Indian syllabic rhythms (was avant-garde thread)

[Douglas Baldwin <coyotelk@optonline.net>]

> Awesome post, Rick. It's nice to have such a cogent summary of the Indian
> system - I'm moving this one into the "Keepers" folder.

I'll second that! Many of Rick's posts are in my notebooks. If I ever
publish any, he will get full props!
    BTW, anyone into Sheila Chandra? Her album "The Zen Kiss" has some
excellent solo compositions built upon rhythmic syllabifications. Also
Meredith Monk pops into my scrawny little brain at the moment. And on a
GREAT box set of dumming called "The Big Bang," there's a cut called "A
Quality of Seven" that has some excellent Indian drumming and occasional
syllabic counting. I'd LOVE-LOVE-LOVE to have more recordings of Indian
musicians doing syllabic counting; any recommendations?
dB, coyote

> >
> > Amplifying on this concept a little:
> >
> > The Indians use these  four subdivision:
> > >
> > Ta-ki   (pronounced Taw kih)
> >       TWO
> > 1  2
> > >
> > Ta-ki-ta   (pronounced Taw kih tuh)                              THREE
> > 1  2  3
> > >
> > Ta-ki-di-mi (pronounced Taw kih dee mee)                   FOUR
> > 1  2  3  4
> > >
> > Ta-ki-di-na-tom  (pronounced Taw kih dee nah tom)      FIVE
> > 1  2  3  4  5
> >
> > Interestingly, they stop at the threshold that Western
> > psychologists in the
> > latter 20th century  discovered.:   the number 5 .
> > From what I've heard,  human beings can keep five things in
> > their heads,
> > concieved of as separate things but that the minute we get
> > to larger numbers we are forced to begin grouping into
> > smaller increments.
> > The Indians have known this intrinsically for hundreds of years.
> >
> > The emphasis always being on the 'Ta' or first syllable
> >
> >
> > In this way you can make a practise matrix of any time
> > signature you want to
> > take on and just sing the syllables
> >
> > for example:
> >
> >                 2 + 2 + 3           or      Ta ki Ta ki Ta ki tuh
> >                 2  + 3 + 2                   Ta ki Ta ki ta Ta ki
> >                 3  + 2 + 2                   Ta ki ta Ta ki Ta ki
> >
> > 7/8  =       3 + 4                          Ta ki ta Ta ki di mi
> >                 4 + 3                          Ta ki di mi Ta ki ta
> >
> >                 5 + 2                           Ta ki di na tom Ta ki
> >                 2 + 5                           Ta ki Ta ki di na tom
> >
> >
> > Sing these combinations over and over, making sure that ever
> > syllable takes
> > exactly the same amount of time.
> > There are more sophisticated games to play with this material
> > and you can
> > syncopate or leave out notes internal to each
> > phrasing but this will give you all the basic phrasing
> > possilities of each
> > odd time signature you want to play in.
> >
> > Warning:   If you are playing, say the first excercise above
> > as an ostinato
> > that your whole band is playing..................
> > it will really throw people if you use any of the other phrases
> > simultaneously so you will need to check it out and
> > also practise it with them if you plan on doing it live.
> > One long band
> > practise or two playing different time signatures against
> > each other will usually do the trick to learn how to do this
> > (but you have
> > to have relatively sophisticated musicians with a good
> > internal sense of time and also, more importantly,  their
> > willingness to go
> > along with these games that sound like gibberish
> > until you get to know them better.
> >
>