Bell pattern
Encyclopedia
A bell pattern is a rhythm
ic pattern, often a key pattern (also known as guide-pattern, timeline pattern or phrasing referent), performed on metal bells
such as an agogô
, gankoqui
, cowbell or similar percussion instruments such as the metal shell of the timbales
or drum kit
cymbal
.
. The spread of the African bell patterns is probably similarly linked.
The standard pattern is expressed in both a triple-pulse (12/8 or 6/8, thus known as the 6/8 bell pattern by some North American drummers) and duple-pulse (4/4 or 2/2) structure.
The standard pattern has strokes on: 1, 1a, 2& 2a, 3&, 4, 4a.
12/8:
1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a ||
X . X . X X . X . X . X ||
4/4:
1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a ||
X . . X . . X X . . X . X . . X ||
The standard bell pattern may also be represented as follows with the above being a variant substituting eighth and quarter notes for the dotted-quarter notes in the example below :
The example above is notated
with the notes sustained between each interonset interval
, thus only quarter and dotted-quarter notes rather than only eighth notes and eighth rests.
Bell patterns 1 and 2 are considered by A. M. Jones to be the two simplified forms of the standard pattern. Pattern 2 is one of the four main variants created through rotating through and beginning on a different stroke of the all quarter and dotted quarter note pattern of the last section. Pattern 3 is another variant of the standard pattern. Pattern 4 is a bell pattern used by the Hausa people
of Nigeria
.
bata drum in Benin
. Pattern 2 is used by the Yourba and Ibo people of Nigeria. Pattern 3 is the bell part in fufume (Ghana
). Pattern 4 is used by the Ga people
(Ghana) for the rhythm gahu. Pattern 4 is a bell part in the Ghanaian rhythm kpanlogo.
Patterns 2 and 3 are known in Cuba as rumba clave and son clave (rhythm)
respectively.
A common variant has two additional strokes.
In some rhythms the bell just plays offbeats.
In Cuba the three-stroke and the five-stroke patterns are known as tresillo and cinquillo respectively.
): sabalú, egbado; "Haitiano" (Fon, Yoruba): vodú-radá, yanvalú, nagó; the rumba
form columbia.
Pattern 1 is son clave, usually played on wooden claves. Pattern 2 is the baqueteo, the key pattern used in danzón
and the first expression of clave in written music. The baqueteo consists of the son clave strokes, plus four additional strokes. Not technically a bell pattern, the baqueteo is played on the güiro
and on the heads of the timbales. The slashed noteheads are muted tones and the regular noteheads are open tones.
In the 1940s the cowbell was added to the timbales in the first danzón-mambos of the charanga
orchestras. Arcaño y sus Maravillas introduced this development. Later multiple cowbells, a cymbal and sometimes a woodblock
was added to the timbales setup.
During that same era, the bongo player began regularly playing a large hand-held cowbell during the montuno
section in son groups. This bongo bell role was introduced in the son conjunto of Arsenio Rodríguez
. Pattern 5 is the basic bongo bell pattern.
and his Afro-Cubans was the first band to employ the triumvirate of congas, bongos and timbales, the standard battery of percussion used in contemporary salsa (music). In the montuno section the bongo bell and the timbale bell parts are sounded simultaneously in a contrapuntal interplay.
In the 1970s José Luis Quintana "Changuito" developed the technique of simultaneously playing timbale and bongo bell parts when he held the timbales chair in the songo music
band Los Van Van
. The example below shows the combined bell patterns (written in a 2-3 clave (rhythm)
sequence).
Bell pattern 1 is used in maculelê (dance)
and some Candomblé
and Macumba
rhythms. Pattern 1 is known in Cuba as son clave. Bell 2 is used in afoxê
and can be thought of as pattern 1 embellished with four additional strokes. Bell 3 is used in batucada
. Pattern 4 is the maracatu
bell and can be thought of as pattern 1 embellished with four additional strokes.
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
ic pattern, often a key pattern (also known as guide-pattern, timeline pattern or phrasing referent), performed on metal bells
Bell (instrument)
A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
such as an agogô
Agogô
An agogô is a single or multiple bell now used throughout the world but with origins in traditional Yoruba music and also in the samba baterias . The agogô may be the oldest samba instrument and was based on West African Yoruba single or double bells...
, gankoqui
Gankoqui
The Gankoqui is popularly referred to as gakpevi and is a popular West African musical instrument, usually made of iron...
, cowbell or similar percussion instruments such as the metal shell of the timbales
Timbales
Timbales are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing, invented in Cuba. They are shallower in shape than single-headed tom-toms, and usually much higher tuned...
or drum kit
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
cymbal
Cymbal
Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
.
sub-Saharan African music
The use of iron bells (gongs) in sub-Saharan African music is linked to the early iron-making technology spread by the great Bantu migrationsBantu expansion
The Bantu expansion or the Bantu Migration was a millennia-long series of migrations of speakers of the original proto-Bantu language group...
. The spread of the African bell patterns is probably similarly linked.
The standard pattern
The most commonly used key pattern in sub-Saharan Africa is the seven-stroke figure known in ethnomusicology as the standard pattern.The standard pattern is expressed in both a triple-pulse (12/8 or 6/8, thus known as the 6/8 bell pattern by some North American drummers) and duple-pulse (4/4 or 2/2) structure.
The standard pattern has strokes on: 1, 1a, 2& 2a, 3&, 4, 4a.
12/8:
1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a ||
X . X . X X . X . X . X ||
4/4:
1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a ||
X . . X . . X X . . X . X . . X ||
The standard bell pattern may also be represented as follows with the above being a variant substituting eighth and quarter notes for the dotted-quarter notes in the example below :
The example above is notated
Musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
with the notes sustained between each interonset interval
Interonset interval
In music the interonset interval or IOI is the time between the beginnings or attack-points of successive events or notes, the interval between onsets, not including the duration of the events. For example, two sixteenth notes separated by dotted eighth rest would have the same interonset interval...
, thus only quarter and dotted-quarter notes rather than only eighth notes and eighth rests.
12/8 bell patterns
There are many different triple-pulse bell patterns found in sub-Saharan Africa. These are but a small sample.Bell patterns 1 and 2 are considered by A. M. Jones to be the two simplified forms of the standard pattern. Pattern 2 is one of the four main variants created through rotating through and beginning on a different stroke of the all quarter and dotted quarter note pattern of the last section. Pattern 3 is another variant of the standard pattern. Pattern 4 is a bell pattern used by the Hausa people
Hausa people
The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...
of Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
.
4/4 bell patterns
Pattern 1 (4/4 standard pattern) is played on the head of a small YorubaYoruba music
The music of the Yoruba people of Nigeria is best known for an extremely advanced drumming tradition, especially using the dundun hourglass tension drums. Yoruba folk music became perhaps the most prominent kind of West African music in Afro-Latin and Caribbean musical styles...
bata drum in Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
. Pattern 2 is used by the Yourba and Ibo people of Nigeria. Pattern 3 is the bell part in fufume (Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
). Pattern 4 is used by the Ga people
Ga people
The Ga-Adangbe are an ethnic group in the West African nation of Ghana. It is part of the Dangme ethnic group. The Ga people are grouped as part of theGa–Dangme ethnolinguistic group. They speak Kwa languages...
(Ghana) for the rhythm gahu. Pattern 4 is a bell part in the Ghanaian rhythm kpanlogo.
Patterns 2 and 3 are known in Cuba as rumba clave and son clave (rhythm)
Clave (rhythm)
The clave rhythmic pattern is used as a tool for temporal organization in Afro-Cuban music, such as rumba, conga de comparsa, son, son montuno, mambo, salsa, Latin jazz, songo and timba. The five-stroke clave pattern represents the structural core of many Afro-Cuban rhythms...
respectively.
Single-celled bell patterns
Some bell patterns are single-celled and therefore, not key patterns. A single-celled pattern cycles over two main beats, while a two-celled key pattern cycles over four main beats. The most basic single-celled pattern in duple-pulse structure consists of three strokes.A common variant has two additional strokes.
In some rhythms the bell just plays offbeats.
In Cuba the three-stroke and the five-stroke patterns are known as tresillo and cinquillo respectively.
The standard pattern
The method of constructing iron bells in Cuba is identical to how it is done in Africa. Not surprising, many African bell patterns are played in Cuba as well. The standard pattern is the most widely used bell pattern in Cuba. Some of the Afro-Cuban rhythms that use the standard pattern are: Congolese (Bantu): palo, triallo; Lucumí (Yoruba): iyesá (12/8 form), bembé, agbe; Arará (FonFon people
The Fon people, or Fon nu, are a major West African ethnic and linguistic group in the country of Benin, and southwest Nigeria, made up of more than 3,500,000 people. The Fon language is the main language spoken in Southern Benin, and is a member of the Gbe language group...
): sabalú, egbado; "Haitiano" (Fon, Yoruba): vodú-radá, yanvalú, nagó; the rumba
Rumba
Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance that originated in Cuba as a combination of the musical traditions of Africans brought to Cuba as slaves and Spanish colonizers. The name derives from the Cuban Spanish word rumbo which means "party" or "spree". It is secular, with no...
form columbia.
4/4 Cuban bell patterns
A variety of Cuban 4/4 bell patterns have spread worldwide due to the global success of Cuban-based popular music.Pattern 1 is son clave, usually played on wooden claves. Pattern 2 is the baqueteo, the key pattern used in danzón
Danzón
Danzón is the official dance of Cuba. It is also an active musical form in Mexico and is still beloved in Puerto Rico where Verdeluz, a modern danzón by Puerto Rican composer Antonio Cabán Vale is considered the unofficial national anthem...
and the first expression of clave in written music. The baqueteo consists of the son clave strokes, plus four additional strokes. Not technically a bell pattern, the baqueteo is played on the güiro
Güiro
The güiro is a Latin-American percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound. The güiro is commonly used in Latin-American music, and plays a key role...
and on the heads of the timbales. The slashed noteheads are muted tones and the regular noteheads are open tones.
In the 1940s the cowbell was added to the timbales in the first danzón-mambos of the charanga
Charanga
Charanga is a term given to traditional ensembles of Cuban dance music. They made Cuban dance music popular in the 1940s and their music consisted of heavily son-influenced material, performed on European instruments such as violin and flute by a Charanga orchestra....
orchestras. Arcaño y sus Maravillas introduced this development. Later multiple cowbells, a cymbal and sometimes a woodblock
Wood block
A woodblock is essentially a small piece of slit drum made from a single piece of wood and used as a percussion instrument. It is struck with a stick, making a characteristically percussive sound....
was added to the timbales setup.
During that same era, the bongo player began regularly playing a large hand-held cowbell during the montuno
Montuno
Montuno has several meanings pertaining to Cuban music and its derivatives. Literally, montuno means 'comes from the mountain', and so Son montuno may refer to the older type of son played in the mountainous rural areas of Oriente...
section in son groups. This bongo bell role was introduced in the son conjunto of Arsenio Rodríguez
Arsenio Rodríguez
Arsenio Rodríguez was a Cuban musician who played the tres , reorganized the conjunto and developed the son montuno, and other Afro-Cuban rhythms in the 1940s and 50s...
. Pattern 5 is the basic bongo bell pattern.
Timbale bell and bongo bell interplay
Patterns 3 and 4 are timbale bell parts that were introduced in mambo big bands. During the early 1940s MachitoMachito
Machito , born as Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, was an influential Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music...
and his Afro-Cubans was the first band to employ the triumvirate of congas, bongos and timbales, the standard battery of percussion used in contemporary salsa (music). In the montuno section the bongo bell and the timbale bell parts are sounded simultaneously in a contrapuntal interplay.
In the 1970s José Luis Quintana "Changuito" developed the technique of simultaneously playing timbale and bongo bell parts when he held the timbales chair in the songo music
Songo music
Songo is a type of Cuban music originating in Havana which combines elements from the rumba, son Cubano, and other contemporary afro-American styles like jazz and funk...
band Los Van Van
Los Van Van
Los Van Van is a Cuban band led by bassist Juan Formell, it is one of the most recognized post-revolution Cuban bands, while Juan Formell has arguably become the most important figure in contemporary Cuban music....
. The example below shows the combined bell patterns (written in a 2-3 clave (rhythm)
Clave (rhythm)
The clave rhythmic pattern is used as a tool for temporal organization in Afro-Cuban music, such as rumba, conga de comparsa, son, son montuno, mambo, salsa, Latin jazz, songo and timba. The five-stroke clave pattern represents the structural core of many Afro-Cuban rhythms...
sequence).
Afro-Brazilian music
Afro-Brazilian music uses a variety of bell patterns, many of which are different than the patterns used in Cuba.Bell pattern 1 is used in maculelê (dance)
Maculelê (dance)
thumb|Maculele in New York.Maculelê is an Afro Brazilian dance where a number of people gather in a circle called a roda....
and some Candomblé
Candomblé
Candomblé is an African-originated or Afro-Brazilian religion, practised chiefly in Brazil by the "povo de santo" . It originated in the cities of Salvador, the capital of Bahia and Cachoeira, at the time one of the main commercial crossroads for the distribution of products and slave trade to...
and Macumba
Macumba
Macumba is a word of African origins. Various explanations of its meaning include "a musical instrument", the name of a Central African deity, and simply "magic". It was the name used for all Bantu religious practices mainly in Bahia Afro-Brazilian in the 19th Century...
rhythms. Pattern 1 is known in Cuba as son clave. Bell 2 is used in afoxê
Afoxê
Afoxê is an Afro Brazilian genre of music and it is a traditional rhythm of Pernambuco. It is a secular manifestation of candomblé which utilizes a rhythm known as "ijexá". The biggest and best-known afoxé is the Filhos de Gandhy, located in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.-External links:*...
and can be thought of as pattern 1 embellished with four additional strokes. Bell 3 is used in batucada
Batucada
Batucada is a substyle of samba and refers to an African influenced Brazilian percussive style, usually performed by an ensemble, known as a Bateria...
. Pattern 4 is the maracatu
Maracatu
Maracatu is a term common to two distinct performance genres found in Pernambuco state in northeastern Brazil: maracatu de nação and maracatu rural . A third style, maracatu cearense , is found in Fortaleza, in the northeastern state of Ceará...
bell and can be thought of as pattern 1 embellished with four additional strokes.
External links
- "Vol. 1 Sample Excerpt: The Standard Bell Pattern", UnlockingClave.com.