clayton cameron a-rhythm-etic. the math behind the beats

How many of you love rhythm? Oh yeah, oh yeah. Oh yeah. (Cheers)

(Drumming)

I mean, I love all kinds of rhythm. I like to play jazz, a little funk, and hip hop, a little pop, a little R&B, a little Latin, African. And this groove right here, comes from the Crescent City, the old second line. (Cheers)

Now, one thing all those rhythms have in common is math, and I call it a-rhythm-etic. Can you repeat after me? A-rhythm-etic. Audience: A-rhythm-etic.

Clayton Cameron: A-rhythm-etic. Audience: A-rhythm-etic.

CC: A-rhythm a-rhythm. Audience: A-rhythm a-rhythm.

CC: A-rhythm-etic. Audience: A-rhythm-etic.

CC: Yeah. Now all those styles of rhythm are all counted in four and then subdivided by three. What? Yeah. Three is a magic number. Three is a groovin' number. Three is a hip-hop kind of number. But what does subdividing by three mean? And counting off by four? Well, look, think of it this way. A measure of music as a dollar. Now a dollar has four quarters, right? And so does a 4/4 measure of music. It has four quarter notes.

Now, how do you subdivide? Now let's envision this: three dollars' worth of quarters. You would have three groups of four, and you would count it, a-one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four. Together.

All: A-one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four.

CC: Okay, now you feel that? Now let's take those three groups of four and make them four groups of three. And listen to this. A-one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four, with me. One-two-three-four, one-two-three, come on, y'all!

All: One-two-three-four, one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four, ah.

CC: There you go. All right, second line. One-two-three-four, one-two-three. One-two-three-four, one-two-three. One-two-three-four, one-two-three. One-two-three-four, one-two-three. Yeah. Now, that's what I call a-rhythm-etic. Can you say it? A-rhythm-etic. Audience: A-rhythm-etic.

CC: A-rhythm-etic. Audience: A-rhythm-etic.

CC: A-rhythm a-rhythm. Audience: A-rhythm a-rhythm. CC: A-rhythm-etic. Audience: A-rhythm-etic.

CC: Yeah. Now pick the swing beat, and do the same thing. One, two, one, two, a-one-two-three-four. Yeah. Mm. One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three. Whoo.

So I want to take the second line beat and the swing beat and put them together, and it sounds something like this.

Aha.

A-rhythm-etic. Audience: A-rhythm-etic.

CC: A-rhythm-etic. Audience: A-rhythm-etic.

CC: A-rhythm a-rhythm. Audience: A-rhythm a-rhythm.

CC: A-rhythm-etic. Audience: A-rhythm-etic. CC: Yeah. Hip-hop. Now it's using a faster group of three we call a triplet. Triplet-triplet. Say it with me.

All: Triplet-triplet. CC: Triplet-triplet. Triplet-triplet.

CC: So I'll take all the rhythms that you heard earlier, we'll put them together, and they sound like this.

A-rhythm-etic.

(Applause)