Resultants

A resultant  is the sound created when two different rhythmic parts are played together. The African musician keeps in mind this resultant rhythm while playing, to insure that the parts interlock properly.

Eve Bell Pattern with Clap

The Eve people of West Africa often use nonsense syllables to remember a resultant rhythm. Here, the syllable dzi  (pronounced "jee") is used for the four hand claps, and the syllable GO  (pronounced "ga") is used for the bell. Where both parts coincide, the syllable is that of the clap. The Eve think of the resultant rhythm as ending on the first beat of the bell and therefore starting in the second note of the bell pattern. This brings up a principle in African music, which is the tendency for a second pattern to regard the first note of a background pattern as the place to end a phrase rather than to begin one. The African musician unifies his time with the last beat he plays rather than the first. This exercise was adapted for the World Wide Web from the book, Ancient Traditions--Future Possibilities by Matthew Montfort, Exercise V B-2, page 33.

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bell:
 
 
| GO  *   GO  *   GO  GO  *   GO  *   GO  *   GO  |
 
 
clap:
 
 
| dzi *   *   dzi *   *   dzi *   *   dzi *   *   |
 
 
resultant:
 
 
|(*)  *   GO  dzi GO  GO  dzi GO  *   dzi *   GO  |
 
 

				
				
				
				



												

 
 
|:GO  *   GO  *   GO  GO  *   GO  *   GO  *   GO :|GO				
 
 
 
 
 
|:dzi *   *   dzi *   *   dzi *   *   dzi *   *  :|dzi
 
 
 
 
 
|:dzi *   GO  dzi GO  GO  dzi GO  *   dzi *   GO :|dzi
 
 

				
				
				
				




																

In the above example, "*" stands for an eighth-note rest in 12/8 time, the syllables "GO" and "dzi" each stand for an eighth note, "|" stands for a bar line, and "|:" and ":|" are repeat signs.

The first "dzi" of the resultant pattern is left out of the first cycle, replaced in the notation by a rest in parenthesis. The resultant phrase does not start until the syllable "GO," ending on the first beat of the cycle, as follows:

GO dzi GO GO dzi GO * dzi * GO |dzi

Tap the bell part with the right hand while tapping the clap part with the left hand, and simultaneously recite the syllables, alternating between the syllables for the bell part, clap and resultant. The following chart may be helpful in visualizing your hand alternation:

 
 
 
R * R * R R * R * R * R
 
 
L * * L * * L * * L * *

Eve Bell Pattern MIDI File. This MIDI file is a performance of the bell pattern against the clap. Listen for each part separately.

 

Resultant Pattern MIDI File. This MIDI file is a performance of the resultant pattern created by the bell pattern and clap. Therefore, it does not start on the first beat of the cycle, for the reasons stated above.

 

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