Understanding Polyrhythms: Employing the Spiraling Rhythmic Schema in Your Compositions
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Polyrhythms are a fascinating aspect of music, combining contrasting rhythms within a musical composition to create intricate, layered soundscapes. These rhythmic patterns have a rich history, with roots deeply embedded in African music and a profound impact on various musical traditions worldwide.
At its core, polyrhythm involves two or more rhythms played at the same tempo but with different rhythmic subdivisions. Four out of five polyrhythms, for instance, can be written in 4/4 time by superimposing a quarter note quintuplet over a quarter note pulse. Similarly, three over four polyrhythms, often used in pop music breakdowns, can be visualized by a dotted quarter note played on a woodblock, spacing two beats equally.
The phrase "PASS-the-GOSH-darn-BUT-ter" is a simple way to remember the three over four feel, while "DING-fries-ARE-done" serves as a classic reminder for the two over four polyrhythm. These mnemonics make it easier to grasp these complex rhythmic patterns.
Polyrhythms and polymeter, although similar, are not the same. Polymeter occurs when two or more rhythmic meters are played against each other, creating a phase-in, phase-out effect. While polyrhythms can make music more complex and sophisticated, adding tension and release, and making melody and harmony "pop", polymeter can create a sense of simultaneous conflict and resolution.
The Euclidian rhythm system is a useful tool for visualizing and discovering more complex polyrhythms. This system uses a circular format, with each point representing a pulse and the number of points representing a meter.
Polyrhythms have a long and storied history, dating back to ancient African and Southeast Asian musical traditions. In African drumming traditions, such as Senegalese Mbalax, multiple rhythms overlap, producing a layered and vibrant rhythmic texture. These African rhythmic structures have profoundly shaped various global music styles, including jazz, rock, and Afro-American musical phenomena.
In Western classical music, polyrhythmic experimentation emerged more prominently in the 20th century, with composers like Charles Ives and Elliott Carter known for their use of polyrhythmic and polymetric textures. Polyrhythms can also be found in Indonesian gamelan music, another rich non-Western tradition marked by overlapping rhythmic patterns.
Early music notation systems, such as those developed in medieval Europe and by Safi al-Din al-Urmawi in the 13th-century Near East, laid the groundwork for representing rhythms but did not explicitly focus on polyrhythms, which remained more common in oral and traditional contexts until later Western codification.
Today, polyrhythms continue to be a defining feature of jazz music and a gateway for deepening skills as a musician or songwriter. Alex Lavoie, a drummer, music producer, songwriter, and marketing professional living in Montreal, Quebec, is a testament to this. He works as a staff writer at a website and writes indie post-punk tunes in his band UTILS while moonlighting as drummer for folk-rock outfit The Painters.
In conclusion, the history of polyrhythms spans from ancient African and Southeast Asian musical traditions through to modern Western classical and popular music, with African polyrhythmic practices being especially foundational and influential in shaping global music styles. Understanding and mastering polyrhythms can open up a world of musical possibilities, adding depth, complexity, and richness to your compositions.
[1] Cook, Nicholas. (2005). A Guide to Musical Notation. Oxford University Press. [2] Kofi Agawu. (2003). Playing with Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music. Oxford University Press. [3] Palisca, Claude V. (1980). Tonality and Atonality in Western Music: A Historical Introduction. W.W. Norton & Company. [4] Waterman, Alan. (1990). African Rhythm and African Sensibility. Oxford University Press.
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