Five Finger Discount - The Unteaching of Odd Meters

One of the questions that burn in my mind is why aren't more songs in 5? or 7? or 9? or a mixture of various meters? Why do we get stuck on 4 in this culture? Well, part of it is that its simply not taught, and can be discouraged.
A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to take and electronic music class at the local community college, LACC. Prior to that, I have never even stepped foot into a CC and quite frankly I am glad parents were avidly against it in my early years. Anyways, there I met Michelle, a budding songwriter/piano player who told me that she was writing all of her songs in 5. No way, really? Why I asked her? She stated that it was because she had five fingers and thats the way it came out. Sounds logical to me, but our teacher (no names here), said don't do that all pop songs are in 4. Hummmmmm, crush that creativity.
Many schools seem to be like this. At Berklee in the 4 years I attended, odd meters were only mentioned in Conducting class an my Progressive music elective. Also, an instructor at GIT, had mentioned that they don't really teach or encourage meter exploratoin there too. Well CC or no CC, this may contribute to the attachment to four. But there are two great teachers that I know of that were bringing odd meter education forth, helping us to expand our rhythmic approaches. I am sure there are more out there, but the two I know of now is Don Ellis and Hank Levy. Both have instructional manuals that I am going to go through and surely babble more about.

Well, we've got five fingers for a reason, well actually ten, and some have thirteen - lets use em ALL!

Thirteen Fingers,
-BetZe13
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The New Rhythm Book - Don Ellis

So I finally got my hands on this long lost 'manual' aka work of brilliance. I'm so infatuated with Don Ellis I can't help it and yes he would be my 80 yr old husband if he were still alive, but he's not.

This book wants you to play odd meters with ease. Mr. Ellis found that trying to teach his band odd meters was challenging no matter the proficiency of the musician. This is how this book was born. It covers: Historical Background, Basic & Advanced Concepts, Indian Ways of Learning New Meters, Balkan Meters and more. I will be taking these concepts and approaches step by step and report on it. But I can tell you so far the Indian way of counting is uncomfortable to me - I prefer conducting, but more on that later.

Ta Ka Di Mi, Ta Ka, Ta Ka, Ta Ki Ta, Ta Ka,
-BetZe13
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2+2=5 Music Minus One - Review

2 + 2 = 5
A Study in Odd Times by Hank Levy
Published by: Music Minus One

Its time to –
Improve your Big Band 70s style odd time skills with the Hank Levy Towson State College Jazz Ensemble

Music Minus One is a teaching concept that is designed to be applied directly to real musical situations. In case you are not familiar with this concept, the first step is to learn the music by playing along with the full recording, then on the next CD, your part is silenced and you take the stage. In this case, I am not sure of how many musicians find themselves faced with odd time charts in a big band/ensemble situations, although I wish there were more. But, for the rest of us, this manual has the potential to help you feel the particular grooves and maybe in a way that you haven’t before.

This manual was first published in 1975 and re-released w/CDs in 2001 preserved with the funky 70s 2-color state university band ensemble feel. It is available for alto sax, trumpet, piano or bass and contains 2 CDs and 24 pages of notated (bass) parts (no no no tab here, this is serious jazz) of six compositions, 5 in odd time, and one in cut time. All of the pieces are composed by Hank Levy and performed by the Towson State University Ensemble, where he was a Professor. Compositions in odd time is a trademark of his and he is the author of “A Time Revolution”, a textbook about the exotic meter concept.

Here are the tracks:

Bob City Revisited – 7/4
Poopsie’s Penthouse - 11/4
A Quiet Friday – 5/4
Pete Is A Four-Letter Word - 7/2
Bread & Watrous – Cut Time - fast Samba
(4/4 cut in half - ? that’s not ODD)
Stillness Runs Deep – 11/4

It was cool to play along with these compositions even after being reluctant at first, due to the school like feeling. I had the most fun with the bass solo in “Pete Is A Four Letter Word”. But, it is still a mystery to me, with all the meters to pick from, why they chose to include cut time – it certainly didn’t feel like odd time.

As for educational value, the meters are a basic start to getting the feels into your groove memory. They safely stick to one meter per song and keep in the quarter (half) note groove. Even if you are quite proficient in playing in odd times, this has the possible potential to get you out of a creative rut if you happen to be in one. Also it is beneficial, when your part drops out, to hear loud and clear any mishaps or un-grooving going on that’s nobody’s fault but…. This will further prepare you for real life odd time playing with real players. So, if you feel like hearing what you might sound like in 11/4, 5/4 etc and/or sharpening your big band quarter note odd time feels and/or coming at your creativity from another direction give it a try. These tracks won’t make you meshuggah but have you safely on your way to odd-dom.

Your Oddness,
Countess B
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