The Art of Mbira

By Paul F. Berliner

Growing out of the collaborative research of an American ethnomusicologist and Zimbabwean musician, Paul F. Berliner’s The Art of Mbira documents the repertory for a keyboard instrument known generally as mbira. At the heart of this work lies the analysis of the improvisatory processes that propel mbira music’s magnificent creativity.

The Art of Mbira: Chapter Examples

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Chapter 3: Representing Mbira Music in Notation

Chapter 4: Sounds Ringing in My Head–Mbira Parts’ Designs

Chapter 5: Hand Dance–Keyboard Polyphony and Polyrhythmic Templates

Chapter 6: In the Shadows of the Imagination–Harmonic Motion

Chapter 7: Composed Variations

Chapter 8: Variation Techniques

Chapter 9: The Fluidity of Perception in Performance

Chapter 10: The Interlocking Aesthetic–Kushaura-Kutsinhira Combinations

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Chapter 11: The Acquisition of Repertory, and Its Associations

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Chapter 12: The Path from Re-Creation to Invention

Chapter 13: Musical Arrangements:
The Systemization of Aural Preferences

Chapter 14: Musical Influences:
Incorporation and Modification of Others’ Styles

Chapter 15: Improvisation and the Individual Mbira Player

Chapter 16: Narrative Tour of the Magayas’ Individual Kushaura and Kutsinhira Nhemamusasa Performances

Chapter 17: Narrative Tour of Kunaka’s Solo Nhimutimu Performance

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Chapter 18: Comparative Analysis of Individual Players’
Nhemamusasa and Nhimutimu Performances

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Chapter 19: Improvisation and Kushaura-Kutsinhira Interplay

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Chapter 20: Nhemamusasa Kushaura-Kutsinhira Interplay Narrative Tour

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Chapter 21: Comparative Analysis of Collective Resources and Creative Processes in Nhemamusasa Performances

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Chapter 22: Social-Musical Relations in Improvisation:
Performing at a Bira

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Chapter 23: Conclusion

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