Microtiming

[James]

I'd like to discuss this article by Rainer Polak:
http://tcd.freehosting.net/djembemande/microtiming.html


Rainer points out these ideas point out the deficiency in out notation systems....

So as far as I can make out this play on microtiming is the same as playing with swing???

It feels like the end of a phrase is being squashed in later and later in the bar?

I was first taught this idea with Yankadi.
The way I was taught to play it, it's played with binary handing but more a feel that is more between tertiary and binary...
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[bubudi]

we in the west are bent on fitting music into a system. "microtiming" is a western concept invented to alert westerners to subtle differences in the placement of notes (yes, this translates into "swing" when you hear the result). these subtleties would otherwise be lost on people who focus solely on the more conventional system which is represented in notation (both the classic musical notation and the drummer's notations such as the one used on the wap pages).

not that i'm saying that notation is wrong. it's just that notation fits the rhythm into nice little boxes, but music shouldn't really be put into boxes. much less so with african music. it also puts us in thinking mode where we are analyzing the music. after assimilating the technical aspects of the music we need to shut off the thinking and get into feeling the music.

but for those of you who learn most of your material from notation, that won't be possible until you get a good teacher and spend a lot of time being immersed in the music.

i've found that many people are unaware of subtle differences in rhythms like kuku and kassa. for instance, the "passport accompaniment" for kassa is one i seldom hear played with the right feel, even by people who have gone to classes and played that accompaniment week after week. because they have not been immersed in the music and have not learned to feel the music instead of thinking in boxes. the passport accompaniment played in rhythms like soli is another one that i find people take for granted, but don't really have a feel for.

as for what constitutes right or wrong feel? even different respected players swing rhythms slightly differently. you can even hear in places like bamako, conakry and abidjan that there are differences between generations of djembefolas in how they swing the music. if you get hold of some old field recordings and then compare them to the same rhythms being played by the current generation, you will notice differences in the feel. less so in the villages. however, one thing you will not hear is accomplished players playing the rhythm in a straight manner as would be played by someone reading off notation. africans have a preference for swing, distortion, rattling and other things that funk up the music.

[James]

Hi Bubudi, welcome to the site.

In Rainer's article he aludes to 4 "types" of swing that he is aware of. I think he mentions 2 in the article but the other 2 are only in the original printed version.

Are these different types of swing something that can be defined and discussed?

What if we had an example recording to discuss? Is that the only way....

Which is the "Passport accompaniment" (does that mean main accompaniment?).

TTSS--SSTTSSB-SB
or
S-BSS-TT

I listen to a lot of recordings, so hopefully something is going in somewhere. I don't have access to authoritive teachers here, though Seckou Keita was here recently and he was swinging the typical S--SS-TT (for a rhythm called Fé) and I still have that feel in my head.

It would seem that this may not even be the same feel you're talking about for Kassa even if you were refering to the 2nd one listed above.

Ghosting restricts swing, correct handing, when swinging or does it. One thing that I definitely learn't when he was over was that there is generally a traditional handing, but would a specific handing aid / restrict swing or have no affect. I acknowledge that a specific handing isn't necessarily the same and ghosting anyway...

Is swing generally restricted to one insrument at a time or does the whole piece swing, would only djembes while soloing? So many questions...

[bubudi]

thanks for the welcome! "passport acc" refers to the accompaniment crossing over to many rhythms so you basically hear the same acc being played for a great many rhythms. one passport acc is used for the kassa family of rhythms, lamban, diansa, fankani, diagbe, sounou, soliba, komafoli, soboninkun, noumoufoli, sofa, ngoron, fefo, moribayasa and still many more. another passport acc is used for the dununba family of rhythms, soli family of rhythms, mendiani, soko, tage, ngri, liberte, sorsornet, djaa, mamaya, gidamba, konden, and lots more.

these accs are swung differently for certain rhythms, even placed differently (i.e sorsornet). it's really hard to describe and notating it, even in a graphical form will not do it justice. it really has to be heard over and over with attention to the subtle placement of the tones. tempo also affects the swing. listen to a malian recording of sounou being played slowly and then accelerated. the change in swing is very noticeable. it is somewhat more subtle in other rhythms.

ghosting, as you pointed out, does affect the sound and feel of the rhythm. if you can hear the ghost notes then you are not playing the proper acc. if the ghost notes are completely silent, whether it feels right will depend on your exposure to the music, level of playing and the tempo you are playing at. at slower tempos you can play the ghost notes and still swing the notes although this can take quite some effort. at a fast tempo, you will not be able to do so. in fact at a fast tempo the ghost notes delay the player and drag the rhythm.

even if the player is extraordinarily good the swing will be affected in a way that also drags the rhythm. many rhythms have features which pre-empt the beat, which give it momentum. those features might include kenkeni patterns that play right before the beat or other parts to a similar effect. in many cases the djembe accs are swung in a way which slightly pre-empts the rhythm, giving an illusion of speeding up when in fact the rhythm is being maintained at an even tempo.

another thing i have noticed is often kora players (such as sekou keita, who you mentioned) play certain accs with a more pronounced swing. there could be different preferences linked to their first instrument. that might also answer your last question. but it naturally follows that all parts are affected by the whole. 'no man is an island'...

as to trying to describe several different types of swing, i'd prefer to wait until we are joined by many other drummers who are lurking around elsewhere. it's a very convoluted topic and needs to be illustrated by examples (i.e sound files), and even then only immersion in the music can truely give you that understanding. still it could be useful to have an idea of different ways to swing rhythms. we could really use the expertise of other players who have paid attention to these things. i'm sure that will happen in due course.

[komadich]

if you are still interested in the debate, i would suggest these three recordings as they are freely accessible and excellent examples (by dr.Polak):
http://web.uni-bamberg.de/ppp/ethnomusikologie/wom003.htm
look under the first article "A Musical Instrument Travels Around the World. Jenbe Playing in Bamako, West Africa, and Beyond".