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Counting off in polyrhythm

Originally posted by Ed Fuqua


Somebody tells you play a whole note, you know they mean "fill the bar".


It is getting confusing - surely this wouldn't work in say : 15/4 or 15/1 as you mentioned?

I think this system is inherently confusing - so breves and semi-breves don't have this connotation. The idea of a "whole" bar is just not there.
 
Originally posted by Peter McFerrin

Wait--I was under the impression that in India and Indonesia, the musicians were pretty much as professional as you're gonna get--5 years of apprenticeship and all that, y'know?

Actually I was thinking of the tradionnal folks' music, that is practiced by each and everyone even in the most remote of villages. In India indeed, the "high" music following the rules of the raga is performed by professionnal musicians belonging to the upper casts, but there's also a wealth of popular music that does not adhere to this template, some of which is quite refined (not really surprising, since these raga had to come from somewhere). In Indonesia, gamelan was probably not the word I was looking for - I was thinking of those very large vocal ensembles that perform during religious gatherings, ke-ja or something like that, the exact name of which eludes me right now. :(
 
off topic.. indonisian fretted instruments have the first fret somewhere between a perfect 2nd and minor third... no equal temperament, just to add to the confusion! :D

thanks for extra info... will go away and attempt to assimilate!
 
Well, after say 16,000 years touring with the live show (25 countries!) - just to iron out the creases, it's gonna take maybe 3,000 years to record (say 5 takes, plus 3 mix/master passes!).. ...by which time data compression technology will allow us to fit 639 years of 1024 bit music on a single disc.

...then with a bit of luck cryogenics will have advanced enough for one person to live long enough to hear it.

..that said, I cant imagine what label will pick it up?!

:D
 
LOL@that article.

Did you see the bit down the bottom about the court case with Mike Batt? Cage's publishing company are suing him for plagiarizing 4'33" (which, for those who don't know, is 4 minutes 33 seconds of complete silence)... Wha?? :confused:
 
Did you see the bit down the bottom about the court case with Mike Batt? Cage's publishing company are suing him for plagiarizing 4'33" (which, for those who don't know, is 4 minutes 33 seconds of complete silence)...

yeah, a bit flaky that really... i mean 4.33 mins of silebnce is obviously a very different bit of silence from the original recorded silence.

what tempo would three notes that lasted 1.5 years be?!
 
what tempo would three notes that lasted 1.5 years be?!

Assuming they are whole notes, about 3.81 * 10^-6 BPM.

A bit less if it was a leap year.


Regarding the whole note thing, what's so complicated? A whole note refers to the whole of a bar of common time, one bar of 4/4. That's what quarter notes refer to as well - a quarter of a bar of common time. When you deviate from common time, the notes keep their time values to avoid confusion. That's how I see it.
 
Originally posted by Howard K


yeah, a bit flaky that really... i mean 4.33 mins of silebnce is obviously a very different bit of silence from the original recorded silence.

Heh, but, how can you plagiarize silence? What did Mike Batt do? Steal the idea of having a piece that is complete silence? If so, erm, I wouldn't really call it plagiarism... I would suppose Cage's publishers just spotted it as a possible way to make some £££ and went for it... :rolleyes:
 
(back to the original topic)

Maybe count it as 22 beats (quarters). That's the common framework that everyone is working with. I find counting over 12 to be a royal pain though. If the tempo is high, saying all those 'teens and twenties will be the hardest part.

Actually I'd go for 11. The rhythm section will have to deal with the rollover in the middle of their second seven, oh well.

I've been working lately with counting 13 beats over a 3+3+3+4 pattern repeated four times. (which just happens to be written by one of those dudes you mentioned :) ).

Now the question is, how do you count this:

A: 4+4+4+4+3+3+3
B: 3+3+3+4+4+4+4
C: 5+5+5+5+5
D: 6+7+6+6

25 quarters, 100 sixteenths. :D
 
So - now I ask :) - by "counting off" do you mean just the beginning of the piece? Or what people should count while playing it? My answer above is for the latter. FOr the former, a "one to three four" should be sufficient. Just to get the tempo down - the players better be able to feel the rhythm on their own anyway! ;)