MUSIC LITERACY FACT SHEET
TITLE
1. Dry Your Tears, Afrika 2. From “Amistad”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------STYLE PERIOD/GENRE 1. Contemporary
2. Choral Music
3. Movie
Soundtrack music 2. In the style of African music
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------COMPOSER/ARRANGER/EDITOR 1. By John Williams
2. Arranged by
Audrey Snyder
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------COMPOSER INFO 1. John Williams was born on February 8, 1932, in Queens,
New York. Williams attended the Juilliard School in New York City and began his
career as a jazz pianist, but began to compose for TV and film in the 1960s. He has
scored more than 75 films, including Jaws (1975), the Star Wars trilogy, Close
Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. (1982), Schindler's List (1993) and Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). He has also written many concert works.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TEXT 1. African words in the Mende Language 2. Translation: Dry your tears,
(Afrika). Your children are coming home. We’re coming home, Afrika. (Hush child)
Don’t cry. Sing a song of joy. We’re coming home.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SOUND 1. SATB Choir
2. piano
3. Percussion
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------HARMONY 1. Major
2. Key change
3. Doubling of parts (much is in 2part, the girls sing in 3-part)
4. Intervals of ‘open 5ths ( no third “mi”) 5.
Homophonic
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------MELODY
1. Only 5 notes used in the entire melody 2. Much repetition 3. The
melody is always in the top voice part.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RHYTHM
1. Driving
2. Disjunct, disjointed, alternates between 3 and 4
(duple and triple) 3. Tempo changes
4. Percussion give the song an African
feel.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------GROWTH/FORM 1. 3 fragmented sections, with repetition
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TIME SIGNATURE
1. 4/4 (four beats in each measure, the quarter note
equals one beat
2. 3/4 (three beats in each measure, the quarter note equals one
beat 3. Alternating time signatures = mixed meter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------KEY SIGNATURE 1. Bb Major (2 flats) 2. C Major (no # or b’s) 3. Key changes
heighten the intensity of the composition.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------IMPORTANT TERMS/SYMBOLS/SIGNS
ff (fortissimo) – very loud
f (forte) – loud
mf (mezzo-forte) – medium loud
rit. (ritardando) = gradually get slower
(crescendo) – gradually get louder
(decrescendo) – gradually get quieter (softer)
(fermata) – hold longer than the original intended note value
Quarter note = 102
div. (divisi) = one unison part divides into 2 or more parts
> = accent = a surface emphasis or stress given to a moment in the musical flow
tenuto = hold the note in question its full length
// (Caesura) = a metrical pause
a tempo – return to the original tempo
dim. (diminuendo) - diminishing, gradually getting softer, diminishing in loudness
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NOTEWORTHY