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Collaboration. Curator, Acknowledgements & Liaison by Hugeaux (Father of ARTE MECCO). Text & Illustrations by Doris Green is an ethnomusicologist, Fulbright scholar, creator of Greenotation. Epilogue by Dr. Sharon Diamond-Myrsten, MD is a Brooklyn native, transplanted to Virginia. She earned a degree in English literature from the College of William and Mary, and a medical degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School.

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Collaboration - Hugeaux, Doris Green, Dr. Sharon Diamond,MD

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The GREENOTATION EXHIBITION of Doris Green - Part 3. Final

3. Doris Green, one of the great minds of our times, as a teenager began to create a system for writing drum music because Congo drummers could not read music and never played the music the same way twice. This was the beginning of the phenomenal task of creating a system of writing music for percussion instruments of Africa. It was obvious that the western music note was unable to notate the sonorities and nuances found in percussion music. Therefore an entirely new system had to be created that could effectively annotate the music of percussion instruments and include within its staff the corresponding dance movements. Thus Doris Green created GREENOTATION, an innovative musical system for writing African music. Greenotation is based upon the rectangle, which can be prolonged or subdivided to represent timing. Different shadings and designs within the rectangle indicate what is played and the sound to be produced.

4. Greenotation uses a three-lined staff that is oriented to the centerline, which divides the right from the left. Consequently anything written on the right indicates played with the right hand or the right side of an instrument and vice versa. The staff is read from the bottom to the top. The music is written on the left side and the dance on the right side of the integrated score.

5. The dance notation system, Labanotation, is used to represent dance movements. The basic symbol of Labanotation is the rectangle. Different shadings indicate the level of movement. Modification of the rectangle indicates the direction of the movement. Dance notation uses an eleven column staff. The position of these symbols on the staff indicates which part of the body is used.

6. Sabar is the national dance of Senegal. The National Ballet of Senegal performed this dance in October 1971. This dance changed the face of African dance forever, bringing African dance to new heights and making Sabar the most popular dance. Since 1971 Sabar has eclipsed Fanga as the most famous African dance.

7. In reading a score, please note that items that are written together are performed together. Items that are written sequentially are performed one after the other. From this day forth, African music and dance will be preserved in written documentation. If you can COUNT TO FOUR, you can read and perform Sabar.

8. The Greenotation system has been applied to the music and dance of more than 25 nations of Africa. The O.A.U has recommended it for all schools and colleges throughout Africa. A number of African musicologists, choreographers, theater directors, cultural experts, educators have experienced the benefits of this innovative creation. They welcome Greenotation as the system wherein their complex rhythmic music, together with the accompanying dance movements, can be written, and performed from the printout. Greenotation provides African music with the scientific basis it formerly lacked yet it is so easy to use. With the advent of Greenotation no longer will the music of Africa be lost when its holder dies. No longer will the music be buried in the grave where it is lost to the world forever. Greenotation has provided perpetual life to African music.

EPILOGUE by Dr.Sharon Diamond-Myrsten

“Drums, rattles, bells, toes, hips, knees/ Culture handed down to younger hands and feet
But when gray-haired hands are lost, and young ears turn deaf/ Culture fades to black”

The communicative nature of African music and dance has allowed histories to be maintained, and culture transmitted in a way that most Western minds do not readily comprehend. The fact that traditional African music is entirely rooted within language severely places the preservation of cultural experiences at risk. This endangered state becomes more apparent as Western culture and ideologies encroach upon even the most remote locales.

“Black circles, dots, and lines on white pages/ re-marrying movement to sound
Can you not hear the percussion, can you not see the body in flight/As they emanate from the page?”

Early attempts to notate separated African music from dance, essentially hobbling any efforts to preserve culture. Doris Green’s talents as a linguist, dancer, and musician, enriched by her passion of her unknown forebears have enabled her to reach far beyond the basic theories of instrumentation and notation. Her unification of music and dance onto a single score has brought into existence what had never been imagined beyond the boundaries of her own self. It is precisely for this reason that Doris Green’s work is so integral to the preservation of African music and dance. Her work ensures its survival, and retains its core purposes- the commemoration of the experiences of a people, the preservation of culture, and its perpetuity into the future.

CREDITS / FOOTNOTES / LINKS
http://www.brooklynx.org/neighborhoods/panafrican
http://www.africancutureonline.com/forums/articles.
http://ntama.uni-mainz.de/content/view/11/29/
www.ohiou.edu/africanarts/keynotes.html
http://dance.osu.edu/5_resources/labanlab/rhythmsfolder/rhythms_dance_welcome.html
http://minuet.dance.ohio-state.edu/~labanwriter1/labantalk/
http://dance.osu.edu/5_resources/labanlab/rhythmsfolder/rhythms_dances_agbadza.html

**HUGEAUX Black History Month Series African American Living Legacies
highlights intellects whose works are a major part of the Humanities.

Copyright Hugeaux All Rights Reserved. Copyright Doris Green All Rights Reserved. Permission Granted. Copyright Sharon Diamond-Myrsten All Rights Reserved. Permission Granted.