Page o’ coordination: metric modulation — 1/3

Or rather superimposed metric modulation, per Vinnie Colaiuta’s term, which few people use, but is actually correct. This is the first of three pages ‘o… developing a swing feel in 2 within a measure of 3/4. We’ll do the hard one first, which suggests the 2 in the cymbal and bass drum, while keeping the waltz feel with the hihat:

In case it’s not clear from looking at it, here’s how the superimposed feel works. Here’s the base ostinato for this page:

The same rhythm rebeamed for 6/8, minus the hihat:

Which of course looks like this written as triplets in 4/4:

Playing the page in a swing feel will not give that rhythm exactly, so don’t try— just render the exercises in 3/4, and the metric modulation will take care of itself later. Remember that the tom moves are a big part of the value of these exercises— counting out loud while doing them “1-2-3, 2-2-3, 3-2-3, 4-2-3” is also very helpful.

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