Speak to the Rhythm

Speak to the Rhythm is written for intermediate and advanced level students. It is inspired by rhythms and call and response traditions found in the music and dance of the Ewe people from the Volta region of Ghana, West Africa, as well as rhythmic forms found in Indian classical music. It also has elements of linear and vertical choral writing found in the works of Palestrina and Bach, respectively. The piece includes the clapping of an Atsia (meaning style in the Ewe language) bell pattern that can be felt in both a 6 beat cycle and a 4 beat cycle. The piece ends with a tihai (a thrice-repeated rhythmic phrase in an overlapping meter that is used to end a section or conclude a piece in Indian classical music).