A human’s life is the highest form of composition and maestro craftsmanship. At conception it is glorious, in youth it is a symphony of tense and sweet movements, at old age it is a sweet resolution with a final cadence at death.
The human life is a symphony scored for a full orchestra. The symphony opens with an all-absorbing, vigorous overture that is coloured and decorated with a cry that issues when a nurse taps the baby’s head. A beautiful crescendo of Ng’e’e ng’e’e ng’ee with an angelic velvety voice swills out accompanied by melismatic ululations for a duration. In my community this takes the form of a series of 5 slurred and staccatoed melismatic notes ornamented with a glissando for a boy, and 2 beautifully staccatoed long melismatic notes ornamented with a sharp trill for a girl.
A modulation from tonic key to a subdominant key marks the life of the mother when the smiling baby becomes a crying nuisance. The plagal cadence at cease of crying brings relief to babysitter forcing the orchestra to take a long deserved breve rest.
Suddenly nightfall comes, and the melody curves downward to a calm and sombre mood. At last, the mom can sleep. Well-modulated and sweet slurred running notes render it possible for the conductor to express the mom’s relief at the thought of a peaceable sleep.With no warning, the melody erupts into a disturbing aria:
Ng’ee ng’ee. Hello mamma, hakuna kulala, wake up and rock me
ng’ee ng’ee rock me, hello mama.
The second part of the movement subtly modulates to a syncopated 2-part recitative aria scored for the Alto and Bass parts. In the first part both sing in unison after which bass rests and alto is left oscillating between tense discords. In the aria:
Alto: Nyamaza toto. Shh! Shh! Mommy is here, shut up
Bass: Rock that child until it shuts up. Or cover its mouth. It is disturbing my sleep..
The movement is marked by a conversation amongst the strings. A harsh violin, radiant viola and an agitated cello. It conjures up the image of the shrieks of a baby, the efforts of the mother to soothe it, and the agony of a man whose sleep has been ruined. The growling cello finally dies expressing the reluctant acceptance of unpleasant nights filled with baby cries. The violin smiles mutely and whispers to itself:
How sweet to be a child
Attention on me all focused
Her, Time all on me Spent
His, Sleep on me Spoilt
The keyboard plays a chromatic harmony on both right and left hand to depict the sharp and low shrieks of the baby. The running notes descend in a decrescendo(andante) and settle at Middle C bringing a sigh of release for the mommy. A plagal cadence marks the end of ‘crying baby agony’. At last, mom can sleep.
The sun rises brightly in a Dorian mode exhibited by the Gregorian-like chanting of birds and graceful ballerina-like dancing of trees. The chromatic melody takes on a bright texture with all strings and brass playing expressive dynamic harmony that is harmonious with the ever-sweet morning sun-rays. The clarinet plays an esoteric melody that is so Mozart Like as the mom welcomes her family to the breakfast table. The piano plays serene middle notes with a higher C’ to show joy of family, the viola takes on slurred happy notes before dissolving into staccato quick notes of mom kissing kid goodbye as she leaves for job. The cello patronizes the melody as the man drives the lady to work. Each instrument wanders in its own distinct melody before bursting into a grand chorus:
We are a happy family
A family that breakfasts
together, keeps together
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