Just took a private student for a lesson and was doing some warm-ups with him with doolickers (definition to come) and added in some counting stuff on top that made me think of recent postings about pulse subdivision, so I thought I'd share it. It's a pretty nifty little thing and I found it made me feel quite strange with a shift in my perception of the rate of time passing.
Goes like this; on any hand-drum or stick drum, the notation I have given is just left hand (Ll) or right hand (Rr) with the capitals meaning an accent, or open slap. The counting over the top is the players voice out loud. Read across each line then directly to the next line down, then after the doolicker sixes, back to the threes.
doolicker threes: count over top 1 . . 2 . . 3 . . 4 . . hands play Rlr.l.Rlr.l.Rlr.l.Rlr.l. doolicker fours: count over top 1 . . . 2 . . .3 . . . 4 . . . hands play Rlr.l.r.Lrl.r.lRlr.l.r.Lrl.r.l. doolicker fives: count over top 1 . . . . 2 . . . . 3 . . . . 4 . . . . hands play Rlr.l.r.l.Rlr.l.r.l.Rlr.l.r.l.Rlr.l.r.l. dolicker sixes: count over top 1 . . . . . 2 . . . . . 3 . . . . . 4 . . . . . hands play Rlr.l.r.l.r.Lrl.r.l.r.l.Rlr.l.r.l.r.Lrl.r.l.r.l.
The "pulse" remains constant, i.e. each sub-unit of time (either a r, l or dot above) does not alter throughout. To sound cool, it has to go quite fast, so that the 4 count is not too spread out for the doolicker sixes.
The same thing can be done with paradiddles, double
paradiddles and triple paradiddles:
paradiddle: count over top 1...2...3...4... hands play RlrrLrllRlrrLrll double paradiddles: count over top 1.....2.....3.....4..... hands play RlrlrrLrlrllRlrlrrLrlrll triple paradiddles: count over top 1.......2.......3.......4....... hands play RlrlrlrrLrlrlrllRlrlrlrrLrlrlrll
And single paradiddles can be counted over with either a 4 or 3 subdivision, thus:
count over top 1...2...3...4... hands play RlrrLrllRlrrLrll count over top 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8.. hands play RlrrLrllRlrrLrllRlrrLrll
M.B.Sibson, Composer and Percussionist
c/o Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music
GPO Box 252C Hobart Tasmania 7001 Australia
email m_sibson@postoffice.sandybay.utas.edu.au
Web Site at http://www.music.utas.edu.au/sibson/
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