Standard ("6/8") Bell Pattern - analysis of bell patterns
by davidpenalosa » Sat Feb 11, 2006 8:19 pm
Berimbau:
"David, I have often heard this twelve pulse seven stroke time line called the "standard" bell pattern. I believe that A.M.Jones coined the term,.."
me:
Wasn't it King who coined the term in his article "The Employment of the Standard Pattern" (1960)? I realize you are working by memory here.
Berimbau:
"The pattern can really begin on ANY beat, and the accents may fall on different pulses, as long as each are rendered with the correct time unit. This allows for many permutations of the "standard" pattern."
me:
I think we better define "beat". Are you speaking of a bell stroke or a unit of musical time? For the sake of clarity, let's call the attack-points of the bell pattern "strokes", the large units of musical time "beats" and the subdivisions of the main beats "pulses".
In the various contexts I've only heard the standard pattern, it's always been initiated on main beat one.
||XoX||oXX|oXo|XoX|| standard pattern
||1+a|2+a|3+a|4+a|| four main beats w/ subdivisions
I think what you may be referring to is a common variation of the standard pattern which contains the identical sequence of strokes and rests, but is in a different order and therefore in a different relation to the main beats.
||XoX||oXo|XXo|XoX|| variation of standard pattern
||1+a|2+a|3+a|4+a|| four main beats w/ subdivisions
(if viewed in size 12 "Courier" font, the pulses will align.)
The standard pattern's "interior" double strokes are off-beats (2+, 2a), while the bell variation's "interior" double strokes are on-beats (3, 3+). So, I sometimes refer to these two pattens as the "off-beat bell" and the "on-beat bell" when it's nessesary to clarify which one I'm talking about.
hope I'm in the ballpark, topic-wise.
-David
"David, I have often heard this twelve pulse seven stroke time line called the "standard" bell pattern. I believe that A.M.Jones coined the term,.."
me:
Wasn't it King who coined the term in his article "The Employment of the Standard Pattern" (1960)? I realize you are working by memory here.
Berimbau:
"The pattern can really begin on ANY beat, and the accents may fall on different pulses, as long as each are rendered with the correct time unit. This allows for many permutations of the "standard" pattern."
me:
I think we better define "beat". Are you speaking of a bell stroke or a unit of musical time? For the sake of clarity, let's call the attack-points of the bell pattern "strokes", the large units of musical time "beats" and the subdivisions of the main beats "pulses".
In the various contexts I've only heard the standard pattern, it's always been initiated on main beat one.
||XoX||oXX|oXo|XoX|| standard pattern
||1+a|2+a|3+a|4+a|| four main beats w/ subdivisions
I think what you may be referring to is a common variation of the standard pattern which contains the identical sequence of strokes and rests, but is in a different order and therefore in a different relation to the main beats.
||XoX||oXo|XXo|XoX|| variation of standard pattern
||1+a|2+a|3+a|4+a|| four main beats w/ subdivisions
(if viewed in size 12 "Courier" font, the pulses will align.)
The standard pattern's "interior" double strokes are off-beats (2+, 2a), while the bell variation's "interior" double strokes are on-beats (3, 3+). So, I sometimes refer to these two pattens as the "off-beat bell" and the "on-beat bell" when it's nessesary to clarify which one I'm talking about.
hope I'm in the ballpark, topic-wise.
-David
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by davidpenalosa » Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:46 pm
PC:
"I will attempt to write the arara bell pattern, there are three different modulations that I learned from Spiro, I'll just write the most complex one:"
|xx*|xx*|x*x|x*x|x*x|*xx|*xx|*x*|
|x*x|**x|*x*|x**|
me:
The Ewe people of Ghana, Togo and Benin use a similar bell pattern in their rhythm "kadodo".
|xx*|xx*|x*x|x*x| kadodo bell pattern
|x*x|*xx|*xx|*x*|
The kadodo bell pattern is two standard patterns in length.
The Fon (called Arara in Cuba and Rada in Haiti) and the Ewe are closely related. In a lot of the literature they are referred to collectively as the Fon/Ewe ethnic group.
PC;
"If you look at the clave super-imposed over the bell pattern, there seems to be no relation"
me:
It’s hard for me to see what you mean. The two patterns are closely related. The Arara bell pattern you wrote is three standard patterns in length. Each line of the Arara bell below corresponds to a cycle of the standard pattern.
|x*x|*xx|*x*|x*x| standard pattern
|xx*|xx*|x*x|x*x| Arara bell pattern
|x*x|*xx|*xx|*x*|
|x*x|**x|*x*|x**|
|1+a|2+a|3+a|4+a| main beats w/ subdivisions
The first two lines are identical to the kadodo bell. The first two lines each share four common strokes with the standard pattern. The first half of the second line is identical to the first half of the standard pattern. The third line is 6/8 rumba clave, which shares all its strokes with the standard pattern. I call that "closely related".
PC:
"…if you translate the pattern into 4/4 ( just for our western sensibilities) you can see a very similar pattern that we find in many musics.
xx*x|x*x*, or if you change the one you have
x*xx|*xx* the same bell or palitos found in makuta , bomba, some folkloric brazillian music etc.
me:
Yes, the series of strokes and rests is identical to the 4/4 pattern known as "cinquillo" in popular music. I call this phenomena "rhythmic modules": a movable series of strokes and rests capable of beginning on any pulse. Modules have no fixed relationship to the main beats. In clave-based music there are several common modules that reappear in different permutations.
I understand what you are saying. When I first heard the kadodo bell, my brain kept shifting it into 4/4 and I’d lose it! :p It can be a real challenge when you hear a rhythmic module incorrectly because you are used to hearing it in a different relationship to the main beats, or even worse, in a different meter.
I’ve had some fun experimenting with this. You can take a pattern and make it a movable module in the opposing meter. You turn it into a cross-pattern. 4/4 pattern = 6/8 cross-pattern, 6/8 pattern = 4/4 cross-pattern.
We already understand how the 4/4 cinquillo pattern is the same series of strokes and rests as the kadodo and Arara bell.
You can play the 6/8 "standard pattern" as a 4/4 cross pattern. It takes three claves to complete the cross pattern. If you begin this module in 2-3 4/4 clave, you will notice how this cross-pattern and 2-3 cascara share their first five strokes.
|**x*|x***|x**x|**x*| 2-3 clave
|x*x*|xx*x|x*xx|*x*x| 2-3 cascara
|x*x*|xx*x|*x*x|x*x*| "standard pattern" as rhythmic module
|xx*x|*x*x|x*x*|xx*x|
|*x*x|x*x*|xx*x|*x*x|
|1e+a|2e+a|3e+a|4e+a| Main beats w/ subdivisions
(if viewed in size 12 "Courier" font, the pulses will align.)
It takes four modules to complete three claves. This is a larger four against three cross-rhythm.
The late Willie Bobo played this module in his timbale solo on "Timbales y bongo" (0:17) from Mongos’ "Afro-Roots".
-David
Edited By davidpenalosa on 1139737607
"I will attempt to write the arara bell pattern, there are three different modulations that I learned from Spiro, I'll just write the most complex one:"
|xx*|xx*|x*x|x*x|x*x|*xx|*xx|*x*|
|x*x|**x|*x*|x**|
me:
The Ewe people of Ghana, Togo and Benin use a similar bell pattern in their rhythm "kadodo".
|xx*|xx*|x*x|x*x| kadodo bell pattern
|x*x|*xx|*xx|*x*|
The kadodo bell pattern is two standard patterns in length.
The Fon (called Arara in Cuba and Rada in Haiti) and the Ewe are closely related. In a lot of the literature they are referred to collectively as the Fon/Ewe ethnic group.
PC;
"If you look at the clave super-imposed over the bell pattern, there seems to be no relation"
me:
It’s hard for me to see what you mean. The two patterns are closely related. The Arara bell pattern you wrote is three standard patterns in length. Each line of the Arara bell below corresponds to a cycle of the standard pattern.
|x*x|*xx|*x*|x*x| standard pattern
|xx*|xx*|x*x|x*x| Arara bell pattern
|x*x|*xx|*xx|*x*|
|x*x|**x|*x*|x**|
|1+a|2+a|3+a|4+a| main beats w/ subdivisions
The first two lines are identical to the kadodo bell. The first two lines each share four common strokes with the standard pattern. The first half of the second line is identical to the first half of the standard pattern. The third line is 6/8 rumba clave, which shares all its strokes with the standard pattern. I call that "closely related".
PC:
"…if you translate the pattern into 4/4 ( just for our western sensibilities) you can see a very similar pattern that we find in many musics.
xx*x|x*x*, or if you change the one you have
x*xx|*xx* the same bell or palitos found in makuta , bomba, some folkloric brazillian music etc.
me:
Yes, the series of strokes and rests is identical to the 4/4 pattern known as "cinquillo" in popular music. I call this phenomena "rhythmic modules": a movable series of strokes and rests capable of beginning on any pulse. Modules have no fixed relationship to the main beats. In clave-based music there are several common modules that reappear in different permutations.
I understand what you are saying. When I first heard the kadodo bell, my brain kept shifting it into 4/4 and I’d lose it! :p It can be a real challenge when you hear a rhythmic module incorrectly because you are used to hearing it in a different relationship to the main beats, or even worse, in a different meter.
I’ve had some fun experimenting with this. You can take a pattern and make it a movable module in the opposing meter. You turn it into a cross-pattern. 4/4 pattern = 6/8 cross-pattern, 6/8 pattern = 4/4 cross-pattern.
We already understand how the 4/4 cinquillo pattern is the same series of strokes and rests as the kadodo and Arara bell.
You can play the 6/8 "standard pattern" as a 4/4 cross pattern. It takes three claves to complete the cross pattern. If you begin this module in 2-3 4/4 clave, you will notice how this cross-pattern and 2-3 cascara share their first five strokes.
|**x*|x***|x**x|**x*| 2-3 clave
|x*x*|xx*x|x*xx|*x*x| 2-3 cascara
|x*x*|xx*x|*x*x|x*x*| "standard pattern" as rhythmic module
|xx*x|*x*x|x*x*|xx*x|
|*x*x|x*x*|xx*x|*x*x|
|1e+a|2e+a|3e+a|4e+a| Main beats w/ subdivisions
(if viewed in size 12 "Courier" font, the pulses will align.)
It takes four modules to complete three claves. This is a larger four against three cross-rhythm.
The late Willie Bobo played this module in his timbale solo on "Timbales y bongo" (0:17) from Mongos’ "Afro-Roots".
-David
Edited By davidpenalosa on 1139737607
-
davidpenalosa - Posts: 1151
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by davidpenalosa » Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:57 pm
PC:
"I think the abakwa bell and the above arara bell seem to make sense as 4/4 patterns transposed to 6/8, at least as far as my western sensibilities are concerned."
me:
You can think of it that way. I think my experience is similar to yours. The more comfortable you become with cross-rhythm, I think the less you'll be locked into percieving the modules in their simpler 4/4 forms. The modules appear in both 4/4 and 6/8 contexts. I think for the moment, your perceptions are grounded in those contexts you are most familiar with.
-David
"I think the abakwa bell and the above arara bell seem to make sense as 4/4 patterns transposed to 6/8, at least as far as my western sensibilities are concerned."
me:
You can think of it that way. I think my experience is similar to yours. The more comfortable you become with cross-rhythm, I think the less you'll be locked into percieving the modules in their simpler 4/4 forms. The modules appear in both 4/4 and 6/8 contexts. I think for the moment, your perceptions are grounded in those contexts you are most familiar with.
-David
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by Berimbau » Sat Feb 11, 2006 11:00 pm
David,
King first heard the term "standard pattern" at one of Jone's lectures and adopted for his own publications thereafter. But I do believe that Nketia was ahead of both of them in his research, regardless of who published first. Anyway, as David Bowie once said, "It doesn't matter who did it FIRST, it matters who did it SECOND." Now Madonna has based her entire career on this premise, and who are we to argue with that aging millionairess?
If I may offer a corrigendum here; I meant to say that any BEAT may be accented, not any PULSE. Also for clarity's sake my observations on the all of the possibilities inherent in the "standard" time line pattern should not imply that they are, in fact, actual performance practices. To be clear, a time line pattern's tempo, accentuation, and starting point may flucuate, but, as Kubik has noted, the mathematical structures of the patterns are cultural invariables, and any attempt at changing them would dissolve the pattern.
Understanding this, a time line pattern's order can be inverted as in 2/3 or 3/2 clave. another well known case is that of the nine stroke, sixteen pulse Angolan kachacha pattern:
X . X . X . X X . X . X . X X .
This pattern was reversed in Brasilian samba to accomodate the stophic forms absorbed from Portuguese and other European song forms:
X . X . X X . X . X . X . X X .
So although there is certainly room for creative expression within the confines of a time line's mathematical structure, adding or subtracting from it makes it something else entirely.
Now a question for David, Ralph, or anyone still awake here. How was it that the Cubans developed such a sophisticated musical system around various African time line patterns without articulating the CONCEPT in the earlier literature? I believe that Don Fernando rattled on and on about the hardwood sticks, but not the African intellectual capital they rendered. Does all this really go back to old Mario Bauza band charts? No one else thoght to write about it before? Maybe we have "opened a can of worms." Kinda like cookin' up some chittlins, that'll stink up the place for a while!! Personally, I DO prefer greens and neck bones...........with some hot Mississippi chow chow, please.
Looking Forward to Lunch,
Berimbau
King first heard the term "standard pattern" at one of Jone's lectures and adopted for his own publications thereafter. But I do believe that Nketia was ahead of both of them in his research, regardless of who published first. Anyway, as David Bowie once said, "It doesn't matter who did it FIRST, it matters who did it SECOND." Now Madonna has based her entire career on this premise, and who are we to argue with that aging millionairess?
If I may offer a corrigendum here; I meant to say that any BEAT may be accented, not any PULSE. Also for clarity's sake my observations on the all of the possibilities inherent in the "standard" time line pattern should not imply that they are, in fact, actual performance practices. To be clear, a time line pattern's tempo, accentuation, and starting point may flucuate, but, as Kubik has noted, the mathematical structures of the patterns are cultural invariables, and any attempt at changing them would dissolve the pattern.
Understanding this, a time line pattern's order can be inverted as in 2/3 or 3/2 clave. another well known case is that of the nine stroke, sixteen pulse Angolan kachacha pattern:
X . X . X . X X . X . X . X X .
This pattern was reversed in Brasilian samba to accomodate the stophic forms absorbed from Portuguese and other European song forms:
X . X . X X . X . X . X . X X .
So although there is certainly room for creative expression within the confines of a time line's mathematical structure, adding or subtracting from it makes it something else entirely.
Now a question for David, Ralph, or anyone still awake here. How was it that the Cubans developed such a sophisticated musical system around various African time line patterns without articulating the CONCEPT in the earlier literature? I believe that Don Fernando rattled on and on about the hardwood sticks, but not the African intellectual capital they rendered. Does all this really go back to old Mario Bauza band charts? No one else thoght to write about it before? Maybe we have "opened a can of worms." Kinda like cookin' up some chittlins, that'll stink up the place for a while!! Personally, I DO prefer greens and neck bones...........with some hot Mississippi chow chow, please.
Looking Forward to Lunch,
Berimbau
.
-
Berimbau - Posts: 356
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by davidpenalosa » Sat Feb 11, 2006 11:40 pm
Berimbau wrote:....another well known case is that of the nine stroke, sixteen pulse Angolan kachacha pattern:
X . X . X . X X . X . X . X X .
This pattern was reversed in Brasilian samba to accomodate the stophic forms absorbed from Portuguese and other European song forms:
X . X . X X . X . X . X . X X .
Berimbau,
I don't get what you mean by reversing the pattern. I don't get that samba pattern when I reverse the kachacha pattern
|XoXo|XoXX|oXoX|oX Xo| kachacha pattern
|1e+a|2e+a|3e+a|4e+a| main beats w/ pulses
|oXoX|oX Xo|XoXo|XoXX| reversed kachacha pattern
|XoXo|XXoX|oXoX|oX Xo| samba pattern
|1e+a|2e+a|3e+a|4e+a| main beats w/ pulses
The two patterns as you present them are very close though. Their only difference occurs within beat 2. The series of strokes in each pattern within beat 2 are the opposite of each other.
|XoXo|XoXX|oXoX|oX Xo| kachacha pattern
|XoXo|XXoX|oXoX|oX Xo| samba pattern
|1e+a|2e+a|3e+a|4e+a| main beats w/ pulses
Am I missing something?
-David
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davidpenalosa - Posts: 1151
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by davidpenalosa » Sat Feb 11, 2006 11:54 pm
Berimbau wrote:Now a question for David, Ralph, or anyone still awake here. How was it that the Cubans developed such a sophisticated musical system around various African time line patterns without articulating the CONCEPT in the earlier literature? I believe that Don Fernando rattled on and on about the hardwood sticks, but not the African intellectual capital they rendered. Does all this really go back to old Mario Bauza band charts? No one else thoght to write about it before?
Berimbau,
Thanks for setting me straight on who coined the term "standard pattern".
Have you checked out C.K. Ladzekpo's website?
http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/~ladzekpo ... lesFr.html
He does an excellent job of explaining how Africans percieve the music.
The first written music based upon clave that I'm aware of was the Cuban danzón (1879). Many of the conventions of writing clave, as well as the Cuban terminology originated with the danzón. Cuba made a significant contribution by producing the first terminology addressing the structure of clave-based music. With the advent of Afro-Cuban jazz in the 1940’s, the conventions of writing clave were further developed (by Bauza). Analysis was developed only to the degree to which it was helpful in playing the music though. It's always been a practical tool. The remaining confusion with these conventions mostly concerns the question of the main beats, as is evident in Rebeca Mauleon's "Salsa Guidebook".
As far as I know, the earliest attempt by Ethnomusicology to analyze African rhythm is W.E. Ward's "Music in the Gold Coast" (1927). Ethnomusicology struggled for decades before it grapsed that the music is based on four main beats. They started off on the wrong foot by interprering it as additive rhythm instead of divisive rhythm. That's probably because they had begun to analyize Asian rhythm first, which is additive rhythm. This is your field Berimbau, so I'm very interested in what you think of this?
-David
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davidpenalosa - Posts: 1151
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by Berimbau » Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:42 am
David,
Well actually, with very few reservations, I don't think too much of ethnomusicology's attempts at understanding African music! It's the old emic vs. etic approach, and only a very few seem to be too good at articulating EXACTLY what is going on. Now mind you, there has been MUCH intellectualization, but little of any lasting value. I do, of course recommend the work of my mentor Gerhard Kubik, and would add Nekitia, Ortiz, Ken Bilby, and few others. Unfortunately, anthropology painted itself into a corner over a decade ago, but let's leave it there because that's where it belongs.
Now the Ladzekpos are amongst the greatest ambassadors of West African music, and I really do need to visit their site. Surely they have some cds for sale? Now I found Rebbeca Mauleon's book was quite useful up until it was appropriated by a school of amberjack in the Bay. Sweet revenge for my wife's penchant for seafood! Mauleon's discussion on clave was lucid and informative. Doesn't her husband play guitar for some band out your way?
Again for clarity's sake, it is the order of the TWO BARS (or sides, as salseros say) of the kachacha time line which is reversed in samba, NOT the entire pattern. The end result is the basic tamborim or agogo pattern.
Gotta go for now. We are actually snowed in here in Memphis so I'm opening a bottle of Cotes du Rhone, making Welsh Rarebit and watching an old Alfred Hitchcock movie with Theresa. We are going to sleep tight and dream that George Bush ISN'T the president.
Saludos,
Berimbau
Well actually, with very few reservations, I don't think too much of ethnomusicology's attempts at understanding African music! It's the old emic vs. etic approach, and only a very few seem to be too good at articulating EXACTLY what is going on. Now mind you, there has been MUCH intellectualization, but little of any lasting value. I do, of course recommend the work of my mentor Gerhard Kubik, and would add Nekitia, Ortiz, Ken Bilby, and few others. Unfortunately, anthropology painted itself into a corner over a decade ago, but let's leave it there because that's where it belongs.
Now the Ladzekpos are amongst the greatest ambassadors of West African music, and I really do need to visit their site. Surely they have some cds for sale? Now I found Rebbeca Mauleon's book was quite useful up until it was appropriated by a school of amberjack in the Bay. Sweet revenge for my wife's penchant for seafood! Mauleon's discussion on clave was lucid and informative. Doesn't her husband play guitar for some band out your way?
Again for clarity's sake, it is the order of the TWO BARS (or sides, as salseros say) of the kachacha time line which is reversed in samba, NOT the entire pattern. The end result is the basic tamborim or agogo pattern.
Gotta go for now. We are actually snowed in here in Memphis so I'm opening a bottle of Cotes du Rhone, making Welsh Rarebit and watching an old Alfred Hitchcock movie with Theresa. We are going to sleep tight and dream that George Bush ISN'T the president.
Saludos,
Berimbau
.
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Berimbau - Posts: 356
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by davidpenalosa » Sun Feb 12, 2006 1:23 am
Berimbau wrote:.. it is the order of the TWO BARS (or sides, as salseros say) of the kachacha time line which is reversed in samba, NOT the entire pattern. The end result is the basic tamborim or agogo pattern.
Berimbau,
Thanks for clarifying. The tamborim pattern you show is also begun in the same sequence (3-2) as the kachacha pattern.
X||oXoX|oX Xo|XoXo|XXoX|| tamborim pattern begun in 3-2
In fact, it's the current fashion these days to begin both the agogo and tamborim in 3-2 sequence. My good friend Dr. Eugene Novotney just returned from Brazil for the third year in a row and has promised to drop by soon with new evidence that the 3-2, 2-3 concept has been inappropriately applied to Brazilian music.
I will pass along the highlights of our upcoming conversation.
-David
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Great stuff.
by davidpenalosa » Sun Feb 12, 2006 8:17 am
Berimbau wrote:Mauleon's discussion on clave was lucid and informative. Doesn't her husband play guitar for some band out your way?
No, her husband is not the famous Carlos Santana. She married a Cuban Mr. Santana.
I think Rebeca Mauleon’s discussion on clave in her "Salsa Guidebook"is so far the best in print. My one significant critique is that she was confusing when stressing the importance of the four main beats with the clave. She called the main beats the "pulse", which a lot of people do.
On pg. 47 of the "Salsa Guidebook":
-- It (clave) is structured in a two-measure phrase, which is "held together" by a half-note PULSE on beats 1 and 3. It is the PULSE which maintains the stability of the rhythm, as many of the polyrhythmic parts played by the various instruments of an ensemble tend to be syncopated, accenting the up beats. Therefore, one must begin by understanding the relationship between the clave and the PULSE. --
The common terms are "downbeat", "up beat" and "off-beat", not "downpulse", "up pulse" or "off-pulse". The choice of the term PULSE over BEAT is a problem because everyone (including Rebeca) still uses the term BEAT as the main time referent.
On pg. 48 she shows the clave written in two measures with "PULSE" written next to the four quarter notes and four quarter rests written below the clave. She does not show four half-notes as she defines it. The problem with writing clave in two measures of 4/4 has been that people like Rebeca count it as two measures of four beats (represented by quarter notes). If the charts were simply given the time signature 2/2, they would look identical and would represent the true beat scheme. 2/2 means there are two beats per measure and each half-note is one beat. So many people count an eight-beat cycle over 4/4 clave:
|XooXooXo|ooXoXooo|
|1+2+3+4+|1+2+3+4+|
The main time referent consists of four beats however:
|XooXooXoooXoXooo|
|1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a|
I believe it’s misleading to refer to ponche as the fourth beat of a measure:
|1+2+3+4+|1+2+3+4+|
|1+2+3+P+|1+2+3+P+|
Ponche is an off-beat:
|1e+a2ePa|3e+a4ePa|
Ponche is a true "up beat", the pick-up into the next measure.
P = ponche
You want to tap your foot four times per clave, whether you are playing duple subdivisions (4/4) or triple subdivisions (6/8). In popular Latin music 6/8 is kind of a novelty. There’s less analysis and musicians say "6/8 feel", using the term reserved for the most subjective aspects of rhythm "feel". There is no popular vocabulary for the 6/8 elements in Latin music.
On the other hand, ethnomusicology has tended to approach African rhythm from the 6/8 side. The 6/8 music is where you get the revealing models for clave, because 6/8 is a true cross-rhythm. The pulses are assembled in duple and triple groupings. 6/8 clave-based music has a four-beat cycle, six-beat cycle, two-beat cycle and a three-beat cycle:
1oo2oo3oo4oo
1o2o3o4o5o6o
1ooooo2ooooo
1ooo2ooo3ooo
4/4 uses cross-rhythmic fragments to replicate the complete cross-rhythm of 6/8. If you aren’t clear what the main beats are in 4/4, you won’t be able to understand the cross-beats. I have never seen a good explanation of how the triple and duple pulse structures correlate. I’ve taken it on as my mission to write it. I hope I haven’t given anybody a head ache.
-David
Edited By davidpenalosa on 1139737930
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by windhorse » Sun Feb 12, 2006 3:00 pm
davidpenalosa wrote:||XoX||oXX|oXo|XoX|| standard pattern
||1+a|2+a|3+a|4+a|| four main beats w/ subdivisions
I think what you may be referring to is a common variation of the standard pattern which contains the identical sequence of strokes and rests, but is in a different order and therefore in a different relation to the main beats.
||XoX||oXo|XXo|XoX|| variation of standard pattern
||1+a|2+a|3+a|4+a|| four main beats w/ subdivisions
-David
Hi David,
We call the top version - "Short" bell, and the bottom one "long" bell.
Generally, short bell for Cuban 6/8 rhythms, and long bell for Haitian 6/8 patterns - like Djuba.
Question: On Francisco Aguebella's "Cantos A Los Orichas", are they mixing short bell and arara bell on several of the songs?
What I'm calling "Arara" bell:
[oXX-oXX-oXo-XoX]
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windhorse - Posts: 1452
- Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 9:01 pm
- Location: Boulder/CO
by Berimbau » Sun Feb 12, 2006 4:18 pm
David,
I look forward to Dr. Novotney's analysis. In my humble opinion, the attempted projection of the Cuban conception of clave onto Brasilian music has never been a helpful analytical tool as it inaccurately assumed that these two DISTINCT cultures share the same musical values. In many cases they demonstratively do, as in the adaptation of African musical values, but an important difference is in the greater assimilation and distillation of West African time line patterns into Cuban popular music.
There are historical reasons for the variant adaptations of these two African Diasporan cultures. For one, Brasilian music was overwhelmingly influenced by Bantu cultures, Mozambiquen as well as Kongo/Angolan. In Brasil the numeric presence and musical influences of Kwa-speaking peoples was much less felt in MPB (Musica Popular Brasiliero) than in Cuba, and was largely confined to the Terreiros and later the Afoxes of Salvador. Cuba seems to have processed and synthesized the Yoruba, Arara, and Abakua musical elements more intensively than in Brasil. The fusion of West and Central African cultures in Cuba was unique, and influenced musical activities throughout the Caribbean and later all over the world, including Brasil.
In the clave conscious NYC scene I grew up in, I remember when the first Brasilian percussionists came to town. Airto, Dom Um Romao, Guillerme Franco, and Nana Vasconcelos first arrived there in the late 1960's to the early 1970's. Airto recieved a fairly chilly reception from the NYC Latin music community. He DIDN'T play in clave and the Salseros had NO use for him!!! Airto and most of these other percussionists subsequently worked as auxilliary percussionists in jazz bands or in the in the commercial recording scene.
Now I don't mean to imply that there wasn't ANY West African cultural capital in MPB, only that it came much later than in Cuba and was more or less from second hand sources. Since the 1960's AfroSamba collaboration between Baden Powell and Vinicious de Moraes, and the more Cuban-influenced work of Os Ipanemas, some West African musical values was begining to make a limited impact on MPB. During the 1970's young Afro-Brasilians experienced a growing ethnic consciousness that resulted in the adaptation at least symbolically, of Reggae, US Funk, and West African musics. This later expanded into the ever growing Musica Axe movement. Comparatived to the 19th century Cuban developments that David has bought to light in his posts, this is all really quite recent.
Now many good Cuban percussionists seem to be able to find the "clave" in nearly every kind of music, perhaps even in Mozart!!! I think that this reflects their OWN musical orientation, and not necessarily that of OTHER musicians. During his lectures throughout Africa, Gerhard Kubik would make a point by playing some music he recorded from an African culture FAR from the location he was speaking in. Many of his students would then proclaim that the music being played was just LIKE the music of their home villages, and proceed to clap and dance on the WRONG beats!! Human beings tend to reinterpretate a variety of local cultures through their own lense, and I suspect that that is the case with the projection of clave onto Brasilian music. If you want to look hard enough for it, it will be right where you expect to find it.
Saludos,
Berimbau
I look forward to Dr. Novotney's analysis. In my humble opinion, the attempted projection of the Cuban conception of clave onto Brasilian music has never been a helpful analytical tool as it inaccurately assumed that these two DISTINCT cultures share the same musical values. In many cases they demonstratively do, as in the adaptation of African musical values, but an important difference is in the greater assimilation and distillation of West African time line patterns into Cuban popular music.
There are historical reasons for the variant adaptations of these two African Diasporan cultures. For one, Brasilian music was overwhelmingly influenced by Bantu cultures, Mozambiquen as well as Kongo/Angolan. In Brasil the numeric presence and musical influences of Kwa-speaking peoples was much less felt in MPB (Musica Popular Brasiliero) than in Cuba, and was largely confined to the Terreiros and later the Afoxes of Salvador. Cuba seems to have processed and synthesized the Yoruba, Arara, and Abakua musical elements more intensively than in Brasil. The fusion of West and Central African cultures in Cuba was unique, and influenced musical activities throughout the Caribbean and later all over the world, including Brasil.
In the clave conscious NYC scene I grew up in, I remember when the first Brasilian percussionists came to town. Airto, Dom Um Romao, Guillerme Franco, and Nana Vasconcelos first arrived there in the late 1960's to the early 1970's. Airto recieved a fairly chilly reception from the NYC Latin music community. He DIDN'T play in clave and the Salseros had NO use for him!!! Airto and most of these other percussionists subsequently worked as auxilliary percussionists in jazz bands or in the in the commercial recording scene.
Now I don't mean to imply that there wasn't ANY West African cultural capital in MPB, only that it came much later than in Cuba and was more or less from second hand sources. Since the 1960's AfroSamba collaboration between Baden Powell and Vinicious de Moraes, and the more Cuban-influenced work of Os Ipanemas, some West African musical values was begining to make a limited impact on MPB. During the 1970's young Afro-Brasilians experienced a growing ethnic consciousness that resulted in the adaptation at least symbolically, of Reggae, US Funk, and West African musics. This later expanded into the ever growing Musica Axe movement. Comparatived to the 19th century Cuban developments that David has bought to light in his posts, this is all really quite recent.
Now many good Cuban percussionists seem to be able to find the "clave" in nearly every kind of music, perhaps even in Mozart!!! I think that this reflects their OWN musical orientation, and not necessarily that of OTHER musicians. During his lectures throughout Africa, Gerhard Kubik would make a point by playing some music he recorded from an African culture FAR from the location he was speaking in. Many of his students would then proclaim that the music being played was just LIKE the music of their home villages, and proceed to clap and dance on the WRONG beats!! Human beings tend to reinterpretate a variety of local cultures through their own lense, and I suspect that that is the case with the projection of clave onto Brasilian music. If you want to look hard enough for it, it will be right where you expect to find it.
Saludos,
Berimbau
.
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Berimbau - Posts: 356
- Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2005 12:09 am
- Location: Asheville, N.C.
by Berimbau » Sun Feb 12, 2006 6:46 pm
Hope that Nolan Warden doesn't mind me bootlegging one of my old LP posts from last year, here it is with an addeum to put everyone to sleep:
May I suggest reading Gerhard Kubik's "Oral notation of some West and Central African time-line patterns" in the Review of Ethnology 3/22 (1972):169-176 wherein he explains some of his findings from his 46 years plus field work in various African cultures. I think that the musical expression of time-line patterns is just one audiable example of an intellectual and emotional orientation that is seated deep within certain African cultures. This phenomena may also be manifested kinetically or visually. Anyone familiar enough with the aesthetics of African dance or the frequent use of abstract designs in African art can "hear" it in those dimensions. Like music, these other art forms also manipulate time and space in a geometric manner. It's funny
that what European artists term "negative space", this is what
some African and African-derived art forms use so brilliantly. All of the pieces of the puzzle fit together in such a manner as to create a new and unique "whole." Should any of the pieces be moved, removed, or replaced a very different picture will then emerge.
Of course time-line patterns don't actually have to be sounded to be effective, their silent influence as an overiding organizational element in Afro-Cuban music may still be felt irregardless of whether anyone is actually playing the hardwood clave sticks or a metal bell. What I'm speaking of here is a deeply felt concept as much as any "audiable" reality which can be notated or recorded.
In addition to their geometric and mathematical formulary,
there is also a very strong linguistic element at play in African
music and much Afro-Cuban music. For example, a good bata palyer or conga soloist, even if she or he is not conversant in a tonal language such as Yoruba, Fon, or Ewe, will still retain something from the African concept of drumming as a speech surrogate. Cubans love to hear the drum speak. Ditto with African-American blues guitarists or performers on the African-derived diiddy bow zither. "Talk to me!" the improvising blues musician shouts to his instrument. Through the Afro-Cuban religions we find the preservation of remanants of several African languages and ideogramtic writing systems such as the Abakua anaforuana derived from the Ejagham nsibidi, as well as the Palo firmas, which were perhaps derived from Angolan tusona? We encounter in these idiograntic writing suystems yet more examples of geometric patterning.
A myriad of examples may still be forwarded, but returning directly to the mathematical structure of asymetrical time line patterns I reprint Kubik's pyramid stump, which features thier basic outline:
X X . X . X X .
X . X X . X . X . X X .
X . X . X X . X . X . X . X X .
X . X . X . X X . X . X . X . X . X X .
X . X . X . X . X X . X . X . X . X . X . X X .
Taking some familiar terminology from the world of clave, a player might begin on "either side" of these time line patterns. A final word of caution from the book "Africa and the Blues" by the aforementioned Dr. Kubik; "The mathematical content of the African time line patterns exists independently of their cognitional dimension. The later, of course, is always best studied culture by culture through the mneumonics used for teching. These vary a great deal from language to language." (Kubik 1999:55).
So what EXACTLY do the Cubans or Brasilians feel? Anyone care to respond?
Saludos,
Berimbau
May I suggest reading Gerhard Kubik's "Oral notation of some West and Central African time-line patterns" in the Review of Ethnology 3/22 (1972):169-176 wherein he explains some of his findings from his 46 years plus field work in various African cultures. I think that the musical expression of time-line patterns is just one audiable example of an intellectual and emotional orientation that is seated deep within certain African cultures. This phenomena may also be manifested kinetically or visually. Anyone familiar enough with the aesthetics of African dance or the frequent use of abstract designs in African art can "hear" it in those dimensions. Like music, these other art forms also manipulate time and space in a geometric manner. It's funny
that what European artists term "negative space", this is what
some African and African-derived art forms use so brilliantly. All of the pieces of the puzzle fit together in such a manner as to create a new and unique "whole." Should any of the pieces be moved, removed, or replaced a very different picture will then emerge.
Of course time-line patterns don't actually have to be sounded to be effective, their silent influence as an overiding organizational element in Afro-Cuban music may still be felt irregardless of whether anyone is actually playing the hardwood clave sticks or a metal bell. What I'm speaking of here is a deeply felt concept as much as any "audiable" reality which can be notated or recorded.
In addition to their geometric and mathematical formulary,
there is also a very strong linguistic element at play in African
music and much Afro-Cuban music. For example, a good bata palyer or conga soloist, even if she or he is not conversant in a tonal language such as Yoruba, Fon, or Ewe, will still retain something from the African concept of drumming as a speech surrogate. Cubans love to hear the drum speak. Ditto with African-American blues guitarists or performers on the African-derived diiddy bow zither. "Talk to me!" the improvising blues musician shouts to his instrument. Through the Afro-Cuban religions we find the preservation of remanants of several African languages and ideogramtic writing systems such as the Abakua anaforuana derived from the Ejagham nsibidi, as well as the Palo firmas, which were perhaps derived from Angolan tusona? We encounter in these idiograntic writing suystems yet more examples of geometric patterning.
A myriad of examples may still be forwarded, but returning directly to the mathematical structure of asymetrical time line patterns I reprint Kubik's pyramid stump, which features thier basic outline:
X X . X . X X .
X . X X . X . X . X X .
X . X . X X . X . X . X . X X .
X . X . X . X X . X . X . X . X . X X .
X . X . X . X . X X . X . X . X . X . X . X X .
Taking some familiar terminology from the world of clave, a player might begin on "either side" of these time line patterns. A final word of caution from the book "Africa and the Blues" by the aforementioned Dr. Kubik; "The mathematical content of the African time line patterns exists independently of their cognitional dimension. The later, of course, is always best studied culture by culture through the mneumonics used for teching. These vary a great deal from language to language." (Kubik 1999:55).
So what EXACTLY do the Cubans or Brasilians feel? Anyone care to respond?
Saludos,
Berimbau
.
-
Berimbau - Posts: 356
- Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2005 12:09 am
- Location: Asheville, N.C.
by davidpenalosa » Sun Feb 12, 2006 8:54 pm
windhorse wrote:We call the top version - "Short" bell, and the bottom one "long" bell.
Generally, short bell for Cuban 6/8 rhythms, and long bell for Haitian 6/8 patterns - like Djuba.
Question: On Francisco Aguebella's "Cantos A Los Orichas", are they mixing short bell and arara bell on several of the songs?
What I'm calling "Arara" bell:
[oXX-oXX-oXo-XoX]
Windhorse,
Please, I beg you, I implore you, please stop using "short bell", "long bell"!!
Drum Circle Master Arthur Hull coined those terms and they have spread far and wide like the plague. Hull is a master at facilitating drum circles, but his terminology is misleading. Back in the 80's, photo copies of Hull's one-page sheets of various African, Cuban, Haitian, Brazilian, etc, rhythms travelled all around the world. Drum students loved them because there was really nothing like them available up until then. Hull would typically take a lesson or attend a workshop, write down the parts (using box notation) and then share those charts. He was like Johnny Appleseed of the drum charts and I think he provided a great service in that way to many aspiring drum students of that era.
I was at his house on one Saturday afternoon in the 80's while Markus Gordon, Mike Spiro and I were travelling to Santa Cruz. Markus gave Arthur a one-hour lesson in bembe. Soon afterwards, the information he obtained in that lesson appeared on countless photo-copied sheets under the name "bimbe". After that, from Hawaii to Oregon, it seemed that whenever I gave a workshop, people would correct me whenever I said "bembe". Students would say, "you mean bimbe". :p
God bless Arthur Hull, but I can't wait until the short bell long bell terminology has passed into oblivion.
(end of rant)
May I attempt to entice you with a new terminology?:
Short bell = standard pattern, off-beat bell
Long bell = on-beat bell
I understand that Tunji Vidal, A Yoruba drummer who taught in California in the 70's identified the on-beat bell as one used by the Ibo people of Nigeria. Tito Puente tended to use the on-beat bell whenever he played a 6/8 Latin jazz piece.
I don't have that Francisco Aguabella recording with me at the moment, so I can't answer your question. Sorry, maybe later.
-David
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