The System That Has It All

Growing up with a father who is a chief gave me the wonderful opportunity to see traditional ceremonial gatherings like festivals, funerals, rituals, etc. I always wondered why these colorful scenes and mind-blowing rhythms and movements, were never recorded. They were not a part of our textbooks, nor were they on film. They existed as true oral traditions, visions and memories in our heads. I've always had to live through the agony of comparing music, dances, and rituals in general to each other. I was amazed at the difference between them. In fact there is this particular performance that has been on my mind for more than twenty years. Although each performance I have watched or participated in as I grew up seems beautiful, I have always thought of this dance and wondered why no one has ever repeated the movements and gestures.

The most frustrating moments is when there is an announcement of an artist's death, and I realize that he or she has gone with whatever they knew. Each time an artist dies; he or she takes the culture to the grave with them. I remember asking my Dad why African dances are not written down. His answer was “there are a thousand and one movements, gestures, and rhythms in them that no person can write it down”. Since then I have endured the disappointment of knowing that African music and dance may never be supported by written documentation. My dream of attending the university to learn Ghanaian theater had to wait until I left home since my parents did not support it. They felt with the view that Theatre Arts, especially African dance and music, was meant for foreigners who wanted to know more about Africa and Africans.

Starting my course in the School of Performing Arts brought back the childhood memories and horrors when I realized that even there, the notated movements on the campus were from western dance. I also had to endure the pain of knowing that even some lecturers shared my father's ideas. Although some African movements and rhythms could be notated, not all of them could. The only way it could be done was on tape.

One day our class representative announced that there was going to be series of classes by a certain lady (Doris Green), who has been able to notate African rhythms and movements. The 'doubt' in his voice was enough to tell us not to waste our time. I believe it was curiosity that drove me there. For argument sake, it took less than five minutes into the introduction class to get me hooked on GREENOTATION, a system for notating music of percussion instruments. I was almost convinced at the end of the lecture/demonstration that this might be the answer to the question that I have wrestled with for more than half of my life. Therefore, I was anxious to attend the classes. Sitting through the course, watching and or participating in the notation of a familiar African dance or music was the most rewarding and fulfilling experience of my life. It is quite magical to see the different instruments included in the Greenotation system. The rhythm of various drums, bells and rattles are written on paper and aligned with the dance movements in a single integrated score. When I read the notation, it enabled me to see it as if I were looking through the eyes of the African player.

The class worked on TOKOE, a puberty dance of the Ga Dangme people. In notating this dance, we were able to notate finite movements such as “flick” of the wrist of the dancers. Finally the myth of the “no go areas” of our culture has been ventured into, thanks to Doris Green. Ms. Green taught us Greenotation, Labanotation and LabanWriter, the computer software program that enables one to write the dance on paper.

This was not the first time that Labanotation was applied to the dances of Ghana. It was first initiated in the sixties. Although the students were required to notate dances of their ethnic group, not one of the scores was available on the campus. The only samples of notation were ballet, and modern dance. One thing that impressed me about Professor Green was that she was also a musician as well as a dancer. She played the instruments and knew the onomatopoeia of the instruments. I reiterate, being a part of these classes was the most rewarding and fulfilling experience of my life. It is quite magical to see all the different instruments that can be written with the Greenotation system. The research that Ms. Green has put into her work is really remarkable. It is indeed brilliant to look at some symbols on paper and to be able to dance as well as play the rhythms from the printed page. I was also impressed by the fact that Ms. Green has conducted research throughout the continent of Africa; therefore, she has an assortment of notated scores of African music and dance. Her work has given African music the scientific basis that was previously missing.

Naturally, I realized after a national television interview that Ms. Green, a couple of the other students and I appeared on, that the whole Ghanaian community looks forward to having our rich culture put on paper so that none of it will be missing. By the end of the classes, no one doubted that traditional African music and dance could be written on paper and performed from the same page. We Ghanaians look forward to continuing these courses with the hope that eventually it will lead to teacher certification in Greenotation, the system that has it all. Personally I think the sky is the limit and Greenotation is a quantum leap that will help Ghana, Africa and the World as a whole.

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Dorcas Adusei took an interest in the arts at an early age. In primary and secondary school, her main interest was theater, drama, music and dance. After secondary school she attended Wesley College in Kumasi, Ghana where she trained as a teacher. During her college years her minor was theater arts. She won the best actress title three consecutive years. She also did television commercials. In 1995, she enrolled in the performing arts department of the University of Ghana at Legon and graduated with a diploma in theater arts. She now lives and teaches in England.