I) Documenting Rhythm The Time Signature

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Abner Webb
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the STARTING LINE I) Documenting Rhythm The Time Signature Up to this point we ve been concentrating on what the basic aspects of drum literature looks like and what they mean.

1 the STARTING LINE I) Documenting Rhythm The Time Signature Up to this point we ve been concentrating on what the basic aspects of drum literature looks like and what they mean. To do that we started by considering the Grand Staff and looking at how different pitches were notated. We defined the bass clef, we looked at what a staff is, now we re going to look at how rhythms are notated. At this point your interest should be piqued since rhythm is what drums are all about. We re going to start by looking at something that is called the time signature. A) 4/4 The time signature lets you the musician know two things: How many beats are there per bar and what sort of note gets one beat. You might read that and think, What? It s not that complicated. Let s begin with the most common time signature that you ll typically see 4/4. Part II Reading Chapter Two 13

2 4 Before we get into what 4/4 means let s go back to our staff and break it up into measures one measure one measure one measure Top number tells you how many beats per measure Bottom number tells you what kind of note gets a beat 1) The Measure A measure is kind of like a sentence within a paragraph. It s a subdivision of a musical statement that allows you to break an idea up into smaller parts that make it easier to process and perform. Now - the time signature. The top number represents the number of beats per measure which in this case is 4. Don t let that confuse you. It could be 8, or 5 or whatever. Like I said we re starting with 4/4 just because it s probably the most common time signature. The bottom number is referring to the kind of note that s going to be worth one beat. In this case a quarter note is going to be worth one beat. Now you might be asking, What s a quarter note? Good question. II) Values Rhythmic notation is broken down into one of six types of notes; a whole note, a half note, a quarter note, an eighth note, a sixteenth note and a thirty second note. Every now and then you might see a sixty- fourth note, but that s pretty rare. In any event, those are your choices as far as the kind of note that s potentially worth one beat (see the diagram on the next page). 14

3 Values Whole 1-4 (four beats) Half 1-2 (two beats) 3-4 (two beats) Quarter 8th th 1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a 32nd All of the above examples are featured on the CD in the Performance Section 15

4 If all this sounds a bit confusing, let me let you hear what I m talking about and I think it will make perfect sense. A) The Quarter 1) #1 Quarter Example Get out the CD and cue it up to #1 Quarter Example. What you re going to hear first is 4 clicks just like you hear when you turn your metronome on. Then you re going to hear me count off the exercise by saying That s just to let you know that I m getting ready to play. Before you listen to it, flip back to Performance Section of this book and turn to #1 Quarter Example. You will see four measures of quarter notes written out. (By the way. You ll notice that I draw a large parenthesis between the times signature and the first note of each measure. This is just a manuscript technique I learned while in school. Don t let it throw you.) This is what I m playing on the CD! Notice each note coincides with each beat. I m playing one quarter note for each beat (or click). After you ve heard it a couple of times, play along. Be sure to count out loud! Count: to go along with each quarter note. This is a good habit to get into especially at the beginning of your development as a player. 2) Manuscript Exercise I ve included a section where you have the opportunity to write out the rhythm that you just mastered. This is the Practice Manuscript Section and you ll see if after every major topic is discussed. Take a moment now and write out some quarter notes. After you ve done that, we ll be ready to move on to eighth notes. Performance s: Begin playing each exercise with alternating sticking. Remember to count out loud. Once you re comfortable, go back and play each exercise with just the right hand. Then go back and play it with just the left hand. After that do the same thing with your feet; alternate between bass drum and hi-hat, then just bass drum and then just hi-hat. 16

5 B) The Eighth Let me go ahead and let the cat out of the bag right now just so you know what to expect. Every time we move on to another note value, chances are the rate of speed that s involved will double. The eighth note moves along at a speed twice as fast as a quarter note. Again, I m going to refer you to the CD and the Performance Section of this book so you can hear, see, play and write this rhythm. 1) #2 Eighth Example Cue the CD up to #2 Eighth Example and listen to it as you look at the corresponding example in the Performance Section that goes by the same name. When you play, be sure to count out loud. With quarter notes you counted Now, with eighth notes, you need to count: Also remember to play this exercise as described in the Performance s on page 23 and also the first page of the Performance Section. 2) Manuscript Exercise Again, listen to it, then play along a couple of times and when you re confident that you understand what s happening, go ahead and write it out in the space provided. C) The Sixteenth 1) #3 Sixteenth Example You re doing really well! If you ve got any questions, make sure you ask your teacher. Also, keep that CD handy, as it will provide you with some invaluable guidance in that you ll be able to hear how everything is supposed to sound. The next rhythm we re going to look at is the sixteenth note. Again, it will be moving along twice as fast as the rhythm before so we ll be going twice as fast as eighth notes. Refer to the CD ( #3 Sixteenth Example ) in the Performance Section to hear and see how this rhythm sounds. When you play it be sure to count out loud. You re going to be saying: 1 e + a - 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a 2) Manuscript Exercise Listen to it, play it and then write it out for yourself (again, play it as instructed in the Performance s written on page four and on the first page of the Performance Section). 17

6 By the way, we re only playing two bars worth of sixteenth notes as opposed to the other previous examples where we played four bars. I did this just to keep everything on the same line. You might be thinking, This is easy! Well, we re still just playing through some examples right now. In a moment we ll look at rests and then combine everything into some exercises that will be a bit more challenging. III) Rest Values Everything that we ve gone over thus far represents an attack on every beat. Now we re going to look at how silence is documented. When a composer doesn t want you to play, he writes what is called a rest. Just like the notes we discussed a moment ago, there are different values to consider. Take a look at the diagram on the next page to get an idea of what we re talking about. Just like a note had value, rests have value as well. This way silence can be accomplished for a long or a short amount of time. A) The Quarter Rest We re going to start with the quarter rest. You may have noticed that we ve not discussed the whole note or the half note. There s a reason for that but rest assured we will look at both of those notes and their corresponding rests later. 1) #4 Quarter Rest Examples The quarter rest documents a time of silence that will last for one beat. Once again I m going to refer you to the Performance Section and ask that you listen to #4 Quarter Rest Examples, and then listen to the #5 Quarter Rest Exercise. When you listen to the quarter rest examples on the CD, you ll hear each one played twice proceeded by one measure of click. After a measure (four counts) of the click you ll hear the next example played. Notice how I ve got things organized. What I ve done is I took a quarter rest and began by placing it on beat one. Then I moved it to beat two and so on. The next group of examples I did the same thing with two quarter rests side by side. I started by placing them on beats one and two and then moved both rests so they began on beat three and so on. Each group (there are four groups) begins with a rest or a sequence of rests and then moves that same pattern over one beat at a time until all options have been exhausted. 18

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8 2) #5 Quarter Rest Exercise After you re finished listening and playing through the examples, go to the exercise. Listen to it then attempt to play along. You may want to write in the counts below each note just like what you saw in the preceding examples. When you go to write them out, notice that I ve put parenthesis around those counts where there is a rest. This helps to keep better track of where you re supposed to be playing and where you re supposed to be silent. Another thing that I want to bring to your attention: Each of the examples are numbered. When you go to play the exercise, each of the examples are represented only now they re arranged in a different order. If you run into any problems with a specific measure, look at the number just above the measure. This number tells you which of the fourteen examples is represented by that measure. If you run into a problem with a particular measure in the exercise, using the number above the measure, you ll now be able to isolate your dilemma apart from the rest of the exercise. 3) Manuscript Exercise After you ve gone through the exercise, go to the Practice Manuscript section located on the same page as the exercise. Use this space to write your own exercises. This is good practice. It will help reinforce what you ve learned. (By the way: You ll notice in the exercise, not the examples, the time signature is written once at the beginning as opposed to being on every line. The reason for that is unless the time signature changes, it s assumed that it remains the same throughout the entire piece of music. The reason I ve included the time signature on every line of the examples is because each example is positioned between two double bars. A double bar usually designates the end of a section of music. This is appropriate given the fact that the examples aren t necessarily supposed to be played one right after another. That s why the time signature is on every line. For the exercises, however, it is only at the beginning and this is typical of how music is usually written.) Once you re ready to proceed, let s move forward with the eighth rest. B) The Eighth Rest Before we look at the eighth rest, we need to look at how we can document an eighth note in a way that goes beyond what we ve discussed so far. When two eighth notes are written side by side, they are usually joined with a bar. The same type of thing occurs when you have a grouping of three or four eighth notes, they are usually joined together with a bar (see diagram on the following page). However, there is no rule that says they must be joined by a bar. You can document two eighth notes individually as seen in the diagram on the next page. The reason they are usually joined by a bar is because it makes it easier to read. Yet, there are situations like what we re about to encounter where they can t be joined together. Putting an eighth 20

9 rest in the middle of a combination of eighth notes, which are usually joined by a bar, makes it necessary to write them out individually. This will make more sense once you see some of the examples in the Performance Section. Example of two eighth notes joined by a bar. Same two eighth notes documented separately. Notice how the bar has been replaced with a flag on each note. 1) #6 Eighth Rest Examples Take a minute now and go to the Performance Section of the CD and listen to #6 Eighth Rest Examples There are six groups of them so take your time and count out loud. 2) #7 Eighth Rest Exercise After you ve gone through all of the examples, look at #7 Eighth Rest Exercise. Play through this exercise utilizing the same approach articulated in the Performance s on page twenty three. Again, you ll have the number of each example written above each measure in the exercise. If you run into any problems, this will help you isolate your difficulty in a way that will make it easier to work on and correct. 3) #8 Eighth Rest Exercise There s nothing different about this exercise when compared to its previous counterpart other than there are some different combinations represented. When you play through any of these exercises, remember to count out loud. After you ve got both exercises under your belt, we ll be ready to proceed to the next topic that involves some manuscript techniques. I) Real World Manuscript Technique In all of the eighth rest examples we used nothing but eighth rests regardless of how many were needed. Hypothetically, if we continued to use the same approach and we wanted to write a measure where you played only on the very last eighth note it would look something like what is notated to the right: 21

10 In order to document our idea, we needed to write out seven individual eighth rests. Surely there s an easier way. Actually, there is! What we re going to do is use quarter rests wherever appropriate. So instead of writing out two eighth rests, we ll write one quarter rest so it will look like this (see diagram to the right): Do you see what we did? Every beat can be written out differently depending on how much detail you want to go into. If I wanted to write out seven eighth rests, I could, but it s a lot easier to write out three quarter rests and one eighth rest instead. 4) #9 Eighth Rest Notation Exercise Just so you can see how this works, go back to the Performance Section and look at #9 Eighth Rest Exercise. If the sound of this exercise seems familiar, it should. It s #8 Eighth Rest Example written using quarter rests. 5) #10 Combination Exercise Now we re starting to get into some serious potential for some wonderful combinations. Beginning with #10 Combination Exercise we ve incorporated a portion of everything we ve discussed so far into one exercise. Give it a shot! 6) #11 Combination Exercise #11 Combination Exercise again utilizes all of the rhythms that we ve discussed up to this point. You may have noticed that there isn t anything especially orderly in the way we ve mixed things up. As a matter of fact, one measure might include elements from several examples that we ve gone over beforehand. Great stuff, isn t it? 7) Manuscript Exercise After you ve finished both Combination Exercises again you ll notice that there s a blank piece of manuscript paper provided for you. Use this to write out some of your own combinations using everything that you ve learned thus far. C) The Sixteenth Rest Playing rhythms involving the sixteenth rest will result in your performing some of the most complicated rhythms that you ll encounter in this study. But while they re a bit complex, the resulting combinations that you ll play sound really good. Not only that, but 22

I) Blake - Introduction. For example, consider the following beat.

I) Blake - Introduction. For example, consider the following beat. I) Blake - Introduction For those of you who have been anxiously anticipating that part of the curriculum where we re actually playing some grooves and fills, well, here we are. Let s begin by first establishing