Lately I’ve been studying polyrhythms for the drum set with one of the foremost teachers on the subject- Peter Magadini. A polyrhythm is defined as two corresponding, simultaneous but loosely related rhythms based on a mixture of subdivisions such as even (8th notes, 16ths) and odd (triplets, quintuplets, septuplets, etc.).
Thinking contrapuntally, all contrapuntal rhythms fall somewhere on a spectrum of interdependence (close relation) on one end, and independence (unrelated) on the other. Many polyrhythms would tend to congregate on the independence side of the spectrum. The one shown above is a classic and at the core of many of the exercises that I’m working on with Pete. Using this 6:4 skeleton, either the quarter note triplets of the upper part or the steady quarters of the lower could be further subdivided by either two’s or three’s (or conceivably any other number, but I haven’t got that far yet). Those subdivided notes can also be broken up around the kit- an interplay between the snare and bass drum for instance.
Playing these rhythms has really helped me with ear training, developing better time-keeping behind the kit and, strangely enough, helped me get a little bit of groove back that I felt I had lost over the years. (It would take something like that for a 42-year-old white guy who constantly over thinks anything and everything. Yes, makes perfect sense).
But what’s truly interesting about my experience with polyrhythms is not what it’s done for me but what it does TO me while I’m in the process of learning them. And believe me, this is cognitively painful, brain hernia type learning we’re talking about here. It’s not just rubbing your stomach and patting your head- it’s rubbing your stomach in one time signature and patting your head in a completely different one. The key is trying to hear how these seemingly unrelated rhythms actually fit together into a composite rhythm…
…and then forcing your muscles to do it. It takes a little faith (I will eventually get it) and a lot of will (I’m not moving from this ket until I get it!). As I tackle this material I feel new neural pathways being formed– at the speed of a smacked-out snail. Like a microscopic man trying to dig his way out of Alcatraz with a dull spoon. Ten minutes of confused, stuttering strokes. Wait-wait, ok. No. Wait, ok. No. Rest for 30 seconds think about something else. Go back to it- it’s a little easier. I think I’ve got the first half of the bar. Fifteen more minutes of struggle, another rest. Repeat, over and over.
One day I had a whole page of this stuff down cold. I was OWNING it. Went in the next day for the lesson and it was all gone. NOTHING. It wasn’t even a matter of choking. It was like I’d never seen the page before. Still, I wouldn’t say that these rhythms are merely mathematical or wholly “unnatural.” In fact, there is something profoundly natural about them. They approach the irrational simultaneity of nature- the sound of water droplets falling out of trees and striking the dead leaves below. The cyclical interlacing of hundreds of singing crickets. That type of stuff. The rigidly divided grid of 4/4 is starting to sound more like machines.
Anyway, this stuff is heavy lifting for the brain. It challenges all of the facilities needed for acquiring drum knowledge: conceptual understanding, aural acuity, muscular performance and limb coordination. I’d love to see a researcher at Stanford hook up a drummer trying to execute 7 over 3 to a live cat-scan sometime. I’m going to do this stuff for the rest of my life. It might keep the Alzheimers away! I’m ooollllddddd.
Trevor Garrod
July 1, 2011
I remember coming across this kind of thing for the first time while trying to play a piece by debussey when I was in high school. It made my mind hurt. I asked a piano playing friend of mine how this could possibly be played. He gave me a cheat, “pass the god damn butter”. Have you heard that one?
Jeremy Hoenig
July 7, 2011
Great stuff Dave….This is very reassuring to read with regards to the ‘process of learning polyrhythms. One thing that really awakened this concept for me was learning of the many different Membranophones & Idiophones used in various African drum ensembles. In one of my books I remember had an example of a polyrhythm played by at least 10 different people at once. Each person played a different pattern, one on a djembe, one on a djun djun, kete, bell, etc… It was notated on a grid with dots marking where each instrument played a note.
Sitting in on these type of focused drum circles is very helpful and fun. It allows you the opportunity to play just one rhythm within a polyrhythm. You can really feel it in your body when your integral part fits perfectly with the rest of the drummers creating the whole…and then there is the master drummer who is having a conversation over all of this and is usually feeding off the dancers energy, a call and response.
It’s good to be reminded that I’m not the only one who has been frustrated in the process of applying polyrhythms to the drumset. It takes an immense amount of concentration, patience and coordination. I suppose it’s like labor pains associated with giving birth.
davebrogan
July 8, 2011
Right, Jeremy. While I haven’t done much West African drumming, I did dabble in the Mbira (thumb piano) music of Zimbabwe for a while. They are masters of blending triplet subdivisions in groups of 2 and 3, so much so that you really could hear both 4/4 and 6/8 happening simultaneously in a very natural sounding way. I remember working on my first piece for months. My teacher would show me embellishments to the basic pattern as we went. I has been perceiving the song in 3/4 for months. One day she showed me a variation in the left hand that was in 12/8. The stuff I was hearing in 3/4 was really 12/8 in groups of two, or, a quarter note sextuplet over four. It blew my mind. Also, the melody in Mbira music can start anywhere within the melodic cycle, generating a spontaneous “round.” It’s very sophisticated stuff, but I found that fairly easy to learn.
Pete’s book Polyrhythms for the Drum set applies, mostly, six over four rhythms in a jazz context, where the swing pattern in 4/4 suddenly jumps up to 6/8 while the left foot keeps the traditional 2 and 4 on the hi-hat and the bass drum and left hand do any number of crazy things. That I find much harder but it always comes down to the four-way independence piece, right? I remember, long ago, how unbelievably hard it was to put a bass drum on the 16th in between the 8th notes of a basic rock beat without hitting the hi-hat at the same time.
I haven’t been able to call up the polyrhythm ideas much for time-keeping but I’m surprised how easily it appears in solos. I like keeping a simple ostinato in the feet and then just blazing some weird, faux-African stuff over the top. It’s a long upload but once it’s there it’s there.
Joe Crabtree
September 15, 2011
Hi Dave,
Interesting post! I’m a big fan of polyrhythms.
A while ago I released some software called OctopuSequencer which you can use to program 4-way polyrhythms and get as crazy as you like. I’d love to throw some of that stuff at Peter Magadini or Pete Zeldman.
Today someone who’d bought OctopuSequencer asked me how they could program it to help them learn the pyramid of time – playing all divisions from 1 through to 19 per beat. OctopuSequencer can’t really to that so I spent the day writing a new piece of software I’ve called PYRAMID.
If you’re interested you can check them both out here – joecrabtree.com/software
I’d be interested to know what you think.
Thanks,
Joe