Rhytym was never an issue with me as a singer, because I just know it; however, playing an instrument is somewhat different.
As a singer Rhythm feels like a usual thing or a second nature, but on instrument playing, I become more conscious of tapping and counting the beats, specially when there are no percussionist around.
4/4 is an easy thing to count because it is very common. 3/4 and 2/4 are a bit challenging as it does not sound the usual.
Playing with a metronome improved my timing in these signatures but on 6/8 it is kinda confusing.
I am confused on how to tap it and on how to count it. My brain counts it like a fast 3/4.. But my feet taps it like a 2/4… I’m having a hard time coordinating them.
Any help? Accented Jigs also adds confusion to me.
Books says that strong beats are on. 1 and 4 in 1-2-3-4-5-6…but counting it otherwise drives me nuts.
“Croc-a-dile croc-a-dile” doesn’t work for me. There’s too much time on the “dile”. Peter’s “carrots and cabbages” works much for me. It’s more of a jig rhythm. Mind you, nonsense words work best for me - “hoodle-dum tiddle-tum”.
That’s because ‘Alligator Crocodile’ (taken together) spells ‘reel’ (six quavers and a crotchet, with the last being the ‘dile’)… as demonstrated by (I think) Allan Henderson along with the ‘Carrots and Cabbages’ jig thing at a Feis (or Blas) visit to the school a number of years ago where the ad hoc band also included (if I remember right) Julie Fowlis, Gary Innes and Ross Martin (oh, yes, we get good stuff from time to time!) and used with my music classes ever since.
It’s either feast or famine. I often have to play old church music that was written without a meter or measures and I’m playing those songs on a guitar. Let me tell you, I give them a meter whether they want one or not.
Using words, somehow helped… Sort of a pneumonic device
I guess it is the left brain versus right brain thing, where right brain focuses on music and left brain focuses on order or counting order.
I’ve read that right brain is responsible for deciphering emotions and meaning on speech based on how words were said.
Counting 1-2-3-4 is like normal thing.
But doing A-lli-ga-tor… Emphasized the beats.
‘A’ like Apple and ‘ga’ like
Day, is a vowel and a diphthong that tends to be wide and dropped jaw when spoken, thus you consume/spend a lot of air when you ennunciate it, making it a bit louder. This somehow adds a beat emphasis on 1 and 3 on Alligator.
Same thing is true on ‘Kah’ with Carrots and Cabbages.
A kinda agree with Benhall on Crocodile..
‘Dile’ has a tongue stress on ‘d’ and a wide diphthong ‘ay’
(I am assuming you pronounce it like ‘die or why’
Disregard this part if you pronounce it like ‘bill or kill’.)
Carrots and Cabbages = six eighth notes with stress on 1 and 4. Useful for double jigs
Alligator Crocodile = Quarter - eighth, Quarter - eighth, Quarter - eighth, dotted quarter Useful for Slides and single jigs. OR
Alligator Crocodile = four eighths followed by two eighths and a quarter
My conclusion: I wouldn’t use Alligator Crocodile because the stresses can be heard differently depending on the speaker.
Then there’s always the “Pie Method”
Peach = quarter note (or dotted quarter as need be)
Apple = 2 eighths (or sometimes quarter eighth or swung eighths as needed. then written Ap-ple
Strawberry = 3 eighths
Huckleberry - 4 eighths
Put them together as you need.
Here’s one reel rhythm: huckleberry huckleberry huckleberry apple.
And one jig rhythm commonly found: Strawberry Strawberry Strawberry Ap-ple Strawberry Strawberry Strawberry Peach
Perhaps at this time of year one might substitute Mince for Peach
There’s an animal related version used in Mary Helen Richards teaching materials with things like “Phant, Phant, Elephant” or “Bird, Bird Tiny Bird” I’ve forgotten most of that approach though…
Alligator Crocodile = Quarter - eighth, Quarter - eighth, Quarter - eighth, dotted quarter Useful for Slides and single jigs.
Eh? (Would you really say it like that?)
OR
Alligator Crocodile = four eighths followed by two eighths and a quarter
Which is how Allan (?) gave it and what comes naturally to me.
Apple = 2 eighths (or sometimes quarter eighth or swung eighths as needed. then written Ap-ple
When you’re concerned about speaker-dependent stresses?
And one jig rhythm commonly found: Strawberry Strawberry Strawberry Ap-ple Strawberry Strawberry Strawberry Peach
See, I instinctively read your ‘Ap-ple’ as a duplet!
Where I’d probably just teach Diddledy Diddledy Diddledy Dum-de Diddledy Diddledy Diddledy Dum for that.
But then I’d make the distinction between generic ‘if you can say this along with the music it’s a…’ repeating phrases (eg ‘Carrots and Cabbages’ for jig) and teaching specific (jig) rhythms like that last Strawberry/Diddledy.
FWIW I read “Strawberry Strawberry Strawberry Ap-ple Strawberry Strawberry Strawberry Peach” as having a phrase ending on “Ap” but , without knowing it was suppsoed to be the same, would read “Diddledy Diddledy Diddledy Dum-de Diddledy Diddledy Diddledy Dum” with the phrase ending on “Dum-de” (despite coming later to a phrase end at “Dum”.)
Yes thanks. I think it shows though that these things have limitations.
It’s not what the OP was asking about but it was a long time after I found it helpful to think of 6/8 as “Diddledy Diddledy” that I realised that phrases often (usually ?) started and finished somewhere within that unit.
Using a metronome is very helpful in building strong rhythm.
When I’m working on jigs, particularly Highland pipe jigs, which nowadays are played in strict even timing, I just put the metronome on single click, and play the jig slowly so that there is a single click for each eighth-note, six clicks per bar. I suppose you could count it 1 2 3 4 5 6 but it’s just repeated identical clicks.
When I work it more up to speed I switch to playing just two clicks per bar. That’s the feel of jigs when played up to speed, that they’re in a compound 2/4 meter (two beats per bar, each beat subdivided by three). Slip jigs would be in compound 3/4 meter, three beats per bar, each subdivided by three.
A bar of 6/8 jig, when slowed down, has the same sound of two bars of a 3/4 waltz. In fact the Scottish piping tradition usually writes waltzes in 6/8.
I’ve done a large amount of studio work over the years, playing quasi-Irish tunes written by Hollywood composers. They nearly always write out their composed jig-like things in 4/4, with each of the four beats having a triplet marked; in other words they use half as many bar-lines as would be used in writing the same music out in 6/8. Goes to show that you can notate the same piece of music in several ways, all of them sounding identical when played.
