Polyrhythms..

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::BLM::
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Polyrhythms..

Post by ::BLM:: »

Anyone fully understand and use these?

Can you recommend me a website that talks about these? Been looking into it, but i am really getting very confused.
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tone-def
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Post by tone-def »

this one's for Steevio
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Post by mrgreynoise »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyrhythm

A polyrhythm generally occurs when a basic pulse is grouped in two different ways. For example, let's say the basic pulse is the sixteenth note. You could accentuate every 4th sixteenth notes with a kick drum. Simultaneously, you could accentuate every 3rd sixteenth note with a clave. Now comes the tricky part, get this: in the time that you play 3 kick drums (12 sixteenth notes), you are also playing 4 claves (also 12 sixteenth notes). It is a 4:3 polyrhythm, 4 claves in the space of 3 kick drums.

This is the basic premise, there are many different flavors.
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Post by livecollective »

as a student of music, i must say when it comes to polyrhythmic music i believe you can teach yourself only so much, the theory behind it is fairly simple, its about whether you can feel it or not.


Some people can some people can't, you can always try to learn about the theory behind, but in the end it will come down to a point where you either can feel it naturally or its synthetic in the neurological sense.

look into african rhythm websites, they can teach you some very basic polyrhythms...
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Post by omnipresence »

I'm pretty sure there's a topic on this already. Even if you can't perform them I'd still recommend reading / learning as much as you can about polyrhythm and rhythmic devices in general.
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Post by oblioblioblio »

hmm, most of the terminology is pretty confusing to me.

to my brain it's just using patterns of different lengths and trying to work out the interactions between them. sometimes it's a mess and sometimes they play nice together.

we're lucky to have steevio posting here, as he makes very elegant use of polyrhythms in his tracks. sometimes obviously somtimes less so.

some good polytrhythmic tracks to my ears are;

Steevio - Beyondness, Ginkgo, Balance (basically anything from or after the Rogue Patterns series)
Holden - The Wheel
Mark August - Sylvia Saint
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Post by Atheory »

yeah loads of people use them without knowing. the theory is one thing but like someone said, the feeling is another.
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Post by oblioblioblio »

hmm, I think depending on your definition you could say that all music is polyrhythmic.

the usual techno thing of 2 against 4 is a polyrhthm if you're looking at it from a certain angle, and certainly the reason for it being such a widely used beat pattern is becuase it is a successusful interaction in the same way that, for exmaple, 3 against 4 is.

But I guess the term more often refers to a more intentional effort to combine unusual repeat ratios.

The thread about polyrhyms on this board is definitely worth reading (it tails off into various tangents at the end if I recall, but this is the internet after all).

And definitely it's worth listening to tunes made by people with a solid grasp and innovative passion for interesting rhythms, it's just it's a shame that there isn't that much around.

I think everyone can feel it, that's kind of the point of music in my opinion... whther you area motivated and passionate enough to try and develop a personal understanding (or lack of) is another.
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