These twelve pieces are written in layers of black and white keys: one hand may be playing the white keys while the other plays the black; or both may be on white, or both on black. All possible combinations are used. Only the last piece mixes black and white keys, and even this uses opposites wherever possible.

So the music is made up of broad black and white stripes, which is why it is called Zebra music. Another reason for the title is that the zebra is an African beast, I live in Africa, and and a whiff of the continent can probably be detected in the music. This is partly a matter of rhythm, but is also connected to my use of simple modes. It was to exploit these and maintain their identity that I contrasted the black and white keys.

It was the Ghanaian educationalist Joseph Aggrey (1875-1927) who said "You can play a tune of sorts on the black keys, and you can play a tune of sorts on the white keys; but for harmony you must use both the black and the white." He used this saying to encourage racial harmony and a sense of pride in Black people both in the USA and in Africa. Like many such sayings, it is strictly speaking untrue: much traditional African music uses simple modes to create harmony of great richness and complexity.

But the moral truth is undeniable. In our changing world, the self-contained perfection of traditional modes (of which the choral songs of the Pygmies of equatorial Africa are perhaps the most beautiful example) can no longer be our natural means of expression. At the other end of the scale, the lack of any kind of modality in some music of our time, and it's sometime undiscriminating use of all twelve semitones, has made it difficult to create expressive music of genuine character and identity. In these little pieces I have used simple modes, sometimes just as they are, but sometimes combined in such a way as to create the crunch and tension which we modern humans seem to need in order to express ourselves.

I have not indicated pedalling, as it will be more interesting if teacher and pupil decide such matters for themselves. Very little is needed however, as the rhythms will not be blurred.

Giles Swayne 1991