Hi Gentlemen. This is my first post, so brief introduction and on with my question. I'm Greg. Nice to meet you. Now thats done, I'd like to hear all your thoughts on an appropriate approach to affectively execute complex polyrhythms such as five against two, eight note triplet against 2 sixteenth note triplets...etc. For reference, I have been studying the Khachaturian Toccota, these polyrhythms are in the central cenction annotated Andante Espressivo I have worked hands seperately w/ and w/o metronome, gone strait at it, and several other techniques such as accenting downbeats and so on and have met with success, yet I know there must be more effecient ways to make these polyrhythms as precise as a South African drum circle Let me know how you approach this.
Hi Greg, welcome. I've always found polyrhytms easiest to learn in a very fast tempo, and then slow down. It may sound strange but it's always worked for me.
I'm sure I explained this before but cannot find the thread. So here goes again. Suppose you want to to learn 3 against 4, or 3 against 5 (these where the ones I use my 'method' on). Forget the piano, just sit at a table and tap your fingers on it. Let one hand drum out the 1-2-3, very fast, for a while. Always accenting the first beat with the thumb (or 3rd finger, whichever comes first). Then chime in with the other hand doing the 1-2-3-4 or 1-2-3-4-5, accenting the first note, taking special care the accents fall together. The trick is that this should come naturally. If it doesn't, the 'method' is not for you. If it does, keep it up for a while, then very gradually slow down to whatever tempo you want it to go. Works for me.
