![Sample our Social Sciences journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110822/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Social-Sciences.jpg"})
Abstract
This research addresses the influences of West African cultures on a rarely studied area: marching cadences of the United States military. This article details the evolution of these military marching cadences tracing their form back to slave songs and to the music of precolonial West Africa. Six elements are identified that link these forms of music. These are: call and response, focus on the voice, percussion backbeat to create energy, functionality in nature, focus on the experiences of daily living, and oral history. These suggest a great influence of West African music on the United States military marching cadences.
Acknowledgments
An earlier draft of this manuscript was presented at the Mid-South Sociological Association annual meeting on October 26, 2006 in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Notes
1Polyphony is when music is arranged for multiple voices and/or instruments playing simultaneously. Polyrhythmic allows for contrasting rhythms within a song. Antiphony is associated with the “call and response” often found in West African, African American, as well as Gregorian music. Its strict difference with “call and response” is that antiphony is often associated specifically with religion. Syncopation refers to unexpected rhythms that deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak beats. Often it is thought of as a heavy beat on a typically unstressed beat.