Drummers may contemplate the "oil and water" nature of 3 vs. 2 or 4 - does one play one over the other at the same pulse as a round, pad out a 3/4 bar pattern to 4/4, or stretch the 3-beat pulse to match the bar length? In practice, one does all of these things, but the easiest to learn first, is to hold the same pulse and allow the bar lines to fall where they may, creating a "round" ("where's the One?") effect that is less confusing (and easier to notate) than changing the pulse.
I came up with part 1 of "Ten Four" as an exercise, and much later, woke up with part 2 in my head, without realizing it was also the same 3+3+4/4 signature. I added part 3 as a stick drum part to complete the song, along with a cross-beat call, and matching pure 3/4 and 4/4 patterns to drop on top.Ten-Four cross-call, 4-beat to 3-beat ("krunk a dunk - GuDuGu, PaTaPa, go!")
F Ss BbB SsS (3-beat follows...)
|_-_-_|_-_|_-_|_-_-_|_-_-_|_-_-_...
Ten-Four pattern 1 (jembe, alternating hands)
B TtT F TtT B B TtS B TtT F TtT B B TtS B TtT F TtT B B TtS ...
|_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_-_-_| |_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_-_-_|_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_-_-_ ...
Ten-Four pattern 2 (jembe, alternating hands)
B TtT TtTtT TtTtS S B TtT TtTtT TtTtS S B TtT TtTtT TtTtS S ...
|_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_-_-_| |_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_-_-_|_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_-_-_ ...
Ten-Four pattern 3 (jembe, fixed hands)
B B s B B s BBs BBs B B s B B s BBs BBs B B s B B s BBs BBs ...
|_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_-_-_| |_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_:_-_|_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_:_-_ ...
Ten-Four pattern 3 (2 stick drums, or 1 stick drum with mute as alternate sound)
X X O X X O XXO XXO X X O X X O XXO XXO X X O X X O XXO XXO ...
|_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_-_-_| |_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_:_-_|_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_:_-_ ...
Once up and running, add these alternate hand for a "round" effect...
Ten-Four "Jan Pierewiet" 3-beat
B TtS B TtS B TtS B TtS B TtS B TtS B TtS ...
|_-_-_ |_-_-_|_-_-_|_-_-_|_-_-_|_-_-_|_-_-_...
Ten-Four 4-beat
B B StS B B StS B B StS B B StS B B StS B B StS ...
|_-_-_-_ |_-_-_-_|_-_-_-_|_-_-_-_|_-_-_-_|_-_-_-_ ...
Ten-Four pattern -1 (offset variation of pattern 1)
TtT B TtT F TtT B B TtT B TtT F TtT B B TtT B TtT F TtT B B ...
|_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_-_-_| |_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_-_-_|_-_-_:_-_-_:_-_-_-_ ...
As yet I haven't tried a bell pattern with this, but perhaps this would work, picking out the "1 and then 2 and then " 6/8 pulse over the 3/4 sub-bars of the thing:
Ten-Four bell 1
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x ...
|__-__:__-__:_-_-_-_| |__-__:__-__:_-_-_-_|__-__:__-__:_-_-_-_ ...
...or...
Ten-Four bell 2
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x ...
|__-__:__-__:_-_-_-_| |__-__:__-__:_-_-_-_|__-__:__-__:_-_-_-_ ...
...or something more spacious or kinky to taste.
PS: For those who prefer vocal notation, those patterns again...
Ten-Four cross-call, 4-beat to 3-beat ("krunk a dunk - GuDuGu, PaTaPa, go!")
Pre. Te Pe . . Gu Du Gu . Pa Ta Pa
|__.__-__.__-__.__|__.__-__.__|__.__-__.__
Ten-Four pattern 1 (jembe, alternating hands)
Gu . Pe Te Pe . Pre. Pe Te Pe . Gu . Gu . Pe Te Pa .
|__.__-__.__-__.__|__.__-__.__-__.__|__.__-__.__-__.__-__.__
Ten-Four pattern 2 (jembe, alternating hands)
Gu . Pe Te Pe . Pe Te Pe Te Pe . Pe Te Pe Te Pa . Pa .
|__.__-__.__-__.__|__.__-__.__-__.__|__.__-__.__-__.__-__.__
Ten-Four pattern 3 (jembe, fixed hands)
Gu . Gu . Ta . Gu . Gu . Ta . Gu Gu Ta . Gu Gu Ta .
|__.__-__.__-__.__|__.__-__.__-__.__|__.__-__.__|__.__-__.__
Ten-Four "Jan Pierewiet" 3-beat
Gu . Pe Te Pa .
|__.__-__.__-__.__
Ten-Four 4-beat
Gu . Gu . Pe Te Pe .
|__.__-__.__-__.__-__.__
Ten-Four pattern -1 (jembe, alternating hands)
Pe Te Pe . Gu . Pe Te Pe . Pre. Pe Te Pe . Gu . Gu .
|__.__-__.__-__.__|__.__-__.__-__.__|__.__-__.__-__.__-__.__
Enjoy!
3 comments:
We played the whole thing for the first time yesterday, at Tim's class, and found the last patterns for Bell just added too many ideas, and were too dominant - tho may be OK if played on light, quiet instruments such as sticks, shakers or frogs.
This song looks harder to play than it is, because each part falls under the hands easily (strong hand aligns with the pulse, enough limb-moving time across the skin, stick drum parts don't require awkward tight L-both-R or R-both-L strike sequences) and IMO is best left that way, also avoiding the conflicting swing and inner-3 pulse that bedevil 3-beats (but also make them such a fun playground).
I break the "alternate hands" rule for "X.X.O,X.X.O,XXO.XXO." part for several reasons. Sonically, I was after a flatter, more machine-like Da Da Da effect, rather than the murkier two-hand Da La Da. Practically, I saw this as a way to wean beginners from symmetrical alternating-hands jembe towards asymmetrical fixed-hands drum and bell, before adding the challenge of different limb movements and gripping the sticks.
Despite the apparent complexity, I see this as a beginner-friendly song; one that leaves you feeling you can do more than you thought, in contrast to songs that look as if they should be easy but are not - hello, Kahelambe (insert spelling apology here)
Simple it may be, but there's a neat lesson in there, that truth may be more slippery than expected. The 4-beat bar is a "sting in the tail" that breaks expectations, presaged by the ambiguity of the cross-call (framed in 4-4, feels 3-beat). Within this sting is the familiar, in that it's clearly just a tweaked version of the 3-4 bars before - yet it tweaks differently; part 1 is obviously 4-4, but tightened timing of the stick drum part shortens the bar length, making it 2 bars of 2-4.
The combined effect depends on which part you are listening to - does the song's bar length "slow down" from 3-4 to 4-4, or does it "speed up" from 3-4 to 2-4? Yet both of these conflicting truths sound comfortably equally valid.
There's a whiff of "form is emptiness, emptiness is form" in there - don't get too attached to what you believe :-)
Final point; behind the tension of bar lengths, is a third truth; the pulse remains an un-changed "simple time". That's the "emptiness of form" part of of the meta-lesson in there.
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