A theory of rhythm
Apologies for the delay...
I've this week been busy preparing a workshop on rhythm for the Point Moot by the sea Community Music Project. My intention is to try and "untrain" the musicians so that they can freely abandon (when they want to) the often restrictive concept of Time Signature for a more cross-spectrum understanding of "open" concepts such as beat, pulse, pattern, phrase & groove and the possible ways of constructing rhythmic music through the interactions of each.
These concepts may be explained thus:
BEAT: The smallest necessary counting unit. Best explained using "box-notation" for cross-rhythms.
PULSE: The foot-tapper generator. Much slower than beat, and (almost) always steady & regularly spaced like a heartbeat. Not necessarily an aural part of the music.
PATTERN: What is actually played. Each note in a pattern is separated by any defined number of beats. IE 2-2-1-2 is a single line pattern over 7 beats with notes struck on beats 1, 3, 5 & 6.
PHRASE: Related also to melody. A phrase is a statement on top of a pattern, but not necessarily of the same length. IE In the pattern above there are four notes over seven beats. A six note phrase could be played over this repeated pattern isorhythmically, giving a series of phrases that phase between 2-2-1-2-2-2 and 1-2-2-2-1-2 beat cycles. This would give a "phrase pair" of eleven plus ten beat lengths. This is an example of 3 pattern cycles phased against 2 phrase cycles. (Note: This concept has to introduced gradually to avoid confusion)
GROOVE: The relationship between the pattern/phrase structure and the pulse. A strong groove occurs where the pattern and phrase reinforce the pulse. No real rules exist for creating a strong groove, and each musician may feel a groove in different ways. Some tweaking of phrase and pattern structure often helps strengthen a groove. IE the rigid pattern and phrase as defined above may need to be modified by shortening or lengthening a note of a pattern, or entire phrase every now and then to help the development of the groove. Note that weak grooves may sometimes be more effective than strong ones.
It is intended to spend part of the workshop introducing a modified notation system where each of these concepts can be readily identified within any transcription.
I am hoping to be able to construct a suitable analogy to give each participant a visual reference as a mnemonic device. A concept map may be handy as well.
Suggestions for the above would be appreciated. As would comments/criticism of my definitions and theory in general.
Elsewhere...
The Point Moot Lighthouse has claimed its first victim with one employee failing to make the grade for our increased workload. The poor fellow. Luckily I passed my assessment with no worries and am now settling in to my newly redefined position controlling two harbours.
Ships everywhere! Lookout mermaids! Owen's in the tower...
I've this week been busy preparing a workshop on rhythm for the Point Moot by the sea Community Music Project. My intention is to try and "untrain" the musicians so that they can freely abandon (when they want to) the often restrictive concept of Time Signature for a more cross-spectrum understanding of "open" concepts such as beat, pulse, pattern, phrase & groove and the possible ways of constructing rhythmic music through the interactions of each.
These concepts may be explained thus:
BEAT: The smallest necessary counting unit. Best explained using "box-notation" for cross-rhythms.
PULSE: The foot-tapper generator. Much slower than beat, and (almost) always steady & regularly spaced like a heartbeat. Not necessarily an aural part of the music.
PATTERN: What is actually played. Each note in a pattern is separated by any defined number of beats. IE 2-2-1-2 is a single line pattern over 7 beats with notes struck on beats 1, 3, 5 & 6.
PHRASE: Related also to melody. A phrase is a statement on top of a pattern, but not necessarily of the same length. IE In the pattern above there are four notes over seven beats. A six note phrase could be played over this repeated pattern isorhythmically, giving a series of phrases that phase between 2-2-1-2-2-2 and 1-2-2-2-1-2 beat cycles. This would give a "phrase pair" of eleven plus ten beat lengths. This is an example of 3 pattern cycles phased against 2 phrase cycles. (Note: This concept has to introduced gradually to avoid confusion)
GROOVE: The relationship between the pattern/phrase structure and the pulse. A strong groove occurs where the pattern and phrase reinforce the pulse. No real rules exist for creating a strong groove, and each musician may feel a groove in different ways. Some tweaking of phrase and pattern structure often helps strengthen a groove. IE the rigid pattern and phrase as defined above may need to be modified by shortening or lengthening a note of a pattern, or entire phrase every now and then to help the development of the groove. Note that weak grooves may sometimes be more effective than strong ones.
It is intended to spend part of the workshop introducing a modified notation system where each of these concepts can be readily identified within any transcription.
I am hoping to be able to construct a suitable analogy to give each participant a visual reference as a mnemonic device. A concept map may be handy as well.
Suggestions for the above would be appreciated. As would comments/criticism of my definitions and theory in general.
Elsewhere...
The Point Moot Lighthouse has claimed its first victim with one employee failing to make the grade for our increased workload. The poor fellow. Luckily I passed my assessment with no worries and am now settling in to my newly redefined position controlling two harbours.
Ships everywhere! Lookout mermaids! Owen's in the tower...
posted by Owen at 8:01 pm
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