Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Reading Rhythmic Notation
Another Syncopated Rhythm

Think of the phrase "I can stay OOO-ver night", accepting the "OOO" and letting it last longer than the words that precede it. Then "ver" is played on the same side that "OOO" was played on. By making "OOO" last longer, it is easy to play the "ver" on the same side.

You can download the KTabS file for this lesson,
but you will need KTabS to play it.

Looking at the first measure, the first two beats are sort of weighted to the right side. You start on the right, and the two left notes are played off the beats (i.e., on the "and" of the beat). However, "OOO" is accented on the left, followed by another note played on the left - so for this part of the measure, the power is on the left side. The measure ends with a note on the right again, so the right has the power at the end.

But just as the energy of the YIN flows into the energy of the YANG, measure two flips the power arrangement to be exactly backwards. We start and end on the left thumb. Measures 3 and 4 are the same as measures 1 and 2, but writen without the tie.