[Dixielandjazz] time signatures

Robert Smith robert.smith at tele2.no
Sat Jun 30 11:37:34 PDT 2007


The beauty of 5/4 time (and others such as 7/8 time) is that the bars can be 
syncopated. Thus a 5/4 bar can be played as dum-da-dum-da-da or as 
dum-da-da-dum-da, or in none-OKOM as dum-da-da-da-da. A 7/8 bar is even more 
flexible as it can be played 3-2-2 (dum-da-da-dum-da-dum-da) or 2-3-2 or 
2-2-3, or in rare cases as 1-6.

Dave Brubeck loved such possibilities. He wrote a piece (Blue Rondo A La 
Turk) which starts in 9/8 time that is played 
dum-da-dum-da-dum-da-dum-da-da.

Regards

Bob Smith




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