Rhythm Improv Games (with Jeffrey Agrell)

Welcome to this episode, where I’ll be sharing a segment from one of my favorite masterclasses we’ve done in recent months at Musical U. Yesterday, I shared our mini interview with Jeffrey Agrell, author of improv Games for Classical Musicians, as well as a whole host of other books on improvising games.

And I got some really great comments afterwards. You guys enjoyed his perspective as much as I did, and it really, it’s refreshing, I think, particularly from a classical French horn play, to hear that approach to creativity and that inclusive, vibrant music making he provides such a great gateway for. I didn’t want to be too much of a tease with it, though, because it was shot just before our masterclass. And if you’re not a member of Musical U, if you are, you’ve got access to that whole masterclass replay, go and dive in. If you’re not yet a member, then you might have felt a bit left out to not get to join the masterclass immediately afterwards. So I wanted to come back today with a little excerpt from that masterclass, which was entitled “Exploring Rhythmic Improv”.

And I was really pleased that Jeffrey was up for this. And as he talked about in the masterclass, rhythm was a particular focus for him for quite a long period. But it’s funny, we just had our masterclass this past weekend with drummer Dave Smith, also on the topic of rhythm.

And I was talking in my introduction to that masterclass about how rhythm is so often neglected in our music learning. And we get good at, you know, playing the dots on the page according to the “right” rhythms. But in terms of developing your sense of the pulse and your rhythmic accuracy and your groove and your creativity with rhythm, it’s often kind of the neglected child beside pitch.

And certainly for ear training, for a long time, I didn’t do any rhythm ear training. I was really focused on identifying the notes and the chords and what are the pitches being used. And even when we started Musical U, we did have rhythm training modules, but much fewer than we had pitch modules.

And it was only really with the Living Music program that we really embraced helping our members develop their sense of rhythm. And now, in the last year or two inside Next Level, we’ve taken that to a whole next level. We’ve developed a much richer curriculum and approach to bringing out those rhythm skills.

And so rhythm… one way I like to put it is that it’s relatively easy to get okay at rhythm. So if we think about recognizing notes or chords by ear, the pitch side can take a lot of work. But if I asked you to clap back, a rhythm [DEMO]

Most people, even without musical training, can do that immediately, instinctively. And so the rhythm side, it feels like it comes more easily. But what I like to say is that it’s often the secret between an okay or a good enough musician and someone who just has that intangible, higher ability level.

Like, it can set apart a really great musician. And you don’t realize that’s what’s going on a lot of the time. I’ve really noticed this with live performances where, you know, the band or the orchestra might be playing all the right notes.

They might even be getting the rhythms correct. But the difference between an okay performance and a really compelling performance that just grips you, it’s often on the rhythm side of things.

And so this is just, that’s just like a little motivator for you. If you haven’t thought a lot about rhythm or the idea of rhythmic improv doesn’t really resonate, just keep in mind that your rhythm skills might be lagging way behind your pitch skills. And even if you’re okay, even if you’re getting the rhythms right, as it were, leveling up your rhythmic chops can go a really long way to making you stand out as a musician and really tighten up how you perform, how you express yourself and the creative opportunities available for you. So that was why I was so pleased Jeffrey was up for doing a rhythmic focused improv games masterclass.

In the section I’ve pulled out, Jeffrey is going to introduce kind of a rhythm vocabulary. He’s going to show you different ways to play accented notes in different combinations, and then invite you to explore and experiment and improvise using those little bits of vocab. I thought it was a really neat way to get you playing around with rhythm in a simple way to begin with, a way that anyone can participate in and doesn’t need any special equipment or even your instrument.

So I hope you’re going to enjoy this. If you’re listening to the audio only on the podcast, you won’t be able to see the patterns he’s referring to that he was showing on screen. But don’t worry, if you pay attention to what he says, you’ll still be able to follow along perfectly fine.

One quick note. The microphone on the drums was a bit hot to begin with, so that sounds a little bit crunchy. I apologize for that. It did get resolved pretty quick, so just bear with it if it feels a bit crunchy to you, and it’ll be fine.

Jeffrey is going to run through some exercises, and he’s going to leave a pause for you to try it out yourself. If you need to and you’re watching the replay recording, feel free to pause the replay and give yourself a bit more time or otherwise.

Just definitely take a bit of time after watching this to play around with these ideas, these patterns, these different ways to be creative with rhythm and with accents and with different combinations. And you’ll find it really adds a whole new toolkit for you in your improvising, in your creativity and in your music making. And like Jeffrey talked about in yesterday’s interview, these ideas are also things you can bring to any piece you’re working on.

So he talked about taking, you know, even Mary had a little lamb and switching up all the rhythms. What you’re going to hear from him in just a moment is a really great way to start exploring and experimenting with that. So hope you’re going to enjoy.

I’m going to be joining in myself as we watch. Let’s go.

———

I got a bunch of instruments there.

I got a djembe and I got a conga drum and I got bongos and a bodhran and talking drum. And I tried all of those out, uh, just, just for fun. Um, you don’t necessarily have to do that.

You don’t have to buy those. I highly recommend that you do. They’re not that expensive.

Get a djembe. It’s also very therapeutic. Man, you had a hard day at the office or you, if you’re retired, doesn’t matter. You had a hard day taking naps and walking the dog. Doesn’t matter. Get a drum.

You know, your, your spouse is annoying. Get a drum. Go on there and, and just, just lose yourself in the drum for 15 minutes.

I’m going to give you some vocabulary in a minute. But you can really play anything you want. But you can use anything you got.

You’re all going to be drumming today a little bit. So if you have something around you can do, that can be the desk you’re on. It can be a book. Dogs love it if you lightly tap them. They just love the attention. Go ahead and use your dog as your drum, a pillow.

Cardboard boxes make terrific drum sets. You can get sticks and use those on cardboard boxes. Doesn’t matter, anything.

Just get something. Now, a word about your feet. In classical music, you are told, don’t you know you’re playing in, say, a chamber music group or whatever? Don’t tap your feet.

We can see it from the audience. Don’t move. Just take a breath and play your instrument.

Or whatever it is. Okay. In this new realm of rhythm, I want you to tap them.

I want you to move every part of your body you can possibly move. I want you to sway, I want you to tap. I want you to do anything.

We are trained in classical music to suppress body movement, body feelings. With that, do not suppress it. Don’t restrict it.

Feel it, move it, groove it, move everything you got. Okay? Dance with your instrument. Now, don’t do this thing of not moving.

I mean, I’m a great bad example of that. I played the horn for years and didn’t move a muscle. I just sat there like a marble statue.

It was really pathetic. So anyway, so has everybody got something they can use as a noisemaker, as a percussion instrument? All right, I’m going to get my conga drum here, and we are going to do some rhythm boot camp here. Rhythm 101.

All right, so what we’re going to do, acquiring our basic vocabulary. Everybody has a dominant hand and a non dominant hand, right? In these charts here, I’m designating the right hand as a dominant hand. If you’re left handed, switch that around.

Use your left hand where it says r there. Okay, so first thing we’re going to do is just get a nice, steady beat going so I can’t hear you, which is good because we’d probably be all over the place. Just copy me.

So I’m just going 1212, right, left, right, left. Just relax, keep breathing. Don’t forget to breathe.

And just get a more or less steady beat going. All right, that could be slow. It could be fast.

We’re kind of trying to do it in the middle right now. Now let’s. Your first tool, your first vocabulary element is your accent.

Every 4234. Accent and accent. Three, four.

Easy, huh? Easy, easy. Got it. Okay, now let’s do every other one.

Right, left, piece of cake. Right, got it. And now let’s go back to no accent.

Go back to the. Keep it going. No accent.

And now we’re going to accent every four with the non dominant hand. This is going to feel a little funny. Left.

Feels a little funny. Now let’s do every two. Got that? Okay, go back to no accent.

Now you switch. I’m going to do the same switch at will. We have four different things we can do.

Right every four. Right every two. Left.

Every four, left. Every two. Have fun with it here.

Okay, just do it for 20 seconds of mixing them around. Here we go. Including the no accent.

Okay, very good. Now we’re gonna have the fun begins. Let’s go to triple.

Triple. We’re going to do 123123. And we always alternate.

You do not ever repeat a hand the way what we’re working on here. Okay. It’s always alternating.

So what the first three is going to be right, left, right. And now it switches to left, right, left. Okay, so we’re going to have a long series of triples right now.

Are you ready? And 123123. Make a big difference between the accent and the unaccent. Accent is very loud.

Just barely tap it. Sorry, I have to adjust my drum here again. Got it.

Isn’t that fun? You just do this for 15 minutes, right? Just lose yourself into that. Now, if you got it, let’s try it a little faster just for fun. Everybody has their limit.

If this is too fast, just go to your limit and stop. I can’t hear you. But it starts taking on new dimensions when you just change the tempo.

All right? Isn’t that fun? Okay, so make a big difference between the accented and the unaccented. And now you’re experts. Now what I’d like you to do is go wild and take an accent solo and go in and out of all these different things.

Duple, triple, no accents. You could also try odd meters like that would like the. The five eight one I’ve got written down there in the middle.

1212-3121-2312-3121-2 or 7121-212-3123 that could also start the other way. 1231. 212-123-1212 all right, I’m gonna just lay out here, and I want you to go wild and have fun making up your own drumming patterns there.

All right, let’s take 20 seconds or so and go. You can add rest, too, if you want. Throw a rest in the middle.

Okay. Very good. Very good.

Now let’s get organized a little bit and learn something new. The clave beat is something everybody knows. It’s in all latin music.

It’s in lots of rock and roll. You’ve heard it a million times. It’s some kind called the Bo diddley rhythm we’re going to try.

It’s. It’s a combination of what we just did. It’s 1231-2312-1231-2312-1 try that.

Everybody try that. 1231-2312-1231-2312-1231-2312-123 yeah. And so do that.

Oh, 10,000 more times and do it so you could. You can do it in your sleep and it’s just part of you. Try it.

At different tempos. Try it slow to fast. The faster it goes, it gets a little easier.

Once your hands are used to making those switches, it actually gets a little easier in a way as you go faster. Now, let’s try that, the. That America rhythm.

An alternate six, eight and three four. So you’re going to go 123-12-3121 I like to be in the merrill. Okay.

Or try. Let’s try it a little bit faster to see what happens. All right.

Isn’t that fun? That is a good one. All right, moving on. Let’s add some new rhythms.

Let’s develop your vocabulary a little bit more. Now, there’s. Because we’re going to create solos out of this.

The first one is just doing steady sixteenths, which is kind of what we’re doing. We’ve been kind of doing 8th notes in a way. This is going to be more of a 16th note thing, so you might at one point just be doing quick.

But let’s. Now what we’re doing is we’re going to add a little bit of rest in a way, a little bit of rhythm in there. So the first one we’re going to do is short short long.

Well, I should have mixed those around. Okay. No, sorry.

Long, short, bump. Did he bump? Did he bump? Did he try that? Easy. Keep alternating.

Right, left, right, left, right, left, right. It’s like a triplet, but you’ve got a rhythm to it. At no time does a hand repeat.

Always alternating. Got it. Okay.

And now we do the opposite, which is short, charge, long. Good. And now we’re going to do the swing version of a little syncopated version.

Short, long, short. Now it’s solo time, folks. I want you to use everything you have so far.

Well, let’s just take it with this thing and take a 20, 30 seconds solo and mix them all around. I’ll mess around, too. Don’t pay any attention to me.

I may stop and just say, I don’t interfere with what you’re doing, but try all of them and you don’t have to switch every time. You can stick with one for a while and then switch to another for a while and go back to the first one. You go on to another one.

Just have fun with it. You can also add rests, and you can go to steady the steady 16th with no accent. Just have fun.

I’m gonna. I’ll jump in, and then I’ll stop and see what you can do. Here we go.

Ready? All right, everybody. Everybody cooking on that one. All right.

———

Awesome. I hope you had fun with that. Our gang who were there live on that masterclass, certainly had a blast drumming along and exploring all kinds of different rhythmic patterns and games that Jeffrey introduced.

And I just had fun right now trying it out myself again. I hope you were drumming along as you listened or watched, and I won’t object if you want to keep drumming now and keep working on these things as I talk. I would invite you, maybe challenge you, or certainly encourage you to take these ideas into your next music practice session.

You know, mixing up, accenting every four beats every two beats, doing the first and third versus the second and fourth, grouping in threes rather than fours, adding in rests, mixing up short notes and long notes in those combinations. You can do that just playing solo by yourself, drumming on a surface with your hands like we were doing there. Or you can definitely take it to your instrument, you know, take it to your scales or other exercises.

And just like Jeffrey talked about in the mini interview yesterday, bring those same ideas to be creative with all the pieces you’re working on, different accents, different combinations, playing around with the rhythms. I really want to encourage you not to see that as a waste of time. Even if your aim is to play the music as written, you would be amazed how much deeper you get into the music by playing around with it in this way and being creative and exploring the impact of putting an accent here versus there or extending this note.

That’s really the way to get to know the music inside and out. And even if, like I say, your end goal is to play it as written, spending some time being creative, exploring and experimenting really is going to unlock greater levels of performance for you, greater expressiveness too, at the end of the day.

So play around with these ideas and just remember to have fun with it. That’s definitely the most important point.

If you’re a member of Musical U, you can check out that full masterclass inside that area of the members site. And if you’re not, then I will be back next week with another mini interview and another masterclass segment for you to enjoy. And I’m aiming to make sure these are really fun and useful, even just the little bit I’m pulling out of them. So I hope you’ll stay tuned for that one.

It has been so much fun rebooting the show live this week. Thank you to everyone who sent in feedback and supportive messages so far. I’m really happy that you’re all as excited about the show being back as I am.

Coming up later this week, we have a listener question from over on YouTube, a really interesting one around pitch patterns and how to practice your pitch recognition. Then we have our first episode of Coaches Corner where I get together with our Next Level coaches and ask them to share some tip or trick or technique or tidbit that’s going to be valuable and useful for you in your musical life. And I have my very first live guest on the show this Saturday. I’m very excited about and not at all nervous about no, it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s someone I have the greatest affection for and I know a lot of you do too. Not to spoil the surprise, but that will be my first live guest coming up this Saturday.

And last thing to mention is just our live session coming up, live training I’m putting on on May 4th, Star Wars day, may the fourth be with you. I’m toying with the idea of making it a Star wars themed training. I can’t quite decide if that would be super cheesy or super fun. You can let me know what you think. It’s not too late to change my mind.

But that is a session designed to be really high impact to bring you greater clarity and greater momentum and acceleration in your musical life. And I’m going to be sharing some things we’ve never shared before.

So save the date 4pm UK time 11am Eastern time on Saturday the 4th May, plan on joining me there live.

I’m going to make sure it’s accessible and high impact for anyone and everyone. Whether you’re a member of Musical U or not. You’re very welcome. Whatever stage in your musical journey you’re at, this is stuff that is going to be high impact for anyone. So don’t miss it. Join me there live.

Save the date 4pm UK time 11am Eastern time Saturday the 4th May I can’t wait.

I’m super excited for this one and I look forward to seeing you there. That’s it for this one. Join me again tomorrow.

Same bat time, same bat channel. Cheers, bye!

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