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How can a talking drum imitate spoken language?

A Yorùbá talking drum can suggest speech through changing pitch and timing. In this tonal language, those patterns help carry meaning, but listeners also draw on familiar phrases and context. Explore how a drummer turns language into musical signals, and what cannot be conveyed by pitch alone.

8–10 min

Questions you could explore

  • What does a listener need beyond hearing higher and lower notes?
  • How do the tones and rhythms of spoken Yorùbá relate to a dùndún performance?

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Performing a film's footsteps after filming

When an actor walks across a gravel path in a movie, the microphone on set is focused on capturing clean dialogue, not their shoes. Months later in a post-production studio, Foley artists watch the scene on a screen and perform every footstep, rustling coat, and clinking glass in real time, often using props that look nothing like the object on camera.

5–7 min

Performing a film's footsteps after filming

Music and sound5–7 minWhen an actor walks across a gravel path in a movie, the microphone on set is focused on capturing clean dialogue, not their shoes. Months later in a post-production studio, Foley artists watch the scene on a screen and perform every footstep, rustling coat, and clinking glass in real time, often using props that look nothing like the object on camera.

Music and sound

Why can 3/4 and 6/8 music feel different?

Six equal subdivisions can form three pairs or two groups of three. In conventional Western notation, those groupings help explain the difference between 3/4 and 6/8 even when the total note value matches.

3–5 min

Why can 3/4 and 6/8 music feel different?

Music and sound3–5 minSix equal subdivisions can form three pairs or two groups of three. In conventional Western notation, those groupings help explain the difference between 3/4 and 6/8 even when the total note value matches.

How can a talking drum imitate spoken language? | Speech Topic | speaking.app