44 & oe>oeoeoeoeoe>oeoe
Fig. 4
oeoeoe>oeoeoeoeoe> oeoeoeoeoe>oeoeoe
a good feel. No matter how intricate the
phrasing, the groove should always be an
integral part of your awareness, and should
you need a reminder, you can reset the feel
by playing quarter-notes.
Once you feel comfortable syncopating
every five beats, try breaking the five into
two. In Fig. 5, you can see this concept
using eighth-notes and sixteenth-note rests.
It sounds a lot more confusing than it actually is, but this can provide a cool way to
abstract the concept of groupings of five
even further. Smaller subdivisions tend to
make things feel quicker, where as larger
subdivisions will give your lines a sense of a
larger development over time.
At this point, I’d like to shed some light
on the concept of polyrhythms and how
to go about decoding them. I was always
mystified by how players could superimpose
other time signatures over 4/4 or 3/4. It
was even more mystifying how they could
switch between the time signatures with
ease and fluidity. So given the techniques
we’ve been practicing thus far, let’s examine
how to play 4 against 3.
The simplest way to start is by playing
sixteenth-notes with the metronome on or
around 60 bpm. We can start Fig.;6 by syncopating every third note. Once this feels
comfortable, leave out the in-between notes
and only play the syncopated beats (beats 1,
4, 7, 10) After four syncopations, your note
should line up with the metronome. You
are now playing 4 against 3!
Things get really interesting in Fig.;7,
where we play the quarter-note in the bass
on a low C. Try moving the left-hand structure through the C major scale while maintaining the polyrhythm. This basic formula
should help you to find other polyrhythms.
To summarize: Start with sixteenth-notes,
syncopate the number of beats you want to
superimpose, then leave out the in-between
notes and the two tempos should eventually
meet up at regular intervals.
Going forward, I encourage you to
practice “filling” the bigger quarter-note
with other subdivisions including 5,
6, and 7, as well as figuring out other
polyrhythms via the syncopation study.
Between these two practices, you will
develop a stronger sense of rhythm from
a grounded perspective, and also be able
to see that at any given moment, multiple
dimensions of rhythmic activity exist and
are waiting for you to explore.
˙
˙
85
78
5
75
4
75
8
Fig. 6
34 &
˙
oe
oer ≈ ≈
oe
oer ≈ ≈ oer ≈
oe
≈oer≈≈
3
0
3
00
3
0
˙
3
0
3
00
3
0
0
1
0
11
0
1
2
3
2
33
2
3
3
5
3
55
3
5
Fig.;6
10
12
13
15
17
19
20
19
10
12
10
12
13
17
15
13
12
15
13
12
10
10
12
9
&
oeoe>oeoeoeoeoe>oe
oeoeoeoe>oeoeoeoe
12
10
9
12
10
12
9
10
12
14
12
13
15
12
13
15
Fig. 5
44 & oeoe≈oeoe≈oeoe≈oeR
Fig. 5
oeoe≈oeoe≈oeoe≈oeJ oeJ≈oeoe≈oeoe≈oeoe
4
45
7
5
6
8
10
12
13
12
10
8
6
5
57
&oeR≈oeJoeJ≈oeoe≈oeoe ≈oeoe≈oejoej≈oeoe≈
75
5
78
8
Fig. 7
34 & oeoer≈≈ oe r≈≈oer≈oe≈oer≈≈
Fig.;7
oe
oer ≈ ≈
oe
oer ≈ ≈ oer ≈
oe
≈oer≈≈
&oe
oer ≈ ≈
≈oer≈≈
oe
oer ≈ ≈
oe
oer ≈ ≈ oer ≈
oe
≈oer≈≈
