- Fri Apr 16, 2010 11:04 am
#12648
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:
Then show them the following 36/8 part, which incorporates some of these ideas. (I learned that part from Epizo three years ago.)
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.

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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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:1..2..3..4..
s.ts..s.ts..
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Now play it like this instead, putting the bass at the other end:1..2..3..4..
s.ts.bs.ts.b
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The final way to add a single bass is to squeeze it in between the tone and slap:1..2..3..4..
s.tsb.s.tsb.
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That's all possible ways to add a single bass. Now work on the three possible ways of adding two basses:1..2..3..4..
sbts..sbts..
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And:1..2..3..4..
sbtsb.sbtsb.
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And the third one:1..2..3..4..
sbts.bsbts.b
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Finally, fill all three spare slots with basses:1..2..3..4..
s.tsbbs.tsbb
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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.1..2..3..4..
sbtsbbsbtsbb
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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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.)1..2..3..4..1..2..3..4..1..2..3..4..
bssbttsttsb.s.tsb.sttsb.s.tsb.sttsb.
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.
Last edited by michi on Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.