You know, I think we should all own multiple copies of Syncopation— first because they tend to get destroyed through use, second so we can pencil in our own changes without turning the book into an unreadable mess. And copies are cheap, so why not.
Here are some possibilities. Some you can just do mentally while reading, others you’ll need to actually mark in the book. Many of them will create duplicate patterns, and some can be applied to more than one part of the book. I just whipped this thing out, so I’ll probably be revising it over time. Most of these I’ve done at some point, some I’ve never done, but there’s no reason not to do them.
Lesson 4 – 8th notes and quarter notes
1. Add tie to last 8th note before a quarter.
2. Rest on the remaining quarter notes.
Lesson 6 – triplets and quarter notes
3. Add tie to the last quarter note before a triplet.
4. Add tie to last triplet partial.
5. Rest on remaining quarter notes.
Lesson 7 – triplets and 8th notes
6. Add tie to last 8th note before a triplet.
7. Add tie to last triplet partial before an 8th note.
8. Add 8th rest or triplet 8th rest on beat 1, or on beat 1 and beat 3.
9. Add tie on last note before the beat 1, and/or the last note before beat 3.
10. Rest on first partial of every triplet.
Lessons 9-10 – full beats of 16ths, quarters, 8ths
11. Substitute any broken 16th rhythm not found elsewhere in the book for 16th notes: 1e, 1e-a, e&a, e&, e-a, e.
12. Tie the a of the 16ths (or substitute rhythm) to the following quarter or 8th note.
Lesson 11 – mixed 8ths and 16ths
13. Play in 3/4: first three beats of each measure
14. Play in 3/4: phrase marks every three beats.
Lesson 12 – 8th rests
15. Tie 8th notes to a following quarter note
16. Add tie on last note in measure to first note in next measure— only if no intervening rests.
17-A: Play in 3/4: play first three beats of the line
B: Play in 6/4: play first six beats of the line
18-A:. Play in 5/4: play first five beats of line
B: Play in 7/4 (4+3): play first seven beats of line
C: Play in 7/4 (3+4): play first two measures of the line, skip first beat
Entire syncopation section, p. 34-45 :
19. Add tie to last note in measure to first note in next measure— only if no intervening rests.