Make it Dance!
Besides the funky rhythms we learnt in the last lesson, there is one other important rhythmic element that has a huge affect on the feel of the tune. Have a listen to the two examples below and see which one makes you feel more like dancing.
Could you hear the difference? Which one made you feel like dancing more? Most likely the second example.
This is because of displacement of the normal accent pattern, which is known as a clave. However, as clave usually refers to specific rhythmic grouping in specific styles of music, I will be referring to these patterns as the groove of the music. You can check out the difference between the two examples in the diagram below.
The example provided is just one instance of a groove. There are many different grooves, and you can even make your own! These grooves help provide that sense of drive in the music, changing where the accents in the melody fall and providing the basis for accompanying lines. Don't worry about those lines just yet; for now, we are just experimenting with rhythms.
To make your own groove, follow the steps below:
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When creating grooves, we use of groups of 2 and 3. See how many different ways you can use 2s and 3s to make 8 and 16. Write these out so you have a record.
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Choose one of the grooves and play it. You can do this by setting a metronome and counting the numbers as quavers. See the first video below for a tutorial of how you can do this.
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With a friend, try combining one of the grooves with one of the melodies you wrote. One of you should play the melody while the other claps. If you would like to try with an pitched instrument playing the groove, you can play the rhythm using just the tonic note. You can watch a demonstration of this in the second video below.