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).