Rythmic Practise

[brainpolice]

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the concept of turning on a metronome, and practising scales. That is what im talking about here, but in conjunction with lots of rythmic options. I have devised a practise method for myself that involves using as many different note durations or rythmic figures as possible.
Here's what i came up with to run scales with to the pulse of a metronome:

Quarter Notes (1 note per beat)
Quarter Note Triplets (3 notes in the space of 2 beats)
8th Notes (2 notes in the space of 1 beat)
8th Note Triplets (3 notes in the space of 1 beat)
16th Notes (4 notes in the space of 1 beat)
16th Note Quintuplets (5 notes in the space of 1 beat)
16th Note Triplets Or Sextuplets (6 notes in the space of 1 beat)
16th Note Septuplets (7 notes in the space of 1 beat)
32nd Notes (8 notes in the space of 1 beat)
32nd Note Nuetuplets (9 notes in the space of 1 beat)

As one can see, the further along the line you get, the tougher (and faster) it gets. Once you can FEEL 5-9 notes over 1 beat, it opens up many rythmic possiblities in one's playing. I recently have had a bit of a revelation and find myself able to easily feel quintuplets and septuplets (as long as the tempo isnt too hefty that is).

Another thing i like to practise to the metronome is actually dotted note durations. Dotted note durations are 1 and a half the initial duration. The dotted durations thats are good to practise are: Dotted Quarter Notes (1 note every 1.5 beats), Dotted 8th Notes (1 note every .75 beats) and Dotted 17th Notes (1 note every .3 beats).

I also like to practise to the metronome, while hearing it as a different time signature then 4/4. All of the above note durations can still be practised at any time signature. Some good time signatures to hear the metronome as and practise to are:

3/4 (1 2 3)
5/4 or 5/8 (1 2 3 4 5)
6/4 or 6/8 (1 2 3 4 5 6)
7/4 or 7/8 (1 2 3 4 5 6 7)
9/8 (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9)
For all you adventurous people out there:
11/8 (or 16) (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11) (Steve Seems To Like This One)
13/8 (or 16) (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13)
15/8 (or 16) (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15) (Just One Beat Short Of Common Time)
17/8 (or 16) (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17) (Just One Beat More Then Common Time)
19/8 (or 16) (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19)
21/8 (or 16) (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21) (This is as far i've made it *as a drummer*. I came up with a rythm in 21/16 a few years back.)

Just some thoughts of mine on getting rythmic discipline.

[viperlin]

very cool!

a great exercise in concentration along these lines is playing polymorphic rhythmns to a straight drum track.

it gets confusing, but this helped me improve phrasing over more complex time signatures.

[Ricardo]

I made a tune once called 5-7-9-11, where you play different sequences of notes and rhythms grouped oddly like that, and as 16th notes it works out as 2 bars of 4/4. So the challenge is to feel the odd groups against the beat in 4.

One trick to feeling the odd meters is to accent in normal groups. Like 7 is 1& 2& 3&ah. 9 can be either 1& 2& 3& 4&ah or 1&ah 2&ah 3&ah. Etc, rather than just counting out 9 clicks or whatever.

Richard

[Jemfever]

Really nice!
It can help a lot improving speed and precision!

[brainpolice]

I made a tune once called 5-7-9-11, where you play different sequences of notes and rhythms grouped oddly like that, and as 16th notes it works out as 2 bars of 4/4. So the challenge is to feel the odd groups against the beat in 4.

One trick to feeling the odd meters is to accent in normal groups. Like 7 is 1& 2& 3&ah. 9 can be either 1& 2& 3& 4&ah or 1&ah 2&ah 3&ah. Etc, rather than just counting out 9 clicks or whatever.

Richard

Yea. Certain meters definitely have cliche broken up ways to feel them. I often feel 7/8 with the emphasis on the 1 and 5, felt as a group of 4 and then 3. The reverse can be done as well but is less common. 6/8 is supposed to be felt with the emphasis on the 1 and 4, splitting it into 2 halfs. 6/8 is truly a "duple meter". 5/8 is often felt as 5, or a group of 3 and then a group of 2. The reverse is less common. Like you said, 9/8 is commonly felt with the emphasis on the 1 4 and 7, splitting it into 3 groups of 3, or what Dave Brubeck did in mixture with that in a great song called "Blue Rondo Ala Turk" - with the emphasis on the 1 3 5 and 7 felt as 3 groups of 2 and then a group of 3. 11/8 can be felt in various ways, but i like how in "Lucky charms" Steve felt it with the emphasis on the 1 6 8 and 10, felt as a group of 5 and then 3 groups of 2. One way i tend to feel 11/8 is a group of 6 and a group of 5, or the opposite.
Its all simple math really.