page_title: Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony
section_title: Harmony by imitation
hierarchical_section_title: Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony / Techniques / Harmony by imitation
caption_attribution_description: This is an example of Harmony by imitation. The melody here plays a phrase in the first measure and sequences it melodically in the second measure. The second voice (in the bass clef) imitates the melody in the first measure. As a result, singing both the new phrase and original phase at once creates harmony between the parts. this harmony my be in parallel motion (as seen above) or it may be of a different type depending on the variations the melody makes on the original phrase.
context_page_description: Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony is a music theory of harmony in sub-Saharan Africa music based on the principles of homophonic parallelism, homophonic polyphony, counter melody and ostinato-variation. Polyphony is common in African music and heterophony is a common technique as well. Although these principles of traditional African music are of pan-African validity, the degree to which they are used in one area over another varies. Specific techniques that used to generate harmony in Africa are the "span process", "pedal notes", "Rhythmic harmony", "harmony by imitation", and "scalar clusters".
context_section_description: This occurs when an added part imitates the shape of a portion of the melody (or other portion of the song) at a higher or lower pitch and after the initial musical phrase but overlapping with it. Due to tonal inflections (in the regions using tonal languages), the shape of the new musical phrase is similar to, but not necessarily identical with, that of the previous one. The use of imitation accounts for a wide variety of interval combinations within the scale system being used in African musics.
caption: This is an example of Traditional African Harmony by imitation. The melody here plays a phrase in the first measure and sequences it melodically in the second measure. The second voice (in the bass clef) imitates the melody in the first measure. As a result, singing both the new phrase and original phase at once creates harmony between the parts. this harmony may be in parallel motion (as seen above) or it may be of a different type depending on the variations the melody makes on the original phrase.
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