Hello
I am looking at the 6/8 notation from stick control page 27, I don't really have a clue how to count these notes currently.
Ok I need to educate myself about the 6/8 notation but it can take some time and watching extremely boring Youtube videos. I just want to practice the pages of the book right now. Is there a quick bypass just to go fast on so I can resume the pads?
I don't understand what the hell is it..
Exercise #1, there is a triplet and a 16th note triplet but it's a signature of 6/8
Exercise #2 I have the multiple bounce roll but they call it a 7 stroke closed roll with LRL
Exercise #3 there a 16th note with a 8 over it.. the next page there is one with a 10 and I think I've seen 11 too.
I don't know what to do with this right now.
Bear with me, this is a bit long... The 6/8 time signature literally indicates 6 numbered counts per measure, with those counts assigned to 8th notes (despite that there are only 6 of them per bar; it's just referencing what type of note... umm, shape (?), gets assigned the number counts. That means you count the 8ths 1-2-3-4-5-6, and sixteenths 1-&-2-&-3-&-4-&-5-&-6-&.
So, to your question, the correct counting for the exercises are:
1- First two measures, 1 2 3 4&5&6&. Second two measures, since you're playing a roll in the second half of them rather than single strokes, you can continue to count the hand movements rather than the literal notes, leaving the count at 1 2 3 4 5 6, and making sure you double-stroke or buzz roll on 4 5 6. Or, you can count those rolls with the literal note value of the dotted quarter (three 8th notes, in any time sig), leaving the count as (and I'm typing it like I'd say it), "1 2 3 fooouuur, 1 2 3 fooouuur", drawing the "fooouuur" out through counts 5 and 6, all the way to the 1 of the next measure.
2- Same as the
second half of the first exercise, except, it'd be awkward to count hand movements there because, even though it's the same written rhythm, there's more hand movements in a 9 stroke roll as there is in a 7 stroke. (Exercises 2 and 3 should be flipped.) So, I would still count it "1 2 3 fooouuur", doing the correct type of roll to fill counts 4, 5, and 6 (more hand movements than counts). In 2/4, it would be written the same way but with a little "3" above the set of 8th notes.
3- Ok, this is weird... Same as the
first half of the first exercise, except with a set of eight single stroke 16th notes in the space reserved (per the 6/8 time sig) for only six. This makes the count very awkward- 1 2 3 4e&a5e&a. You would count that latter part in the duple meter that the "8" indicates, but squeeze it into the 4&5&6& space of the latter half of the measure, and saying/thinking that is very convoluted when in a triple meter. So, I suggest learning the count just to
understand it, but when playing it, feel it like it's written in 2/4 and switching from a triplet to a set of 32nd notes. The set of eight 16th notes has to have the little "8" above it to tell you to squeeze those eight notes in the space that, in 6/8, is designated for six of them- opposite of how triplets are notated in 2/4, 4/4, etc. When putting triplets in a duple time sig, it requires the "3" (sometimes a "6" if it's a sextuplet)- this is familiar to most of us- and when putting duples/quads/etc in a triple sig (which 6/8 is), it requires a 4, 8, etc- much less common. If this was written in 2/4, there would be a "3" above the set of eights notes, and the sixteenths would be thirty-seconds with no "8" above them.
All that said, with the groupings of notes in three and six, a 2/4 triplet feel is
implied- but still technically not counted that way. 6/8 was chosen to simply not have to put little 3's over every grouping (more on that below).
6/8 is a two-beat measure and should be counted in two, not in six.
I would advise to count | 1 and a 2 and a |
There is nothing complicated in doing it that way, and that's the right way to do it.
No offense, Alain- technically, not true. It's often
felt like a two-beat measure, but the 6/8 time sig literally indicates it's counted in six beats, hence the 6/8 designation (six total beat counts, assigned to notated 8th notes). "1 and a 2 and a" is one way to count 8th note triplets in 2/4. Yes, they can be interpreted the same, esp. when a piece of sheet music like this one groups three 8th notes (or six 16th notes) together with the note beams, and in that case, it's a way of notating the triplets-in-2/4 or 4/4
feel without having to put little 3's all over the page. But this isn't the rule, as there is plenty of 6/8 pieces that do
not have a triplet feel. In those cases, the 8th notes are usually grouped by their note beams in pairs (a measure full would look just like "1& 2& 3&" from a measure of 3/4) rather than threes. The time sig indicates how it's counted, not the feel, but if the player sees that there is an intended triplet feel due to groupings of three, then it can be played that way. But saying that makes the counts change is completely incorrect.
Remember: the eighth notes in 6/8 are not triplets, they are just regular eighth notes. The same applies for the sixteenth notes.
This is true, even when grouped in threes with the note beams, which is exactly why they're technically not
counted like triplets.