Awhile back we noted that if you play a simple rhythm in an alternating sticking:
And move one hand to a different sound:
…you are playing the Son Clave rhythm in the 3-2 and 2-3 orientations at the same time.
I don’t know what that means— as far as I know that never happens in actual music, unless something’s going wrong. But it may suggest something about where the rhythm originally came from. On a student’s first exposure to it, it seems rather arbitrary, so it’s interesting to find a very simple rhythm and hand movement underlying it. Maybe grounding it in easy hand movements will help us non-Latin folk play it in a more natural way, helping make up for not acquiring it through culture— a little bit.
So, it’s worth playing around with it a little bit. Someone could spend maybe .5 to 2 hours total with the following:
I’ve made a small effort to take those exercises into a Latin music direction, but none of this is meant to be performance vocabulary. Play it, then back to legit Latin studies…
I am happy to help you with any of the materials on the site, and with anything else drumming related— contact me for private lessons, online world wide, or in person in Portland, Oregon. All levels of players, and all people, are welcome.
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