Two Against Three

The rhythmic feeling of two against three is very prominent in African music. The following is a step-by-step method to gain mastery of this bi-rhythm. This exercise was adapted for the World Wide Web from the book, Ancient Traditions--Future Possibilities by Matthew Montfort, Exercise III A, pages 18-20.

1. Count the numbers in the middle column out loud, tapping with the left hand on one, and with the right hand on one, three and five:

 
 
LEFT HAND     COUNT         RIGHT HAND
 
 
    1           1                1
 
 
                2
 
 
                3                3
 
 
                4
 
 
                5                5
 
 
                6
 
 
 

2. Then tap on one and four with the left hand while tapping on one with the right hand:

 
 
LEFT HAND     COUNT        RIGHT HAND
 
 
    1           1               1
 
 
                2
 
 
                3
 
 
    4           4
 
 
                5
 
 
                6
 
 
 

3. Combine steps 1 and 2:

 
 
LEFT HAND     COUNT        RIGHT HAND
 
 
    1           1               1
 
 
                2
 
 
                3               3
 
 
    4           4
 
 
                5               5
 
 
                6
 
 
 

4. The next step is to transfer your awareness from a feeling of six pulses to a feeling of two pulses with the left hand against three pulses with the right. Tap out the same pulses as in step 3, but this time count out loud only the pulses of the right hand:

 
 
LEFT HAND     COUNT        RIGHT HAND
 
 
    1           1               1
 
 
    *           *               *
 
 
    *           2               2
 
 
    2           *               *
 
 
    *           3               3
 
 
    *           *               *
 
 
 

Note: * = rest

5. Then count out the pulses of the left hand while tapping three pulses with the right hand and two pulses with the left hand, as follows:

 
 
LEFT HAND     COUNT        RIGHT HAND
 
 
    1           1               1
 
 
    *           *               *
 
 
    *           *               2
 
 
    2           2               *
 
 
    *           *               3
 
 
    *           *               *
 
 
 

It may be helpful to try the following counting scheme as a preparatory step:

 
 
LEFT HAND     COUNT        RIGHT HAND
 
 
    1           1               1
 
 
    *           *               *
 
 
    *           2               2
 
 
    2           &               *
 
 
    *           3               3
 
 
    *           *               *
 
 
 

When counting 1 * 2 & 3 * , accent the & of 2.

Then change the count to 1 * * & * * .

Finally, change the count to 1 * * 2 * * .

6. Keeping a slow tempo, alternate between step 4 and step 5 until it is possible to switch between them at will. This is similar to switching between the two perspectives of an Escher print.

 

Two Against Three MIDI File This MIDI file accompanies the previous six steps (not including the optional preparatory steps given for step 5). Each step is repeated four times, with two bars of rest between the steps.

 

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