List of the musical examples <PDF>
Thank you for your interest. This information pertains to current requests for the musical examples. I will note first that I have the rights to all the music.
The files are not free on request, or I would have simply made them available on the website. There is a nominal charge for me to send them to you via Dropbox with payment by PayPal or check. Before discussing thetransaction, I will first let you know what is in the package of files you will receive.
The forty-four musical examples on the original 90-minute audio cassette are a very useful pedagogical accompaniment to the book. In paperback copies of the book, they are keyed with asterisks in the text. They break down all the individual parts of the musical examples I discuss. On the cassette’s printed insert, the examples are identified by page numbers and by their position on both take-up and feed spindles. Unfortunately, the University of Chicago Press has allowed the cassette to go out of print, and they have not published a CD. As an alternative to your buying the music, the cassette might be available on interlibrary loan from somewhere.
In preparation for an anticipated eBook, I am in the process of digitizing and re-mastering the music on the cassette as well as additional music. The project is moving along slowly because some of the selections are noisy and require extensive processing, and also, I am still working out the details with Chicago of how the music will be made available.
As an alternative to a copy of the cassette, I have MP3 files derived from a CD of the cassette released by the publisher of the German translation, Trickster Verlag. Trickster did a generic job on the analog-to-digital conversion, and they also edited several of the performance examples to reduce the time from the cassette’s available 90 minutes to the CD’s limit of 74 minutes. Nonetheless, the music from that conversion is available from me for use by people who do not have access to the cassette.
The cropped selections from the German CD are basically seven to eight minutes from three pieces which have been re-mastered. A full version of one of them (the Takai suite) is on the website for my ongoing work, A Drummer's Testament, as noted below. Included in the Dropbox folder are that selection and the other two in MP3 format.
The CD was ripped from the cassette, so there is not really much drop-off from that source. The sound quality has more to do with Chicago's supplier. The original recordings were much better, and they will be much improved when I am finished reworking them. At the moment, I hope they will do. The eBook will have better quality, as you will see from the re-mastered selections, as well as more music. I am not sure that Chicago will embed the files. If the eBook comes out with separately available examples, I will hope to send them without charge to those who have purchased the MP3s.
In the Dropbox folder are:
The Dagbamba selections can also be accessed from the website for A Drummer's Testament, specifically where there are music links in Volume I, Chapters 12, 16, 19, 22, and 23. This website is in progress, so there will be additional audio files and information uploaded from time to time. There is also a page with links to all the music on the site.
As I mentioned, I have been distributing the files via Dropbox and PayPal or check. Chicago’s advertised price for the music is a bit high, and I have been charging $20 plus $1 for fees, a total of $21 for PayPal. I can send you a PayPal invoice, or you can just send me a PayPal payment for US$21 using either [email protected] or [email protected]. Let me know at either address if you have any difficulty with the payment.
If you want to pay by check, you can send US$20 to me by mail. My address is: John Chernoff, 1298 Denniston Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. When I receive and clear the money, I will send you a Dropbox link to the files.
Best regards and thanks again for your interest.