| "For Beginners" (ZAGHAREET! (Jan/Feb 2009) by Anthea (Kawakib) Finger Cymbal PATTERNS for Beginners (part 4) Now over the last four issues you’ve done Singles, Doubles, Rolls, Triples, and started combining them into patterns (3-3-7 so far); we’ll add one more this time, the 2-2-5 pattern. If you’re thinking, “Only one? I want more!” sorry about that! Go for quality over quantity. Learn a little bit well before moving on. All the videos, workshops, new choreography or combinations won’t help you if you don’t assimilate the material. So take your finger cymbal patterns and practise a little at a time (15 minutes) on a regular schedule (3 times a week) to train your body and mind in this new skill. If you’ve been practising diligently but don’t understand or can’t follow something please contact me. If you’ve been following along with this series you know the best practise method to use at home. You can try the pattern while sitting down to get used to the timing of the rhythm, but it’s ALWAYS best to practise your finger cymbals while in dance position - standing up with your arms in a dance pose. You know also that you start any new pattern very s-l-o-w-l-y, and by slowly I mean with the beat (ticking) of the metronome going at about 72 bpm (beats per minute). See www.metronomeonline.com Technical reminder: the Beat (or the Count) is the numbers that tick by steadily like a clock or metronome, a Rhythm is a pattern of beats, and is usually not steady on the numbers–some parts of the rhythm will be faster (or closer together on paper) than other parts. Here’s the 2-2-5 pattern (Figure 1, below):  You can count it either by beat: 1 & 2 & 3a&a4; or by cymbal strokes: 1 2, 12, 12345. The main thing to realize on this pattern is that it starts WITH the first beat, unlike Triples or 3-3-7, which start BEFORE count 1. So after you drill the 2-2-5 pattern enough to be comfortable with it, a good exercise is to alternate the 2-2-5 with either of the other ones, to make sure you are starting them all at the right time. Our first “complex drill” will use 2-2-5 and Triples, the second drill will use 2-2-5 and 3-3-7. And then on Youtube we’ll add two different dance combinations that reflect each finger cymbal pattern’s rhythmic drive! So that’s a lot to practise. If you missed the previous articles, the suggested practise session drill went something like this (but realize it’ll work better if you don’t try to do them all right now - remember quality before quantity. The “challenge level” gets progressively harder): A - Easy In dance position, play the new pattern in the following drills 1. a weight change on the beat/count (beat and count mean the same in this context) 2. a hip sway on the beat 3. a walking step on the beat - in a forward and backward Line of Dance - around in a circle L. O. D. 4. isolation in place* (hip lift, figure 8, torso undulation, shoulder roll, etc.) 5. traveling step* (shuffle step, cross-overs, arabesques, etc.) B - Medium - do the above drills (#1 through 5) alternating the new pattern with an old familiar pattern. Decide how many of each cymbal pattern you’re going to do first - sometimes I’ll start with four each, then go to two each, then one each. C - Harder - do the drills above, but speed up the tempo (re the metronome) Hardest Improvise while playing cymbals! I’m just kidding, don’t even worry about doing that right now! Check my Youtube channel youtube.com/user/DanceEternal for a clip demonstrating the 2-2-5 pattern in the drills above. *You can see that knowing where each and every movement–whether it’s an isolation in place or a travel step--goes on the beat is going to make playing cymbals while dancing much easier. If you don’t know how to dance on the beat, playing cymbals is going to be pretty hard for you. Finding the beat and being able to count the time (tempo) of music or rhythm is something a teacher can (or should be able to) help you with. If there are no dance teachers around, even a music or drum teacher is better than nothing. A few private lessons that help you understand, find, and count the beat could make all the difference in your dancing. |
Video PLAYLIST of "how to play" Finger Cymbals Patterns for Beginners: Youtube.com/DanceEternal
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