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August 30, 2021 By Aron Bernstein 17 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 8/30/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

Here’s a section of Jelly Roll Morton’s New Orleans Blues, published in 1925. The left hand has a rhythm that’s found its way into jazz and an enormous amount of pop music. What is this rhythm called, and where did it originate?

Listen to Audio

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, September 3rd to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 8/30/21

The left hand of New Orleans Blues is half of the Son Clave rhythm. It’s also known as the tresillo, meaning triplet in Spanish: the first three cross-beats in the 3-against-4 polyrhythm. Morton himself called it the “Spanish Tinge,” but it’s really Afro-Cuban in origin. The versatility of this rhythm, either in its complete form or just the first measure, has ensured its appearance in an impressive variety of musical genres. It influenced the Cuban Habanera, early jazz, Latin-jazz fusion (Professor Longhair’s Blues Rhumba), early rock (Willie and the Hand Jive), Beatles riffs, and beyond. Here’s the complete rhythm:

Listen to Audio

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Filed Under: music theory challenge Tagged With: blues, breakingbarlines, classicalmusic, clave, jazz, jellyroll, jellyrollmorton, music, musiceducation, musiclessons, musictheory, musicvideo, neworleans, popmusic, rhythm

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Comments

  1. Thomas Proctor says

    August 30, 2021 at 4:02 pm

    Syncopation. When composing with this rhythmic figure, I would put it into 8/8 time, rather than 4/4, which has 3 beats per measure: long-long-short, in this case.

    Reply
    • Aron Bernstein says

      August 30, 2021 at 5:16 pm

      Hi Thomas! It definitely has syncopation, and putting it in 8/8 (or 3+3+2/8) would be more accurate. But in jazz this rhythm would just be notated in 4/4 with swung eighths. There’s a name for this particular pattern…a hint: it’s not really European in origin. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  2. Steve Cohen says

    August 30, 2021 at 6:09 pm

    I know this rhythm as the Charleston, and it has its roots in the music of Africa and the Caribbean. Jelly Roll Morton was famous for bringing these exotic elements into jazz.

    Reply
    • Aron Bernstein says

      August 31, 2021 at 9:14 am

      Right-oh! There’s yet another name for the rhythm that this is part of. Hint: Havana!

      Reply
      • Steve Cohen says

        September 3, 2021 at 10:41 am

        It’s not a Habanera. It would be if not for the tie before beat 3.

        Reply
        • Aron Bernstein says

          September 3, 2021 at 11:33 am

          Exactly, the Habanera is an outgrowth of this rhythm, with the third beat added as a second eighth note.

          Reply
  3. Maggie says

    August 30, 2021 at 6:31 pm

    The Spanish β€œtinge”! Love this rhythm!
    Maggie

    Reply
    • Aron Bernstein says

      August 31, 2021 at 9:15 am

      Hi Maggie! That’s exactly what Jelly Roll Morton called it! But it has another name too!

      Reply
  4. Tegan R says

    August 31, 2021 at 2:59 pm

    Tresillo πŸ™‚ Was working on Morton’s “The Crave” yesterday

    Reply
    • Aron Bernstein says

      August 31, 2021 at 5:39 pm

      Hey Tegan, nicely done! It’s the spanish word for triplet. But there’s still one more name it’s known by πŸ™‚

      Reply
  5. Dianne Walker says

    August 31, 2021 at 5:41 pm

    Habanera rhythm?

    Reply
    • Aron Bernstein says

      August 31, 2021 at 5:48 pm

      Hi Dianne! Oooo, so very close! In fact, if you add the third beat as another eighth note to this rhythm, it does indeed become the Habanera. You’ve got the right country…I’m just thinking of a different name for the rhythm πŸ™‚

      Reply
      • Dianne Walker says

        August 31, 2021 at 6:08 pm

        😊

        Reply
  6. SarahB says

    September 1, 2021 at 10:38 am

    Beguine

    Reply
    • Aron Bernstein says

      September 1, 2021 at 11:13 am

      Hi Sarah! You’ve got the right part of the world (French and Latin dance colliding in the Caribbean), but it’s not the Beguine rhythm! πŸ™‚

      Reply
  7. Michael Braz says

    September 2, 2021 at 4:58 am

    Afro-Cuban rhythm.

    Reply
    • Aron Bernstein says

      September 2, 2021 at 8:19 am

      Absolutely! It’s an unpleasant reality that much of the fusion of European dance and West-African rhythm was probably facilitated by the Atlantic slave trade.

      Reply

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