re: POLYRHYTHMIC COUNTERPOINT

[Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>]

  Bill Walker said,
"its one thing to play melodically and fluidly over 4/4 and another 
thing to do the same thing over a 9/8 without sounding herky jerky."

Yeah Bill,  you said a mouth full there.

Lately, and coincidentally,  I've been really deeply into  both 9/8 and 
10/8.
I too, have my LP-1 set to 4/4, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 10/8 and 12/8 with an 
additional
1/64th note for glitchy fun.

They finally put Dave Bruebecks' long out of print record, 'Time In'
out in a remastered version on CD.

As you know , because we wrote an answer song to the beautiful 9/8 tune,
"Forty Day's"  called "Forty Nights" in Worlds Collide,   that tune is 
in  a
3-3-2-2,  10/8.

I've just had it on repeat in my car for days since I got it in the mail.
Joe Morello's drumming is so unbelievably
fluid (and much more so than on the famous earlier 9/8,  'Blue Ronda A 
La Turk"
off of the 'Time In' record.

I'm just trying to train myself to be able to do what he did 50 years 
ago.   It's awe inspiring how fluid he is.

*****
Here's a game I've been playing lately to amuse myself and to help
my writing:

   I've really been into the fact that a 9/8 can also be thought of as a
3/4 with  triplet 8th notes as the 'sub pulse' (the fourth bar of the 
four bar phrase from
Blue Ronda A La Turk)    which goes   2-2-2-3, 2-2-2-3, 2-2-2-3, 3-3-3

The hip thing about the 9/8 is that 4 measures of it equals three measures
of 12/8,  so you can get a very hip poly-measure thing happening that
comes back every two bars (so it's musical simple and viable).

a phrase of 12/8 (as in a typical West African Bell line) goes like this
*
6/8 ||: X * X * X X * X * X * X :||*

So if you impose this over a typical 9/8 Bell ostinato,    say

*9/8 ||: X * X * X * X * X :||*

You can get this interesting polyrhtymic juxtaposition

*9/8 ||: _X_ * X * X X * X * | X * X _X_ * X * X X  | * X * X * X_ X_ * 
X | * X X * X * X * X : ||*


Now if you think of this four bar phrase as triplet 8th notes in 3/4 you 
get:

*4/4 || X * X * X X * X * | X * X X * X * X X | * X * X * X X * X | * X 
X * X * X * X :||
        1 + a 2 + a 3 + a   1 + a 2 + a 3 + a   1 + a 2 + a 3 + a   1 + 
a 2 + a 3 + a

*
Below are all the triple eight note permutations:

(Q)      X * *      (T)      X X *       (W)      X X X
          1 + a 1 + a 1 + a

(R)      * X * (U)      * X X (X)     * * *
          1 + a 1 + a 1 + a

(S)      * * X (V)      X * X
          1 + a 1 + a

Note the constant appearance of these three rhythmic figures that
are found constantly in both West African Music and Modern Jazz
(R),   (U) 'offbeat triplets'    and (V)  'shuffles  in the above 
juxtaposed pattern.

The pattern goes like this:

9/8   ||: V U R | V V U | R V V | U R V  :||

You are playing a polyrhythm in two time signatures but it can easily sound
like a Jazz Waltz...............cool, hunh?

Enjoy,  I am!!!!
Rick







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