Students will complete the first of two online tests that will be accessible through the unit’s iLearn site during Week 4 of the semester. The test will be open for the whole of Week 4, from 12.05am on Monday August 25^th, to 11.55pm on Friday 29^th.

Access and Process

Students can access the test through a portal in the Week 4 topic block of iLearn. Each student has three hours of access time to the test. You can save your progress at any point and return to it later, but please note that your time does not “pause” while you are logged out. Your access time will expire three hours after you have first logged in.

When you have completed all questions, then you may hit the “submit” button. Please be aware that once you have hit “submit”, you cannot re-enter the test.

Content

The test consists of 40 multiple-choice questions, each with four possible answers. Each question pertains to the unit’s required readings and/or lecture material from Weeks 1-3. The questions are drawn randomly from a large question bank, so no two students will necessarily see the same questions in the same order. The multiple choice answers will also be ordered randomly.

Questions are set in five categories, being:

• General

• Event, Cognition, Symbolism

• Establishing a Language

• Theory and Notation

• Rhythm Archetypes

All but “General” are chapter or section headings within your required reading for Week 1 (Lewis 2012), so you are advised to familiarise yourself with that text.

Marking

The quiz marks itself automatically, according to whether or not you have selected the correct answer to each question (and there is only one correct answer in each case). You will be given your result immediately upon completing the quiz (i.e. upon hitting the “submit” button). Each question is worth 0.25 marks, so the 40 questions add up to 10 marks – which accords to the 10% weighting of the assessment task in the unit.

Criteria for Assessment

• Correct answers to questions.

Your task is to transcribe a series of rhythm patterns that will be given to you each week, from Weeks 2 to 11 of the semester. By the end of the semester you will therefore have a portfolio of 10 transcriptions.

You will be presented with a different rhythm pattern (delivered aurally) in each lecture during this period, and you are asked to make a transcription on the spot and hand it to you lecturer immediately. The patterns given to you will be comparatively simple at the beginning of the semester, but will increase in complexity throughout the semester, as your aural skills and rhythmic understanding develop.

You may use any system of notation that you choose for each week’s transcription. You may use conventional notation, any system that is presented to you during the course of the unit, or that you have encountered in your further research, or you may devise your own system. The most important requirement is that your transcription in each case accurately reflects the critical features and characteristics of the given rhythm pattern, in accordance with the terms and guidelines given to you in the unit’s lecture material. It should also be clear and easy to interpret.

Your transcription each week will necessarily be hand-written/drawn, although you may choose to do it on music manuscript paper, lined writing paper, or a blank white sheet. Please ensure, however, that you present each weekly submission on a single page of A4 paper with your name on it. This will allow your lecturer to scan each week’s submission, and present you with scanned copies of your marked work each week. You will then be able to build these returns into a portfolio through which you can track your own development through the semester.

Your lecturer will collect your submissions in each week’s lecture, and will hand them back the following week, marked, and with a brief explanation of correct and incorrect interpretations. Your lecturer will also send you scans of your each week’s submission, both marked and unmarked, for your portfolio (provided you submit each week on a single page of A4, for ease of scanning).

Each week’s exercise will be marked out of 10, adding up to a mark out of 100 for the semester’s portfolio. That marked will be reduced to a final mark out of 20 for the weighting of the assessment task within the unit.

Criteria for Assessment

• Accuracy of representation with regard to the musical example notated
• Effectiveness of the notation in communicating the important musical qualities, including easiness to read

Topic: Select two African drumming cultures to discuss. One of these cultures must be one that the unit directly addresses in the lecture material (i.e. Ga kpanlogo, Ashanti adowa, Ewe or Dagbamba), the second can be any of your choice – it may or may not be from the unit material. (But please ensure that your choice is a drumming culture, and that it is from Africa. Consult the Unit Convenor if you are in any doubt.)

Compare and contrast these drumming cultures, discussing their musical similarities and differences. Make reference to the central terms and concepts addressed in the unit lecture material and required readings that address your chosen topics. Where different authors use conflicting terminology, demonstrate your understanding by referring matters back to the language established in the unit. Use notated examples to support your arguments. Make reference also to the social significance of the drumming and drummers within each culture, and to any extra-musical features of the cultures that interact significantly with the drumming.

This is a research essay, which means that you are required to do your own research for it. Your research will almost certainly take you outside areas directly addressed in the unit material, and that is the point of a research essay. The unit cannot possibly cover all there is to know, so by conducting research for this essay, you will gain a broader perspective than the unit material alone can give you. Furthermore, the nature of the material you find may vary widely according to the specific cultures that you choose to research. For this reason, I do not define the essay topic too closely, as that may place inconvenient limitations upon your research. Do remember, however, that this is first and foremost a music unit. Sociological issues are also important, but you must address them in the context of their relevance to the music.

If you intend to conduct internet research for this essay, please first read the document “Guidelines for Internet Research” that is available on iLearn, and please note the list of proscribed websites in that document. Please ensure that the internet sources you use do not outnumber your text sources. (And note that a journal article accessed through JSTOR is a text source; it has been published in a journal at some time. The internet is not where such articles are based, it’s only how you access them.)

Please also read the document “How to Write an Essay” that is available on iLearn. Make sure that you understand the point of writing your essay, and the principles and processes that should guide you.

Please ensure that you understand the meaning of plagiarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty. The University’s policy on academic honesty can be seen at: http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html.

Some basic DO-NOTs for this essay:

• Please do not write about Ba’Aka vocal polyphony – that is an African vocal tradition, not an African drumming tradition.
• Please do not write about Brazilian bata drumming – that is a South American drumming tradition, not an African drumming tradition.
• Please do not write about the djembe – that is an African drum, not an African drumming tradition.

Criteria for Assessment

• Demonstrated understanding of the musical characteristics of your chosen drumming cultures
• Demonstrated understanding of the relevant concepts and terms of reference given in the unit’s lecture material
• Appropriate and interesting discussions of social significance and extra-musical considerations
• Evidence of engagement with the relevant required readings, and further support readings, to support your ideas
• Evidence of having read and understood the documents “Guidelines for Internet Research” and “How to Write an Essay”
• Clarity of expression, correct referencing and spelling

Students will complete the second of two online tests that will be accessible through the unit’s iLearn site during Week 12 of the semester. The test will be open for the whole of Week 12, from 12.05am on Monday November 3^rd, to 11.55pm on Friday 7^th.

Access and Process

Students can access the test through a portal in the Week 12 topic block of iLearn. Each student has three hours of access time to the test. You can save your progress at any point and return to it later, but please note that your time does not “pause” while you are logged out. Your access time will expire three hours after you have first logged in.

When you have completed all questions, then you may hit the “submit” button. Please be aware that once you have hit “submit”, you cannot re-enter the test.

Content

The test consists of 40 multiple-choice questions, each with four possible answers. Each question pertains to the unit’s required readings and/or lecture material from Weeks 4-11. The questions are drawn randomly from a large question bank, so no two students will necessarily see the same questions in the same order. The multiple choice answers will also be ordered randomly.

Questions are set in five categories, being:

• Ga kpanlogo

• Ashanti adowa

• Ewe drumming

• Dagbamba drumming

• Advanced rhythmic concepts (including polyrhythm, polymetre and more)

Marking

The quiz marks itself automatically, according to whether or not you have selected the correct answer to each question (and there is only one correct answer in each case). You will be given your result immediately upon completing the quiz (i.e. upon hitting the “submit” button). Each question is worth 0.25 marks, so the 40 questions add up to 10 marks – which accords to the 10% weighting of the assessment task in the unit.

Criteria for Assessment

• Correct answers to questions.

Your task is to perform a selection of set parts from the repertoire studied during the unit, in an ensemble context. Two parts from different drumming traditions will be nominated as the assessment parts, and all students will be assessed on the same two parts. During the assessment performance, students will also make up the relevant ensembles around the assessment part, so as to create a musical context for them. Each student will be expected to sustain each selected part in performance for about three minutes.

The choice of assessment parts will be made late in the semester, when the general progress of the class can be evaluated, and appropriate parts chosen. Students will be notified in Week 13 of the parts chosen for assessment.

Schedule: This exercise will be conducted in Exam Week, the week following the final lecture of the semester. The exact date and time will be set and advised by the Examinations Unit. (Please note, this assessment is not an “exam”, but it is scheduled through the Examinations Unit in order to avoid clashes of students’ time with other exams.)

Procedure: The class is arranged so that up to 6 students at a time play the assessment part, while other students form the relevant ensembles around them. In this way we run each assessment part in sections, until all students have performed each part. I video these performances so that, on the day, I can concentrate on managing the procedure, rather than on assessing you on the spot. I then assess you all from the video, which allows me to make detailed observations and give you constructive feedback. If anybody has any problems at all with being videoed for this assessment, please advise me as soon as possible so that we can work out alternative arrangements for your assessment.

Criteria for Assessment

• Rhythmic accuracy and fluency in the execution of the given parts
• Correct and appropriate techniques, including hand/sticking structure, hand/sticking shapes and positions, sound and pitch qualities
• Appropriate rhythmic relationships of the performed parts to the accompanying parts within the ensemble