i Fort Worth for a year. aiel ad Stella are from the Meru regio i Keya, where they serve the Keya Methodist Church. I Keya, the Methodist Church is divided ito may regioal cofereces called syods, ad each syod is made up of about 150 churches. Both aiel ad Stella serve the Miathee Syod, the ceter of which is the small rural village of Kiajai. The head of Miathee was Bishop Joh Kobia Ataya. He, aiel, ad Stella loved the idea of a music academy, ad together we helped shape what it was to become. The music academy would be for sixty childre betwee the ages of eight ad twelve. (I would later lear the sigificace of the umber sixty.) It would take place over te days i August. Schoolchildre i Keya get three moths off from school ecember, April, ad August ad August was the moth that worked the best for Keyas ad Americas alike. Followig were the primary goals of that first music academy: 1. Form a sixty-voice choir of childre from throughout the area that could sig for cocerts, services, festivals, ad other special gatherigs. 2. Teach ad reiforce vocal health ad solid vocal techique. May of the childre sig with a pushed, throaty soud. While this makes for a very excitig soud, it has log-term side effects o the voice. We wated to teach the childre to keep the soud excitig, yet healthy ad well-supported. 3. Teach music readig ad writig, icludig rhythmic dictatio, solfège, ote ames, ad music termiology. 4. Share some of the most recet research i music educatio with the teachers ad choir directors there. 5. Eable the teachers ad childre to cotiue their musical growth by had deliverig dozes of music books, music games, recorders, guitars, ad other materials. 5
Lillia Nkirote, a te-year-old girl i the music academy, taught me this sog about a silly bird. This is oe of the more popular sogs i the area of Keya where we were teachig. Childre ad adults alike ca sig it i its etirety. o t be itimidated by the Kimeru lyrics. This sog has a lot of repetitio. This sog was origially sug to me i E major. I raised it to major so that it could easily be played o the recorder. q = 104 & # 4 Ka - Sil - yo-ly lit - tle Kayoi Kaja The Silly Bird ja, bird, sil - yo-ly lit - Keya Folk Sog As sug by Lillia Nkirote, age te tle ja, wi - bird fell dow re as & # œ j œ thi it a mi - be-ga the - to ko. laugh. Ka - The 3 œ j œ u-ti a-pol - so - o - re, gize, the 3 & # ra - bird ra - u - ga bird would- t u-ga would- t u-ti a-pol - so - o - gize. re, u - ti Oh, bird, so - wher - re ev - wa - ti - er have da you kuu. bee? & # œ œ Nda ti - I ve bee da scat - i-ru - ri, ter-ig seeds, Nda I ve ti - bee da scat - i-ru - ri, ku - ra - ter-ig seeds through-out ga - the & # ia mbi - ri - mar - ket-place gi - ci. to - day. Ooh Oh, mbi - ri - gi - ci, so ma - y seeds, ooh oh, mi - ri - gi - ci so ma - y seeds, kabut mu-kwa - I have 10 & # œ cii brought re - a bas - me - ket ra back ki - that s tha - full ti - of œ e ki - cii, fruits to make ki - cii, ki - cii. a-meds, ki - cii.
Prouciatio uide Kayoi kaja, kayoi kaja, kawire thi a mitheko. kah-nyoh-ee kah-njah kah-nyoh-ee kah-njah kah-wee-reh thee ah mee-theh-koh Silly little bird, silly little bird fell dow as it bega to laugh. Karauga uti sore, karauga uti sore, kah-rah-oo-gah OO-tee SOH-reh kah-rah-oo-gah OO-tee SOH-reh The bird would t apologize, the bird would t apologize. uti sore watida kuu. OO-tee SOH-reh wah-tee-dah koo Oh, bird, wherever have you bee? Nda tida iruri, Nda tida iruri, kuragaia mbirigici. dah TEE-dah ee-roo-ree dah TEE-dah ee-roo-ree koo-rah-gah-nyah mbee-ree-hee-shee I ve bee scatterig seeds, I ve bee scatterig seeds throughout the marketplace today. Ooh mbirigici, ooh mbirigici kamukwacii karemera oh mbee-ree-hee-shee oh mbee-ree-hee-shee kah-moo-kwah-shee kah-reh-meh-rah kithatie kicii, kicii, kicii. kee-thah-tee-eh kee-nshee kee-nshee kee-nshee Oh, so may seeds, oh, so may seeds, but I have brought a basket back that s full of fruits to make ameds, kicii. ood itoatio is t about tricks, it s about eergy. Betwee our two trips, we worked with the childre for five ad a half hours for fiftee days ad I ca cout o oe had the total umber of times that the childre ever sag flat! Keep i mid that we did t have ay accompayig istrumets, save for a guitar to play chords for oe sog. Otherwise, the oly pitched istrumet that we used was a teor recorder to give startig pitches. The childre simply did t go flat. We did t have to do the whole raise your eyebrows bit or tell ayoe, Big steps up ad little steps dow. Fast or slow, loud or soft, as log as the eergy was there, the itoatio was there. Oe of our biggest resposibilities as teachers was to do everythig we could thik of to keep the eergy level up. We kept thigs movig alog without rushig. We had frequet breaks. We allowed, ad ecouraged, the childre to move. We kept the sogs ad music activities varied. We had fu. We made time to laugh ad play. We stayed positive. We made the rehearsal space a safe place where the childre could try ew thigs ad make mistakes free from judgmet. Whe we came to the ed of the last sessio each day, the kids wated to keep goig. 11
Keya Rhythms Rhythm is a vital elemet i Keya music. While the drummig is t as elaborate as it is i may West Africa cultures, it is still a importat presece i ritual, sog, ad dace. I fact, oe of the aspects of Keya music that I fid amazig is how much ca be doe with relatively few istrumets. We atteded may daces, choral presetatios, ad worship services where oe perso, playig a sigle, modest drum, souded like a etire percussio esemble. Icluded here are three of the basic rhythms we heard may times while i Keya. Keya Rhythm for Oe rum Cosider havig oe studet play this rhythm to accompay the sigig of oe of the sogs i this collectio. h = 120 side of drum with stick 2 Had rum œ œ ceter of drumhead with had œ J œ J œ œ œ You could also teach this rhythm to the etire group usig body percussio. Pat the chest to serve as the ceter of the drumhead. Pat the tummy for the side of the drum. Keya Rhythm for Two Istrumets This rhythm is i but still leads off with that characteristic dotted patter heard all over the regio. (After returig to the Uited States, it took me two weeks to get that dotted rhythm out of my head!) Three-four time was ot very commo i our experieces i Keya. But it did make a occasioal appearace, ofte as a sectio withi the cotext of a loger sog i time. Shakers q = 120 4 3 Had rum 4 3 œ œ œ œ ivide the studets ito two groups to play the differet parts. Start this rhythm by havig the studets with the shakers play the steady pulse. Ecourage the studets to keep the beat ice ad eve. o t speed up or slow dow. The ivite the studets with the drums to play their rhythm. Oce agai, remid the studets ot to rush. 29
Makig a Muriempe A muriempe is a medium-size drum that is coe shaped ad has oe drumhead. The body of the drum is a thi woode shell, ad the head is made of aimal ski. It is played with oe stick ad oe had. These istructios are for a small versio of the drum. To make oe small muriempe, you will eed: oe large plastic cup (like the souveir cup you might get at a sportig evet) oe medium-size latex balloo (approximately sixtee iches) scissors colored duct tape colored electrical tape a hacksaw or utility kife Process 1. Use the hacksaw or utility kife to cut off the bottom of the plastic cup. You should have a coe-shaped plastic body that is ope at both eds. 2. Use the colored duct tape to cover up the cut edge ad make it safe. 3. Next, cover the etire outside of the cup with a layer of duct tape. uct tape comes i may differet colors, eve camouflage. 4. Now use a differet color of electrical tape to make a desig over the layer of duct tape. The desig ca be as simple as stripes, rigs, or a zigzag patter. By the way, tape works so much better tha tryig to cover the cup with costructio paper. Ad it s a lot less messy tha paitig. 5. Next, iflate the balloo to its full capacity, the let the air out. This will stretch the balloo. 6. Cut the top 60 percet off the balloo. This will be the drumhead. 7. Stretch the drumhead over the top ed of the cup. Because the balloo material is pretty strog, ad some souveir cups ca be made of pretty thi plastic, the cup may warp at first. If you eve out the tesio all the way aroud, the cup should retur to its circular shape. You do ot eed to faste the drumhead with tape. The tesio aloe is eough to hold it i place. Ad remember, the drumhead is a cut-up balloo. It wo t last forever. If the drumhead is t taped to the cup, it will be easier to replace whe it breaks. The tighter you make the drumhead, the higher the pitch will be. You ca play the drum with hads aloe. Or you ca play with a bare had o the drumhead ad a drumstick o the side. A usharpeed pecil with a big rubber eraser o the ed makes a ice, ad certaily easy-to-fid, drumstick. For the best soud, the drum should be lifted off the groud ad either held i oe s lap or placed o a drum stad of sorts. You ca make larger drums usig aythig from plastic trash cas to plastic buckets. The bigger the drum body, the bigger the balloo eeds to be. I made a drum usig a plastic Hallowee cady bucket as the body, ad I eeded a thirty-six-ich balloo for the drumhead. This is a easy ad fu activity to do with your studets. However, I recommed cuttig all the cups yourself i advace, as well as sealig off the cut edges with tape. Ad be aware that some studets may have latex allergies. Oe way to adapt is to use the duct tape to fashio a drumhead. You ca lay pieces of tape over the top of the cup util you have completely covered the opeig. If you make a drumhead this way, I do recommed securig it i place with a rig of tape all the way aroud the top of the cup o the side. 31