Rhythm Identification - Fill in the blanks.

[bongosnotbombs]

We went over this in my class the other day. However Carlos often leaves out the names of rhythms.

I really enjoy playing high drum in 12/8 rhythms, so if anyone recognizes this rythm, and could maybe give me the name and the missing parts, I'd be grateful.
He was teaching this to us on two drums.

I'm pretty sure I got this correct, but again in this class we are taught by playing, we don't get things written out, but I did ask about the bell pattern afterwards, and Carlos called it a congo bell, and he placed the 1 for me....but you know, I may have something out of place...

Sorry I know there's not too much to go on.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1202786106

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... o_bell.jpg

[davidpenalosa]

How did you establish where the main beats (1, 2, 3, 4) were? Did Carlos tap his foot for you?
-David

[bongosnotbombs]

He called out the one for me as I played the bell pattern.

I filled in the rest, it seemed pretty intuitive after that.

Carlos started off demonstrating the pattern, then he played the bell while everyone practiced the pattern.

That didn't work for me so I played the bell with Carlos, then after a while I switched to the drum pattern, and it worked out.

After the class I asked Carlos where the first downbeat was and he told me to play the bell, and he counted uno, uno...etc.

...and that's Aldama's teaching style in a nutshell.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1202791787

[windhorse]

If it's 6/8 like you've got it written out, that ki pa pattern makes the most sense with the tone on the downbeat - making it Bembe. There is a Bembe where the kachimbo plays upbeats, but they're played with two sticks. Maybe he was translating the stick Bembe to hand for you guys.
But, playing "ki pa" in the upbeat slot seems pretty far out to me!

OH, I just looked back and noticed the bell is an Arara bell.



Edited By windhorse on 1202822849

[bongosnotbombs]

Well you know, thats what I instinctively thought, bembe.

but we were definitely playing that low note on the one, and following it with the open slaps, or the ki pa.

I guess there is always the chance that it is not an actual rhythm but an exercise he was having us do.

..and there's always the chance I have it a little wrong, but I feel like I have it right.

but it's nice to know you call it an Arara bell, Carlos called it a congo bell. I'm not really familiar with either.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1202836739

[Thomas Altmann]

Windhorse:

The bell pattern is a standard variation of the basic 6/8 bell that everybody knows. It applies to Bembe, Güiro, and Palo. Could it be that you confused it with:

-xx-x-xx-x-x ?

BNB:

If I were in your place, I would play either the bell pattern or the drum the next time you see Carlos, and ask him to come in with the other part - without discussions about counting figures and stuff. You can make that very short.

If you still hear the same constellation, my bet would be that it is one of the various Palo (Congo!) versions that exist in Cuba. Keep us informed, please!

TA

[windhorse]

I heard it called Arara bell somewhere, and thus, that's why I've called it that for about three years.
I learned it in association with Agbe or Guiro.
After Dave P's designation of 6/8 upbeat bell as being:
x-x-xx-x-x-x,
which people still call short bell around here.

I would call this one -xx-xx-x-x-x upbeat 6/8 bell
What do you guys call it? Congo bell like Carlos?

BTW, I did learn an Arara bell that went something like this:
x---x---x---x---x-x-x-xx-x-x-x
4 long downbeats followed by what we call long bell and Dave P calls 6/8 downbeat bell.

[blango]

looks like a rudimentary bembe. an exercise of sorts.

Not the one Mongo popularized, where the bajo is on the second strike of clave, but its another primary form of Bembe, from the looks of it.

You are missing parts, for sure. why not ask Maestro Aldama?

Tony



Edited By blango on 1202866794

[davidpenalosa]

After Dave P's designation of 6/8 upbeat bell as being:
x-x-xx-x-x-x,
which people still call short bell around here.

x---x---x---x---x-x-x-xx-x-x-x
4 long downbeats followed by what we call long bell and Dave P calls 6/8 downbeat bell.

Hi Dave,
Just a small point, but I call it the "OFFbeat bell":
||X.X|.XX|.X.|X.X||
because the interior "double" strokes are on offbeats.

and I call this pattern:
||X.X|.X.|XX.|.X.|X.X||
the "ON-beat bell" because the interior "double" strokes are on the beat.

An upbeat is a pickup into the next measure. A downbeat is the first beat of a measure or an entire composition. So, the terms we drummers should use are offbeat and beat, or offbeat and on-beat.

So, people still using that drum circle lingo (long, short) out there?

The only "Congo bell" I've heard of is the tune by Mongo from "Afro-Roots", but that's a piece of experimental folklore, not a traditional rhythm.
-David



Edited By davidpenalosa on 1202866536

[bongosnotbombs]

Ah "Congobel" an excellent song, but not what we were playing.

I was wondering if it was a common rhythm that people knew, so I could learn the parts before next class... but you know it's not always so easy to ask Carlos questions, beyond the language barrier, his style is just to show an do and let you connect the dots..

You know David P. I never heard the terms short bell and long bell till you discussed those terms in a previous post

x.x.xx.x.x.x I know that as the bembe bell, I haven't used the "long" form of it much. Some people here refer to it as 6/8 bell, which is of course very vague.

Well it looks like I'll have to pry the info out of Carlos this weekend, I do know he referred to it as Congo bell, whether he meant it as "a congo bell", or "the bell called Congo", is hard to say.

but like I said I'm pretty sure I got everything accurate, exactly what that is I don't know yet.

Windhorse, I am not familiar with Arara, what do the parts that bell is used for like?



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1202873458

[davidpenalosa]

You know David P. I never heard the terms short bell and long bell till you discussed those terms in a previous post

You mean I'm propagating it's use?!! Damn!

I first learned the bell pattern

x.x.xx.x.x.x

from Ewe master drummer Kwaku Ladzekpo, who called it "basic Ewe", His brother C.K. told me that in his country Ghana, they don't have a name for it, or for music itself - "it's an embodiment of the people".
-David

[bongosnotbombs]

from Ewe master drummer Kwaku Ladzekpo, who called it "basic Ewe", His brother C.K. told me that in his country Ghana, they don't have a name for it, or for music itself - "it's an embodiment of the people".
-David

A beautiful sentiment.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1202925017

[Amber]

Hi BNB,

just an idea: Maybe you can ask your teacher for permission of recording parts of his lessons? This way you might find out in the qietness of your home how the thing is constructed. As long as you do not misuse this( internet-publication! ) teacher normally do not mind.

:p Amber

[Thomas Altmann]

@windhorse:

I must confess I'm not really that familiar with Arará rhythms; it's a field almost as vast as the batá, and then you have various cabildos playing different styles and so on. Possibly they vary their patterns, too. I remember John Santos telling us this. He also taught us the Arará bell pattern that I recalled. I identified it on recordings later.

The other Arará bell pattern that you mentioned I know in a slightly different way, too:

x--x--x--x--x-x-xx-xx-x-

I gave up saying that any other pattern but mine is exclusively right or wrong, so please don't feel offended. Only if it came to actually playing the music, I would better hold on to the version that I myself believe is correct, naturally.

@David:

Now we are basically on clave territory, and I haven't forgotten that I still have questions to ask in the other thread.

I decided to place my response to you in an extra thread called "6/8 Clave permutations".

Greetings,

Thomas

[Tone]

Hi everybody,

in my experience in Cuba, the bell is just a variation of the regular 6/8 bell.
I went to this tambor which was played exclusively on cajons, with all the soloing done on the quinto. They used to start every tune with the regular 6/8 bell and after a few minutes when the groove was well established they would switch to the variation. It was played on a hoe.

Also I have been taught bembés with the bass on one instead o fthe bombo.
It is all good.

peace