Composition & Improvisation: Case Study: Part 22 of 24: Rhythmic Motives

piano-ology-composition-improvisation-case-study-rhythmic-motive-featured

Rhythm is an extremely powerful organizing force in music, oftentimes moreso than the pitches…

Here are two (of arguably an infinite number of) possibilities for your consideration…

It is crucial to think about and especially to feel these rhythm patterns within the context of the overall form, not just “beat by beat” or “measure by measure”. Remember: This is an 8-bar form with two 4-bar phrases, which can further be divided into two 2-bar sub-phrases. The idea is to commit to a rhythmic conception that spans an entire phrase, allowing your intuition, ears, and knowledge of scales and chords to fill in the details…

Rhythmic Motive Idea

Here’s a simple rhythmic motive “composed” by Frank…

piano-ology-composition-improvisation-case-study-rhythmic-motive-idea

Listen to Frank clap the meter as he scats the rhythm pattern…

A Possible Rendition

Here a possible rendition of the rhythm above using mostly chord tones. It is appropriate to think of this as simply “painting” the rhythm with chord tones…

piano-ology-composition-improvisation-case-study-rhythmic-motive-rendition

learn more… Composition & Improvisation: Case Study: Part 23 of 24: Add Introduction

2 responses to “Composition & Improvisation: Case Study: Part 22 of 24: Rhythmic Motives”

  1. paula graham Avatar
    paula graham

    Wonderful, I understand how it is built up from earlier lessons..sounds great…but..I am running before able to walk..as I am still struggling to work out the notes…back to learning the notes better.

    Reply
    1. Frank J Peter Avatar
      Frank J Peter

      Thanks for the positive feedback, Paula. Can you say more about “struggling to work out the notes”. In what sense? I really would like to help. : )

      Reply

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