Project Proposal – Ildefons Alonso Valls PG2 Jazz Percussion – 27 April 2018

Exploring New Rhythmic Devices for Jazz

Improvisation & Composition
Central Motivations/Aims
I belive that Jazz is a conversation in three levels. First of all, the performers “speak” each
to other during his performance. The choice of material during ones improvisation has a
direct impact in the others in the band, ho are listening and reacting creating agreement or
contrast. In second place, the dialog occurs between the performers and the composition,
and somehow between the composer (very often one of the band members) and the
performers. The composition has to be seen as a set of rules where the performers can
move freely. Finally, there is a conversation with the public where the players are aware of
their spectators, so the final product of this improvisation is appealing and touching them.
The listeners not only enjoy the final product as it is, they also are aware of the
conversation happening in the stage that shouldn’t be intentionally too cryptic and
impossible to understand.

In this context, my aim is to explore the expressive possibilities of several rhythmic devices
that would be able to affect positively that dialog.

One of the main reasons to aim this is that my instrument is the drums, so my language is
mainly based on rhythm and meter. Also, as a western musician I’ve been thinking for long
time that rhythm language hasn’t been developed and systematised as much as harmony
has been. In other cultures the role of rhythm is much more complex, defined and, at the
end, carrier of the musical discourse.

Nowadays, expanding rhythmic possibilities of improvisation is a very common field in

jazz. Rhythm and meter has been the solid foundation for harmonic development during
almost 100 years of jazz and now it may have turned upside down.

My objectives
Find devices that provide:
-Set of rules that spurs performers to interact using several rhythmical devices.
-Exciting material to improvise on.
-Refreshing experience for the audiences.

Create a written and audio-visual material to show how:

-these devices work.
-they sound on drums and other role instruments in a common jazz context.
-is the rehearsal process of learning and discovering the possbilities of these devices
-they sound in a real performance situation.

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 Project Proposal – Ildefons Alonso Valls PG2 Jazz Percussion – 27 April 2018

Format of the final project

Written part —> Website
During several tutorial sessions has grown the need of using audiovisual support to
explain either the devices and the process of learning and rehearsing them. So finally I’ve
decided to present the written part of the project in a website that could allow text video
and graphics. So, I’ve made a rough sketch of how it should look like:
http://ramproj.ildefonsalonso.com

The index will be something like this:

1. Introduction
2. Conventions and general explanations
3. Devices
⁃ Odd subdivision of the beat
⁃ Yuxtapositions of subdivisions
⁃ MetricDuality
⁃ Metric Modulation
⁃ …
4. Conclusion
5. Apendix
⁃ Compositions
⁃ Exercices
Compositions
All this work is about music, so one of the most important part of my project is producing
a series of compositions that “make real” all this theories. It is very important to find ways
to practice and rehearse all this music, and that process will be intertwined with the
written part so that will become both, the lab for any device that has to be tested and the
final musical object of all this research.

Recording
A series of recordings of the pieces will be presented as a the final product, the fruit of all
this research.

Methods of investigation/developement
• Collect techniques researching among non-western music, expansion of known rules and
other composers material.
• Compose using these collected techniques.
• Test in several performing situations (small groups / bigger settings).
• Write and reflect about the experience.
• Refine compositions and performing approach.
• Produce the final recording of all this material.

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 Project Proposal – Ildefons Alonso Valls PG2 Jazz Percussion – 27 April 2018

A case: The odd subdivision of the beat

One way to affect rhythm and meter is modifying the way the beat is divided. In western
music mainly we divide the beat in 2 or 3 divisions. In this device the beat is divided in a 5
or 7 divisions. This provides a new set of time signatures and rhythmic figures.

“New”1 Time signatures

10/8, 15/8, 20/8
14/8, 21/8, 28/8
These time signatures would be 2, 3 and 4 beats divided either in 5 or 7 divisions.

“New” rhythmic figures

Using these time signatures all this rhythmic figures come to be the basic material of the
improvisational language.

In 5 divisions:

I 7 divisions:

How to practice it?

In order to be able to improvise in this context, we have to interiorise all this material.
There isn’t any common methodology in western music to do so. But there is one in the
Classical South Indian music. It is the called Konnakol, which through singing specific
syllables, the Solkattu, we can memorize and feel all these odd divisions.

1I’m aware that both the time signatures and the rhythmic figures are not new at all. There some music that
uses that material, but is not found very often in the mainstream either in jazz or classical music.

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 Project Proposal – Ildefons Alonso Valls PG2 Jazz Percussion – 27 April 2018

3 divisions --> ta ki da
4 divisions --> ta ke di mi
5 divisions --> ta di gi na ka
7 divisions --> ta ki da ta ke di mi / ta ke di mi ta ki da

It is very recommended to use the metronome to keep the beat. Also we can use any of the
nowadays very common apps that allow to divide the beat in odd numbers, play claves
within these subdivisions and mute randomly bits of it.

Another thing to take in account when practicing is that 5 or 7 divisions can have a
internal structure sometimes called “Clave”. Typically are based in grouping divisions in 2s
and 3s:
• 2-3 or 3-2 for the 5s
• 3-2-2, 2-2-3 for the 7s.

But also you can is very useful to observe internal structures formed by 2s and 1s. So:
For 5 divisions: 2 1 2
For 7 divisions: 2 1 2 2 or 2 2 2 1

This one gives you a more accurate grid to locate any note of the rhythmic figures above.
It is very useful (and difficult at the beginning) to sing one of these claves and clap
rhythmic figures.
Practicing this provide a strong feeling of the main beat and also and internal sense of
“onbeatness” and “offbeatnes” so any “2” is a strong division and the “1” are like pickups of
the strong divisions. Then, any note falling in a gap between 2s or in a 1 has a feeling of
“off beat” meanwhile any note falling in a “2” feels like a “beat”.2

How to write it?

One of the problems that could arise using this kind of rhythms is the notation. We
normally use Tupplets in order to explain that a beat should be subdivided in 3, 5 or 7 (9,
11 and so on…). But it is not very useful to write a whole piece in 5 divisions using tuplets,
so it gets very complicated both for the writer and the reader. That’s why I propose these
time signatures.

However, the beaming is crucial and has to be done in order to explain properly the
rhythmic concept. So in 10/8, 15/8 and 20/8 beaming will group 5 quavers as in 14/8, 21/8
28/8 will group 7 of them.

2This will be much better explained through music notation, graphics and video explanation.

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 Project Proposal – Ildefons Alonso Valls PG2 Jazz Percussion – 27 April 2018

How to play it?

Also when playing, the performers have to be “fair” on playing the rhythmical concept. It
happens that some musicians that I’ve played this, tried to stick to their known concepts.
So 10/8 would be equal to 5/4 and they try to play thinking a 5 crochet pulse instead of 2
beats of 5 divisions. That usually doesn’t work, basically because it sets reference points
that are not valid if the drummer is stating 2 strong beats in the bar.

Also, playing thinking in 5/4 dissolve and cancel any feeling of internal clave that the 2
beats of the 10/8 provide.