African Yoruba Drumming

African Yoruba Drumming Free Online Research Papers There are many things that set Yoruba drumming and Shona mbira music apart from one another. Most plainly of which is the sound that each produces. Typically, Yoruba drumming consists of a section of drummers playing various sizes, shapes and styles of drums, and is usually accompanied by vocalists. The mbira is a pitch and tone producing instrument that is plucked, rather than a percussive instrument that is struck or beat. Therefore, Mbira music is almost never accompanied by anything other than another mbria. However, the dundun drum itself is widely known for it’s ability to produce a wide range of pitches, also known as the â€Å"talking drum†. The use of dundun drums in African culture plays an important role, due to its close relationship with the African language of the Yoruba people. Because the African language is tonal, the dundun drum imitates the speech patterns of the language when it is played, hence the nickname â€Å"talking drum†. In the Eegun oje, a Yoruba masquarade, the dance is usually accompanied by bata, an ensemble of conically-shaped, double-headed membrane drums, and one of Yoruba’s most ancient instrumental ensembles. A bata ensemble consists of four drums: the iyaalu (the mother drum), and three supporting drums (the omele abo, the omele ako, and the kudi). The omele ako and the kudi often play very repetitive patterns and rhythms, while the omele abo often engages in dialogue with the iyaalu. The iyaalu is played by a master drummer, whose text-based improvisations are accompanied by the ostinato patterns of the supporting drums (Omojola, 2005, par. 2). Yoruba drumming is most often performed during rituals, or masquerade dances, in which a number of dancers dance to rhythmic cues given to them by the master drummer, and those not dancing often partake in a call-and-response style of vocal singing. However, vocals are perceived to be more of an accompaniment to the more dominant drumming. The texts of the songs were often sung as self-praise to motivate the dancers into action. Although many masquerades are used to represent the ancestor spirits of the Yoruba people, the Eegun oje is not. It is used plainly for entertainment. The representation or worship of ancestor spirits in song is one of the few things that Shona mbira music shares as a similarity. The Shona people have strong beliefs in life after death, in the sense that when death occurs, the spirit of the loved one transitions to another plane of existence. It is important to the Shona people that when this occurs, they stay in close communication with the deceased, in order to guide the spirits away from danger. They believe that the music of the mbira provides the most important means of communication to these spirits. The mbira consists of three rows of different sized metal strips, attached to a wooden resonator that are plucked to create different pitches. Cowry shells or bottle caps are also attached to the box, causing them to vibrate when a metal strip is plucked. One of the most important types of mbiras is the mbira davadzimu. It is an instrument closely associated with spirit possession ceremonies, known as the bira. In a bira ceremony, the mbria is played to create an open line of communication between the living and the dead. Although both the Yoruba and the Shona have affiliations with the spirit world, the difference is that the Shona use music to actively communicate with the dead, whereas the Yoruba typically just use music to worship spirits and gods in rituals and masquerades. Mbiras are typically played by themselves, indoors, but can also be played outdoors with the addition of a deze, a calabash resonator used for amplification. It is also not uncommon for Mbria players to play along with other Mbira players, or with the help of shakers and light percussion sections. In comparison to the four different drums sections used in the Eegun oje, there are typically two parts in mbria music: a leader (kushaura) and a follower (kutsinhera). Typically these parts are played by two different players, but they can also be played by a single, virtuoso mbira player. References: Omojola, B. (2005). Exploring the landscape of african music. OnMusic of the World. Retrieved January 26, 2009, from connect4education.org/Serf/ Default.aspx?(aa0unv55grguqz55zizmyd55) (bhnbf545znprvprbp0c0aj45)Event16. Research Papers on African Yoruba DrummingHip-Hop is ArtWhere Wild and West MeetComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoBringing Democracy to AfricaAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementThe Spring and AutumnThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andThree Concepts of PsychodynamicAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe

Presidents and Vice Presidents - How They Are Elected

Presidents and Vice Presidents - How They Are Elected The president and vice president of the United States campaign together and are elected as a team and not individually following the adoption of the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was drafted to prevent the nations two highest elected officials from being from opposing political parties. The amendment made it more difficult, but not impossible, for voters to elect members of two political parties president and vice president. Candidates for president and vice president have appeared together on the same ticket since the election of 1804, the year the 12th Amendment was ratified. Prior to the adoption of the constitutional amendment, the office of vice president was awarded to the presidential candidate who won the second-largest number of votes, regardless of which political party he represented. In the presidential election of 1796, for example, voters chose John Adams, a Federalist, to be president. Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, was the runner-up in the vote count and thus became vice president to Adams. How a President and Vice President Could Be From Different Parties Still, theres nothing in the U.S. Constitution, particularly  the 12th Amendment, that prevents a  Republican from choosing a Democratic running mate or a Democrat from choosing a Green Party politician as her vice presidential candidate.  In fact, one of the nations modern-day presidential nominees came very close to selecting a running mate who wasnt from his own party. Still, it would be extremely difficult for a president to win an election in today’s hyperpartisan political climate with a running mate from an opposing party.   How could it happen? How could the United States end up with a Republican president and a Democratic vice president, or vice-versa?  Its  important to understand, first, that presidential and vice presidential candidates run together on the same ticket. Voters do not elect them separately but as a team. Voters choose presidents primarily based on their party affiliation, and their running mates typically are only minor factors in the decision-making process. So, in theory, the most obvious way for there to be a president and vice president from opposing political parties is for them to run on the same ticket.  What makes such a scenario unlikely, though, is the damage the candidate would sustain from members and voters of his party. Republican John McCain, for example, withered from the â€Å"outrage† of Christian conservatives when they found out he was leaning toward asking U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, a pro-abortion rights Democrat who left the party and became an independent. Theres one other way the U.S. could end up with a president and vice president could end up from opposing parties: in the case of an electoral tie where both presidential candidates receive fewer than the 270 electoral votes needed to win. In that case, the House of Representatives would choose the president and the Senate would choose the vice president. If the chambers are controlled by different parties, they would likely pick two people from opposing parties to serve in the White House. Why It's Unlikely thePresident and Vice President Would Be From Different Parties Sidney M. Milkis and Michael Nelson, the authors of The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776–2014, describe a â€Å"new emphasis on loyalty and competence and the new care invested in the selection process† as a reason presidential nominees choose a running mate with similar positions from the same party. â€Å"The modern era has been marked by an almost complete absence of ideologically opposed running mates, and those vice-presidential candidates who have differed on the issues with the head of the ticket have hastened to gloss over past disagreements and deny that any exist in the present.† What the Constitution Says Before the adoption of the 12th Amendment in 1804, voters chose presidents and vice presidents separately. When a president and vice  president were from opposing parties, as Vice President Thomas Jefferson and President John Adams were in the late 1700s, many thought the split provided a system of checks and balances just within the  executive branch.   According to the National Constitution Center, though: The presidential candidate who received the most electoral votes won the presidency; the runner-up became the vice president. In 1796, this meant that the president and the vice president were from different parties and had different political views, making governance more difficult. The adoption of Amendment XII solved this problem by allowing each party to nominate their team for president and vice president. Support for Electing Presidents and Vice Presidents Separately States could, in fact, allow separate votes for a president and vice president. But all of them now unify the two candidates on one ticket on their ballots. Vikram David Amar, a law professor at the University of California at Davis, wrote: â€Å"Why are voters denied the chance to vote for a president of one party and a vice president of the other? After all, voters often split their votes in other ways: between a president of one party and a House member or senator of the other; between federal representatives of one party and state representatives of the other.†

Ecology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ecology - Essay Example such as inorganic aspects (carbon, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, water), organic compounds (protein, carbohydrates, lipids), climatic factors (temperature, moisture, light, topography), producers (plants), macro consumers and micro consumers (Unit 3: Ecosystems, 2004, p.56). Ecosystem is maintained by cycling nutrients and energy derived from the external sources. There are three levels in the ecosystem, where the first trophic level consists of the primary producers, that is, some bacteria, algae and plants. The herbivores that feed on the primary source like plants comprise the second trophic level and the third trophic level consists of the predators that consume the herbivores. Furthermore, the ecosystem also consists of another group called decomposers, which include worms, insects, bacteria, fungi, molds etc that â€Å"breakdown† the dead decaying substances, thus returning the nutrients to the soil (Unit 4: Ecosystems, n.d., p. 8). The gross primary productivity (GPP) of an ecosystem is the total amount of organic matter produced through photosynthesis, whereas the net primary productivity (NPP) refers to the energy that is present for plant growth â€Å"subtracting’ the amount that plant uses for respiration (9). In order to conduct detailed analysis of the ecosystem, one must first have a clear idea about ecosystem boundaries. The whole earth can be considered as an ecosystem because all things interact with each on earth. The ecosystem â€Å"distributed† regionally and globally can be identified by the common basic structural form (2 – Ecosystems and Their Services, n.d., p. 51). According to the analysis done by MA (Mill ennium Ecosystem Assessment), â€Å"10 categories† were made, namely, forest, island, dryland, polar, coastal, marine, inland water, mountain, cultivated and urban. These categories on their own cannot be considered as an ecosystem, but each category consists of many ecosystems, and the characteristic feature of all ecosystems are highly

Personal Legend Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal Legend - Essay Example Discovering and realizing one’s purpose in life and hence his or her legend results in the development of enthusiasm to achieve it (Coelho 8). Following your dreams brings happiness. Nevertheless, although the path is defined, it is loaded with trails that offer teachings and give important life lessons. As such, one requires a lot of courage, self determination and discipline. I would like to give an illustration of my personal legend whilst I explain the interferences to my path and how I dealt with them. Ever since I was little, I have always been fascinated by the FBI. This made me develop a legend of wanting to become a Special Agent with the bureau. As a child playing cops and robbers, I always wanted to be a cop and always protested when other kids wanted me to play the robber. To me the game meant more than just that. I felt I was really an agent of the law making arrests. I believe there is no better way of being a good citizen of this great country than being the one who enforces the constitution. This, coupled with the inspiration that was my grandfather, who was a federal agent at the time meant it did not take long for me realize my life’s purpose. In the first grade when we were asked what we wanted to do when we grew up, some of my classmates said teachers, doctors, engineers and other professions. The teacher was surprised when I drew a picture of me holding a gun arresting a criminal with the caption, â€Å"when I grow up I want to join the FBI.† Having a legend does not mean that one will automatically attain his or her goals as we have to lead lives through space and not inside it meaning we have to move (Ingold 148). Ever since I realized my legend, I have endeavored to better myself to become an agent in the bureau. Before I reached my teens, I used to think that all I had to do to become an agent is to arrest â€Å"bad guys† and carry a gun. My knowledge of the profession was based on the television series. However, my

What is on the Horizon for Apple Research Paper

What is on the Horizon for Apple - Research Paper Example Users were given choice to buy single songs instead of buying a complete audio disc. The iPod was different than an already saturated mp3 player market at the time. It offered superior user interface and hence better user experience. The iPod represents a start for the company to lead the revolution. The innovations did not stop and new products that invented completely new categories followed. Apple plans to grow their product lineup as well as improve existing products. Some of the possible future plans are discussed in detail; Mac Macs have been the main product for Apple since long. The company was mainly founded as a computer company. The lineup includes Mac Pro, iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Macs currently run on Intel processors. MacBook Pro and MacBook Air represents major portion of the sales in Macs. Both products are made with unibody enclosures, which add durability and aesthetics. The MacBook Airs are ultra thin laptops running on low power processors and incorporate Solid State Drives (SSD) instead of convention Hard Disc Drives used in MacBook Pros. Apple plans to introduce high resolution Retina Displays in both MacBooks (Chen & Shen, 2011). This will improve real estate available on desktop as well as improve sharpness, in particular for texts. Furthermore, MacBook Pro is rumored to have a design overhaul in 2012 and will adopt design cues from the existing MackBook Air (Kim, 2012). The two lines of models are expected to merge into one product in the future. iPad The iPad represents the leading post-pc device from Apple. Apple invented a completely new category with the introduction of iPad in 2010. The tablet has been an astounding success and is liked for its ease of use and portability. The iPad has capitalized the tablet market till now and Apple has dominated the category. Competitors have introduced Android based tablets of varying size and price to compete against the iPad. It is rumored that Apple is planning to introduc e 7.85 inch iPad variant as compared to 9.7 inch current iPad’s screen size (Faust, 2012). The 7 inch screen size was dismissed by late Apple CEO Steve Jobs to be very small and incapable of expressing the software. Though, with the new iPad carrying Retina Display (resolution 2048 x 1536 pixels), there is a possibility that Apple may introduce 7.85 inch variant carrying a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. The major competitor to the iPad would be Windows 8 tablets planned at the end of 2012. The Windows 8 operating system would be a complete operating system working on a tablet device as compared to relatively limited mobile based Apple’s iOS on the iPad. For now, sales of the new iPad are phenomenal and Apple sold record breaking 3 million iPads in first four days of launch (Golson, 2012). iPhone The original iPhone introduced in 2007 revolutionized the mobile phone industry and left competitors struggling to cope up with its advanced features, usability and user expe rience. Over the years the phone market has become saturated with Android based devices and manufacturers offer various type of phones based on the platform. Apple’s iOS on the other hand has been a stable platform and has standard parameters. Android is running on devices with varying hardware parameters and is, therefore, fragmented. This means that applications are not designed to run on every phone with varying hardware specifications. For the next generation iPhones Apple plans to improve its camera with an aim to replace everyday point and shoot cameras. The next iPhone is rumored to have

Economics Paper Essay Example for Free

Economics Paper Essay 1: Define the term ‘equilibrium price’: The price at which quantity demanded by consumers and the quantity of goods and services supplied by firms is the same. 3: With the help of an appropriate diagram and the information in extract B, explain why the world price of sugar changed in 2009: The price of sugar rose to $0.40 per kilo in 2009 this is shown in the extract as it states that in 2009 prices in New York and London rose by 52% to its highest in almost three years. The diagram below shows how the inward shift of supply caused by poor crop harvests and India’s %40 fall in output of sugar affected the price of sugar due to its scarcity, leading to the %52 rise in price of sugar. Another factor that could have had an effect on the price of sugar would have been in 2008 there were poor crop harvests that year – this led to a low level of supply in 2008 which raised the price of sugar due to its scarcity. This poor harvest would have had something to do with the land quality –this may have affected the harvest in 2009. Supply constraints also had an effect, as due heavy rainfall the Columbian crop was damaged – the rain also washed away some of the roads used to transport the products from the field to the market. So whatever crop the farmers managed to save from the rain was then prevented from reaching market, this would have contributed to the price rise in a way similar to the diagram above. India is a main producer of sugar, so much so that its sugar output is a critical factor in determining the world price of sugar. India’s output was forecast to fall by %40 so only 15million tonnes of sugar would have been produced in the growing season – this is well below India’s sugar consumption of 23million tonnes a year. This would mean that India wouldn’t be inclined to export much of its sugar as there’s already a deficit of supply in its own country. Although, with this large fall in supply there’ll most likely be a rise in sugar price in India – the people may not be willing or able to pay the new price so whatever amount of sugar is leftover could be exported, at a price which would lead to the %52 rise in London and New York sugar prices.

Role of Men in Louisas Life in Hard Times :: Dickens Hard Times Essays

Role of Men in Louisa's Life in Hard Times In Hard Times Charles Dickens portrays Louisa Gradgrind as a realistic character who faces conflict from the start of her life. Louisa encounters three major psychological conflicts in the form of three different men: Mr. Gradgrind, Mr. Bounderby, and Tom Gradgrind. Men play a very important role in the shaping of Louisa's life. Instead of being her own person and expressing her own feelings, Louisa falls under the realm of these three men. Since the beginning of her life, Louisa isn't allowed to express herself because her father continually stresses the facts. Mr. Gradgrind suppresses Louisa's imagination and all she can do is wonder. One example of Louisa attempting to view the unknown occurs when she and Tom peep through a loophole in order to see a circus (8). This is the first time both Louisa and Tom have seen such a sight. When asked why they were there, Louisa curiously answers, "Wanted to see what it was like" (8), a response any normal child would have. Her "starved imagination" (8) is curious and needs some sort of avenue for release. As Louisa blossoms into a young lady, the young Miss Gradgrind enchants one particular suitor. Her father thought that it was time for Louisa to marry and had a suitable companion in mind. When Mr. Gradgrind asks Louisa if she would like to be Mrs. Bounderby, all Louisa can utter is, "You have been so careful of me, that I never had a child's dream. You have dealt so wisely wit h me, father, from my cradle to this hour, that I never had a child's belief or a child's fear" (63). Mr. Gradgrind interprets his daughter's words as a compliment to him and his strict belief in teaching only the facts. But Louisa means she has not experienced life and has never been given the chance. Her childhood has been murdered by her father's strict insistence on the perpetuation of facts only. Although Louisa realizes she has been enslaved by the theories of fact, she willingly enters yet another bondage to Mr. Bounderby allowing the process of her suppression to continue. Mr. Bounderby is yet another man in Louisa's life who expects her to conform to the system implemented by men in society. This young girl, more than half his junior, appeals to Josiah Bounderby and soon they wed.