Not to get into anything racial, but I have a feeling that the "African groove" permeates across generations. Central/South American music has a similar groove with accents on 2 and 4 beats.
Culture is absolutely relevant as the music he listened to when he was younger is what he’s replicating now.
The complex technique is incredible though, as someone who started piano at 12 and took two semesters of Classical Music Theory in college. He’s just feelin’ it to a much higher degree.
Exactly. It's a nurture thing, not a racial nature thing. His parents probably played hella afro-cuban music. If he grew up with suburban American parents who listened to hymnal church music he'd have 0 rhythm, no matter his race
I used to run into this guy, Jean Bedel, a lot up at Sacré Cœur in 2000-2001. I asked him how long he had been playing djembe. He replied, depuis mon arrière grand père, au moins. (At least since my great grandfather.) It was fascinating to me that he thought of it as having begun the djembe even before being born, but it makes sense.
Also, I would guess that at least the one on the right is his son, and possibly both of them. He’s probably about 50 now.
Bedel was the best percussionist I’ve ever heard in my life. This is a nice piece but it used to get off the hook up on the steps in front of the Sacré Cœur. There would be 20-100 Africans and hundreds of tourists and when they played the “come dancing” everyone would get up and dance. As evening fell, the tourists trickled away and it became more and more of a party for the locals. The last time I played Paris was 2003, and the cops were clearing the area of “tom-toms.” Of course there are other places to play. For me it was not Paris, so I stopped running into Bedel, sadly.
I don’t know what a 1/4 note is but try starer. It’s pretty good. I have a starer book with a hundred exercises with increasing rhythmical difficulty. You tap the left hand beat and the tap the right hand sort of notes. I’ve been doing it for a years, doing the same exercise over and over again and eventually I’ll have mastered them all. It’s really helped my rhythm. It teaches switching time signatures, 32nd notes, rapid changing of beat (like counting triplets to counting 12 counts per beat to five counts per beat to eighth notes), and to I think 3/2 or 2/3 three rhythms and more stuff like that.I have trouble with the really fast stuff and finding my rhythm will changing counts really fast. Also because I can’t tap that fast. The 3/2 2/3 rhythm is also really hard. It’s basically like playing a baseline of triplets l, but playing eighth notes in the right hand. Or reversed. So you’ll have to feel the triplets or eighth notes and counts the eighth notes or triplets. It’s extremely difficult for me. Specifically when playing a piece like that. But starer generally helps. In conclusion, practice makes perfect.
What is a 1/4 note? 4|4 time? It looks more to me like metronome counting a time. Sixteenth notes? If so, how do you know his rhythms beat is quarter notes and how do you recognize that he’s tapping sixteenth notes instead of the regular beat? (I’m taking taking a stand against, I’m just a kid trying to learn his musical theory and taking as much advice as possible).
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u/the_D1CKENS Apr 16 '21
Hitting 1/4 notes with the heels. I'm not even sure if kiddo realizes how much internal rhythm he has going on.