In our discussion of earlier works on the subject, we noted that little attention has been devoted to African polyphony. Unlike many other aspects of music transmitted by oral tradition, reference transcriptions of African polyphony are rarely available, and when provided are only fragmentary at best. This seems to be mainly attributable to the difficulty of transcribing this kind of music. Several experts, among them Bruno Nettl (1964:84), have pointed out the problems involved:

Gerhard Kubik (1961: 200) is equally sceptical about transcribing African instrumental music: ‘Transcription of African instrumental music from tape recordings poses enormous problems. In most cases, it will lead to incorrect results.’ In a subsequent publication on xylophone music (1964a), Kubik reaffirms that transcription from tape recordings is impossible. He suggests instead that an attempt be made to learn to play an African instrument before transcription is undertaken. We will return below to the effectiveness of this approach.