Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Self-Study For Rhythms: Vijay Iyer's "Machine Days"

The purpose of Konnakol is not unlike being able to sing any given interval and its inverse. When we talk about singing groups of five rhythms--say the syllables “ta-ka-di-mi-tom” for example--we are not just referring to western “quintuplets,” but both macro and micro pulses of five rhythms which repeat  themselves in groups. Thus, when we put spaces between those syllables, say in the sense of making a macro-grouping of seven notes in a group of five (ta „ ta , ta / ka „ ka , ka,/ etc. sung as sixteenth notes in a western 4 pulse in the hands), we begin to see how this applies to phrasing polyrhythms. The reverse of this process, then, would be to count groups of 4 while counting a pulse of 7 in the hands, facilitates odd meters without changing any rhythms, only the emphasis of these rhythms and the “generic” or perhaps “agreement” pulse in which the band feels the music. When listening to an artist like Vijay Iyer, we hear that sometimes these 4 counts are put on top of pulses in groups of four, seven, eleven, or even general mixed meter on top of larger counting structures.

Larger counting structures might be a 32 count form which would be two bars of 4/4 sixteenth notes in which the pulse becomes subtracted (since they are not superimposed upon one another and happen sequentially… 4+4+4+4+4+3+3+3+3=32 or 4+4+4+5+5+5+5=32) constitute smaller phrases which end up in an even larger structure of let’s say 8 of these 32-count forms, giving us 16 bars of 4/4 music.

Let’s look at one of Vijay Iyer’s tunes, “Machine Days,” labeled with the time signature 9/16. If you get a chance to look at the written music wherein the form is taken for the solos (the “B” section of the melody), the 16-bar form of 9/16 is broken into five larger sections of polyrhythms. It consists of what I call the first theme (34 sixteenths) and the second theme (21 sixteenths), given the accents of the chords changing as indicators that these themes are alternating. The easiest way to begin to be able to count a tune like this is to begin to understand the designated pulse of the bass or “agreement” pulse in 9/16 which seems to be 6 and 3 (a dotted quarter followed by a dotted eighth) only variegating by the accents in the melody/rhythmic themes. Those themes are further divided in smaller pulses which I’ll go ahead and write out:
Theme 1:
4+5+5+5+5+5+5=34
Theme 2:
7+7+7=21
If we look at the “A” section, a 16-bar phrase is still divided into smaller sections, this time simply being divided into 7 groups of 4 (+ 6) and 4 groups of 4 (+5) (alternating in a larger block of five of these). Again, the evidence in the score comes with the accents of chords changing.
Thus, 9x16=144. So 34 (x3) + 21 (x2)= 144. Essentially in the piece, he broke down the groups of 34 and 21 into two different counting manifests seen here:
Theme 1 in A and B
A: 4+4+4+4+4+4+4+6=34
B: 4+5+5+5+5+5+5=34
Theme 2 in A and B
A: 4+4+4+4+5= 21
B: 7+7+7=21
Thus, the title of the piece really fits. “Machine Days” does work as a name for the tune.

Last words on VI’s MD: the 3-bar pick-up plays by these same rules.

27 sixteenth notes-> 6+6+5+5+5=27

Lesson learned: counting is everything. The next great innovators will not have something harmonic for us, but something rhythmic.
Watch and listen to "Machine Days" by Vijay Iyer on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhGre0ReuE4

For further study on Konnakol, please visit the following links:
http://languageofrhythm.com/indian/konnakol/
http://lisayoungmusic.com/about/indian-music-konnakol/
http://lisayoungmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/masters/masters.pdf