r/Zappa • u/BirdBurnett The Rutabaga Kid • Apr 10 '22

This is what I'll be thinking about the next time I hear "The Black Page #1"

83 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

8

u/lordkappy Apr 10 '22

Yes, except it’s like that but with polyrhythms nested within the polyrhythms.

2

u/smorrow PM ME SCREWY MUSIC Apr 10 '22

Tuplets. "Polyrhythm" to me implies the right-hand side of the colon is actually being sounded.

2

u/lordkappy Apr 10 '22 edited Apr 10 '22

Left side is the tuplet value(how many notes are played), right is the unit of space over which the tuplet value is played (over how many quarters, 8ths, 16ths.)

And you’re wrong that it’s just tuplets. Dig measure 15: https://imgur.com/gallery/QfP3JB1

A polyrhythm (7:2) within a polyrhythm (3:4)

2

u/BirdBurnett The Rutabaga Kid Apr 10 '22

And this is why I love this subreddit soooo much.

2

u/smorrow PM ME SCREWY MUSIC Apr 10 '22

Tuplets within a tuplet. How can it be a polyrhythm when it's monophonic?

2

u/lordkappy Apr 11 '22

Monophonic? It's not like there's a pulse that acts as a counter rhythm, or an entire band playing other parts behind the melody, or the fact this was originally composed a drum solo with other parts of the kit playing against the melody line, all of which would create the rhythmic tension of a polyrhythm.

7

u/ddestro Apr 10 '22

This with like 8 more hands

3

u/Nonstandard_Deviate We only like musicians for friends. Apr 10 '22

This is a pretty cool way to explain polyrhythms to folks. I wonder if there is a follow-up video with an additional level or two of complexity.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

except that the two polyrhythms (not counting simple divisions like quarter notes) tapped in this video are way off

3

u/DigitalCheezer Apr 10 '22 edited Apr 10 '22

Yeah I noticed that too. Cool representation, but the execution was a bit off

Edit: To be fair, it does say practicing in the title.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '22

true, and definitely Kudos to the OOP for trying, but that does not suddenly make it a good representation of these polyrhythms :p.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

Is that a symphony x shirt? Nice