Adding basses

[michi]

This post was prompted by Carl's post on adding basses. Carl, we must be living in parallel universes or something...

A few weeks ago, I started doing a warm-up exercise with my students. Start off with the basic 12/8 accompaniment:

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1..2..3..4..
s.ts..s.ts..


In each 2-beat cycle, there are three unused micro-pulses. Start filling those with basses in all possible combinations. Here is the first one, turning the accompaniment into the Malian version with an extra pick-up bass:

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1..2..3..4..
s.ts.bs.ts.b


Now play it like this instead, putting the bass at the other end:

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1..2..3..4..
s.tsb.s.tsb.


The final way to add a single bass is to squeeze it in between the tone and slap:

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1..2..3..4..
sbts..sbts..


That's all possible ways to add a single bass. Now work on the three possible ways of adding two basses:

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1..2..3..4..
sbtsb.sbtsb.


And:

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1..2..3..4..
sbts.bsbts.b


And the third one:

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1..2..3..4..
s.tsbbs.tsbb


Finally, fill all three spare slots with basses:

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1..2..3..4..
sbtsbbsbtsbb


The reaction I got from my students was instructive. Most of them seemed to have one of those "Aha!" moments, where a few light bulbs came on.

Then show them the following 36/8 part, which incorporates some of these ideas. (I learned that part from Epizo three years ago.)

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1..2..3..4..1..2..3..4..1..2..3..4..
bssbttsttsb.s.tsb.sttsb.s.tsb.sttsb.


That part is surprisingly hard to play, requiring a fair bit of focus, and it sounds funky. (Work on the handing. Ideally, the part is played with strict "on-the-ghosting" handing or what some people call "hand over hand"--a note is played with whatever hand happens to fall on the corresponding micro-pulse if you ghost all the 8th notes.)

You can play the same game with the 4/4 passport accompaniment. It also has three unused micro-pulses that can be filled with basses, resulting in eight different accompaniments.

Now, if you really want to stretch students, repeat the exercise, but put basses in the slots between the micro-pulses, starting to play with the 16th notes. That's a real eye-opener for many people...

Cheers,

Michi.

[Dugafola]

i slap a little bass...

[Carl]

Nice, what rhythm is the 36/8 part from?

One of the things I like about this way of thinking, is that it helps your student's creativity. Forces them outside the box a bit. I've shown my students how to add and subtract from parts (or solos) to come up with their own parts. Not sure how many of them use it though....

C

[michi]

i slap a little bass...

Nice one

Nice, what rhythm is the 36/8 part from?

No particular rhythm--Epizo did this an exercise at the beginning of a class.

Cheers,

Michi.

[Djembe-nerd]

And:


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1..2..3..4..

Not too sure, but that looks like an accomp for Sunguru Bani

[bubudi]

epizo is the king of warmup exercises i can remember the early days when he'd flog the class through 30 mins or more of warmup on difficult combinations. he lost some students this way but wasn't worried about it. as far as he was concerned, it separated those who wanted to progress from those who were simply there to passively pass an hour and a half in his class.

michi, would you be interested in sharing some other warmups from epizo and others in another thread? i could add the ones i remember. bangourake doesn't usually drill the class on exercises but he'd sometimes start with a short round of playing phrases on his drum and having the class repeat them...or try to

here's a few exercises with the basses that give you different dununba rhythm feels, based around the second accompaniment.

dunungbe sangban

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s . . s t t s . b s t t s . . s t t s . b s t t

dunungbe dununba

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s . . s t t s b b s b b s . . s t t s b b s b b

dununba kenkeni

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s . b s b b s . b s b b s . b s b b s . b s b b

konowulen

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s b . b t t s b b s b t s . . s t t s . . s b b

gbando

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s . . s t t s . b s b t s . . s t b s . b s b t

nantalomba sangban

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b . b s t b s . b s t t s . . s t b s . b s t t

common dununba pattern in dununba rhythms

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s b b s t t s b b s b b s b b s t t s . . s b b

dununba echauffement

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s b b s t t s b b s t t s b b s t t s b b s t t

[michi]

epizo is the king of warmup exercises i can remember the early days when he'd flog the class through 30 mins or more of warmup on difficult combinations.

Yeah, he's softened up since, just like Mohamed and Sibo

he lost some students this way but wasn't worried about it. as far as he was concerned, it separated those who wanted to progress from those who were simply there to passively pass an hour and a half in his class.

From a purist's perspective, I can see how that makes sense. Doesn't make a lot of sense though if you are trying to cover costs for the camp...

michi, would you be interested in sharing some other warmups from epizo and others in another thread?

Sure! The only problem is that I might not remember them. I guess I can dredge them out of the depths of my memory over time. (That's another issue with Epizo disallowing recorders--I'd love to go back to some of the fancy accompaniments and warm-ups he's done over the years.)

i could add the ones i remember.

Please do!

bangourake doesn't usually drill the class on exercises but he'd sometimes start with a short round of playing phrases on his drum and having the class repeat them...or try to

He did that last year at Bundagen. The phrase was the same that opens Fé 3 on Mamady's Volume 4 DVD. Here is a sound clip:

Fè 3 Excerpt.mp3

Fé 3 intro

(492.13 KiB) Downloaded 53 times

Here is the notation. "T" is a tone flam, and "S" is a slap flam. The flams are all played "lazy", that is, a little further spaced apart. If you listen to the sound clip, you get the idea.

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1..2..3..4..1..2..3..4..
T.S.s.Tt.S.sb..b..b..b.b

Be careful with the notation--it doesn't capture the swing...

here's a few exercises with the basses that give you different dununba rhythm feels, based around the second accompaniment.

[...]

konowulen

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s b . b t t s b b s b t s . . s t t s . . s b b

That one's a humdinger! I'll have to work on that one, thanks!

Cheers,

Michi.

[michi]

And:

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1..2..3..4..
sbts.bsbts.b

Not too sure, but that looks like an accomp for Sunguru Bani

I don't think so. The parts for Sunguru Bani that I know are:

Part 1:

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1..2..3..4..
bttbs.bttbs.

Part 2:

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1..2..3..4..
b.sbttb..sbtt

Part 3:

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1..2..3..4..
s.btt.s.btt.

These are from "How To Play Djembe" by Dworsky and Sansby.

Similar feel, but not the same as any of the warm-up exercises.

There is also a recording of Sunguri Bani (which is totally awesome) on "Mali Drums: Old Masters" track 10. (I highly recommend that CD--it's brilliant!) But that version of Sunguru Bani is a totally different rhythm. (That one is a 4/4.)

Cheers,

Michi.