Upload
others
View
9
Download
1
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
byAlanDworskyandBetsySansby
IllustrationsbyRobertJackson
CoverArtbyMarieOlofsdotter
DancingHandsMusic
'Agoldmine"-DRUMMagazine
Thebookismasterfullywritten.It'slikehavingagoodfriendsittingnexttoyou,guidingyouthrougheachlesson.Itexplainsmusicalconceptsinawayanyone
caneasilyunderstand.Thesectionsoncrossrhythmsandpolyrhythmsshouldberequiredreadingforanymusician!"
-ProfessorMichaelWilliams,DepartmentofMusic,WinthropUniversity
ForJerrySansby,thefirstdrummerinthefamily
,ewouldliketoexpressourgratitudetoallourteachers,especiallyMarcAnderson,whogenerouslysharedhisknowledgeofGhanaianrhythmswithloveandreverencefortheculturethatcreatedthem.We'dalsoliketothankthosewhohavetaughtusthroughtheirbooksandvideos,especiallyDavid
Locke(forhisclearpresentationandanalysisofGhanaianrhythms),PhilMaturano(forhisorganizationofpatternsandhisconceptof"relayedtimeshifting,"whichweadaptedintoourlessononbendingapattern),ReinhardFlatischler(whoseTaKeTiNa®methodweadaptedintorhythmwalking),andGordyKnudtson(fromwhomwelearned-bothinhisbooksandinprivatelessons-awidevarietyofcross-rhythmsandotherpatterns,aswellasthemethodwecall"say-it-and-play-it").Weare,alsoindebtedtothecreatorsofalltheothersourceslistedatthebackofthisbookandtoalltheunknowncreatorsoftherhythmsoftheworld.
Finally,wewouldliketothankMamadyKeita,whohastaughtusthroughhisrecordings,andwhosebrilliantdjembeplayinghasbeenanunendingsourceofinspirationanddelight.
VARIATIONTECHNIQUES
Createspace32
Changevoicing40
Fillspace44
Combinevariations48
Shift54
Adddynamicaccents58
Addghostnotes65
Adjustthevolume68
Displaceonenote74
Substitutesixteenthnotes76
Attachaprefix80
Attachasuffix81
Compress128
Accentwithaflam145
Isolateandrepeat150
Expand151
Substituteatriplet175
Camouflage175
Swing176
Playoffmarks180
Bend184
GETTINGSTARTED
1Whothisbookisforandhowitworks7
2Understandingthechartsandbasicconcepts11
Pulsesandsubdivisions12
Fourandsix13
Timelinesandcycles14
3Adaptingthepatternstoyourinstrument17
Handdrums18
Drumset18
Guitar,bass,andotherstringinstruments18
Pianoandotherkeyboardinstruments18
Saxandotherwindinstruments19
Voice19
4AmethodforlearninganynewpatternappliedtothetimelinesontheCD21
Say-it-and-play-it22
Thetimelineinfour22
Thetimelineinsix24
5Triple-weavepracticing27
PATTERNS,CONCEPTS,ANDTECHNIQUES
6Thepulseandparallelfigures31
Lesson1:Playingthepulseonyourinstrument32
Lesson2:Thepulseandthebeatbefore36
Lesson3:Thetwobeatsbeforethepulse39
Lesson4:Thepulseandthebeatafter44
Lesson5:Thetwobeatsafterthepulse47
Lesson6:Three-notefigures51
7Pathwaysthroughthegridinfour57
Lesson7:Consecutiveeighthnotes58
Lesson8:Numberedbeatsandupbeats61
Lesson9:Offbeats64
Lesson10:Singlesandpairs68
Lesson11:Backbeats72
Lesson12:Sixteenthnotes75
Lesson13:Theoffbeatsbeforeorafterthepulse78
Lesson14:Timelines82
8Pathwaysthroughthegridinsix87
Lesson15:Consecutiveeighthnotes88
Lesson16:Theodd-numberedbeats-the6-pulseand3over291
Lesson17:Theodd-numberedbeats-patterns95
Lesson18:Theeven-numberedbeats99
Lesson19:Backbeats102
Lesson20:Theoffbeatsbeforeorafterthepulse106
Lesson21:Singlesandpairsandtimelines110
9Threenot-quite-equalgroupsofbeatsinfour117
Lesson22:One-barclavepatterns118
Lesson23:Shiftedone-barclavepatterns122
Lesson24:5/5/6patterns125
Lesson25:Shifted5/5/6patterns129
10Threegroupsoffourbeatsinsix133
Lesson26:The3-pulseand3over4134
Lesson27:Set1138
Lesson28:Set2141
Lesson29:Set3144
Lesson30:Set4148
11Cross-rhythms153
Lesson31:3-beatcross-rhythmsinfour154
Lesson32:6-beatcross-rhythmsinfour157
Lesson33:8-beatcross-rhythmsinsix162
Lesson34:5-beatand7-beatcross-rhythms167
12Polyrhythmswithunevengrids173
Lesson35:3over2eighthnotesinfourandsix174
Lesson36:Subdividingthepulseinfourinto3178
Lesson37:Subdividingthepulseinsixinto2or4181
Lesson38:Bendingapatternbetweenfourandsix185
13Glossary191
FORFURTHERSTUDYANDENJOYMENT
14Rhythmwalking195
Blankcharts201
Sources:books,videos,CDs,andaudiotapes203
AlsoavailablefromDancingHandsMusic205
RHYTHMICCONCEPTS
Thetendencyofthelargestgap33
Theflexibilitycreatedbytheunaccentedpulse37
Thepowerofalimitednumberofvoices40
Thetranceeffectofrepetition47
ThecirculareffectofoverlappingONE59
Thedisorientingeffectofobscuringthepulse79
ThestabilizingeffectofendingonONE90
ThediffusingeffectofendingonthebeatafterONE91
ThesuspendedeffectofendingonthebeatbeforeONE91
Thetendencytogroupnotesinthesamevoicetogether106
ihisbookisaroadmaptorhythmforanymusician.It'sforguitarplayersintriguedbytherhythmsofworldmusic.It'sforkeyboardplayerswho'vestudiedscalesandchordsandnowwanttostudyrhythminasystematicway.It'sfordrummers,bassplayers,andsaxplayerswhowanttogrooveandsolowithadeeperunderstandingofrhythmicstructure.Whateveryourinstrument,ifyouwanttoplayfunkieranddon'tmindusingyourheadtodoit,thisbookisforyou.
ThepatternsinthisbookcomefromAfricanandAfro-Cubanrhythms,thesourceforthegrooveinmostcontemporarymusic.Butourpurposehereisnottoteachanyspecificstyleofdrumming.Ourpurposeistoilluminatethesubjectofrhythmingeneralsoyou'llbeabletonavigatecomfortablyinanyrhythmicterritory.
Todothat,we'veorganizedrepresentativepatternsaccordingtotheirstructure,arranged themroughly inorderofdifficulty,andpresented theminbite-sizedlessons.Whilewepresentthepatterns,wealsopresentrhythmicconceptsandtechniquesyoucanusetocreatepatternsofyourown.Andweincludeplentyofexamplesofhowpatternscanbevariedandcombinedwhenyouimproviseorsolo.
We'vetriedtomakethisbookasuser-friendlyaspossible.Forexample,weusebig,easy-to-readchartsthataresosimpleevennon-musicianscanunderstandthem.Anytimeweintroduceanewconceptortechnique,wehighlightitinthemarginforeasyreference.Anytimeweintroduceanewterm,weputitinboldletters,defineitonthespot,andaddittotheglossaryatthebackofthebook.We'vealsoincludedsomeblankchartsyoucanphotocopyandusetowritedownpatternsofyourown.We'veevenusedaspecialbindingthatmakesthebookstayopenwithoutthehelpofashoe.
TheCDthatcomeswiththisbookhelpscreatearealistic,threedimensionalrhythmiccontextforyoutoplayinrightfromthestart.Itcontainstworeferencerhythmsyou'llbeplayingwithwhileyoupractice.Eachofthoserhythmsisrecordedforaboutfiveminutesateachofsevendifferentspeedssoyoucanpracticeatyourownlevel.Andassoonasyoufeellikeputtingyourinstrument
asideandusingyourwholebodytolearnthepatterns,checkoutthechapteronrhythmwalking.
Fromtimetotime,wetellyouthatapatterncomesfromaparticularAfricanorAfro-Cubanrhythm.Wedothistoacknowledgeoursourceswhereweknowthenameofarhythmandasareminderthatthepatternsinthisbookaren'tjustmathematicalabstractions.Butjustbecausewesayapatterncanbefoundinaparticularrhythm,itdoesn'tmeanthepatterncanbefoundonlythere.Mostofthepatternsinthisbookarefoundinmanyrhythmictraditionsaroundtheworldandmanycanbeheardinrock,funk,jazz,andothercontemporarystyles.
WehopethisbookwillhelpyouexpressyourselfbetterinthelanguageofrhythmandinspireyoutodelvedeeperintotheworldofAfricanandAfro-Cubanrhythms.Atthebackofthebook,we'veincludedalistofsourcesforfurtherstudyandalistofCDsofgreatdrummingfromaroundtheworld.Butdon'tstopthere.Lookforopportunitiestoexperiencetherealthingbygoingtoconcerts,takinglessons,orjoininganensemble.There'snosubstituteforthedirectexperienceofthesemagnificentrhythms.
nthischapter,whileweexplainhowtoreadthechartswe'llalsobeexplainingthebasicconceptsyouneedtoknowtostartworkingyourwaythroughthisbook.Ifanyoftheconceptsseemconfusingatfirst,don'tworry.They'llallbecomeclearerasyoubeginusingtheminthecominglessons.
Becausewe'remainlyinterestedinteachingthefundamentalsofrhythmicstructure,we'regoingtofocusonjusttwovariablesofrhythm:1)whensoundsoccur,and2)whatthesoundsare.Tonotatethesetwovariables,weuseboxchartsinsteadofstandardmusicnotationbecauseforourpurposesthey'resimplerandclearer.
Here'swhatanemptychartlookslike:
Themainfunctionofthetoprowonachartistoshowhowwe'recounting.Butwealsousethecountrowtoshowthepulse,whichisindicatedbyshadedboxes(1and3onthechartabove).By"thepulse,"wemeantheunderlyingmetronomicrhythmpeoplefeelintheirbodieswhenmusicisplayed.Likeyourownpulse,it'smadeupofaseriesofregularly-spacedkinestheticeventscalledindividualpulses.Butunlikeyourownpulse,thepulseofarhythmisaculturallyinfluenced,subjectivephenomenon.
InAfricanandAfro-Cubanmusic,thepulseissometimesplayedonadrumorotherpercussioninstrument.Butoftenthepulseissilent,and-likeaheartbeat-holdseverythingtogetherwithouteverbeingheard.Becausethepulseissofundamentaltorhythm,wepresentallthepatternsinthisbookinrelationtoapulseandhaveyoutapthepulseinyourfeetwhileyouplaythepatterns.
Thetimespanbetweenpulsescanbedividedintosmallerunitscalledsubdivisions.Thechartabovehasfourpulseswithfoursubdivisionseach.Eachindividualsubdivision-orbeat-isaneighthnote,whichonourchartsisrepresentedbyasinglebox.Anysetofequalsubdivisionsformsagrid.Ourchartsuseaneighth-notegrid.
Wheneverthere'sasymbolinaboxbeneaththecountrow,makeasoundonthatbeatonyourinstrument:
WhenXistheonlysymbolonachart,asinthechartabove,playallthenoteswiththesamesound,eitherasinglenoteorachord.WhenachartcontainsbothX'sandO's,useonesoundforX'sandasecondsoundforO's:
Wesayapatternisinfourwhenitcanlogicallyberepresentedonachartwithfourpulsesdividedintofoursubdivisionseach-likethechartsabove.Becauseeachsubdivisionisaneighthnote,pulseseveryfoursubdivisionsfallonbeats1and3.Ineffectwe'rechartingincuttime,whereapulsefallsoneveryhalfnoteandtherearetwohalfnotestoameasure.
Wechosetochartthepatternsinfourincuttimebecausewefindeighthnoteseasiesttoworkwith.Wecouldhaveusedaquarter-notepulsedividedintofoursixteenth-notesubdivisions.Thiswouldhavemadetrackingthepulseseasierbecausetheywouldhavefallenoneverynumberedbeatinsteadofonbeats1and3.
Buteverythingelsewouldhavebeenharder.Sixteenthnotesarecounted"one-ee-and-uh-two-ee-and-uh,"andit'sawkwardtalkingaboutthe"uh"ofoneorthe"ee"ofthree.Wealsofindasingle16-beatmeasureunwieldycomparedtotwo8-beatmeasures.Traditionplayedaroleinourdecisiontoo;Afro-Cubanrhythmsinfourareusuallychartedandcountedincuttime.Andifyoucountineighthnotesconsistentlyinbothfourandsix,you'lleventuallybeabletocrosstheborderbetweenthemmorefreely.
Wesayapatternisinsixwhenitcanlogicallyberepresentedonachartdividedinto two measures of six beats each, like the chart below. Each of the 12subdivisionsisaneighthnote,andeveryeighthnoteisnumbered.We'rechartingin6/8time,wherethereare6eighthnotestoameasure(or12/8,ifyouthinkofthetwomeasuresasone).
Insix,wegenerallyusefourpulseswiththreesubdivisionstoapulse.Thisputsthepulsesonbeats1and4:
Almostallrhythmsareorganizedaroundasteadypulse.ButAfricanandAfro-Cubanrhythmsarealsoorganizedaroundrepeatingrhythmicpatternscalledtimelines.Unlikethesymmetricalandoftensilentpulse,atimelineisanasymmetricalandalwaysaudiblerhythm.Allthemusiciansinagroupusethetimelineasareferenceandplaytheirpartsinrelationtoit.That'swhatyou'llbedoingwhenyouplaythepatternsinthisbookalongwiththeCD.
InAfro-Cubanrhythmsinfour,thetimelineiscalledtheclave(klah-vay)andit'susuallyplayedontwocylindricalpiecesofwoodcalledclaves:
InAfro-CubanrhythmsinsixandinmostAfricanrhythms,thetimelineisusuallyplayedonacowbellorotherbell:
Clavesandbellsareidealfortimelinesbecausetheyproducecrisp,penetratingsoundsthatcanbeheardaboveotherinstruments.
Sometimes,tomakesureyouknowtherelationshipbetweenapatternandatimeline,weincludeachartwiththetimeline(insteadofthepulse)indicatedonthecountrowwithshadedcircles:
Thenumberofbeatsfromthestartofonerepetitionofarepeatingpatterntothe
startofthenextisthepattern'scycle.Thecycleofthetimelineistypicallytwomeasureslong,andwheneverweusetheword"cycle"withoutfurtherexplanation,it'sthiscyclewe'rereferringto.
Thecycleofthetimelinerepeatsforaslongasarhythmisplayed.Sothinkofeverychartasbeingwritteninacircle.Whenyougettotheendgorightbacktothebeginningandstartoverwithoutmissingabeat.Whenapatternislongerthanasinglerow,feelfreetorepeatanyroworanysetofrowsasmanytimesasyouwantbeforemovingon.
Wehaven'tputanytempomarkingsonourcharts.Ultimately,thetempoofarhythmwilldependonyourplayingsituation.Theimportantthingfornowistoplayeachpatternatasteadytempoandnottoleaveapatternuntilitgrooves.
e'vedoneourbesttomakeourchartsasclearaspossible.Butnosystemofwrittennotationcancapturethenuancesofaliverhythm.Sowhileyou'reworkingyourwaythroughthisbook,besuretosupplementyourstudybylisteningtogoodmusic.Ifyou'reunfamiliarwiththepercussionmusicofAfricaandCubaandwanttohearsomespectacularexamples,we'velistedourfavoriterecordingsatthebackofthebook.
here'snorightwaytoplaythepatternsinthisbookonyourinstrument.Andsinceyouknowyourinstrumentbetterthanwedo,weleaveituptoyoutofindawaythatworks.Herearesomesuggestionstogetyoustarted:
Thepatternsinthisbookaremostlyhanddrumpatterns,soadaptingthemtowhateverhanddrumyouplayshouldbeeasy.StartbyplayingtheX'sasslapsandtheO'sasopentones.Lateryoucanreversethetwo,addothertechniques,orplayonmorethanonedrum.
StartbyplayingtheX'sonthesnaredrumandtheO'sonatom.Lateryoucanreversethetwooraddothervoicesbyorchestratingthepatternsaroundtheset.Whileyouplaythepatternswithyourhands,youcanplaythepulseonyourbassdrumoryoucanalternatepulsesbetweenyourbassdrumandhi-hat.Asyouprogressyoucantrymorecomplicatedrepeatingpatternsinyourfeet.Forexample,youcanplaythepulseinonefootandatimelineintheother.
StartbyplayingtheX'sasonenoteandtheO'sasanothernotewithalowerpitch.Ifyouplayguitar,youcanusechordsinsteadofsinglenotes.Ifitbecomesdifficultortiresometorepeatonenoteorchordquickly,usetwodifferentnotesforconsecutiveX'sorO'sasyouwouldinatrill.Afteryou'refamiliarwithapattern,trysuperimposingscalesandmelodiesontoit.
Whenyou'refirstlearningapattern,playitwithastaccatotouchanddon'tpurposelysustainasoundforlongerthananeighthnote.Afteryou'refamiliarwithapattern,experimentbysustainingnotesorchords.
StartbyplayingtheX'sasonenoteandtheO'sasanotherwithalowerpitch,orplaytwodifferentchordsinsteadofsinglenotes.Ifitbecomesdifficultortiresometorepeatonenoteorchordquickly,usetwodifferentnotesforconsecutiveX'sorO'sasyouwouldinatrill.Afteryou'refamiliarwithapattern,trysuperimposingscalesandmelodiesontoit.Tocreateafullersound,tryplayingthepatternsinyourrighthandoverchordsorabasslineinyourleft.
Whenyou'refirstlearningapattern,playitwithastaccatotouchanddon'tpurposelysustainasoundforlongerthananeighthnote.Afteryou'refamiliarwithapattern,experimentbysustainingnotesorchords.
StartbyplayingtheX'sasonenoteandtheO'sasanotherwithalowerpitch.Ifitbecomesdifficultortiresometorepeatonesoundquickly,usetwodifferentnotesforconsecutiveX'sorO'sasyouwouldinatrill.Ondensepatternsyoucanplayforacycleandthenrestforacycleoryoucanplaycontinuouslyandinsertanemptycyclewheneveryouneedtocatchyourbreath.Afteryou'refamiliarwithapattern,trysuperimposingscalesandmelodiesontoit.
When you're first learning a pattern, don't purposely sustain a note for longerthan an eighth note. After you're familiar with a pattern, experiment bysustainingsomeofthenotes.
PicktwocontrastingsoundsforX'sandO's.Useanysyllablesthatfeelnaturaltoyou.(Welike"hop"forX'sand"doo"forO's.)Thentryusingtwodistinctpitchesforthetwosounds,withtheXhigherthantheO.Whenyou'vemasteredapatternwithjusttwosounds,trysuperimposingamelody.Ondensepatternsyoucansingforacycleandthenrestforacycleoryoucansingcontinuouslyandinsertanemptycyclewheneveryouneedtocatchyourbreath.
When you're first learning a pattern, don't purposely sustain a note for longerthan an eighth note. After you're familiar with a pattern, experiment bysustainingsomeofthenotes.
'oumaybeabletoplaymanyofthepatternsinthisbookrightoffthepagewithoutanyintermediatesteps.Butwheneveryoucan't,youcanuseasimplemethodwecallsay-it-and-play-it.Herearethesteps:1.Countoutloud
2.Tapthepulseinyourfeet(andkeeptappingthroughsteps3-5)3.Accentthepatternyou'reworkingoninyourcounting4.Stopcountingandvocalizethepattern5.PlaythepatternonyourinstrumentOnceyoulearnthismethod,youcanuseit-orpartsofit-tolearnanypattern.
Nowwe'llwalkyouthroughallfivestepswhileyoulearnthetwotimelinesontheCD.Oneisinfourandtheotherisinsix.They'reamongthemostcommontimelinesfoundinAfricanandAfro-Cubanmusic,andthey'reamongthemostwonderfulrhythmicpatternseverinvented.
Putyourinstrumentasidefornowandstartcountingoutloud"oneand-two-and-three-and-four-and"overandover.Countasevenlyasyoucan,withallthecountsexactlythesamevolumeandthesamedistancefromoneanother.Thenkeepcountingandstarttappingthepulseinyourfeeton1and3:
Howyoutapisuptoyou.Youcanalternatefeetorusejustonefoot.Youcantapyourheelortapyourtoe,oryoucanrockbackandforthfromheeltotoe.Ifyoudon'tlikemovingyourfeetwhileyouplay,putthepulsesomewhereelseinyourbodylikeyourhipsoryourhead.Dowhateverfeelscomfortableandnaturaltoyou,butkeepthatpulsegoingon1and3whileyoucountoutloud.
Nowyou'regoingtolearnthetimelineweuseinfour.ThispatternisknowninAfro-Cubanmusicastheson(sohn)clave,butit'salsousedinmanyAfricanrhythms,whereit'susuallyplayedonabell.Wheneveryou'reworkinginfourandwereferto"thetimeline,"thisisthepatternwe'retalkingabout.It'salsothetimelineinfouryou'llhearontheCD.(Laterwe'llintroduceothertimelinesinfour.)
We'veshadedthistimelineonthecountrowinthenextchart.Keepmovingyourfeetonthepulseandaddthetimelinebyaccentingthosefivenotesinyourcounting-"ONE-and-two-AND-three-and-FOURand/one-and-TWO-and-THREE-and-four-and":
Noticehoweachaccentednoteofthetimelinefeelsinrelationtothepulsesinyourfeeton1and3.Thefirstnotecoincideswiththefirstpulse.Thesecondnotecomesjustbeforeyourfootcomesdownonthesecondpulse.Thethird
andfourthnotesfallmidwaybetweenpulses.Andthelastnotecoincideswiththelastpulse.
Onceyou'reabletocomfortablytapthepulseinyourfeeton1and3whileaccentingthetimelineinyourvoice,keepthepulsegoingbutletthecountdriftawaywhileyouvocalizethepatternwithanysyllablethat'scomfortableforyou.Welike"ka"(noticewe'vegonebacktoshadingthepulseonthecountrow):
Vocalizingisagreatwaytolearnanewpatternbecauseyoudon'thavetothinkabouttechnique.Youcanconcentratecompletelyonrhythm.Thismethodoflearninghasbeenusedaroundtheworldforthousandsofyears.InIndianmusic,forexample,there'sahighlydevelopedsystemforvocalizingrhythms.Astudentmayvocalizeforayearormorebeforebeingallowedtotouchadrum.
IntheUnitedStates,theNigerianBabatundeOlatunjihaspopularizedamethodofvocalizinginwhicheachsyllablestandsforaparticulartechniqueonthedrum:"pa"isaslapwiththerighthand,"ta"isaslapwiththeleft,"go"isatonewiththerighthand,andsoon.
Manydrummersdeveloptheirownstyleofvocalizingtolearnpartsandcommunicatewithotherdrummers.There'sno"correct"waytovocalizerhythms;themainpointistofindawaythatworksforyou.Remember:Ifyoucansayit,youcanplayit.
Onceyoucanvocalizethetimelinewhiletappingthepulseinyourfeet,keepyourfeetgoingandplaythepatternonyourinstrument.Nowyouknowthetimelineinfouryou'llbeworkingwiththroughoutthisbook.
Nextyou'llusesay-it-and-play-ittolearnthetimelinecalledthe6/8bell(orthe"shortbell").ThistimelineiswidelyusedinAfricanandAfro-Cubanrhythmsinsix,andit'susuallyplayedonabell.Wheneveryou'reworkinginsixandwereferto"thetimeline,"thisisthepatternwe'retalkingabout.It'salsothetimelineinsixyou'llhearontheCD.(Laterwe'llintroduceothertimelinesinsix.)
Startbycounting"one-two-three-four-five-six"overandoveroutloud.Thenkeepcountingandstarttappingyourfeeton1and4,themainpulseyou'llbeworkingwithinsix.We'veshadedthispulseonthecountrowbelow:
Thetimelineinsixisshadedonthecountrowinthenextchart.Keepyourfeetgoingandstartaccentingthepatterninyourcounting:"ONE-two-THREE-four-FIVE-SIX/one-TWO-three-FOUR-five-SIX":
Youmayhavenoticedthatthistimelineisquiteabitharderthanthetimelineyoulearnedinfour.That'sbecausemostWesternmusicisinfour;sixisunfamiliarterritoryformostofus.Soslowitwaydownifyouneedto.Takeyourtime,noticingtherelationshipbetweenthenotesofthepatternandeachfoottap.
Whenyou'reabletocomfortablytapthepulseinyourfeetandaccentthetimelineinyourvoice,letthecountdriftawayandjustvocalizethepatternusingwhateversyllableyoulike.Whenthat'scomfortable,keepyourfeetgoingandplaythepatternonyourinstrument:
Nowyouknowthetimelineinsixyou'llbeworkingwiththroughoutthisbook.
-owthatyou'vegonethroughallthestepsofsay-it-and-play-itonthesetwotimelines,youshouldbeabletousethismethodtolearnanypattern.Andonceyou'recomfortableplayingapatternwhiletappingapulseinyourfeet,you'llbereadyforthejoyoftriple-weavepracticing,whichweexplaininthenextchapter.
nAfricanandAfro-Cubanmusic,rhythmsareconstructedofmanyinterlockingpartsplayedonmanydifferentinstruments.Thepartsarewoventogetherlikevoicesinafugue.Youcanexperiencesomethingapproximatingthisrhythmiccounterpointbyusingamethodwecalltripleweavepracticing.ThisinvolvesplayingapatternwhiletappingapulseinyourfeetandlisteningtoatimelineontheCD.
Tripleweavepracticingteachesyoutoplayyourpartinrelationtowhat'sbeingplayedaroundyouandtrainsyoureartohearcomplexrhythmicrelationships.SoevenifyouneverexpecttoplayAfricanorAfro-Cubanmusic,tripleweavepracticingwillhelpyoudevelopskillsyoucanapplytoanymusicalstyle.Andyou'llbeamazedathowhearingatimelineontheCDwhileyouplaybringsthepatternstolife.
Herearethethreestepsoftripleweave:
1.TurnonatimelineontheCD
2.Starttappingthepulse
3.Playapatternonyourinstrument
For patterns in four use the timeline in four and for patterns in six use thetimelineinsix.Eachtimelineisrecordedatsevendifferentspeeds,soyoucanstartslowandgraduallyspeedup.
Sinceyoualreadyknowhowtostartwithapulseinyourfeetandthenplaythetimelines,youshouldn'thavemuchtroublefindingthepulsebylisteningtothetimelinesontheCD.Tryitnow.Turnonthetimelineinfouratwhateverspeedyou'recomfortablewithandfindthepulse.Thenstarttappingyourfeet.Ifyouneedalittlehelplocatingthepulse,rememberthetimelineinfourhastwonotesinitthatcoincidewithpulses.We'veputthetimelineonthebottomrowofthenextchartsoyoucanseeagainthatthosetwonotesfallon1inthefirstmeasureand3inthesecond:
Nowturnonthetimelineinsix,findthepulse,andgetyourfeetgoing.Ifyouneedalittlehelplocatingthepulse,rememberthatthenotesinthetimelineon1inthefirstmeasureand4inthesecondcoincidewithpulses:
OnceatimelineisplayingontheCDandyou'retappingthepulseinyourfeet,you'rereadytoaddapatternonyourinstrument.
fyoujustlearnhowtoplaythepatternsinthisbookwhiletappingapulseinyourfeet,you'llstillacquirearichrhythmicvocabulary.Butyoucanmakethatvocabularyamuchdeeperpartofyouwithtripleweavepracticing.Onceyou'vehadatasteofit,you'llbehookedforlife.
Keepinmindthatyoudon'thavetostartatthetripleweavelevelwithanewpattern.Ifapatternisdifficult,leaveoutthetimelineatfirstandstartwithsay-it-and-play-it,orusesay-it-and-play-itwhilethetimelineisplaying.Whateveryoudo,don'trush.It'sbettertotakeyourtimelearningjustafewpatternsatthetripleweavelevelthantorunthroughmanypatternssuperficially.
.nthislesson,you'renotonlygoingtotapthepulseinyourfeet,.you'realsogoingtoplayitonyourinstrument.Startinfour.TurnonthetimelineinfourontheCDatmediumspeed.Feelthepulseon1and3andstarttappingitinyourfeet.Thenplayallthepulsesonyourinstrument:
PATTERN1-1
We'regoingtousethesepulsestointroducethefirsttechniqueforvaryingapattern:creatingspace.Youcancreatespaceinanypatternsimplybyleavingoutoneormorenotes.Startbyleavingoutthesecondpulseinthisset:
PATTERN1-2
Remembertothinkofeverychartasbeingwritteninacircle.Whenyougettotheendgorightbacktothebeginningandstartoverwithoutmissingabeat.Toreallyfeelapattern,youneedtorepeatitmanytimeswithoutstopping.
Ifyouhaven'ttriedityet,playthispatternwiththetimelineatafastspeed.Noticehowtheabsenceofthesecondpulsechangesthefeeloftherhythm.Insteadofflowingsteadily,thepatternnowleansrelentlesslyforward,drivingto1inthefirstmeasure(whichwe'llrefertoasONEfromnowon).ThenoteonONEstartstofeellikeit'sattheendofthepatterninsteadofthebeginning,andthenoteon1inthesecondmeasurestartstofeellikeit'satthebeginningofthepatterninsteadofinthemiddle.
Thisreconfigurationiscausedbywhatwecallthetendencyofthelargestgap,thefirstrhythmicconceptwewanttointroduce.Nomatterwhereyoustartplayingapattern,ifyourepeatitenoughtimesyou'llusuallycometoperceivethelargestgapasseparatingtheendofthepatternfromthebeginning.
Butthistendencyisjustthat:atendency.It'snotanironcladrule.Otherfactorsalsoaffectyourperceptionofwhereapatternstarts,suchasthetempoofthepattern,therelationshipofthepatterntothestartofthecycle,therelationshipofthepatterntootherpartsbeingplayed,andthenatureofthephysicalmovementsrequiredtoplaythepattern.
You'llfeelthetendencyofthelargestgapevenmorewhenyouenlargethegapbyleavingoutthepulseon3inthefirstmeasureandthepulseon1inthesecond.Noticethatthetwopulsesremainingaretheonesthatcoincidewithnotesinthetimeline:
PATTERN1-3
Thetimelineshouldkeepyourperceptionofwherethecyclestartsconstantevenwhenalargegapcausesyoutochangeyourperceptionofwhereapatternstarts.
rowyou'regoingtoplaythetimelineinfourasapatternonyourinstrumentandthencreatespaceinit.TurnofftheCDfornowsoitdoesn'tcreatethepatternforyou.(Infact,wheneveryouworkwithatimelineonyourinstrument,werecommendthatyouturnofftheCD.)Startbytappingthepulseinyourfeetandthenplaythefulltimelinepattern(noticewe'veswitchedtoshadingthepulseonthecountrow):
PATTERN1-4
Nowtakeoutthenoteon2inthesecondmeasure.Thiscreatesalargegapinthemiddleofthepattern.Afterafewrepetitionsyou'llprobablyperceivethenoteon3inthesecondmeasureasthestartofthepattern,especiallyifyou'replayingatfasterspeeds:
PATTERN1-5
Nowleaveoffbothnotesinthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN1-6
'owswitchtosix,wherethepulseison1and4.TurnonthetimelineinsixontheCDatmediumspeed.Feelthepulseandstarttappingitinyourfeet.Thenplayallthepulsesonyourinstrumentuntilyoureallylockwiththetimeline.Oncethatstartstohappen,keepgoing.Therelationshipbetweenthesetwopatternscanbeanunendingsourceofinspiration:
PATTERN1-7
Nextcreatespacebyleavingoutthesecondpulse.NoticehowthismakesthepatterndrivetoONEjustasitdidinfour,turningthenoteon1inthesecondmeasureintothebeginningofthepattern:
PATTERN1-8
Nowcreatemorespacebyleavingoutthepulseon4inthefirstmeasureandthepulseon1inthesecondmeasure.Thiswillquicklycausethenoteon4inthesecondmeasuretofeellikethebeginningofthepattern(noticethatthesetworemainingpulsesaretheonesthatcoincidewithnotesinthetimeline):
PATTERN1-9
owyou'regoingtoplaythetimelineinsixasapatternonyourinstrumentandthencreatespaceinitjustasyoudidwiththetimelineinfour.Again,sinceyou'regoingtobeworkingwithatimelineasapattern,remembertoturnofftheCD.Getthepulsegoinginyourfeetandthenstartbyplayingthefulltimeline(noticewe'veswitchedtoshadingthepulseonthecountrow):
PATTERN1-10
Nowcreatespaceinthetimelinebyleavingoffthenoteson5inthefirstmeasureand6inthesecond(don'tforgettousesay-it-and-play-itandslowthingswaydownifyouneedto):
PATTERN1-11
InAfro-Cubanmusic,thismorespaciousversionofthetimelineinsixisconsideredtobetheessenceofthepattern.
Youmayhavenoticedthatoftenthemorespaceyouputinapattern,themoredifficultitistoplay.Non-musiciansareimpressedbylotsofnotesplayedreallyfast,butmusiciansknowitcanbemuchhardertoplayfewernotesmorewidelyspacedintime.Sometimesit'snotwhatyouplay,butwhatyoudon'tplay,thatmakesthemusic.
iguresaresimplyshortrhythmicpatterns.Here'safigureinfour,consistingofapulseandthebeatbeforeit:
PATTERN2-IA
Wecallthiskindoffigureapair,whichjustmeanstwonotesonconsecutivebeats.WhenyouplaythispairwiththeCD,noticethatitstartsonthesecondnoteofthetimeline:
PATTERN2-1B
Nowforparallelfigures.Twofiguresareparallelwhen:1)theyhavethesamestructure,and
2)theyhavethesamerelationshiptoapulse.
Here'sanexample.Therearetwoparallelfiguresinthefollowingchart-parallelpairsconsistingofapulseandthebeatbeforeit:
PATTERN2-2
Eventhoughthenewfiguredoesn'tendonthesamenumberedbeat,it'sstill
parallelwiththefirst.Ithasthesamestructure(twonotesonconsecutivebeats)andithasthesamerelationshiptoapulse(apulseandthebeatbeforeit).Theonlydifferenceisthatthenewfigureendsonapulseon1insteadofapulseon3.
Becausethesefiguresareshort,fourparallelpairswillfitinatwomeasurecycle.Here'sthewholeset.Noticewe'veunderlinedthenoteontheANDof4inthesecondmeasuretoindicatethatyoushouldstartplayingthere:
PATTERN2-3
Trytoplaybothnotesineachpairevenly,withoutaccentingthepulse.Andwheneverthere'sapulsesoundedinapattern,unlessyou'vegotareasontoaccentit,playthatnotelikeanyother.Keeptappingthepulseinyourfeetandfeelingitinyourbody,butdon'tautomaticallyemphasizeitinyourplaying.Then,whenyoudochoosetoaccentanoteonapulse,itwillbeamusicaldecisionratherthananunconscioushabit.Keepyouroptionsopen.Preservetheflexibilitycreatedbytheunaccentedpulse.
Inthenextpattern,we'vecreatedspacebytakingoutonefigure.SincethelargegapthiscreateswillcauseyoutoperceivethenoteontheANDof4inthefirstmeasureasthestartofthepattern,wehaveyoustartthere:
PATTERN2-4
ere'sthecompletesetoffourparallelpairsinsixconsistingofthepulseandthebeatbeforeinit.Thisistherhythmyourheartmakes-"lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub,lub-dub":
PATTERN2-SA
Whenyoumoveontotriple-weavewiththispattern,youmayfindthetimelineabitdisorientingatfirst.Focusingonthepulseinyourfeetwillhelpkeepyougrounded.Afterawhileyou'llbeabletofocusonhowthepatternrelatestothetimeline.Thenyoucanusethetwopulsesinthetimeline-on1inthefirstmeasureand4inthesecond-asreferencepoints.Thetimelinealsogivesyoubothnotesofthepairthatstartson6inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN2-SB
Inthenextchart,we'vecreatedsomespaceinthepatternbytakingoutafigure.Nowthepatternstartson6inthefirstmeasure:
PATTERN2-6
We'vetakenoutanotherfigureinthenextchart.Nowthepatternstartson3inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN2-7
eforeyoumoveon,fliptopage195andreadthechapteronrhythmwalking.Rhythmwalkingisafunmethodforpracticingpatternswhileyoustretchyourlegsandgetsomefreshair.Itdoesn'trequireaninstrument-whichmeansyoucandoitanywhere-andit'sperfectforpracticingsimplepatternsliketheonesinthislesson.Theonlyreasonweputthechapteronrhythmwalkingattheendofthebookisthatwefiguredyou'dwanttogetrightintothepatterns.Nowthatyou'reintothem,werecommendyoustartrhythmwalkingassoonaspossibleandmakeitaregularpartofyourpracticeroutine.
the pattern created by the two beats before each pulse is used a lot inAfricanandAfro-Cubanrhythmsinbothfourandsix.Infour,thenotesfallon2andtheArrasof2,and4andtheArrasof4:
PATTERN3-1
Thispatternlookseasy,butbecausethefiguresnevertouchthepulse,playingthemaccuratelycanbeachallenge.Thisisespeciallytrueatfasttemposwhenthespacebetweenthesecondnoteofeachfigureandthefollowingpulsegetsverytight.
Toplaythispatternrightintime,itmaybehelpfultothinkofeachfigureasleadingintothepulsethatfollowsit:two-and-ahh,four-and-ahh,chucka-ahh,chucka-ahh.Feeleachfigureinyourhandsasconnectedtothepulsethatfollowsinyourfoot.
Nowyou'regoingtochangethepatternbyusingtwodifferentsounds.Youcanthinkofrhythmsassongs,witheachsoundasaseparatevoice.Changingthevoiceofanotebychangingitstonecolororpitchchangesthemelodyofarhythm.Weusethetermvoicingtorefertothesoundsofthenotesinarhythmicpattern,andwecallthetechniqueofchangingthosesoundschangingthevoicing.
Chooseonesoundforthefiguresstartingon2andanothersoundforthefiguresstartingon4:
PATTERN3-2
Thepatternsinthisbookuseeitherasinglevoiceortwovoicesplayedasanytwocontrastingsounds.Ifyouplayamelodicinstrument,thismayseemlikealimitedpaletteatfirst.Butlimitingthenumberofsoundsyouusecanintensifytherhythmicaspectofyourplaying.(Ifyou'renotconvinced,listentoadjembesolobyMamadyKeitaplayingjustslapsandopentones.)Themoresoundsyouadd,themoretheearisdrawntothemelodyandthemoredifficultitbecomestofeelarhythm'sstructure.Sobeforeyouaddmoresounds,explorethepowerofalimitednumberofvoicesonyourinstrument.
Nowtakethepatternaboveandreversethetwosoundsonthefigures.Noticehowthesongchanges(togetthefulleffect,youneedtoplayalongwiththetimeline):
PATTERN3-3
Nextcreatespacebyleavingoffthesecondnoteinthefirstandthirdfigures:
PATTERN3-4
WhenthispatternisplayedonacongadrumwiththeX'sasslapsandtheO'sasopentones,it'stheessenceofthepatterncommonlycalled"tumbao"(toom-bau)inAfro-Cubanmusic.
ow turn off theCD so you can practice the technique of changingvoicingusingthetimelineasthepattern.Hereareacouplevariationstogetyoustarted:
PATTERN3-5
PATTERN3-6
-ere'sthesetofparallelpairsconsistingofthetwobeatsbeforeeachpulseinsix:
PATTERN3-7A
Usethepulseinyourfeetasyourmainreferenceasyouplaythispattern.Butnoticethatthepatterncoincideswiththetimelineon5and6inthefirstmeasure:
PATTERN3-7B
Nowchangethevoicing.Playthesecondandfourthpairswiththealternatevoice:
PATTERN3-8
Noticehowthesongchangeswhenyoureversethevoicing:
PATTERN3-9
Here'sanotherpossibility:
PATTERN3-10
nowusethetechniqueofchangingvoicingwiththetimelineinsixasthepattern.TurnofftheCDandplaythesevariations:
PATTERN3-11
PATTERN3-12
PATTERN3-13
'owit'syourturn.You'vegotthreesetsofparallelpairs,twotimelines,andtwotechniques(creatingspaceandchangingvoicing)toplaywith.Whenyoufeellikeyou'vegoneasfarasyoucanusingjusttwosounds,usetwodifferentsoundsonalternatingcycles.Thenuseasmanysoundsasyouwant.
Everypatternandtechniquewepresentisintendedtobeaspringboardforyourownexploration.Ifyouwanttolearntoimprovise,youcan'tjustmemorizepatterns.Youhavetopracticecombiningthepatternsandtechniquesinyourownway.Fromtimetotimeattheendofalessonwe'llremindyoutodothat.Butevenwhenwedon'tremindyou,remember:You'renotdonewithalessonuntilyou'veplayedsomethingthatisn'tonthepage.
ere'sanothersetofparallelpairs:thepulseandthebeatafteritinfour.Remembertoplayallthenotesevenly.Don'taccentoremphasizethepulses:
PATTERN4-1
Now,insteadofcreatingspaceasyoudidinthelastlesson,you'regoingtofillspace,whichsimplymeansputtinginnoteswherethereareemptybeats.StartbyfillingspacebetweenfiguresbyplayingO'son2andtheANDof2inbothmeasures.Noticehowthisturnsfourshortfiguresintotwolongerones:
PATTERN4-2
NextturnofftheCDandfillspaceinthetimelinepattern:
PATTERN4-3
Inthenextchart,we'vechangedthevoicingofthelastnoteinthetimelineandfilledthespacebetweenitandthefirstnoteofthepattern.Ifit'sdifficulttorepeatthosefourO'sasasinglenoteonyourinstrument,goaheadandalternatebetweentwodifferentnotesontheO's:
PATTERN4-4
'owplaythepulseandthebeatafteritinsix(remembertoturnonthetimelineinsixwhenyou'rereadyfortriple-weave):
PATTERN4-5
Trythepatternwithdifferentvoicing:
PATTERN4-6
Inthenextpattern,thevoicingchangeswithineachfigure:
PATTERN4-7
Nowvary the last patternby filling the spaceon3 in the secondmeasurewithyourXsound:
PATTERN4-8
'owturnofftheCDandusethetechniqueoffillingspaceinthe
timelinepatternbyaddinganoteon3inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN4-9
Here'sthesamepatternwithdifferentvoicing:
PATTERN4-10
Youcanfillspaceinonespotandcreatespaceinanotherinthesamepattern.Inthenextchartwe'vekeptthenoteweaddedon3inthesecondmeasureandtakenoutthenoteson5and6inthefirst:
PATTERN4-11
•fyouhaven'tdoneityet,pickapatternyoulikeandplayitoverand.overforaslongasyoucan.Thepatternyouplayforaminutebecomesadifferentpatternwhenyouplayitforanhour.Repetitiontriggersmysteriousprocessesinthebodyandmind.That'swhyrepetitiverhythmsplayacriticalroleinthesacredritualsofsomanycultures,ofteninducingastateoftranceintheparticipants.Wedon'ttalkmuchaboutthetranceeffectofrepetition.Wejustgiveyouthepatternsandletyouexperienceitforyourself.
ere'sthelastsetofparallelpairsyou'regoingtowork:thetwobeatsafterthepulse.Infour,that'stheANDof1and2andtheANDof3and4:
PATTERNS-lA
Eventhoughthesepairsdon'ttouchthepulse,thepulseisstillyourbestreferenceforthispattern.Ithelpstofeeleachpairinyourhandsasconnectedtothepulsebeforeitinyourfoot.Thiswillkeepthepairsfromdriftingontothepulseandhelpyouplaythemaccuratelyevenatfastspeeds.
Youcanalsousethenoteswherethepatternintersectswiththetimelineasreferencepoints.Theseare4inthefirstmeasureand2inthesecond:
PATTERNS-1B
Nextwe'vegeneratedtwovariationsofthispatternbyfillingspaceintwodifferentways:
PATTERN5-2
PATTERN5-3
ofarwe'vebeenworkingwithpatternsthatareonlyasinglecyclelong.Aneasywaytobuildpatternslongerthanasinglecycleisbycombiningvariationsofapattern.
Inthenextchart,we'vecombinedthetwovariationsabovetocreateapatterntwocycleslong.Noticethere'snospacebetweenthetworowsunderthecountrow.Thatmeansbothrowsarepartofthesamepattern.Soafterplayingthefirstrow,immediatelygotothesecondwithoutmissingabeat.Thengobacktothebeginningandrepeatthewholepattern:
PATTERN5-4
Youcanusethissametechniqueofcombiningvariationswiththetimelineasthepattern.Inthenextchart,thefirst,second,andfourthcyclesareonevariation.Thethirdisthefulltimelinewithdifferentvoicingandsomespacefilledattheend(remembertoturnofftheCDwhenyouworkwiththetimelineasapattern):
PATTERN5-5
owwe'llapplythesametechniqueofcombiningvariationstobuildlongerpatternsinsix,againusingtheparallelpairsofthetwobeatsafterthepulse.Thesepairsshouldbefamiliartoyoubecausethey'rethesameasthetwobeatsbeforethepulseinsix,whichyouworkedwithacouplelessonsago.Sincethereareonlytwobeatsbetweenpulsesinsix,youcanthinkofthemasthetwobeatsbefore,after,orbetweenpulses.
Startwiththistwo-cyclepatterncreatedbycombiningtwovariationsofthesetofparallelpairsbetweenpulses:
PATTERN5-6
Nextplaythisexampleofanextendedimprovisationbasedjustonvariationsofthetwobeatsbetweenpulses:
PATTERN5-7
iombiningvariationsisagreatwaytogetthemostoutofalimited.vocabulary.Evenmusicianswhoknowcountlesspatternsusethistechniquebecausetheyunderstandthevirtueofafullydevelopedidea.Useyourresourceswiselywhenyouimprovise.Developoneideabeforemovingontothenext.
.nthislesson,you'regoingtoworkwithfoursetsofparallelthree.notefiguresinfour.Thefirstisthepulseandthetwobeatsbeforeit,acommonsupportrhythm:
PATTERN6-1
Whenyoucreatespaceinthissetbyleavingoutthenoteon3ineachmeasure,thepatternstartstoswayalittle:
PATTERN6-2
Eachfigureinthenextsetofparallelthree-notefiguresconsistsofthepulseandthetwobeatsafterit:
PATTERN6-3
We'vevariedthispatterninthenextchartbyleavingoutthenoteson2andchangingthevoicingofthenoteson4:
PATTERN6-4
Nowplaythesetofparallelfiguresofthethreebeatsbetweenthepulsesinfour:
PATTERN6-5
Differentvoicingscreatedifferentsongs:
PATTERN6-6
PATTERN6-7
PATTERN6-8
Inthelastsetofthree-notefigures,eachfigureconsistsofthebeatbeforethepulse,thepulse,andthebeatafter:
PATTERN6-9
Withonlyaslightmodificationinthesecondmeasure,thissetbecomesacommonpalito(pah-lee-toh)patternintheAfro-Cubanrumba(room-bah)."Palito"means"littlestick"inSpanishandpalitopatternsareusuallyplayedwithsticksonahardsurface:
PATTERN6-10A
Noticehowthispatternlinesupwithbothnotesofthetimelineinthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN6-10B
nsix,there'sonlyroomfortwoparallelthree-notefiguresinatwomeasurecycle(ifyouwanttokeepsomespacebetweenthefigures).Herearetwoparallelthree-notefiguresstartingon1:
PATTERN6-11
Nowfillspaceinthispatternbyaddinganoteinthealternatevoiceon5ineachmeasure:
PATTERN6-12
Inthenextchart,we'vetakenthispatternandshifteditonebeattotheleft,soinsteadofstartingonONE,itstartson6:
PATTERN6-13
Whenapatternisshifted,itstaysthesamebutstartsinanewplace.Shiftinghasbeencomparedtotransposingamelodyorchordprogressiontoanewkey,withtheshiftedversioncalleda"rhythmictransposition"or"permutation"oftheinitialpattern.Acloseranalogyfromtonalmusicischangingfromonemodetoanother.Whenyouchangemodes,youplaythesamescalestartingonadifferentnote;whenyoushiftarhythm,youplaythesamepatternstartingonadifferentbeat.
You can keep shifting this pattern to the left to create four moretranspositions:
PATTERN6-14
PATTERN6-15
PATTERN6-16
PATTERN6-17
hiftingallowsyoutoturnonesetofmovementsintomanypatterns.Remember:Whenyoushiftapatternyoudon'tneedtochangehoworwhatyouplay,youonlyneedtochangewhenyouplay.Likecombiningvariations,shiftingisagreatwaytogetthemostoutofalimitedvocabulary.
nthischapter,you'llreallygettoknowyourwayaroundtheeighthnotegridinfour.StartbyplayingeverynoteonthegridwiththesamesoundforacycleandendingonONEinthefollowingcycle.Remembernottoaccentthepulse:
PATTERN7-1
Becauseoftherelentlessmonotonyofconsecutiveeighthnotesplayedwiththesamesound,theyworkbestasbackgroundpercussionpartsorinshort,prominentburststosignalatransitionordrivethegroove.Duringhotafternoondanceclassesourdrumteacherusedtorechargethedancersbycrackingouteveryeighthnotewithsticksonahollowwoodblock.
Usuallywhenyouplayaflowofconsecutiveeighthnotes,youwon'tbeplayingthemallthesame.You'llbeusingaccentsandvoicingtomakedifferentpatternsemerge.Anaccentisafeatureofasoundthatmakesitstandoutfromitssurroundings.Whenyougiveasoundadynamicaccent,youmakeitstandoutbyhowloudorsoftyouplayit.
Inthenextpattern,weadddynamicaccentsonthenotesofthetimeline.ThelargeX'sindicatethatthosenotesaretobeplayedlouderthanthesmallx's:
PATTERN7-2
Youcanalsomakeapatternemergeusingvoicing.Inthenextpattern,wemakethetimelineemergefromacontinuousflowofeighthnotesbyplayingitinthealternatevoice:
PATTERN7-3
Weusevoicingtomakeadifferentpatternemergefromacontinuousflowofeighthnotesinthenextchart:
PATTERN7-4
Nowcutthepatternoffafterbeat3inthesecondmeasuretocreatesomespacebetweencycles:
PATTERN7-5
Shiftingthispatterntostarton3inthesecondmeasuregivesusadrumpartfromtheGhanaianrhythmpanlogo(pahn-loh-goh):
PATTERN7-6
Whenapatternstartsinonecycleandendsafterthefirstbeatinthenextcycle,itmakesarhythmfeelmorecircular,withoutaclearbeginningorend.ThecirculareffectofoverlappingONEcanreconfigurehowyouhearthetimelineandotherpatternsinarhythm.
Inthenextpattern,theshortfiguresoverlap1inbothmeasures:
PATTERN7-7
Here'salongerpatterncreatedbycombiningvariationsofthesefigureswithparallelpairs.Itendswithastringofconsecutiveeighthnotes:
PATTERN7-8
hechangeinperspectivecreatedbyoverlappingONEcaneitherbetrance-inducingorconfusing,dependingonhoweasyitisforyoutoholdontoyourpart.Whenwefirststartedplayingpatternsthatoverlappedthestartofthe
cycle,wewereconstantlylookingateachotherandwhispering"Where'sONE?"Butnowthatyouunderstandtheoverlapeffect,youcanskipconfusionandgostraighttotrance.
Here'sthesetofnumberedbeatsinfour:
PATTERN8-1
Thissetismadeupofpulseson1and3andupbeatson2and4.Wedefineanupbeatasabeatfallingmidwaybetweentwopulses.Noticethattherearetwoupbeatsinthetimeline:
PATTERN8-2
Becauseupbeatsaredefinedinrelationtothepulse,ifthepulsechanges,theupbeatswillchange.Forexample,ifyou'reworkingwitharhythminfourthatonlyrequirestwosubdivisionstoapulse,youcouldputapulseoneverynumberedbeat.ThentheANDSwouldbecometheupbeatsbecausetheywouldfallmidwaybetweeneachtwopulses:
Insix-withpulseson1and4-therearenoupbeatsonourchartsbecausethereisnobeatmidwaybetweenthepulsesontheeighthnotegrid:
rowgobacktothesetofupbeatsinfourwiththepulseon1and3andcreatespacebyleavingoutthefirstupbeat:
PATTERN8-3
Byleavingouttheupbeaton2inthesecondmeasureinstead,youcancreateapatternthatoverlapsONE:
PATTERN8-4
rext we're going to work with a pattern made up of threenumberedbeats-twopulsesandanupbeat:
PATTERN8-5A
ThispatterniscommoninAfricanandAfro-Cubanmusic,andcanprobablybeheardalmosteverywhereelseintheworld.It'ssimple,butitgrooveshard.
Whenyouplaythispatternslowly,thetendencyistohearitastwoparallelfiguresthatstarton1:
PATTERN8-5B
Thetimeline,whichstartsonONE,reinforcesthiswayofhearingthepattern.
Butwhenyouplaythispatternfast,thetendencyofthelargestgaptakesover,causingyoutohearitastwoparallelfiguresthatstarton3:
PATTERN8-5C
Next we've filled space in this pattern to create three variations. Play eachvariationseparatelyuntil itgrooves.Then trycombiningvariations tobuildalongerpatternormakeupvariationsofyourown:
PATTERN8-6
PATTERN8-7
PATTERN8-8
PATTERN8-9
Inthenextchartwe'vealternatedbetweenavariationofpattern8-7(adjembepartfromKassa,arhythmfromGuinea)andapatternofparallelpairs.Repeateachlineasmanytimesasyoulikebeforemovingontothenext:
PATTERN8-10
atternsarelikewordsinyourvocabulary.Toformmeaningfulsentences,youneedtoputwordstogether.Fromnowonweregularlycombinenewpatternswithonesyoualreadyknow.Usethesecombinationsasexamplesofhowyoucanputyourvocabularytowork.
featsareallthebeatsbetweenpulses(exceptupbeats).Thewaywe'recountinginfour,theoffbeatsontheeighth-notegridaretheArras.Fornow,leaveoutthetimelineandjustgetafeelforhowtheyfitwiththepulse:
PATTERN9-1A
Whenyoupickupthetempoandaddthetimeline,thenumberedbeats(alsocalledonbeats,meaningallbeatsthataren'toffbeats)turnintomagnetsthattugonthenearbyoffbeats.Ittakesconcentrationtoresistthetugandholdtheoffbeatsinplace.Ifyourconcentrationslips-evenforamoment-you'llfindyourselfthinking"Thisisn'tsohard!"untilyourealizeyou'replaying1-2-3-4insteadofAND-AND-AND-AND.
Onewaytomakesureyouroffbeatsdon'tslideontothenumberedbeatsistoaddghostnotes,whicharelight,barely-audibletapsontheemptybeatsinapattern.Inthenextchart,we'veaddedghostnotes(indicatedbydots)onthenumberedbeats.Experimenttoseeifthere'sawaytotapthemorplaythemsoftlyonyourinstrumentwithonehandwhileyouplaytheoffbeatswiththeother:
PATTERN9-1B
Besideshelpingyoukeepyourplace,ghostnotescanaddtothegrooveofapatternbyprovidingasubtle,underlyingsupportrhythm.Butbecarefulhowyouusethemwhenotherinstrumentsareplaying.Addingghostnotestoanalready-denserhythmcanmakeitsoundcluttered.Soit'sbesttolearnhowtoplaypatternsbothways-withandwithoutghostnotes.
.owtakeouttheghostnotes,turnonthetimeline,andalternatebetweenplayingtheoffbeatsforacycleandrestingforacycle.Doingtheserhythmicwindsprintswillbuildyourendurancesoyou'lleventuallybeabletoresistthetugofthenumberedbeatsforanextendedstretch.Noticethatthesingleoffbeatinthetimeline(ontheANDof2inthefirstmeasure)givesyouareferencepoint:
PATTERN9-1C
Becausestraightoffbeatsgeneratesomuchrhythmictension,you'llrarelybecalledupontoplaymorethanacycle'sworthinanactualplayingsituation.Soifyoucanmakeitthroughevenonecycleofoffbeatsyou'reingreatshape.
Hereareacouplecommonpatternsthatcombinesequencesofoffbeatsandnumberedbeats.Toemphasizethestructureofthepatterns,weuseO'sfortheoffbeatsandX'sforthenumberedbeats.Andbecauseeachpatterngenerates
sometensionwiththetimelineatdifferentpoints,we'veshadedthetimelineonthecountrow:
PATTERN9-2
PATTERN9-3
thenextpattern,whichisplayedonthehighcongadrumintheAfro-Cubanrumba,hasnotesonthreeofthefouroffbeatsineachmeasure.Usethenoteon2ineachmeasuretosteadyyourselfbeforedivingbackintotheoffbeatsthatstartontheANDof3.Youcanalsouseghostnotesifyouwant.We'vekeptthetimelineonthecountrowsoyoucanuseitasareference:
PATTERN9-4
YouprobablynoticedthatthetendencyofthelargestgapreconfiguredthepatternintotwofiguresthatoverlappedthebarlinesandobscuredONE.Bycreatingspaceinthepattern,youcankeepitstartingontheANDoflinthefirstmeasure:
PATTERN9-5
Byfillingspaceintheoriginalpatternyoucanthrowablanketovereachbarline:
PATTERN9-6
Inthislastchart,we'vebuiltalongerpatternbycombiningvariationsofthispatternwithacoupleotherpatterns:
PATTERN9-7
Afteryou'recomfortableplayingthispattern,gobackandvaryitbyadjustingthevolume.Firstplaythewholepatternloud.Thenplayitsoft.Noticehowadjustingthevolumeaffectsthecharacterofthepattern.Thenplayitagain,lettingthevolumeriseandfallasifyouwerespeaking.Sometimesshoutingisthebestwaytogetyourpointacross;sometimeswhisperingworksbetter.
layingsinglesandpairsisaneasywaytocreateavarietyofpatternswithouthavingtothinktoomuch.Justplayanycombinationofsinglenotesandpairsandfolloweachsingleorpairwithoneemptybeat.Tocreateapatterninfourthatrepeatseverytwomeasuresthere'sjustonemorethingtoremember:useanevennumberofpairs.
Here'sasingles-and-pairspatternwithtwopairsthatstartsonONE:
PATTERN10-1
Noticewhathappenswhenyouswitchfromasingletoapairinfour.Ifthelastsingleyouplayedwasonanumberedbeat-likethesingleon2inthefirstmeasureabove-apairwillswitchyoutotheANDtrack.That'swhatthepairstartingon3inthefirstmeasuredoes.Ifthelastsingleyouplayedwasonanoffbeat-likethesingleontheANDof1inthesecondmeasureabove-apairwillswitchyoutothenumberedbeats.That'swhatthepairstartingontheANDof2inthesecondmeasuredoes.
Here'sasinglesandpairspatternknowninAfro-Cubanmusicasamambobellpattern:
PATTERN10-2
Here'sasecondmambobellpattern,alsoknownasacascarapattern."Cascara"meansshell,andthispatternisoftenplayedwithsticksontheshellofatimbale.
Noticethatithasfourpairs(includingthepairthatoverlapsONE):
PATTERN10-3
Here'sathirdmambobellpattern.NoticethatthisonehasnonoteonONE:
PATTERN10-4
Thenextpatterndoesn'thaveanoteon1ineithermeasure.It'sabellpartinthePuertoRicanrhythmcalledbomba(bohm-bah).Noticethattwopairssurroundeachpulseon1whilethesinglesfalloneachpulseon3:
PATTERN10-5
Here'sanAfro-Cubanbellpatternwithtwovoices.Noticethatitstartson1inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN10-6
neachofthefollowingpatternsthere'sapairstartingon3inthefirstmeasure.Inthefirstpattern,thatpairisfollowedimmediatelybyasecondpair.
Thenineachsucceedingpattern,theappearanceofthesecondpairispostponedlongerandlonger.Thismakesthestringofoffbeatsinglesfollowingthefirstpairlongerandlonger.Theoffbeatsinglescreatetension,andthetensionbuildsuntilthepatternisreturnedtoanumberedbeatbythesecondpair:
PATTERN10-7
PATTERN10-8
PATTERN10-9
PATTERN10-10
PATTERN10-11
hesepatternsworkwellwithjustaboutanydancemusicinfour,sopulloutyourfavoriteCDnowandtryplayingalong.Besidesbeingafunwayto
practice,playingwithrecordedmusicisagreatwaytodevelopyouroverallmusicianshipbecauseitrequiresyoutolistentomanyotherpartswhileholdingyourown.Andespeciallywhenyou'reabeginner,playingwithrecordedmusicmaybetheonlywayyoucanexperiencewhatit'sliketoplaywithaband.OurCDplayerhasallowedustoplaywithSting,SteelyDan,LosMunequitos,andYoussouN'Dour-andnotoneofthemhascomplainedaboutourplaying.
nlesson2,werecommendedthatforthesakeofflexibilityyouavoidthehabitofautomaticallyaccentingthepulseineverypattern.Inthislesson,you'regoingtointentionallyaccentthepulsescalledbackbeats,whichwedefineaseverysecondpulse.Infour,withthepulseon1and3,thebackbeatsfallonbeat3ineachmeasure:
PATTERN11-1A
Whenyoucountinsixteenthnotes,thebackbeatsfallon2and4:
PATTERN11-1B
There'ssomethingaboutthebackbeatthatmakesabodywanttomove.That'swhyyou'llfindasolidbackbeatattheheartofmostpopulardancemusic.Drummersusuallyemphasizethebackbeatbyplayingitwithaloudrimshotonthesnaredrum.Thishighcrackingsoundisusuallybalancedbyacontrastinglowthudonthebassdrumon1.
Whateverinstrumentyouplay,forthislessonimagineit'sadrumsetandplayyourversionofabassdrumon1andyourversionofasnaredrumon3:
PATTERN11-2
Nowcreatesomespaceinthispatternbyleavingoutthenoteon1inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN11-3
Nowyou'regoingtokeepthesethreenotesconstantwhileplayingaseriesofvariationsonthem.Startbyaddingabassdrumnoteon2inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN11-4
Nowaddanotherbassdrumnoteon2inthefirstmeasure:
PATTERN11-S
Nexttrysomevariationsthataddoffbeats:
PATTERN11-6
PATTERN11-7
PATTERN11-8
Thenextvariationhasaseriesoffiveconsecutiveoffbeatsinthe0voicestartingontheANDof2inthefirstmeasure:
PATTERN11-9
'owgobacktotheoriginalpulse-backbeatpatternandaddanoteaftereachbackbeattocreatetwoparallelfigures:
PATTERN11-10
Aninterestingwaytovaryparallelfiguresistodisplaceonenoteinoneofthefiguresbyasinglebeat.Inthenextpattern,we'vedisplacedthenoteon3inthesecondfigureandmovedittotheprecedingbeat.NowthetwoX'sinthesecondmeasuresurroundthepulseon3withouttouchingit:
PATTERN11-11
syouworkyourwaythroughthepatternsinthisbook,inadditiontopracticingthemwithatimeline,it'salsogoodtopracticethemwithametronome.Insomewaysthisisharderbecausethemetronomedoesn'tdefineanyofthesubdivisionsofthepulseforyouandforcesyoutokeeptrackofthecycleyourself.Therelentlessclickofthemetronome-likethetimelineontheCD-willalsohelpyoudevelopsteadytime,themostfundamentalaspectofrhythm.Withoutsteadytime,eventhefanciestrhythmicvocabularywillsoundlikeirritatingchatter.
venwhenthepulseismovingatamoderatespeed,sixteenthnotesmoveveryfast.(Ifyou'vebeencountinginsixteenthnotesallalong,thenoursixteenthnotesarethirty-secondnotesforyou.)It'shardtoplaydiscontinuouspatternsaccuratelyatthatspeedandhardfortheeartodiscernsuchintricaterhythms.Sowe'llbeusingsixteenthnotestoembellishorthickenthetextureofpatternsinwhichthebasicunitoftimeremainstheeighthnote.Ifyouwanttoexplorethesixteenth-notegridmorethoroughlyonyourown,justtakeanyeighth-notepatterninthebookandplayittwiceasfastwhilekeepingthespeedofthepulseandthetimelineunchanged.
Wechartsixteenthnotesastwonoteswithinasingleeighth-notebox.Inthenextchart, there are two sixteenth notes in the box under beat 1 in the secondmeasure:
PATTERN12-1
Asyouplaythispattern,whenyouswitchfromsixteenthnotestoeighthnotesontheANDof1inthesecondmeasure,don'tslowdowngradually.ThefourO'sinthesecondmeasureshouldsoundjustlikethefourinthefirst.
Youcansubstitutesixteenthnotesforanyeighthnote.Inthenextpattern,we'vesubstitutedsixteenthnotesforthefirsttwoeighthnotesinthesecondfigure.Ifit'sawkwardonyourinstrumenttorepeatasinglesoundquicklyfourtimesinarow,usemorethanonesoundonthesixteenthnotes:
PATTERN12-2
Inthenextpattern,we'vesubstitutedsixteenthnotesforthefirstfoureighthnotesinthesecondfigure.Thistimeyou'llswitchvoiceswhileplayingsixteenthnotes.Again,makesurethelastthreenotesinthesecondmeasuresoundjustlikethelastthreenotesinthefirst:
PATTERN12-3
Whenyouinsertsixteenthnotesbetweeneighthnotes,youhavetoswitchspeedscleanlygoinginandcomingout.Inthenextpattern,wetakethesetofparallelpairsconsistingofthepulseandthebeatafterandfillthespacebetweenthelastandfirstfigureswithsixteenthnotes:
PATTERN12-4
nextyou'regoingtoworkwithafigureconsistingofconsecutiveI
eighthnotes.Noticethatitstartsrightafterthethirdnoteinthetimeline:
PATTERN12-5
Whenyousubstitutetwosixteenthnotesforthefirsteighthnoteinthefigure,itbecomesapatternplayedonthehighdrumintheAfroCubanrumba:
PATTERN12-6
Nowbuildalongerpatternbyrepeatingthefigureandthenaddingaparallelfigure:
PATTERN12-7
.ere'sanexercisethatcanhelpyoudevelopgreaterspeedand-accuracyonyoursixteenthnotes.Pickanypatternyouwanttoworkonthathasjustonevoice.Thenplaythenotesofthepatternwitheighthnotesandfillallthespacesinbetweenwithsixteenthnotesinthealternatevoice(ortwoalternatevoicesifyouneedto).Forexample,here'showthetimelinewouldbeplayed:
PATTERN12-8
Thisexerciseisgreatfordevelopingtheabilitytoswitchcleanlybetweentheeighth-noteandthesixteenth-notegrids.Italsodevelopsyourabilitytousesixteenthnotestofillspacebetweenthenotesofapatterntogiveitadensertexture.
-ou'vealreadyworkedwiththefullsetofoffbeatsinfour.Inthislesson,you'llworkwithtwosubsetsofthoseoffbeats.Thefirstisthesetofoffbeatsbeforeeachpulse:
PATTERN13-1A
Thepulse isyourbest reference forplaying thesenotes in time,butyoucanalsouse the timelineontheANDof2 in thefirstmeasure togetyoustartedandmakesureyoustayontrack:
PATTERN13-1B
Theoffbeatsbeforethepulsegeneratealotofrhythmictension.Andbecausethesenotesarespacedexactlythesamedistanceapartaspulses,ifyouplaythispatternprominentlyformorethanacycleitcanobscuretheunderlyingpulseandmayeventuallyoverpowerit.Thisisespeciallylikelywhenyoualternatevoicestomimicapulse-backbeatpattern:
PATTERN13-2
Thepitchesyouusewillalsoaffectalistener'sperception.Ifyouplaythispatternusingpitchescommonlyassociatedwithapulse-backbeatpattern-likethefirstandfifthnotesofascale-theseoffbeatswillsoundevenmorelikepulses:
PATTERN13-3
Obscuringthepulseisamuchmoreradicaleffectthansimplyobscuringthestartofthecycle.Iflistenersanddancerslosetrackofthestartofthecycle,theycanalwayskeepmovingtothepulse.Butifyouconfusethemaboutwherethepulseis,youmaystopthemcold.Youneedtobeawareofthedisorientingeffectofobscuringthepulsesoyoudon'tunintentionallythrowyouraudience-orthemusiciansyou'replayingwith.
NowfillsomespaceinthispatternbyaddinganoffbeatafterthepulseontheANDof3inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN13-4
Anotherwaytofillspaceinthepatternistoattachaprefixtooneormoreofthenotes.Aprefixissimplyanoteornotesattachedbeforeanothernoteorfigure.Inthenextpattern,we'veattachedatwo-noteprefixtothenoteontheANDof4ineachmeasure:
PATTERN13-5
Inthenextchartwe'vebuiltalongerpatternbycombiningvariationsofthispattern:
PATTERN13-6
ikethesetofoffbeatsbeforethepulse,thesetofoffbeatsafterthepulsealsohasapulse-obscuringeffect:
PATTERN13-7
Inthenextchart,we'vefilledspaceinthispatternbyattachingasuffixtothe
noteontheANDof3ineachmeasure.Asuffixissimplyanoteornotesattachedafteranothernoteorfigure.NoticethatthetendencyofthelargestgapquicklyreconfiguresthepatternintotwoparallelfiguresstartingontheANDof3:
PATTERN13-8
Inthenextexercise,westartwithvariationsofthispatternandthencombinevariationsofthree-notefiguresyou'veworkedwithtogiveyousomeideasforwaystoimprovise:
PATTERN13-9
-oticehowmuchspacethereisatthestartofthispattern.Newmusiciansoftengetsonervouswhenit'stheirturntotakeasolothattheytrytosaytoomuchtoosoon.Whenit'syourturn,don'tbeafraidtotakeyourtime.Takebreathsbetweenphrases.Pauseaftersayingsomethingimportanttoletitsinkin.Don'tpeaktooearly.Buildgraduallyandendonahighnote.
orthesakeofsimplicityandconsistency,werelateallthepatternsinfourinthisbooktoonetimeline,thepatternknowninAfro-Cubanmusicasthesonclave.Butthereareothercommontimelinesinfour.Inthislessonweshowyousome.Fornow,treatthemaspatternsandplaythemonyourinstrument(withoutlisteningtothetimelineontheCD).
Ifyouhaveafriendyoucanplaywithoradrummachineyoucanprogram,youcantryanypatterninfourwithanyofthesetimelines.Youcanalsousethesetimelinesaspatternsinyourplaying,andvarythemjustasyouwouldanyotherpattern.Butbeawarethatifyou'replayinginatraditionalcontext,youshouldknowthespecifictimelinethatgoeswiththerhythmyou'replaying.
The first new timeline is called the rumba clave in Afro-Cuban music. It'sexactly the sameas the sonclaveexcept foronenote. In the rumbaclave, thethirdnoteinthefirstmeasurefallsontheANDof4insteadof4.We'vechartedboththesonclaveandtherumbaclavebelowsoyoucancomparethetwo:
PATTERN14-1(SONCLAVE)
PATTERN14-2(RUMBACLAVE)
Noticehowmovingthethirdnotefrom4totheANDof4changesthefeelofthepattern.Thetwooffbeatsintherumbaclavecreateasuspendedfeelinguntilthepatterntouchesdownon2inthesecondmeasure.
ThenexttimelineisplayedonabellintheGhanaianrhythmgahu(ga-hoo).It'salsothesameasthesonclaveexceptforonenote.Itdiffersonthelastnote,whichfallson4inthesecondmeasureinsteadof3:
PATTERN14-3
Here'sanothervariationofthesonclavethatdiffersonlyonthelastnote,whichfallsontheANDof3insteadof3:
PATTERN14-4
Thenext timeline isknownas theone-barclave inAfro-Cubanmusic,but it'salsousedwidelyinrhythmsallovertheworld.It'sthesameasthefirstmeasureofthesonclave.Hereitisrepeatedtwice:
PATTERN14-5
Here'satimelinethat'splayedonabellintheGhanaianrhythmsichi(see-chee).
Itconsistsofjustthreeevenly-spacednotes.Besuretoestablishthepulseinyourbodybeforeyoustartplayingitoryou'llfeelitasthreepulsesinsteadofthreeupbeats:
PATTERN14-6
'ow let's go back to the son clave. Notice it has 3 notes in the firstmeasureand2inthesecond:
PATTERN14-7
Whenthesonclaveisplayedwiththemeasuresinthisorder,it'scalledthe3-2sonclave.Whenthemeasuresarereversed,thepatterniscalledthe2-3sonclavebecausethemeasurewith2notes(the"2side")comesfirstandthemeasurewith3notes(the"3-side")comessecond:
PATTERN14-8
Therumbaclave-whichisin3-2formabove-canalsoplayedin2-3form:
PATTERN14-9
Whenyouplaywithothersandaclavepatternisusedasatimeline,youneedtoknowwhetherit'sa3-2or2-3clavesoyou'llknowhowyourpartfitsandyouwon'tgetturnedaround.Arhythm,melody,orchordprogressionmayfitwellwithoneversionoftheclavebutclashwiththeother.
.ere'sapatternfromtheAfro-Cubanrhythmcalledcongathat'splayedwiththe2-3sonclave,whichwe'veshadedonthecountrow.Firstplaythepatternafewtimesbyitselfjusttogetfamiliarwithit.Thenturnonthetimeline.BecausetheclaveontheCDstartsonthe3-side,you'llneedtowaitameasuretostartplayingonthe2-side(inarealplayingsituation,theclaveplayerwouldstartonthe2-side):
PATTERN14-10
YoucanalsoturnthesonclaveontheCDintoothertimelinesbycontinuingtoshiftyourperceptionofwherethepatternstarts.Forexample,here'sthe3-2sonclaveshiftedsothefirstnotefallson3inthefirstmeasureandthelastnotefallsonONE:
PATTERN14-11
Andthisisjustthebeginning.We'veonlycoveredthreeofthesixteenpossibletranspositionsofthesonclave.Soifyoueverfeellikeplayingtoanewtimeline
infour,therearethirteenmorewaitingforyouontheCD.
ou'vealreadyplayedpatternsconsistingofconsecutiveeighthnotesinfour.Nowyou'regoingtoplaytheminsix.Startbymarkingtheendofeachmeasurewithtwonotesinthealternatevoice:
PATTERN15-1
Nowusealternatevoicingtocreatethree-notefiguresthatstartoneachpulse:
PATTERN15-2
Whenyoushiftthepatternonebeattotheright,insteadofstartingonapulse,eachsetofthreenotesendsonapulse:
PATTERN15-3
Inthenextchart,we'veshiftedthepatternanotherbeattotheright.Nowthepulsefallsonthemiddlenoteofeachthree-notefigure.Ifyouplaythenotesevenly,thevoicingofthispatternobscuresthepulse:
PATTERN15-4
-owwe'regoingtoshiftanothersequenceofconsecutiveeighthnotes.Thepatternsarebasedonthree-notefiguresagain,butthistimeeachfigurecontainsone0andtwoX's.Inthefirstpattern,thevoicingaccentsthepulse:
PATTERN15-5
Nowshiftthispatternonebeattotheright:
PATTERN15-6
Nowshiftanotherbeattotherighttocreateathirdversion:
PATTERN15-7
Nowjointhethirdversionandthefirsttocreateapatterntwiceaslong.Becarefulwiththetransitionsbetweenthetwo:
PATTERN15-8
n the next pattern, we've created space at the end of a string ofconsecutiveeighthnotes:
PATTERN15-9
Whenweshiftthispatternoverthreebeatssoitstartson4,itendsatthestartofthecycle.Usethesecondpulseinyourfeetasareferencetofindyourstartingplace:
PATTERN15-10
WeaddedanemptycycleafterthelastnoteofthispatternsoyoucouldreallyfeelthestabilizingeffectofendingonONE.Thiseffectisespeciallywelcomewhenapatternthrowslistenerstemporarilyoffbalance.EndingonONErestoresasenseofstabilityandgroundedness,andafeelingthatthepatternhascomehome.It'slikeputtingaperiodattheendofasentence.
Ifyoudon'twanttocreatesuchastrongsenseofresolution,justaddanoteonthebeatafterONE:
PATTERN15-11
WhenyouaddthenoteonthebeatafterONEtoyourending,you'relikeaparachutistwhohitsthegroundandthenrollstosoftentheforceofthelanding.Becausethiscreatesamorediffuseendingtoapattern,wecallitthediffusingeffectofendingonthebeatafterONE.
AnotherwaytoendapatternwithoutastrongsenseofresolutionistostopjustbeforeyougettoONE.WecallthisthesuspendedeffectofendingonthebeatbeforeONE:
PATTERN15-12
Drumset players often accent the beat beforeONEwith a cymbal crash. Thiscreatesakindofsonicmistthatgraduallydisperses,allowingthegroovetore-emergeafewbeatslater.
nthislesson,weusetheoddnumberedbeatstointroduceanewpulseinsixandthepolyrhythm3over2.Inthenextlesson,you'lllearnpatternsbasedontheoddnumberedbeats.
Untilnow,thepulseyou'vebeenusingwithpatternsinsixhasfallenonbeats1and4ineachmeasure.Becauseithas4pulsestoacyclewecallitthe4-pulse(thisalsodescribesthepulsewe'vebeenusinginfour).AnothercommonpulseinAfricanandAfro-Cubanrhythmsinsixfallsontheoddnumberedbeatsineachmeasure.Becauseithas6pulsestoacyclewecallitthe6-pulse.Tofeelthispulse,taptheoddnumberedbeatsinyourfeetwhileyoucountoutloud(youwon'ttheneedtheCDforawhile):
PATTERN16-1
Ifyoualternatefeetoneachpulse,noticethatonefoottapsthe1inthefirstmeasureandtheotherfoottapsthe1inthesecond.
Inthenextchart,we'veshadedthe6-pulseonthecountrowandputthetimelineonthebottomrow.Noticehowthetwopatternsfittogether.Thefirstthreenotes(on1,3,and5)arethesameinbothpatterns.Thenon6inthefirstmeasure,thetimelineswitchestoevennumberedbeatsanddancesaroundthepulseuntilthepatternsmeetagainatthestartofthecycle.Nowtapthe6-pulseinyourfeetasyouplayorclapthetimeline:
PATTERN16-2
Whenthepulsefallsontheoddnumberedbeats,theevennumberedbeatsbecomeupbeats(becausetheyfallmidwaybetweeneachtwopulses).Youmayfindithelpfultothinkofthetimeline'srelationshiptothe6-pulseas"pulse,pulse,pulse-up,up,up,up-pulse..."
Tohearthecontrastevenmoredistinctlybetweenthepulsesandupbeatsinthetimeline,playitwithtwovoices:
PATTERN16-3
You'llfindthatcertainpatternsinsixareeasiertoplaywitha6-pulsethana4-pulse.Youmayevenhavefeltthatwiththetimelinepatternyoujustplayed,whichstronglyimpliesa6-pulse.Butevenifa6-pulsedoesn'tmakeapatterneasiertoplay,itwillalwaysgiveyouafreshperspectiveonapattern.
Sogoaheadandtrytappingthe6-pulseinsteadofthe4-pulsewithanypatterninsix.Butforthesakeofconsistency,we'regoingtocontinuepresentingrhythmsinsixwitha4-pulse.Mostofthemusicyou'llbeplayingwillprobablyhavea4-pulsetoo.
.nthenextchart,you'llseethe4-pulsebackonthecountrow.Thesetofoddnumberedbeatsthatwasthe6-pulsehasnowbecomethepatternontherow
underit.Tapthe4-pulseinyourfeetandthenclaptheoddnumberedbeats:
PATTERN16-4
Noticethathandsandfeetcometogetheron1butthatthefooton4comesdownbetweenthenotesinyourhandson3and5.Thepatterngoes"together-hand-foot-hand,together-hand-foot-hand."
Ineachmeasureofthispattern,youclapped3timesforevery2tapsinyourfeet.This3over2rhythm-or6over4ifyouputbothmeasurestogether-isapolyrhythm.Byourdefinition,apolyrhythmiscreatedwhentwopatternsareperceivedatthesametimethata)createorimplyunevenpulsesorb)haveunevengrids.
Twopulsesareunevenpulsesifneithercontainsallthenotesoftheother(whenthetwoarestartedtogether).The4-pulsecreatedbythe2andthe6-pulseimpliedbythe3aboveareunevenbecause-althoughtheystarttogetherandshareanoteon1-neithercontainsallthenotesoftheother.We'llgettounevengridsinchapter12.
Whentwopatternshaveunevenpulses,onepatternwillusuallyfeellikeitcreatesorimpliestheunderlyingpulse.Theotherpattern-calledthecounterrhythm-willbeperceivedasbeingplayedoverthatpattern.
Wecalledthepatternabove"3over2"becausethe2inyourfeetisfeltastheunderlyingpulsewhilethe3isperceivedasthecounterrhythm.Rememberthatsinceweindicatetheunderlyingpulseonthecountrow,apatternfelt"over"itwillappearunderitonourcharts.Weconsideredflippingthechartsandputtingthecountrowonthebottom,butthismadethemhardertoread.Onceyouputthetwopatternsinyourhandsandfeet,it'llbeclearwhichendisup.
Whenthe3isperceivedastheunderlyingpulseandthe2asthecounterrhythm,thepolyrhythmiscalled"2over3."Youcanfeelthispolyrhythmbytappingthe3inyourfeetandclappingthe2:
PATTERN16-5
Sometimesyourperceptionofwhichpatternisoverwhichcanshift.Trythisexperiment.Putyourhandswhereyoucanmakeadifferentsoundwitheachone.Thentap3inonehand(beats1,3,and5)and2intheother(beats1,4):
PATTERN16-6
Onceyoucantapthepatterncomfortably,focusyourawarenessononehandforawhile.Thenshiftyourawarenesstotheotherhandandnoticewhathappenstoyourperceptionofwhichistheunderlyingpulse.
Youcanalsoputthe3andthe2togethertocreateonecompositepatternbyplayingallthenotesofbothpatternswiththesamesoundwithoutdoublingthenotesonbeatswherethetwopatternscoincide:
PATTERN16-7
Learningthecompositepatternisonewaytomakerememberingapolyrhythmeasier.Butwhilethetwopatternsareintheircompositeform,theystopbeingatruepolyrhythmbecausethey'vemergedintoasinglepattern.
Fowthatyou'refamiliarwiththeodd-numberedbeatsinsix,you'rereadytostartplayingvariations.Firstwarmupbyplayingthebasicpatternwitha4-pulseinyourfeet,addingthetimelineontheCDwhenyou'rereadyfortriple-weavepracticing:
PATTERN17-1
Nowchangethevoicingandfillthespaceon6ineachmeasure:
PATTERN17-2
Nowleaveoutthenoteon1ineachmeasuretocreateapatterncommoninAfricanandAfro-Cubanrhythmsinsix:
PATTERN17-3A
Althoughnoneofthenotesofthispatterncoincidewiththepulse,severalcoincidewiththetimeline:
PATTERN17-311
Inthenextchartwe'vebuiltalongerpatternbysubstitutingapairofO'sfortheXinthelastmeasure:
PATTERN17-4
Thenextpatternisacombinationoftwodifferentpatternswithinasinglecycle.Thefirstmeasureconsistsofodd-numberedbeatsandthesecondconsistsoftwoparallelpairs:
PATTERN17-S
Inthesecondmeasureofthenextcombination,we'veusedathreenotefigure:
PATTERN17-6
Nowwe'vecombinedthesecombinationsandvariedthemtocreatealongerpattern:
PATTERN17-7
Youmayhavenoticedinrows5through8ofthispatternthattherepeatedthreenotefiguresseemtoimplya2-pulse.A2-pulsefallsonlyonbeat1ineachmeasure(infourorsix)andcreateswhat'scalledahalf-timefeel.The2-pulseiscommoninbothAfricanandAfro-Cubanmusic.Althoughitgivesyoufewerreferencepointsthanthe4-pulse,itcreatesamorerelaxedfeelevenwhenthetimelinestartstomoveatafranticpace.Youcantrytappinga2-pulsewithanypatterninthisbook.Butforconsistency,we'llcontinuetorelatemostpatternsto
a4-pulse.
thefullsetofevennumberedbeatsinsixcanbetrickytoplayatfirst,soyoumaywanttoholdoffplayingwhileyoutakethetimetounderstandhowtheyfitwiththepulseandthetimeline.Howtheevennumberedbeatsarecategorizeddependsonwherethepulseis.Witha6-pulseontheodd-numberedbeats,theevennumberedbeatsfallmidwaybetweenpulses,sothey'reupbeats:
PATTERN18-1A
Witha4-pulse,theevennumberedbeatsfallintotwocategories.Beats2and6areoffbeatsandbeat4isapulse:
PATTERN18-IB
Noticethattheevennumberedbeatscreateashifted6-pulse(startingon2)thatformsapolyrhythmwiththeunderlying4-pulse.Youcanseethe3over2relationshipmoreclearlyifyouthinkofthepatternasstartingon4.
Noticealsothatfrom6inthefirstmeasureto6inthesecond,thesetofevennumberedbeatsandthenotesofthetimelineareidentical:
PATTERN18-1C
Ifyouhavetroubleplayingthesetofevennumberedbeatsatthetriple-weavelevel,youcanalwaystakeoutthetimelineorgobacktosay-it-and-play-it.Playingghostnotesontheodd-numberedbeatscanhelptoo.
NowplaytheevennumberedbeatsforacycleandendonastabilizingnoteonONE.Thenrestforacyclebeforetacklingtheevennumberedbeatsagain:
PATTERN18-2
Here'sacycleofevennumberedbeatscombinedwithameasureofpattern6-15:
PATTERN18-3
Here'savariationofthispatternthatstartswithafullrowofpattern6-15:
PATTERN18-4
-owcreatesomespaceinthesetofevennumberedbeatsbysubstitutingghostnotesforthenoteson4.Thiscreatestwoparallelfiguresconsistingoftheoffbeatson6and2.Becausethesefiguressurroundbutdonottouchthepulseon1ineachmeasure,theyobscurethestartofthecycleandthepulse:
PATTERN18-5
Whenyou'reready,takeouttheghostnotesandalternatevoices.TheresultisaleaddrumpatternfoundintheGhanaianrhythmkpegisu(peh-gee-soo).We'veputthetimelineonthecountrowsoyoucanseehowthispatternrelatestoit:
PATTERN18-6
Onewaytovarythispatternisbyattachingaprefixtothenoteon6inthefirstmeasure(noticethatthepulseisbackonthecountrow):
PATTERN18-7
Nextcombinevariationstobuildalongerpattern(noticethepatternstartsonthelastnoteofthechart):
PATTERN18-8
Don'tbesurprisedifthelastfewrowsofthispatternmakethetimelineturnaroundonyou.You'rejustexperiencingthedisorientingeffectofapatternthatobscuresboththepulseandthestartofthecycle.
istimeagaintoemphasizethebackbeat,whichwedefinedinlesson11aseverysecondpulse.Infour,thebackbeatsfellonbeat3ineachmeasure.Insix,witha4-pulseonbeats1and4,thebackbeatsfallonbeat4:
PATTERN19-1A
Noticethatwhilethebackbeatinthefirstmeasurefallsinbetweentwonotesinthetimeline,thebackbeatinthesecondmeasurecoincideswithanoteinthetimeline:
PATTERN19-1B
Inthefollowingpatterns,you'regoingtoemphasizethebackbeatsintheXvoicewhileplayingvariationsaroundthemwiththealternatevoice.Ifyouwant,youcanthinkofyourselfasadrumsetplayeragain,withtheXasarimshotonasnaredrumandthe0asanoteonabassdrum.StartbyaddingapairofO'sonONEandthebeatbeforeit:
PATTERN19-2
NextaddanotherpairofO's:
PATTERN19-3
Inpopularmusicthisrhythmiscalledashuffle.
Nowtakeoutthenoteon1inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN19-4
NowtakeoutthenoteonONEinstead,sothepatterncreatesthesuspendedeffectofendingonthebeatbeforeoNE:
PATTERN19-5
InthenextpatterntherearetwopairsofO'sagain.Noticethatthepairinthemiddleofthecycleisshiftedtostarton1inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN19-6
Herearetwovariationsbuiltaroundthebackbeatsbyaddingnotesfromthesetofodd-numberedbeats:
PATTERN19-7
PATTERN19-8
Inthenextvariation,theodd-numberedbeatsinthealternatevoicecreatethepolyrhythmof3over2:
PATTERN19-9
Nowcreatespaceinthispatterntokeepthepolyrhythmfromtakingover:
PATTERN19-10
Inthenextpattern,we'vefilledineven-numberedbeatsinthealternatevoiceandendedthepatternonastabilizingnoteonONE.We'veshadedthetimelineonthecountrowsoyoucanseehowthepatternfitswithit:
PATTERN19-11
Inthenextpattern,bothfiguresstartonbackbeatsandoverlapthebarlines:
PATTERN19-12
Startplayingthisnextpatternon2inthefirstmeasure,andnoticeafterseveralrepetitionshowyouperceiveit:
PATTERN19-13
Didyoustarttohearthepatternastwoparallelfiguresbeginningon6ineachmeasure?Ifyoudid,it'sprobablybecauseoftheear'stendencytogroupnotesinthesamevoicetogether.Youcanusethisconcepttocreatefiguresthatoverlapthebarlineandobscurethestartofthecycle.
nsix,witha4-pulse,beats2,3,5,and6arealloffbeats.Theoffbeatsbeforethepulsefallonbeats3and6:
PATTERN20-1A
Threeofthesenotescoincidewithnotesinthetimeline:
PATTERN20-1B
Likeanysetofnotesspacedthesamedistanceapartaspulses,thesenotescanobscurethepulseorestablishacompetingpulse,dependingonhowlongthey'replayed,howprominently,andwithwhatpitches.Keepthatinmindwhenyouconsiderusingthefullsetinyour
playing,especiallyifyouusealternatingvoicesthatmimicapulsebackbeatpattern:
PATTERN20-2
Youcancreateinterestingpatternsbyplayingthefullsetoftheseoffbeatswithonevoicewhilefillingspacewiththealternatevoice.Startbyfillingspacetocreatetwofiguresthatoverlapthebarlines:
PATTERN20-3
Nowcreatealongerpattern:
PATTERN20-4
Theoffbeatsafterthepulsefallonbeats2and5:
PATTERN20-SA
Thissetcoincideswiththetimelineon5inthefirstmeasureand2inthe
second:
PATTERN20-SB
Here'sthepatternwithalternatingvoices:
PATTERN20-6
Inthenextpattern,we'vefilledthespacebetweenthenoteson2and5ineachmeasure:
PATTERN20-7
Nowsubstitutetwosixteenthnotesforthefirsteighthnoteineachfigure:
PATTERN20-8
Inthenextchart,we'vevariedthepatterninthesecondcycletocreateonelong
figure:
PATTERN20-9
Nextwe'veusedthealternatevoicetofillthespacebetweentheoffbeatsafterthepulseandcreatefiguresthatoverlapthebarlines:
PATTERN20-10
Thispatterncanbeparticularlyhardtokeepundercontrol.Ifyoudon'tkeepacloseeyeonthoseX's,theycandisguisethemselvesaspulsesandturnthetimelinearoundonyou.OrthetimelinewillstayputbuttheX'swillactuallyslideontothepulses,soyou'replayingthemon4and1insteadof5and2.Goaheadandaccentthepulseson1ifyouneedtoatfirst.Butthengraduallyweanyourselffromtheaccents,untilyoucanplayeverynoteinthepatternevenlywithoutlosingyourbearings.
inglesandpairsinsixareevensimplerthantheyareinfour.Justplayanycombinationofthreesinglesandtwopairsandyou'llendupbackwhereyoustartedinthenextcycle.
Thebestexampleofasinglesandpairspatterninsixisthetimelineyou'vebeenusingallalong:-
PATTERN21-1
Rememberhowpairsinfourswitchedyoufromnumberedbeatstooffbeatsorviceversa?Insix,pairsswitchyoufromoddnumberedbeatstoevenorviceversa.Ifthelastsingleyouplayedwasonanoddnumberedbeat-likethesingleon3inthefirstmeasureabove-apairwillswitchyoutotheeven-numberedbeats.That'swhatthepairstartingon5inthefirstmeasuredoes.Ifthelastsingleyouplayedwasonaneven-numberedbeat-likethesingleon4inthesecondmeasureabove-apairwillswitchyoutotheoddnumberedbeats.That'swhatthepairstartingon6inthesecondmeasuredoes.
henextsinglesandpairspatterniswidelyusedasatimelineinAfricanrhythmsandotherrhythmsaroundtheworld.It'ssometimesreferredtoas"thelongbell,"probablybecausethere'salongerdistancetothefirstpairthanthereisin"theshortbell"(thetimelinewe'vebeenusingthroughoutthebook).PlayitnowwithoutturningontheCD:
PATTERN21-2
Ifyou'veevergottenlostwhilelisteningtothetimelineinsixontheCDyoumayhavestartedperceivingitasthispattern.That'sbecausethelongbellisashiftedversionoftheshortbell:
Youcanusethelongbellasatimelinewithanypatterninsix.AndyoucanusethetimelineCDtocreatethelongbellbysimplychangingwhereyouhearthestartofthecycleandwhereyouputthepulse.
Thelongbellstartsonthenoteon6inthefirstmeasureoftheshortbell.Noticethatthatnotedoesnotfallonapulseintheshortbell.Toconvertthatnoteinto
thefirstnoteofthelongbell,youneedtoputthefirstpulsethere:
SHORTBELL
Nowturnonthetimelineandletitgoforawhileuntilyoustarthearingthelongbellpattern.Ifyoucan'tpickitouteasily,itmayhelptorememberthatboththeshortbellandthelongbellstartonthesecondnoteofapair.Soifonepairdoesn'twork,waitforthenextpairandstartthelongbellonthesecondnote.
Onceyou'rehearingthetimelineasthelongbell,addtherelocatedpulseinyourfeet.Thenyoucantryplayinganyofthepatternsinsixinthisbookwiththelongbellasthetimeline.Forexample,here'sadrumpartfromtheHaitianrhythmmai(mah-ee),which-likemanyHaitianrhythms-usesthelongbellasthetimeline:
PATTERN21-3
thenextsinglesandpairspatternisavariationoftheshortbellthatendson4inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN21-4
Thenextpatternisalsoavariationoftheshortbellwithanoteon5insteadof6inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN21-5
Thenextpatternstartswithapaironthefirsttwobeatsofthecycle.It'sthelongbellwiththesecondmeasurefirst,likea2-3clavepattern:
PATTERN21-6
Ifyouputthesecondmeasureoftheshortbellfirst,there'snonoteonONE:
PATTERN21-7
You can use this pattern and all the other shifted versions of the 6/8 bell astimelines simply by changingwhere you hear the start of the pattern on theCD.
Ifyoutakeoutthefirstnoteofeachpairintheshortbell,yougettheessenceofthattimeline,apatternreferredtoinAfro-Cubanmusicasthe6/8clave.Youplayedthispatternwaybackinlesson1:
PATTERN21-8
Takingoutthefirstnoteofeachpairinthelongbellgivesyoutheessenceofthattimeline:
PATTERN21-9
Thenextpatternisanothervariationofthelongbell.Thenotesinthefirstmeasurecreatea6-pulsewhilethenotesinthesecondmeasuretrackthe4-pulse:
PATTERN21-10
ThetimelinefortheGhanaianrhythmadowahasonlyfournotes.Noticethatthepatternstartson5inthefirstmeasureandendsonONE:
PATTERN21-11
We'vealwaysagreedthatifourhousewereonfireandwecouldonlytakeonerhythmwithus,theshortbellwoulddefinitelybeit.Thenacoupleyearsago,KenDalluge,apercussionistfromSantaCruz,blewusawaybypointingoutthecorrespondencebetweenthestructureofthisuniversalrhythmicpatternandthestructureofthemajorscale.
Thiscorrespondenceiseasiesttounderstandifyouthinkoftheboxesonachartinsixasthekeysonapiano,withtheboxonONEasmiddleC.Thenotesofthebellpatternonthechartmatchthewhitekeysonthepiano.Wherethere'sanemptyboxonthechart,there'sablackkeyonthepiano.
Thiscorrespondenceiseitheroneofthemostamazingcoincidencesinthehistoryoftheplanetoritreflectsamysteriousunderlyingunitybetweentonalityandrhythm.
nsix,theodd-numberedbeatsdivideameasureevenlyintothree.groups
oftwobeats:
Infour,youcan'tdivideameasureevenlyintothreesections.Theclosestyoucancomeonourgridistodividetheeightbeatsofameasureintotwosectionsofthreebeatsandonesectionoftwo.That'swhatthefollowingpatterndoes:
PATTERN22-1
Thispatternisfoundallovertheworld.InAfro-Cubanmusicit'scalledtheone-barclave,whichisthenamewe'lluseforit.Aswementionedinthelessonontimelinesinfour,theone-barclaveisthefirsthalfofthesonclave.Here'stheone-barclaverepeatedtwiceovertwomeasures:
PATTERN22-2
Thispatternislikeawheelthat'snotquiteround;it'sgotahitchinit.Becauseitstartswithanoteoneverythirdbeat-1,theANDof2,4-itfeelstemporarilylikeapatterninsix.Thencomesthehitch,andthepatternabruptlystartsoveragainon1.Thishitch,thisuneven-ness,givesthepatternitstremendousvitalityandpower.
Let'sexploresomeofitspossibilities.Startbycreatingaspaceinthepattern(eventhoughtheone-barclaveisitselfatimeline,thepatternshereworkwellwiththetimelineontheCD):
PATTERN22-3
PATTERN22-4
Nexttryemphasizingoneofthenotesintheone-barclavebyplayingitwiththealternativevoice:
PATTERN22-5
PATTERN22-6
Bycreatingspaceinthislastpattern,youcanarriveatthecongamelodyfortherumbaguaguanco(wah-wahn-koh):
PATTERN22-7
Youcanalsostartthemelodyfortherumbaguaguancoon4inthefirstmeasure:
PATTERN22-8
Nowchangethevoicingsoit'sdifferentineachmeasure:
PATTERN22-9
PATTERN22-10
Hereareacoupleofcommonpatternsthatcouldbeinterpretedastheone-barclavepatternwithprefixesorsuffixesadded:
PATTERN22-11
PATTERN22-12
Here'sapatternfoundinmanyWest-Africanrhythmsthatcanbecreatedbyaddinganoteon2totheone-barclavepatternineachmeasure.Noticethatitstartson4inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN22-13
Nowtrysomevariations:
PATTERN22-14
neinterestingwaytogenerateanewpatternistoplaythereverseimageofapatternyoualreadyknow.Todothis,justplaynoteswherethereareemptybeatsintheoriginalpatternandleaveoutalltheoriginalnotes.Inthenextchart,thereverseimageoftheonebarclaveappearsonthebottomrow.Theone-barclaveappearsaboveitsoyoucanseehowwegotthereverseimage,butyouonlyneedtoplaythebottomrow:
PATTERN22-15
Playingareverseimageiseasyifyourinstrumentwillallowyoutoplaytheoriginalpatterninonehandwhiletappingtheemptybeatsasghostnotesintheother.Thenyoucansimplyincreasethevolumeoftheghost-notehandwhiledecreasingthevolumeofthehandplayingtheoriginalpattern.Atthatstageitshouldbeeasytoletgooftheoriginalpatternandshiftentirelytothereverse
image.
nthislesson,you'regoingtotaketheone-barclavepatternandshiftit.You'llalsocombineitwithotherpatternsyou'velearnedandgettopracticeapplyingsomeofthevariationtechniquesyouknow.
Here'stheone-measurepatternshiftedabeattotherightandplayedonlyonceinatwo-measurecycle:
PATTERN23-1
Structurally,theone-barclavepatternislikeasandwich.Ifitstartsonanoffbeat(asinpattern23-1)itendsonanoffbeat,withanumberedbeatinthemiddle.Ifitstartsonanumberedbeat(asinthenextchart,wherewe'veshifteditabeattotheright)itendsonanumberedbeat,withanoffbeatinthemiddle:
PATTERN23-2
Inthenextchart,werepeatthispatterntwiceinthetwo-measurecycle.Onceyoustartplayingit,noticehowquicklyyourperceptionofwhereitstartschangesfrom2to1.Thereareacouplereasonsforthis.First,thetendencyofthelargestgapisafactor-thenoteon2followsthesmallestgap.AndalthoughthenotesontheANDof3and1bothfollowgapsofthesamesize,thenoteson1quicklywinoutbecausetheycoincidewiththepulseandthestartofthetimeline:
PATTERN23-3
There'snoreasontofightthischangeinperceptionifithappens.Aslongasyoucancomeinandgetoutwhenyou'resupposedtoandkeeptrackofwhereyouarealongtheway,youcanhearthepatternanywayyouwant.
Nowwe'veshiftedtheone-measurepatternanotherbeattotherightandstarteditontheANDof2.Noticethatthefirsttwonotesofthepatterncoincidewiththetimeline:
PATTERN23-4
Inthenextchartwe'vefilledspaceinthispatternbyaddingacontrastingsequenceofthreenumberedbeatsthatendsonONE(noticethepulseisbackonthecountrow):
PATTERN23-5
Here'stheone-barclavepatternstartingontheANDof2repeatedtwice.We'veunderlinedtheANDof2againsoyoucancontinuetotrackthetranspositionofthepattern,butonceyoustartrepeatingit,you'llhearthestartingpointofthefiguresastheANDof1:
PATTERN23-6
Nowfillsomespaceinthispattern:
PATTERN23-7
Whenyoushiftthetwo-measurepatternovertostartontheANDof3,thenotethatendsuponONEwilltakeoverasthestartingpointassoonasyouplayit:
PATTERN23-8
Nowtrycombiningthispatternwithacoupleothers:
PATTERN23-9
'oucankeepgoingfromhere.Tryouttherestoftheshiftedversions
tofindtheonesyoulikebest.Thenexperimentwiththoseusingthevariationtechniquesyouknow.Thencombinethevariationswithotherpatterns.Thisishowyoucreateyourownpersonalrhythmicvocabulary.
'oucan'tevenlydividetwomeasuresoffour-16beats-intothreeequalgroups.Theclosestyoucangetonourgridisthreenotquite-equalgroupsof5,5,and6beatsinanycombination:5/5/6,6/5/5,or5/6/5.Occasionally-asinthetitleofthislesson-weusethephrase"5/5/6patterns"asashorthandwaytorefertoallofthesecombinations.
Patternsbasedontheseunevengroupingshaveahitchinthemlikethehitchintheone-barclave.Butthehitchismoresubtlebecausethegroupsareproportionatelyclosertobeingequalinsize.Inthislesson,you'llplayavarietyofpatternsstartingonONEthatcreatetheseunevengroupsofbeats.
Here'sanexampleofa5/5/6patternstartingonONE:
PATTERN24-1
Now,usingthesamefigures,takethegroupof6beatsandputitfirsttocreatea6/5/5pattern:
PATTERN24-2
Eventhoughthelargestgapinthispatterncomesbefore4inthefirstmeasure,itprobablywon'tchangeyourperceptionofwherethepatternstarts.Thislargestgapisonlyslightlylargerthantheothergapsinthepattern,andthenoteinthefirstfigureonONEreinforcesthesensethatthepatternstartsthere.Thesameistrueforsimilarpatternsthroughoutthislesson.
Nowputthegroupof6beatsinthemiddletocreatea5/6/5pattern:
PATTERN24-3
Thenextthreepatternsusefiguresconsistingofasingleandapair.Here'sthe5/5/6patternusingthesefigures:
PATTERN24-4
Thispatternisanothercascarapattern,oftenplayedwithsticksontheshellofatimbale.
Herearethesamefiguresin6/5/5and5/6/5form:
PATTERN24-5
PATTERN24-6
Inthenextchartwe'veusedthealternatevoiceonthepairsinthe5/5/6patterntomakethefiguresstandout.Onceyou'vetriedit,gobackandchangethevoicingontheothertwopatterns:
PATTERN24-7
Nowswitch tofiguresconsistingof threeconsecutivenotes.We'vecharted the5/5/6patternforyou.Itmayhelptonoticetherelationshipofeachfiguretothepulse.Thefirstfigurestartsonapulse,thesecondfallsbetweentwopulses,andthethirdendsonapulse:
PATTERN24-8
Nowrearrangethegroupingsandplaythe5/6/5and6/5/5patternsusingthesesamefigures.Thenchangethevoicing.
Weusetwovoicesonthefour-notefiguresinnext5/5/6pattern.Afteryou'veplayedit,rearrangethegroupingsandchangethevoicing:
PATTERN24-9
.nthefirstcycleinnextchart,westartwithtwoparallelfigures.In.thesecondcycle,webringthefiguresclosertogether,sothatthreefiguresfitwithinthecycleina5/5/6pattern:
PATTERN24-10
Wecallthetechniqueoftakingoutspacebetween(orwithin)figurescompressing.Compressingisagreattechniqueforbuildingrhythmicexcitement.Thefiguresgrowmoreinsistentwitheachcompression.Beforeyoumoveon,pickanypatternyoulikewithashortrepeatingfigureandtrycompressingit.Ifithelpstowritethepatterndown,youcanuseoneoftheblankchartsatthebackofthebook.
Inthelastlesson,whenwepresentedpatternsstartingonONEthatdivided16beatsintothreenot-quite-equalgroups,wefoundithelpfultolabelthepatterns5/5/6,6/5/5,or5/6/5accordingtothearrangementofthegroups.Foranyparticularpattern,thesethreearrangementsareactuallyshiftedversionsofeachother.
Inthislesson,you'regoingtoplayvariationsofthesamepatternsstartingsomewhereotherthanONE.Forexample,here'sa5/5/6patternofthree-notefiguresshiftedonebeattotheright.Noticethatthelastgroupof6beatsgetssplitbetweentheendofthesecondmeasureandthebeginningofthefirst:
PATTERN25-1
Here'sthesamepatternwithvoicingthatemphasizesthelastnoteineachfigure:
PATTERN25-2
Here'sthepatternagainwithdifferentvoicing:
PATTERN25-3
Here'sa5/6/5patternthatstartson2.Thisputsthelastnoteofthelastfigureonthelastbeatofthecycle.We'veemphasizedthesuspendedeffectofendingonthebeatbeforeONEbyputtingthelastfigureinthealternatevoice:
PATTERN25-4
ThefiguresinallthefollowingpatternsarepositionedsothepatternsendonONE:
PATTERN25-5
PATTERN25-6
PATTERN25-7
Inthenextchart,we'vetakenthelastpatternanduseditasthebasisforalongerpattern:
PATTERN25-8
't'syourturnagain.Makeupyourownfigures,rearrangethem,changethevoicing,shiftthepattern.Youcanseewe'vecoveredonlyafewofthecountlesspatternsyoucancreateusingthreenot-quiteequalgroupsofbeatsinfour.
nsix-unlikefour-itispossibletodividethecycleintothreeequalgroupsofbeats.
That'swhatthe3-pulsedoes.Itdividesthe12beatsofthecycleintothreeequalgroupsoffourbeats:
The3-pulseiscommoninAfricanandAfro-Cubanrhythms.Ifyouthinkofitas creating 3/4 time, the 12-beat cycle is a single measure long and eachsubdivisionisasixteenthnote:
Togetthefeelofthe3-pulse,startbytappingitinyourfeetwhileyoucount.Ifyoualternatefeet,noticetheytaketurnstappingONE:
PATTERN26-1
Inthenextchart,youcanseetherelationshipbetweenthe3-pulse(shadedonthecountrow)andthetimeline(onthebottomrow).Noticethatthepulseson1and5inthefirstmeasurecoincidewithnotesinthetimeline,butthepulseon3inthesecondmeasurecomesinbetweennotesinthetimeline.
Now tap the3-pulse inyour feetwhileyouclaporplay the timeline.You'llnoticethatthetimelinefeelsdifferentevenwhenyouplayallthenotesatthesamevolume:
PATTERN26-2
Inthenextexercise,listentothetimelineontheCDwhileyoualternatetappingthe3-pulseandthe4-pulseinyourfeet.Staywitheachoneuntilyoufeellikeswitching.Noticehowchangingthepulsechangesyourperceptionofthetimeline(whichwe'veshadedonthecountrow):
PATTERN26-3
The3-pulseand4-pulseareunevenwitheachotherbecauseneithercontainsallthenotesof theother.Switchingfromonepulse toanotherpulse that'sunevenwith it while keeping the subdivisions the same length is called metricmodulation. In the next exercise, you're going to do metric modulations byswitchingfromtappinga3-pulsetoa4-pulsetoa6-pulseandbacktoa4-pulseagain.Staywitheachpulseuntilyoufeellikeswitching:
PATTERN26-4
Forarealworkout,whenyougetcomfortableswitchingbackandforth,turnofftheCDandclapthetimelinewhileswitchingpulsesinyourfeet.
Youcanexperimentwitha3-pulseinyourfeetwithanypatterninsix.Butforconsistency - and because it's more common - we're going to stick with anunderlying4-pulse.
.owyou'regoingtoputthe4-pulsebackinyourfeetandplaythe3-pulseoverit.Thiscreatesthepolyrhythmof3over4andtakesyououtoftherealmof3/4time,whichhasanunderlying3-pulse.Oncethe"3-pulse"isnolongertheunderlyingpulse,itisn'ttechnicallya"pulse"atall.Butsinceitspatternofevenly-spacednotescontinuestoimplya3-pulse,we'llcontinuetorefertoitasthe"3pulse"orthe"3-pulsepattern."
Noticetherelationshipbetweenthetwopulsesinthenextchart.Theystarttogether.Thesecondnoteinthe3-pulsecomesjustafterthesecond4-pulse.Andthethirdnoteinthe3-pulsecomesjustbeforethefourth4-pulse.Youmayfinditeasiertoplayandremember3over4ifyoufocusonthis"together-after-before"aspectoftherelationship:
PATTERN26-5
Youmayalsofindithelpfultoplaythecompositepatternof3over4:
PATTERN26-6
emember,whenwetalkaboutapolyrhythmlike3over4,we're.talkingabouttwopatternsperceivedsimultaneouslythatdividethesamespanoftimedifferently.Herethespanoftimeisthe12-beatcycle.Theexpression"3over4"refersto3evenly-spacednotesplayedover4evenly-spacedpulsesinthesamespanoftime.Sometimesthesenumberscanbeconfusing,becauseifyouswitchyourfocusfromthenumberofnotesineachpatterntothenumberofbeatsineachgroup,thenumbersgetreversed:the3-pulsecreates3groupsof4beatsandthe4-pulsecreates4groupsof3:
Fortherestofthischapter,you'llbeplayingavarietyofpatternsbasedona3-pulseonyourinstrumentovera4-pulseinyourfeet.Becausethepatternsarebasedonapulsethat'sunevenwiththeunderlying4pulse,theytendtoobscuretheunderlyingpulsetovaryingdegrees.Sobeforeyoumoveon,makesureyou
reallyunderstandthepolyrhythmofpattern26-5.Itwillmakethenextfourlessonsaloteasier.
ere'sthepolyrhythmfromthelastlesson-the3-pulsepatternovertheunderlying4-pulse:
PATTERN27-1
Noticeagainthatthe3-pulsepatterncreatesthreegroupsoffourbeats.Wecallthissetofgroups"set1."
Inthenextpattern,we'vefilledthespacebetweeneachofthe3pulsesinset1withthealternatevoice.Thiscreates3four-notefigures.Putthe4-pulseinyourfeet,butdon'tturnonthetimelineuntilyoucanplaythispolyrhythmcomfortablywithouthavingtocountit:
PATTERN27-2
Inthenextpatternwe'vechangedthevoicingsoeachgroupoffournotesconsistsoftwopairs:
PATTERN27-3
Ifyoufocustoomuchonthispatternwhileyouplayit,the3-pulseitimpliesislikelytoovertaketheunderlying4-pulse.You'llknowit'shappeningwhenyoustartfeelinglikeyourfeetbelongtosomeoneelse.Nowswitchtousingasinglevoiceandcreatespacebyleavingoutthefourthnoteineverygroupoffour.ThiscreatesapatternoftencalledtheabakwapatterninAfro-Cubanrhythms:
PATTERN27-4A
Noticethatthesefiguresaren'tparallelbecauseeachhasadifferentrelationshiptothe4-pulse.Apulsefallsatthebeginningofthefirstfigure,attheendofthesecond,andinthemiddleofthethird.Learningthispatternmaybeeasierifyouremembertherelationshipofeachfiguretothepulsethatfallswithinit-"beginning-endmiddle":
PATTERN27-4B
Whenyouplaythispatternwiththetimelineinsixyoumaywanttoaddghostnotesuntilyourearlearnsthesoundofthetwopatternstogether:
PATTERN27-4C
Anotherwaytoreallygettoknowtherelationshipbetweenthispatternandthetimelineistotapitinonehandwhileyoutapthetimelineintheother.Thisishard,sogoslowandexpectthisexercisetotakesometime.Tokeepthetwopatternsdistinct,makeadifferentsoundwitheachhand.
Youcandilutethe3-pulseimpliedbythesefiguresbychangingthevoicing.Generallytheuseofanythingotherthanasinglevoicewillgreatlyweakentheimplicationofa3-pulseandmayevenmakeitdisappear.Forexample,noticewhetheryoustillfeelanyhintofthe3pulseinthenextpattern.We'vevoicedthefigurestoactivatethetendencytogroupnotesinthesamevoicetogether,soitmayquicklyfeellikepatternstartson3inthesecondmeasureandoverlapsONE:
PATTERN27-S
Theonlytimeasecondvoiceactuallystrengthensthe3-pulseinthesefiguresiswhenthesecondvoiceisusedexclusivelyonthenotesofthe3-pulseitself
PATTERN27-6
Becausethesefigures-aswellasthesamefiguresinasinglevoice-tendtoobscurethepulse,whenyouimproviseinsixovera4-pulseyoumaywanttousethemsparingly.Inthenextchart,we'vedilutedtheirpulse-obscuringeffectbyswitchingonalternatingcyclestopairsthatreinforcethe4-pulse:
PATTERN27-7
Anotherwaytodilutethepulse-obscuringeffectofthesefiguresistocreatesomespaceinthepattern.We'veusedthesingle-voicefiguresinthenextchartandtakenoutthemiddlenoteinthethirdfigure:
PATTERN27-8
Nowthere'sastringofthreeodd-numberedbeatsinthesecondmeasure.Sothepatternstartsoutlookinglikeit'sgoingtoimplya3-pulseandthenabruptlyswitchesinthesecondmeasuretoimplyinga6-pulse.Asaresult,neitheralternativepulseisimpliedstronglyenoughtochallengetheunderlying4-pulse.
'henyoushiftthe3-pulseoverabeat,thepulsesfallonbeats2and6inthefirstmeasureand4inthesecond:
PATTERN28-1A
Inthislesson,you'llcreatepatternsbasedonthisshifted3-pulsepattern.Noticethatthenoteon4inthesecondmeasurecoincideswiththelast4-pulse.Alsonoticethattherelationshipofthis3-pulsepatterntothe4-pulseis:"after-before-together."
Here'sthenewpatternwiththetimelineonthecountrow.Noticetheycoincideon6inthefirstmeasureand4inthesecond:
PATTERN28-1B
Thisshifted3-pulsepatterncreatesadifferentsetofthreegroupsoffourbeatswecall"set2."Tomakethegroupsstandout,we'vefilledthespacebetweeneachnoteoftheshifted3-pulsepatternwiththealternatevoice:
PATTERN28-2
Nowchangethevoicingsothateachfour-notegroupcontainstwopairs:
PATTERN28-3
Inthenextchartyouarriveatthissamepatternbycompressingtwoparallelfigures.NoticethatthepatternendswithastabilizingnoteonONEbeforetheimplied3-pulsehasachancetogetfirmlyestablished:
PATTERN28-4
Nowplaythethree-notefiguresofset2:
PATTERN28-5
The3-pulseimpliedbythesefiguresisweakerthanthe3-pulseimpliedbythesamefiguresofset1,mainlybecausethepatterndoesn'tstartonONE.Butyoucanstrengthentheimplied3-pulsebyaccentingitwithvoicing:
PATTERN28-6
Nowcreatespaceinthispatternbytakingoutthesecondtwonotesinthelastfigure:
PATTERN28-7
Nowcombinevariations:
PATTERN28-8
Nowcreateevenmorespaceinthepatternbytakingoutthesecondtwonotes
inthefirstfiguretoo:
PATTERN28-9
Nowgobacktothethree-notefiguresofset1andseewhathappenswhenyoucreatespaceinthosefiguresinthesameway.
hiftingthe3-pulseanotherbeattotherightcreatesthreenewgroupsoffourbeatswecall"set3."Thenotesofthe3-pulsepatternnowfallonbeat3inthefirstmeasureandbeats1and5inthesecond:
PATTERN29-1A
Noticethattherelationshipofthisshifted3-pulsepatterntothe4pulseis"before-together-after."
Here'sthenewpatternwiththetimelineonthecountrow.Noticethetwopatternscoincideonlyon3inthefirstmeasure:
PATTERN29-1B
Nowfillthespacewiththealternatevoicesotherearefournotesineachgroup:
PATTERN29-2
Whenyoutakethefourthnoteoutofeachgroupandcreatethethreenotefiguresofset3,thepatternendsonONE:
PATTERN29-3
YoucanemphasizethatnoteonONEbyplayingitwithatechniquedrummerscallaflam.Aflamisproducedbyplayingtwonotesalmostsimultaneously,oneonthebeatandonejustbeforeit.Whenbothnotesinaflamareplayedwiththesamesound,theysoundlikeasinglenotewithathicktexture.Ifyoucan'tplaytwonoteswiththesamesoundonyourinstrument,playanothernotejustbeforethebeatlikeagracenote.Asmall"x"aboveandtotheleftofalarge"X"indicatesaflamonourcharts:
PATTERN29-4
Youcanaccentwithaflambysubstitutingitforanynoteyouwanttoemphasize.
Nowcombinevariationstocreatealongerpattern:
PATTERN29-5
Ifyouchangethevoicingtoaccentthethirdnoteineachfigure,youcanusetheseset3figurestoimplythe3-pulsefromset1:
PATTERN29-6
You'regoingtousethesamevoicingforthefiguresinthenextchart,whereyoustartwithtwoparallelthree-notefiguresinthefirstcycleandthencompressthem:
PATTERN29-7
Nowtakethecompressionastepfurther,untilthere'snospacebetweenthefigures:
PATTERN29-8
Aseriesofcompressionscansoundlikeacarbeingstartedonacoldmorning.Theengineturnsoverslowlyatfirst,butrevsupwhenyousteponthegas.
hiftingthe3-pulseoveranotherbeatcreatesset4.Thenotesofthe3-pulsepatternnowfallonbeat4inthefirstmeasureandbeats2and6inthesecond.Therelationshipofthis3-pulsepatterntotheunderlying4-pulseis"together-after-before":
PATTERN30-1A
Here'sthis3-pulsepatternwiththetimelineonthecountrow.Thetwopatternscoincideon2and6inthesecondmeasure:
PATTERN30-1B
Set4isthelastsetofthreegroupsoffourbeats.Ifyoushiftthe3pulseagain,soitstartsonbeat5,you'rebacktoset1startingonadifferentbeat.
Herearethethree-notefiguresofset4.Westartthepatternon6inthesecondmeasurebecauseit'sclosesttoONE.Usethereferencepointonthatbeatinthetimelinetofindyourstartingpointandputinghostnotesifyouneedto:
PATTERN30-2
Thispatternandthetimelinearesimilarinstructure,soit'seasytoalternateplayingthetwopatterns:
PATTERN30-3
Inthenextchart,weaddacycleofpairsreinforcingtheunderlying4-pulsebetweenthetimelineandthethree-notefiguresofset4:
PATTERN30-4
Asyoucantellfromthispattern,playingfiguresimplyinga3-pulseforthreefullcyclesandemphasizingthe3-pulsewithvoicingmakesitverytoughtohold
ontotheunderlying4-pulse.
row start and end the three-note figures on beat 4 in the firstmeasureusingvoicingthatemphasizestheshifted3-pulse:
PATTERN30-5
We'regoingtousethispatterntointroducethetechniqueofisolatingandrepeatingapartofapattern.Startbyplayingthefullpatterntwice.Thenisolateandrepeatjustthefirstrow,whichcreatesthesuspendedeffectofendingonthebeatbeforeONE.Thenplaythefullpatternagaintoconcludethesequence:
PATTERN30-6
Nowpracticethetechniqueofisolatingandrepeatingpartofapatternonyourownusinganypatternsyoulike.
nadditiontoplayingthree-notefiguresbasedona3-pulse,youcanalsoplaypairs.Herearethepairsofset4:
PATTERN30-7
Afteryou'recomfortablewiththesepairs,gobackandexperimentwiththepairsofsets1,2,and3.
~owyou'regoingtousethetechniqueofexpandingapattern,whichissimplytheoppositeofcompressingit.Whenyouexpandapattern,youaddspacebetweenorwithinrepeatingfiguressofewerofthemfitwithinacycle.Thenextpatternstartswithpairsthatreinforcethe4-pulse.Byaddingspacebetweenthepairsinthesecondcycle,youexpandthepatternandendupwiththepairsofset4(whichyouinturncompresswhenyourepeatthepattern):
PATTERN30-8
Here'sthetimelinepatternexpandedtotwiceitslength:
PATTERN30-9
Inoneofhisinstructionalvideos,thecongadrummerGiovanniHidalgoplaysthisexpandedtimelineinonehandwhileplayingthenormaltimelineintheother.Youmaywanttotrythisyourself.Butyouhavetoplaythecombinationreallyfastbeforetheexpandedtimelinebecomesrecognizable.
crossrhythmisarepeatingfigureplayedforlongerthanacycleofthetimelinethathasanunevencycleinrelationtothecycleofthetimeline(orwhateverpartdefinestheunderlyingcycleofarhythm).Twocyclesareunevenwhenyoucan'tevenlydividethenumberofbeatsinthelongercyclebythenumberintheshorter.
Let'sbringthisdefinitiondowntoearthwithanexample.Thenextchartcontainsasimplerepeatingfigurewitha3-beatcycle.Rememberthatthecycleofarepeatingpatternisthenumberofbeatsfromthestartofonerepetitiontothestartofthenext.Sotheemptybeataftereachfigurecountsasoneofthe3beatsineachcycle:
PATTERN31-1
Becausethefigureisrepeatedformorethanacycleofthetimeline,andbecausethenumberofbeatsinthelongercycleofthetimeline(16)can'tbeevenlydividedbythenumberofbeatsintheshortercycleofthefigure(3),thispatternisacrossrhythm.
Noticethatthefiguresinpattern31-1alternatebetweenstartingonnumberedbeatsandoffbeats,andthatthestartingpointscyclethrougheachsubdivisioninturn:pulse,offbeatbeforethepulse,upbeat,offbeatafterthepulse,etc.Thisshiftingofstartingpointsinrelationtothepulsegivescrossrhythmstheirvitality,butitalsomakesthemchallengingtoplay.
It'salsochallengingtorememberthelongpatternscrossrhythmscreate.Notice
thatthefigureinpattern31-1startswiththetimelineonONEbutthatittakesthreecyclesofthetimelinebeforeitstartstogetherwiththetimelineonONEagain.Thecompoundcycle-thenumberofbeatsittakesthecombinationofthetwopatternstorepeat-is48beatslong(16times3).
Butyouwon'tusuallywanttoplaythefullcompoundcycleofacrossrhythm.Crossrhythms-likeallpatternsthatobscuretheunderlyingpulseandcreatealotofrhythmictension-usuallyworkbestinsmalldoses.Playingafullcompoundcyclewilloftenconfuseyouraudienceandtrythepatienceofthemusiciansyou'replayingwith.Thinkofacompoundcycleasadatabase.Onceyouhaveitinyourvocabulary,youcandecidehowmuchofittoplay.
Onewaytouseacompoundcycletogenerateideasistopickanyrowandplayitasarepeatingpattern.Thisisalsoagoodwaytolearnthecompoundcycleinstages.Forexample,here'sthethirdrowfromthecompoundcycleasarepeatingpatternonitsownchart:
PATTERN31-2
Thisrowworkswelljustasitis.Butoftenyou'llwanttochangearowinonewayoranother.Here'sthefirstrowfromthecompoundcycleroundedoffattheendsoitflowsmoresmoothlywhenrepeated:
PATTERN31-3
Here'sanothersectiontakenfromthecompoundcycle:
PATTERN31-4
Ifyouplaythefullfirstrowofthecompoundcycle,youcanendthepatternonONEofthesecondcycleofthetimeline.Thenyou'llhavesomeemptyspacetoplaywithbeforethepatternstartsover:
PATTERN31-5
Inthenextchart,wecreatealongerpatternbyrepeatingthepatternyoujustplayedtwiceandthenfinishingwiththefullcrossrhythm.Playingpartsofthecrossrhythmandthenplayingthefullpatternfeelsalittleliketakingafewtestrunsatasteephillbeforefinallyworkingupenoughmomentumtomakeitallthewayoverthetop.Noticethetimelineisshadedonthecountrow:
PATTERN31-6
Nowcreateasparse3-beatcrossrhythmbyplayingjustasinglenoteevery3beats. We've charted the full compound cycle, but remember that in mostplayingsituationsyou'llonlywanttousepartofit:
PATTERN31-7
Noticethatthispatternnotonlyformsacrossrhythmwiththetimeline,italsoformsapolyrhythmwiththepulse.Ithas4evenly-spacednotesover3evenly-spacepulsesinthesamespanoftime:
PATTERN31-8
Infact,all3-beatcrossrhythmsinfourcreatepolyrhythmsbecausetheyimplyapulseevery3beatsthat'sunevenwiththeunderlyingpulseevery4beats.
repeatingfigurewitha6-beatcyclecancreateacrossrhythminfourbecauseyoucan'tevenlydivide16(thenumberofbeatsinthelongercycleofthetimeline)by6.Andthecompoundcyclewillbe48beatslong(threetimesthroughthetimeline)justasitiswitha3beatcrossrhythm.Butinsteadofcyclingthefiguresthroughallsubdivisions,6-beatcrossrhythmsinfoureithershiftthefiguresbetweenpulsesandupbeatsorbetweenoffbeatsbeforeandafterthepulse.
Here'sthecompoundcycleofacommon6-beatcrossrhythmthatshiftsthefiguresbackandforthbetweenpulsesandupbeats:
PATTERN32-1
Webringinasectionofthiscrossrhythminthenextchartafterstartingwithasimilarpatternconsistingofparallelfigures.Youcanthinkofthefiguresinthecrossrhythmasisolatingandrepeatingthelastthreenotesoftheparallelfigures(noticethatyoustartonthelastnoteofthechart):
PATTERN32-2
Wheneveryoustarta6-beatcrossrhythmonanumberedbeat,eachfigureinthecompoundcyclewillstartonanumberedbeat.Ifyouwantthefigurestostartonoffbeats,justshiftthewholepatternoverabeat:
PATTERN32-3
Noticethefiguresnowshiftbackandforthbetweentheoffbeatsafterandbeforethepulse.
Whenyoucreatethesetwocompoundcycleswitha6-beatcrossrhythm-onewiththefiguresstartingonnumberedbeatsandonewiththefiguresstartingonoffbeats-yougenerateallpossibleshiftedversionsoftherepeatingfigure.Then,nomatterwhatbeatyouwanttostarton,you'llbeabletofindafigurethatstartsonthatbeatsomewhereinthetwocompoundcycles.
Inthenextpattern,voicingturnsthenumberedbeatsintoa6-beatcrossrhythm:
PATTERN32-4
Althoughyou'llrarelyhearthefullcompoundcycleofthiscrossrhythm,you'llhearsectionsofitinalotofcongasolos.Inthenextchart,thefirstrowisthecascarapatternweintroducedonpage69andthesecondrowisthefirstrowfromthecompoundcycleofthecrossrhythm:
PATTERN32-5
Shiftingthiscrossrhythmoverabeattransformstheoftbeatsintoa6beatcrossrhythm:
PATTERN32-6
NowtakethefirstrowfromthiscompoundcycleandaddanotetoendthepatternonONE:
PATTERN32-7
Thenext6-beatcrossrhythmusesfive-notefigures.IfyoustartonONEandplaythreefigures,thelastnoteofthelastfigurewillfallonONEinthenextcycleofthetimeline:
PATTERN32-8
Inthenextchart,we'vegonerightfromthecrossrhythmintoastraightpatterninfour:
PATTERN32-9
Nowvarythefiguresofthecrossrhythmbysubstitutingtwosixteenthnotesforthefirsteighthnoteandchangingthevoicingofthenexttolastnote:
PATTERN32-10
Inthenextchart,webringinthissame6-beatcrossrhythmonthelastbeatofthe fourth row.Notice that the structure of the figures in the crossrhythm issimilar to the structure of the longer parallel figures that come before them,creatingtheillusionthattheoriginalpatternhasbeencompressed:
PATTERN32-11
lowit'syourturn.Pickoutwhicheverofthesecrossrhythmsyoulikebestandworkthemintoyourownimprovisations.Thenmakeupyourown6-beatfiguresanddothesame.Ifithelps,writethepatternsdown.Whenyoufindapatternyoureallywanttomakeapartofyou,takeitforarhythmwalk.Youcangetalotofmileageoutofasinglecrossrhythm.
iocreatecrossrhythmsinsixyouneedtoplayfigureswithcyclesthatareunevenwiththe12-beatcycleofthetimeline.Figureswith3-beator6-beatcycleswon'tworkthewaytheydidinfourbecause12isevenlydivisibleby3and6.Andthefigureswith4-beatcycles(basedona3-pulse)youplayedinthelastchapterwon'ttechnicallycreatecrossrhythmseither(eventhoughtheydosoundlikethem),because12isalsoevenlydivisibleby4.
But12isnotevenlydivisibleby8,solet'sstarttheretocreatecrossrhythmsinsix.Here'san8-beatcrossrhythmusingafigureyou'vealreadyplayedinfour.Playingpatternslikethisatthetriple-weavelevelischallenging,butit'sworththeefforttoexperiencethebeautifulsongstheymakewiththepulseandthetimeline:
PATTERN33-1
Noticethateachfigurestartsinadifferentspotinrelationtothepulse.Thefirstfigurestartsonthepulse,thesecondontheoffbeatbeforethepulse,andthethirdontheoffbeatafterthepulse.Any8-beatcrossrhythminsixwillcyclethefiguresthrougheachsubdivisioninturn.
Alsonoticethatthecompoundcycleofan8-beatcrossrhythmandthetimelineinsixisonly24beats,justtwicethroughthetimeline.Thatmeansthefiguresrepeatonlythreetimesbeforethecompoundcyclestartsover.Tohearallthevariationsofan8-beatcrossrhythm,youneedtoshiftitseventimes.Here'sthe
songyougetwhenyoustartthepatternon2:
PATTERN33-2
Playingacrossrhythmlikethisatthetriple-weavelevelrequiresthekindofintenseconcentrationthatcaneasilyleadtoastateoftrance.Inthenextchart,thesingle-cyclepatternrepeatedinthefirsttworowswillpreventthecrossrhythminthesecondtworowsfromtakingyoutoofaroffcenter:
PATTERN33-3
Here'san8-beatcrossrhythmconsistingofseven-notefigures:
PATTERN33-4
Youmayhavenoticedthatthelessspacethereisbetweenfigures,theeasieracrossrhythmistoplay.That'sbecausethesteadymotioninyourhandskeepsyoufromlosingyourplace.There'snothingwrongwithfeelingyourwaythroughapatternevenifyoucan'thearthesongyet.Sometimesyourhandscanteachyourears.
Inthenextpattern,weusevoicingtoturntheeven-numberedbeatsintoan8-beatcrossrhythm.Itreallyherksandjerksagainstthepulse.Thetimelinegivesyoulotsofreferencepoints,sowe'veshadeditonthecountrow:
PATTERN33-5
thenext8-beatcrossrhythmisanotherfamiliarpatternyou'veplayedinfour.Tomakeiteasiertoplayinsix,we'veswitchedfroma4-pulsetoa3-pulse.Thispatternonlygetsinterestingatthetriple-weavelevel,soturnonthetimeline,getyourfeetgoingonthe3pulse,andthenplaythepattern:
PATTERN33-6A
Didthetimelinesounddifferent?Ifitdid,here'swhathappened.Youstartedfeelingthethreefiguresasapatterninfourinsteadofasacrossrhythminsix.(Andthat'sperfectlynaturalsincethe8-beatcycleofeachfigureisexactlythesamelengthasameasureinfour,andthe3-pulseinsixfallsoneveryfourthbeatjustlikethepulseinfourdoes.)Onceyoustartfeelingthefiguresasapatterninfour,youstarthearingtworepetitionsofthetimelineasasinglethree-measurepatterninfour.Here'swhatthatlookslike:
PATTERN33-6B
Wheneveryourperceptionofatimelineshifts,yougetanewframeworkforimprovisationthat'sboundtoinspirenewideasinyourplaying.Tohelpyoudeveloptheabilitytoconsciouslyshiftyourperceptionofthetimelineinsix,turnofftheCDandpracticeplayingtworepetitionsofitasathree-measurepatterninfour.We'vebrokenthepatternintothreeone-measuresectionssoyoucanmasteritapieceatatime.Whenyou'vedonethat,putthewholethingtogether:
PATTERN33-7
Onceyoucancomfortablyplaythetimelineinsixasathree-measurepatterninfour,you'llbeabletoeasilyshifttohearingitinfour.Andonceyoucandothat,playing8-beatcrossrhythmsinsixwillbeabreeze.
igureswith5-beatcyclescancreatecrossrhythmsinbothfourandsixbecauseyoucan'tevenlydivideeither16or12by5.Thecompoundcycleofthetimelineanda5-beatcrossrhythminbothfourandsixwillbefiverepetitionsofthetimeline.Andinbothfourandsix,a5-beatcrossrhythmwillcyclethestartingpointsofthefiguresthrougheachsubdivisioninturn.
Startinfour.Youalreadyplayed5-beatcyclefigures("5's"forshort)whenyouplayed5/5/6patternsinlessons24and25.Tocreateacrossrhythm,allyouhavetodoisplaymore5's.
Thenextcharthasthefullcompoundcycleofasimple5.Althoughit'sagreatlongsong,youshouldmainlythinkofthischartasadatabaseyoucandrawuponratherthanasapatterntoplay.Noticethatthefiguresalternatebetweennumberedbeatsandoffbeats:
PATTERN34-1
Weespeciallyliketworowsofthiscompoundcycle:thelastfollowedbythefirst.Inthenextchart,wespendafewcyclescreatingacontextbeforegoingintothecrossrhythm.We'vealsosubstitutedaflamforthefirstnoteineachfiguretospicethingsup:
PATTERN34-2
nowswitchtosixandplaythesame5-beatcrossrhythmyoujustplayedinfour.Thecompoundcyclehereisunusuallyfruitful.Everyrowmakesagoodrepeatingpatternallbyitself:
PATTERN34-3
Ifyouwanttoplaythefullcompoundcyclestraightthrough,itmayhelptonoticethesequenceinthenumbersofthebeatsthefiguresstarton.Thefirstfigurestartson1,thenexton6,thenexton5,thenexton4,andsoonindescendingorderuntiltheseventhfigurestartson1againandthesequencerepeats.
Nextweworksomeofthese5'sintoalongerpattern.Repeatanyroworsetof
rowsasmanytimesasyoulike:
PATTERN34-4
rowthatyouhavechartsofthecompoundcyclescreatedby5-beatcrossrhythmsinfourandsix,youcanplugindifferentfiguresandexperiment.Hereareafewtogetyoustarted:
helastcrossrhythmswe'regoingtocoverare7-beatcrossrhythms.We'renotgoingtospendalotoftimeonthem,partlybecausethey'relesscommonthantheotherswe'vecoveredandpartlybecauseyouknowenoughnowtobeabletogenerate7'sonyourown.Butwewillmakeafewpointstogetyoustarted.
Inbothfourandsix,7-beatcrossrhythmscyclethestartingpointsofthefigures
througheachsubdivisioninturn.Butthesequenceofstartingpointshasadifferentnumericalpatterninbothfourandsix.
Infour,a7-beatcrossrhythmhasonelessbeatthanthe8-beatmeasure.Soifapatternof7'sstartson1,thesecondfigurewillstartontheANDof4,thenexton4,thenextontheANDof3,andsoonindescendingorder.Youcanseethestartofthissequenceinthenextchart,wherewerun7'sfortwomeasuresbeforecuttingthepatternshortandlettingitrepeat:
PATTERN34-5
Insix,ontheotherhand,a7-beatcrossrhythmhasonemorebeatthanthe6-beatmeasure.Soifapatternof7'sstartson1,thesecondfigurewillstarton2,thenexton3,andsooninascendingorder.Youcanseethissequenceinthenextchart,wherewerun7'sforfourmeasuresbeforecuttingthepatternshortandlettingitrepeat.Noticethatthis7-beatcrossrhythmcreatestheshortbellonthefirstrowandthelongbellonthesecond:
PATTERN34-6
Here'sthethirdrowofthispatternasarepeatingpatternonitsown:
PATTERN34-7
Nowmakeupyourown7-beatcrossrhythmsandplayaroundwiththem.Butwhenyouplaytheminpublic,rememberthatbecausetheyobscuretheunderlyingpulseyouneedtohandlethemwithcare.Alwaysconsiderhowacrossrhythmwillaffectthemusiciansyou'replayingwithandyouraudience.Don'tabandonthedancers.Strivefortherightbalancebetweentensionandrelease,betweenplayinginsideandoutsidethegroove.
.nLesson16,whenweintroduced3over2,wedefinedapolyrhythm.astwopatternsperceivedatthesametimethata)createorimplyunevenpulsesorb)haveunevengrids.Allthepolyrhythmsyou'veplayedsofarhavehadunevenpulses.Inthischapter,wefinallygettopolyrhythmscreatedbypatternswithunevengrids.Twogridsareunevenwhenneithercontainsallthesubdivisionsoftheother.
Inthesecondmeasureofthenextchart,we'vesuperimposedeighthnotetriplets-3notesplayedevenlyinthesamespanoftimeas2eighthnotes-overtheeighthnotegrid.Theeighthnotetripletgridisunevenwiththeeighthnotegridbecause-althoughthetwogridscoincideoneachnumberedbeat-neithergridcontainsallthesubdivisionsoftheother:
PATTERN35-1
Allyouneedtodotoplayaneighthnotetripletaccuratelyisplaythefirstnoteonanumberedbeatandspacetheothertwonotesevenlyacrossthedistancetothenextnumberedbeat.(It'spossibletostartatripletonanoffbeat,butit'salotharder.Fornow,sticktonumberedbeats.)
Wheneverweusethesignofacurvedlineoverthreenotesinthespaceoftwo-eighthnotes,itindicatesthatthenotesunderitformaneighthnotetriplet.Wesuperimposetheeighthnotetripletsovertheeighthnotegridtoshowthepolyrhythmicrelationshipbetweenthetwo.Tofeelthisrelationship,itreallyhelpstoplaythepatternsalongwiththetimelinebecausethetimelinehelpsdefinetheunderlyingeighthnotegrid.
Youcansubstituteatripletforanytwoeighthnotes.That'swhatwedoatthebeginningofthesecondfigureinthenextpattern:
PATTERN35-2
Inthesecondmeasureofthenextchartwecamouflagetheeighth-notetriplets.Camouflagingistheuseofvoicingtodisguisetheunderlyingstructureofapattern.Herethethree-notestructureofthetripletsinthesecondmeasureiscamouflagedwithvoicingthatchangeseverytwonotes:
PATTERN35-3
Inthenextchart,we'vetakenapatternyouplayedinlesson32andsubstitutedtripletsfortheO'sinthefiguresinthefirstrow:
PATTERN35-4
ecarefultomaintainacleardistinctioninyourplayingbetweentwosixteenthnotesfollowedbyaneighthnoteandaneighthnotetriplet.Focusingonthefirstnotethatmarksthereturntotheeighthnotegridwillhelpyoudothat.Forexample,inthefirstmeasureofthenextpattern,afteryouplaythetwosixteenthnotesyouneedtolockintotheeighthnotegridontheANDof2.Butinthesecondmeasure,whenyouplaythetripletyouwon'tlockintotheeighthnotegriduntil3:
PATTERN35-5
Funkandjazzplayersoftenswingnotesinfourfromtheeighthnotegridtotheeighthnotetripletgrid.Todothat,justtakeanynotethatfallsonanoffbeatandplayitasifitwerethethirdnoteofaneighthnotetripletstartingonthepreviousnumberedbeat.Whenyouswingthosenotes,theycomejustalittlelater,closertothefollowingnumberedbeat-exactlyhowmuchlaterandcloserisoftenaffectedbyindividualstyleandthetempoofthemusic.Inthenextchart,thestraighteighthnotepatterninthefirstrowisswunginthesecondrow.Noticethatwhenanoteisomittedfromatriplet,weindicateitwithadash:
PATTERN35-6
rowswitchtosix.Becausetheoddnumberedbeatsareanalternativepulseinsixandaneasypathwaythroughtheeighthnotegrid,theeasiestwaytoplayaneighthnotetripletistostartitonanoddnumberedbeat.Thenallyouneedtodotoplaythetripletaccuratelyisspacethe3notesevenlyacrossthedistancefromoneoddnumberedbeattothenext.Startingonaneven-numberedbeatisharder.
Inthenextchart,therearetripletsstartingoneachoftheoddnumberedbeatsinthesecondmeasure.Makesureallthenotesinthetripletsareevenlyspaced,andtheX'sinthesecondmeasureareasevenastheX'sinthefirst:
PATTERN35-7
Thetripletsinthesecondmeasureofthenextpatternstarton1and3.MakesureyouplaytheXinthesamespotinbothmeasures:
PATTERN35-8
Inthesecondrowofthenextpattern,wesubstitutetripletsforthefirsttwoeighthnotesineachthree-notefigure:
PATTERN35-9
We'veonlyscratchedthesurfaceonthesubjectofeighthnotetriplets,butwe'vegivenyouenoughtogetyoustarted.Onceyougetthefeelforthisgridanditspolyrhythmicrelationshiptoanunderlyingeighthnotegrid,goaheadandtrysubstitutingeighthnotetripletsforanytwoeighthnotesinanypatterninfourorsix.
henyoudivideapulseinfourinto3subdivisionsyoucreatequarter-notetriplets.Inthesecondmeasureofthenextchart,wesuperimposequarter-notetripletsovertheeighth-notegrid.Acurvedlinespanningadistanceoffoureighthnotes(equaltotwoquarternotes)indicatesthatthenotesunderitareaquarter-notetriplet.
Theeasiestwaytolearntoplayquarter-notetripletsinfouristousethepulsesasyourreferencepoints.Thenallyouhavetodoisspacethreenotesevenlyacrossthedistancefromonepulsetothenext.Again,tofeelthepolyrhythmicrelationshipbetweenthetripletsandtheunderlyingeighth-notegrid,playalongwiththetimeline:
PATTERN36-1
Nowpracticeswitchingfromeighthnotesinthefirstmeasuretoquarter-notetripletsinthesecond:
PATTERN36-2
Thenextexercisecombinestheprevioustwopatterns,soyougofromquarternotestoquarter-note-tripletstoeighthnotesandback:
PATTERN36-3
Nowyou'regoingtoplayquarter-notetripletsthroughthewholecycle.Keepusingthepulses-notthetimeline-asyourmainreference,andfocusondividingeachpulseevenlyinto3.Letthetimelineplayattheedgeofyourawarenessmostofthetime,butcheckinwithitwhenitcoincideswiththepulseonitsfirstandlastnotes.Onceit'seasyforyoutoplaysteadyquarter-notetriplets,you'llbeabletotuneintothesubtlepolyrhythmicrelationshipbetweenthetripletsandthethreemiddlenotesofthetimeline:
PATTERN36-4
Youcancamouflagequarter-notetripletswithvoicingtocreatethreegroupsoffournotes:
PATTERN36-5
Nowcreatespacebyleavingoffthefirstnoteineachmeasure.Noticeagainthatwhenanoteisomittedfromatriplet,weindicateitwithadash:
PATTERN36-6
NowplaythesamepatternwithO'sonjust3and4.You'11beabletoswitchspeedsmoreeasilyifyouconsciouslyfeelthemissingnoteson1:
PATTERN36-7
Thenextpatternusesbotheighth-noteandquarter-notetriplets.Italsoillustratesthetechniqueofplayingoffmarks.Marksarenotesinapatternthatremainconstantwhileeverythingaroundthemisvaried.Inthispattern,themarksarethenoteson4andtheANDof4inbothmeasures.Buteventhesemarksarevariedslightlyinthelasttworowswhentheyareincorporatedintothequarter-notetriplets:
PATTERN36-8
Youcanfeelhowshiftingtoanunevengridcanaddspicetoarhythmwithoutdisturbingthegroove.That'sbecausepolyrhythmswithunevengrids-unlikepolyrhythmswithunevenpulsesandmostcross-rhythms-don'tobscuretheunderlyingpulse.Theysimplydividethespacebetweenpulsesdifferently.
'henyoudividea4-pulseinsixinto2subdivisions,eachnoteisadottedeighthnote.Acurvedlinespanningadistanceofthreeeighthnoteswithtwonotesunderitindicatesthatthenotesaredottedeighthnotes.Here'swhattheylooklikeonourcharts(youdon'tneedtoplaythepatternyet):
PATTERN37-1
Notesonthisdotted-eighth-notegridformthepolyrhythm2over3withtheeighth-notegrid.Thefirstofeachpairofdottedeighthnotesfallsonthepulseandthesecondfallsmidwaybetweenpulses.Playingthenotethatfallsonthepulseisnoproblem.Butwhenyou'refeelingtheeighth-notegrid,findingthespotmidwaybetweenpulseswheretheelusiveupbeatinsixfallscanbetricky.
Theeasiestwaytolearnthelocationofthebeatmidwaybetweenpulsesistoworkoffasixteenth-notegrid.Thatgridhasabeatmidwaybetweeneachtwopulses-thesecondsixteenthnoteunderbeats2and5ineachmeasure:
PATTERN37-2
Bygraduallycreatingspaceinthisgrid,you'lleventuallygettothedotted-eighth-notegrid.That'swhatyou'lldointhefollowingpatterns.Playthemwithoutthetimelineatfirstifyouneedto.Buttocreatethepolyrhythmof2
over3-andtoreallybringthepatternstolife-youneedtoplayeachpatternwiththetimeline.
Startwhittlingawayatthecontinuoussixteenthnotesbytakingoutthesecondsixteenthnoteonbeats1and3:
PATTERN37-3
Trytohearthedotted-eighth-notegridbyplayingitwiththealternatevoice:
PATTERN37-4
Whenyougetcomfortablewiththispattern,starttakingouttheX'sonebyone.Atthefirstsignofshakinessonthe0midwaybetweenpulses,slidethoseX'sbackintosteadyyourself:
PATTERN37-5
PATTERN37-6
PATTERN37-7
PATTERN37-8
PATTERN37-9
henyou'recomfortablewiththedotted-eighth-notegrid,you'rereadytoswitchbetweenitandtheeighth-notegrid.Inthenextpattern,allthenotesareontheeighth-notegriduntilthesecondhalfofthesecondmeasure.Thenthedottedeighthnotesmaketimeslowdown:
PATTERN37-10
Thenextpatternconsistsofphrasesplayedon the leaddrumin theGhanaianrhythm agbaja (ahg-bah-zha). Notice that the bottom row combines eighthnotes,sixteenthnotes,anddottedeighthnotes:
PATTERN37-11
henyoudividea4-pulseinsixinto4subdivisions,eachbeatequalsadottedsixteenthnote.Acurvedlinespanningadistanceofthreeeighthnoteswithfournotesunderitindicatesthenotesaredottedsixteenthnotes:
PATTERN37-12
There'snowaytomicro-managethe4over3relationshipofdottedsixteenth
notestoeighthnotes;everythinggoesbytoofast.Theonlywaytoplaydottedsixteenthnotesinsixistousethe4-pulseasyourreferenceandfocusondividingeachpulseinto4.Tofeelthepolyrhythm,youneedtoturnthetimelineon,evenifyouplayitattheslowestspeed.Hereareconsecutivedottedsixteenthnoteswithalternatingvoicing:
PATTERN37-13
Youwon'toftenhearthepulseinsixdividedinto4subdivisionsbecauseitcreatessuchadensepolyrhythmwiththeeighth-notegrid.Butwedidwanttoatleastintroduceittoyousoyou'llknowenoughtogetstartedincaseyouwanttoexploreitonyourown.
endingapatternbackandforthislikeperformingrhythmmagic.Bybendingwemeanmovingapatternbetweentheeighth-notegridinfourandtheeighth-notegridinsixwhilekeepingthepulseconstant.
Tomakethistechniqueclearwe'vecreatedaspecialchart.Onthetopithasacountrowandaneighth-notegridinfour.Onthebottomithasacountrowandaneighth-notegridinsix.Thegridinsixiselongatedsothepulsesinfourandsixlineup:
Beforeyoutrybendinganypatterns,practicegoingbackandforthbetweencountingacycleinfourandcountingacycleinsixwhilekeepingaconstantpulseinyourfeet.
•owyou'rereadytobendthesetofparallelpairsconsistingofthetwobeatsbeforeeachpulse.Leaveoutthetimelinefornowandjustconcentrateonkeepingthepulsesteadyasyoualternatebetweenplayingthepairsinfourandplayingtheminsix:
PATTERN38-1
Noticethatwhenyoubendfromfourtosix,thenotesstretchout,andwhenyoubendbackfromsixtofour,thenotesgettighter.Movementineachdirectioncarriesadifferentemotionalcharge.Bendingfromfourtosixslowstimedownandheightensdrama;bendingfromsixbacktofourspeedstimeupandrestoresmomentum.
Ifatimelineorotherpartsplayedontheeighth-notegridinfourcontinuewhileyoubendapatterntosix,thebentpatternwillineffectbeonthequarter-notetripletgridinfour.Thiswillcreateanunevengridpolyrhythmandyouandyourlistenerswillfeelthatyou'rebendingagainstsomeresistance.Youcanfeelthiseffectbyplayingallthepatternsinthislessonalongwiththetimelineinfour.
Ontheotherhand,ifallthemusiciansyou'replayingwithbendwithyoutotheeighth-notegridinsix,there'snopolyrhythm.You'llsimplyhaveswitchedfromfourtosix.Youcanfeelthiseffectbyplayingallthepatternsinthislessonwithoutthetimeline.Werecommendyoutrybendingbothways.
hefirststeptomasteringthetechniqueofbendingisknowinghowtopickpatternsthatbendwell.Somedon't.Forexample,becausethereare4subdivisionstoapulseinfourbutonly3toapulseinsix,ifyoufillthegridinfourwithconsecutiveeighthnotesyou'llhavetroublebendingthepattern.Oneoutofeveryfournoteswillhavenowheretogoonthegridinsix.Toavoidagameofmusicalchairswhenyoubend,choosepatternsinfourwithnomorethanthreenotestoapulse.
Here'sanexampleofapatterninfourthat'sagoodcandidateforbending.It'stheessenceofthetumbaopatternyouplayedbackinlesson3:
PATTERN38-2
SincetheO'sineachmeasurearethetwobeatsbeforethepulseinfour,whenwebendthispatternthey'llmovetothetwobeatsbeforethepulseinsix(justastheydidinthelastpattern).ButwhataboutthelonelyXon2ineachmeasure?Todecidewheretomoveitweneedtotakeacloserlookatthemechanicsofmovingindividualnotesfromthegridinfourtothegridinsix.
Notesonthepulsesinfourareeasy;theymovetothecorrespondingpulsesinsix.Andnotesonthebeatsbeforeorafterthepulseinfourareeasytoo;theymovetothecorrespondingbeatsbeforeorafterthepulseinsix.Buttheupbeatsinfour-beats2and4-don'thavecorrespondingbeatsontheeighth-notegridinsix.Soanindividualnoteonanupbeatneedstogoeithertothebeatbeforeorafterthepulseinsix,dependingonthepattern:
Decidingwheretosendanindividualnotefromanupbeatinfourrequiresmusicaljudgment.Wheneverpossible,tryoutbothpossibilitiestofindwhichworksbestinaparticularsituation.Herearebothpossibilitiesforbendingthetumbaopattern.Youneedtodecidewhichfitsbestinthemusicalcontextyou'replayingin:
PATTERN38-3
PATTERN38-4
Here'sanothercandidateforbending.It'sthemelodyoftherumbaguaguancoinabstractform:
PATTERN38-5
NoticethattheO'sinthispatternfallonupbeats,sowehavetodecidewheretoputthemwhenwebend.Movingthemtobeat5insixworkswellbecauseitpreservestheemptybeatbetweenthe0inthefirstmeasureandthefollowingX:
PATTERN38-6
Thenextpatternconsistsofthree-notefiguresinfour:
PATTERN38-7
Whenyoubendthispattern,thenoteoneachpulseinfourwillgotothepulseinsixandthenoteonthebeatbeforeeachpulseinfourwillgotothebeatbeforeeachpulseinsix.Thenoteoneachupbeatinfourwillthenhavenowheretogobuttothebeataftereachpulseinsix.Soinsixthispatternwillfillthegrid,andbendingwillcreatethesameeffectasplayingsteadyquarter-notetripletsinfour:
PATTERN38-8
Youcanbendthesonclavetimelineinfourtoformtheskeletonofthelongbellinsixifyoumovethetwonotesthatfallonupbeatsinfour(4inthefirstmeasureand2inthesecond)tothebeatafterthepulseinsix.TurnoffthetimelineontheCDforthisone:
PATTERN38-9
Bendingtherumbaclavepatterninthesamewayproducestheskeletonofthe
shortbellpatterninsix(alsocalledthe6/8clave).KeeptheCDoffforthisonetoo:
PATTERN38-10
BendingapatternfromfourtosixisacommontechniqueinAfroCubanmusic.Onceyougetfamiliarwithit,youcanthenbegintoexplorethepossibilitiesofbendingapatternonlypartway,sothatit'sneitherinfournorsixbutsomewhereinbetween.Butthatsubtletytakesusbeyondwhatcanbeexplainedandtaught,andintotherealmofwhatcanonlybeheardandfelt.
Ihereislittleconsensusonthedefinitionsofmanyofthemostbasictermsrelatedtorhythm.Ourdefinitionsareintendedtobepracticalandfunctional,nottocovereveryconceivablemathematicalpossibility.Forthesakeofsimplicity,someterms-like"polyrhythm"and"compoundcycle"-aredefinedinreferencetotwopatterns,buttheycanalsoapplytomorethantwopatterns.Whentermsarereadilyunderstoodbyanymusician-like"eighthnote"and"measure"-we'vetakenadvantageofthatandavoidedtheworkofdefiningthem.Followingeachdefinitionisthenumberofthepageonwhichthetermisintroduced.
accent:afeatureofasoundthatmakesitstandoutfromitssurroundings(58)backbeats:everysecondpulse(72)
beat:anindividualsubdivision(12)
bending:movingapatternbetweentheeighth-notegridinfourandthecorrespondingbeatsontheeighth-notegridinsixwhilekeepingthepulseconstant(185)camouflaging:theuseofvoicingtodisguisetheunderlyingstructureofapattern(175)clave(klah-vay):atimelineinAfro-Cubanmusic,usuallyplayedontwocylindricalpiecesofwoodcalledclaves(14)compositepattern:thepatterncreatedbyplayingallthenotesoftwopatternswiththesamesoundwithoutdoublingthenotesonbeatswherethetwopatternscoincide(95)compoundcycle:thenumberofbeatsittakesforthecombinationoftwopatternstorepeat(154)compressing:takingoutspacebetweenorwithinrepeatingfiguressomoreofthemfitwithinacycle(128)counter-rhythm:thepatterninapolyrhythmperceivedasbeingplayedoverthepatternthatcreatesorimpliestheunderlyingpulseorgrid(94)cross-rhythm:arepeatingfigureplayedforlongerthanacycleofthetimelinethathasanunevencycleinrelationtothecycleofthetimeline(orwhateverpartdefinestheunderlyingcycleofarhythm)(154)cut-time:thetimesignatureinwhichapulsefallsoneveryhalfnoteandtherearetwohalfnotestoameasure(13)
cycle:thenumberofbeatsfromthestartofonerepetitionofarepeatingpatterntothestartofthenext;whenweusethetermwithoutfurther
explanationwe'rereferringtothecycleofthetimeline(15)dynamicaccent:theaccentcreatedwhenasoundstandsoutbecauseofhowloudorsoftit'splayed(58)expanding:addingspacebetweenorwithinrepeatingfiguressofewerofthemfitwithinacycle(150)flam:aneffectproducedbyplayingtwonotesalmostsimultaneously,onenoteonthebeatandonenotejustbeforeit(145)figure:ashortrhythmicpattern(36)
four:ourshorthanddescriptionofthetimesignatureofapatternthatcanlogicallyberepresentedonachartwithfourpulsesdividedintofoursubdivisionseach(13)4-pulse:thepulseinfourorsixwith4pulsestoacycleofthetimeline(92)ghostnotes:barely-audible,timekeepingtaps(65)
grid:anysetofequalsubdivisions(12)
half-time:a2-pulsefeelinfourorsix(98)
marks:notesinapatternthatremainconstantwhileeverythingaroundthemisvaried(180)metricmodulation:switchingfromonepulsetoanotherunevenpulsewhilekeepingthesubdivisionsthesamelength(135)offbeats:allbeatsbetweenpulses(exceptupbeats)(64)
onbeats:allbeatsthataren'toffbeats(65)
ONE:thefirstbeatinacycle(32)
pair:twonotesonconsecutivebeats(36)
parallelfigures:twoormorefiguresthathavethesamestructureandthesamerelationshiptothepulse(36)polyrhythm:therhythmcreatedwhentwopatternsareperceivedatthesametimethata)createorimplyunevenpulsesorb)haveunevengrids(93)prefix:anoteornotesattachedbeforeanothernoteorfigure(80)
pulse:thesteady,metronomic,underlyingrhythmpeoplefeelintheirbodieswhenmusicisplayed(12)pulses:individual,regularly-spaced,kinestheticeventsmakingupapulse(12)
reverseimage:apatternderivedbyplayingnotesontheemptybeatsofanotherpattern(121)shifting:keepingapatternthesamewhilestartingitona
differentbeat(54)six:ourshorthanddescriptionofthetimesignatureofapatternthatcanlogicallyberepresentedonachartdividedintotwomeasuresofsixbeatseach(14)6/8time:thetimesignatureinwhichtherearesixeighthnotestoameasure(14)6-pulse:thepulseinsixwith6pulsestoacycleofthetimeline(92)
subdivisions: the smaller units intowhich the time span between pulses isdivided(12)suffix:anoteornotesattachedafteranothernoteorfigure(81)
swing:totakeanoteonanoffbeatinfourandplayitasifitwerethethirdnoteofaneighth-notetripletstartingonthepreviousnumberedbeat(176)3-pulse:thepulseinsixwith3pulsestoacycleofthetimeline(134)
timeline: an audible, asymmetrical, repeating rhythmic pattern aroundwhich a rhythm is organized that is used as a reference rhythm by theplayers in a group (14) triple-weave practicing: playing a pattern whiletapping a pulse in your feet and listening to a timeline (28) 2-pulse: thepulse infourorsixwith2pulses toacycleof the timeline(alsocalleda"half-time"feel)(98)unevencycles:twocyclesareunevenwhenyoucan'tevenlydividethenumberofbeatsinthelongercyclebythenumberintheshorter(154)unevengrids:twogridsareunevenwhenneithercontainsallthesubdivisionsoftheother(174)unevenpulses:twopulsesareunevenifneithercontainsallthenotesoftheother(whenthetwopulsesarestartedtogether)(94)upbeat:abeatfallingmidwaybetweentwopulses(61)
voicing:thesoundofanote(40)
fyoureallywanttogetrhythmsintoyourbones,there'snothinglikerhythmwalking.Rhythmwalkingisafunmethodforpracticingpatternswithjustyourbody.Therearetwowaystodoit.Youcansimplywalkapulsewhileyouclaporvocalizeapattern.Oryoucandotriple-weaverhythmwalkingby
walkingapulse,clappingatimeline,andvocalizingapatternallatthesametime.
Rhythmwalkingisaformofrhythmiccross-trainingyoucandoanywhere:atapark,onabeach,downacitystreet.Itloosensupthosemusclesandjointsthatgetstiffandsorewhenyouoverpracticeonyourinstrument.Andit'sagreatwaytoworkonyourrhythmicvocabularywhileyougetsomeexerciseandfreshair.
Toshowyouhowit'sdone,weexplainwhattodowithyourfeetfirst,andthenbuildfromtheretoyourhandsandvoice.
Feet
Inrhythmwalking,thepulseisalwaysinyourfeet.Sotogetthepulsegoing,allyouhavetodoisstartwalking.Onceyou'removingyoushouldn'thavetothinkaboutyourfeetatall.Butyoudoneedtodecideatthestartwhichpulseyou'resteppingbecausethatwillaffectanypatternyouaddinyourhandsorvoice.
Whenyourhythmwalkinfour,onewaytothinkofyourstepsisaspulsesfallingon1and3.Thiswillworkfineonsimplepatternsandpatternsyoualreadyknowwell.Butwhenyou'retryingtocoordinatefeet,hands,andvoiceonanewordifficultpattern,thispulsemaymakeitmovetoofast.Toslowapatterndownwithoutchangingyourwalkingspeed,thinkofyourstepsaspulsesfallingoneverynumberedbeat:
Whenyourhythmwalkinsix,youcanthinkofyourstepsaspulsesfallingon1and4.This4-pulseistherightspeedformostpatterns.Butifyouneedtoyoucanslowapatterndowninsixbythinkingofyourstepsasa6-pulsefallingontheodd-numberedbeats:
Ifyouwanttospeedupapatterninsixorjustwantachangeofperspective,thinkofyourstepsasa3-pulse:
Hands
Whileyouwalkthepulse,youcanaddasecondpatterninyourhands.Toplayatimelineorapatternwithonlyonevoice,youcansimplyclapit.Oryoucanhitanytwoobjectstogether:claves,coins,keys,sticks,stones-whatever'shandy.
Buthavingtobringyourhandstogetherwhileyouwalkpreventsyoufromswingingyourarmsfreely.Ifyouwanttowalknormally,youneedtobeabletomakeasoundwithjustonehand.
Onesimplesolutionistotapeonequartertoyourthumbandanotheronetoyourmiddlefinger.Thenyoucancreateaclickbybringingthemtogether.Ifyouusebuttonsinsteadofquarters,youcanstrapthemtoyourfingerswithlittlestripsofelastic.Ifyouwanttoplayapatternwithtwovoices,justusemetalinonehandandwoodorplasticintheother.
.Youcanmakearichersoundwithonehandusingafrikyiwa(free-kee-wah),asmall,egg-shapedbellusedinGhanaandotherAfricancountries.Traditionallythebell is slippedover themiddle finger and struckwith ametal ring slippedoverthethumb.Buttomufflethebellandavoiddisturbingothers,youcancupitin thepalmofyourhandand tap it lightlywith themetal ringonyourmiddlefinger:
Tokeeponehandfromgettingtired-andtokeepyourselffrombecomingrhythmicallyunbalanced-it'sbesttoalternatehands.Youcanalsoavoidfatiguebychoosingsimpletimelinesorpatternswithouttoomanynotes.Thetimelineinfourweusethroughoutthisbookworkswell,becauseithasonlyfivenotes.Butthetimelineinsixhassevennotesinthespaceof12beats,soyoumaywanttosimplifyittothefollowingpattern:
Ifyou'relookingforothertimelineoptions,you'llfindtheminlessons14and21.
Voice
Whileyouwalkthepulse,insteadofaddingasecondpatterninyourhands,youcanadditinyourvoice.Orifthepulseisinyourfeetandatimelineisinyourhands,youcanuseyourvoicetoaddathirdpattern(orputthetimelineinyourvoiceandthethirdpatterninyourhands).
Tovocalizeapatternwithjustonevoice,chooseanysoundyoulike.Ifapatternhastwovoices,choosecontrastingsoundsforX'sandO's.Useanysyllablesthatfeelnaturaltoyou.(Welike"bop"forX'sand"doo"forO's.)Thentryusingtwodistinctpitchesforthetwosounds,withtheXhigherthantheO.Ifyoufeellikeit,singmelodies.Beforeyouknowit,you'llbemakingupsongs.
ogetoutofthebasement.Putonyourwalkingshoesandgiveyourroommatesabreak.Goforarhythmwalk.Thechangeofscenerywilldoyougood.
Rhythmwalkingwhenyoucan'twalk
Sometimesit'sjustnotpossibletowalk,butthatdoesn'thavetoslowyoudown.Let'ssayyou'restuckinlineatthegrocerystoreorthepostoffice.Youcanalwaysstepapulsewhilestandinginplace,clapatimelinelightlyinyourhands,andmutterapatternunderyourbreath.Ofcourseyouhavetogetusedtopeoplestaringatyou.Justsmileandtrytolookharmless.
Ifyou'resittinginawaitingroomorridingonatrain,youcanstillrhythmwalk-justtapapulseinyourfeetlikeyou'vebeendoingallalong.Rhythm
walkingistheperfectactivityforpeoplewhocan'tsitstillanddon'tliketokilltime.
Youcanevenrhythmwalklyingflatonyourbackbytwitchingyourtoes.Remember:Nomatterwhereyouare,orhowrestrictiveyourenvironmentmayseem,there'salwaysroomtogroove.
BooksonAfricanorAfro-Cubanrhythms(andaccompanyingCDsorcassettes)AfricanRhythmandAfricanSensibilitybyJohnChernoff,TheUniversityofChicagoPress,1979.
Afro-CubanGroovesforBassandDrums:FunkifyingtheClavebyLincolnGoinesandRobbyAmeen,ManhattanMusic,1990.IncludestwoCDs.
Afro-CubanRhythmsforDrumsetbyFrankMalabeandBobWeiner,ManhattanMusic,1990.CDalsoavailable.
CongaDrumming:ABeginner'sGuidetoPlayingwithTimebyAlanDworskyandBetsySansby,DancingHandsMusic,1994.IncludesCD.
DrumGahu:TheRhythmsofWestAfricanDrummingbyDavidLocke,WhiteCliffsMedia,1987.Cassettealsoavailable.
TheEssenceofAfro-CubanPercussionbyEdUribe,CPPMediaGroup,1996.IncludestwoCDs.
Afro-Cuban Grooves for Bass and Drums by Lincoln Goines and RobbyAmeen,ManhattanMusic,1990.IncludestwoCDs.
Kpegisu:AWarDrumoftheEwebyDavidLocke,featuringGodwinAgbeli,WhiteCliffsMedia,1992.Cassettealsoavailable.
PracticalApplicationsUsingAfro-CaribbeanRhythms(Parts1,2,and3)byChuckSilverman,CPP/Belwin,1991.
RhythmsandTechniquesforLatinTimbalesbyVictorRendon.
SalsaGuidebookForPianoandEnsemblebyRebecaMauleon,SherMusic,1993.
West African Rhythms for Drumset by Royal Hartigan with AbrahamAdzenyahandFreemanDonkor,ManhattanMusic,1995.IncludesCD.
VideosonAfricanandAfro-Cubandrumming(andaccompanyingbooklets)AdvancedCongawithRolandoSoto,MVP.
CongaDrumming:ABeginner'sVideoGuidewithJorgeBermudez,DancingHandsMusic.
LatinSoloingfortheDrumsetwithPhilMaturano,HalLeonard.
MasteringtheArtofAfro-CubanDrummingwithIgnacioBerroa,WarnerBros.
MozambiquewithKimAtkinson,PulseWavePercussion.
TheRhythmsofGuinea,WestAfricawithKarambaDiabate,3rdEarProductions.
ShowMetheRhythmsforBongoswithKalani,KalaniMusicVideoShowMetheRhythmsforJembewithKalani,KalaniMusicVideo
CDsoftraditionalAfricanandAfro-Cubandrumming
OboAddy(Earthbeat)Okropong-TraditionalMusicofGhana
ClaveyGuaguanco(Xenophile):SongsandDances
AdamDrame(Playasound):MandingoDrumsVolumes1and2
EnsembleNationaldelaRepubliquedeGuinee(MusiqueduMonde):LesBalletsAfricains FamoudouKonate (BudaRecords):MalinkeRhythmsandSongs
Farafina(RealWorld):FasoDenouandBolomakote
Fatala(RealWorld):GongomaTimes
Mamady Keita (Fonti Musicali): Mogobalu,Wassolon, Afo, Hamanah, andNankamaLesPercussionsdeGuinee(BudaRecords):Volumes1and2
LosMunequitosDeMatanzas(Qbadisc):FolkloreMatancero,CongoYambumba,andRumbaCalienteDoudouNdiayeRose(VirginRecords):Djabote
ToticoysusRumberos(MontunoRecords):ToticoysusRumberosYorubaStreetPercussion(OriginalMusic)
Miscellaneousothersources
Bayaka-TheExtraordinaryMusicoftheBabenzelePygmiesbyLouisSarno,EllipsisArts,1995(bookandCD).
TheBigBang,EllipsisArts,1994(boxedsetofthreeCDsofdrummingfromaroundtheworldwithaccompanyingbooklet).
Djembefola,Interama,1991(documentaryvideoaboutMamadyKeita).
Drummingat theEdgeofMagic -AJourney into theSpiritofPercussionbyMickeyHart,HarperCollins,1990(book).
DrumSolosVolumes1,2,and3,LatinPercussionVentures,1978(audiotapesonsoloingoncongas,bongos,andtimbales).
Ta Ke Ti Na - The Forgotten Power of Rhythm by Reinhard Flatischler,LifeRhythm,1992(bookwithsupplementalCDorcassetteavailable).