Two at once

A polyrhythm plays two rhythms of different lengths over the same span. You do not count both at once. You learn the single rhythm they make together.

From theory: time signatures

3 over 2

Three even notes in the time of two. The bottom row of the grid, Together, is the combined rhythm: four hits that make a phrase. The words in the gap bar are a way of saying it.

In notation: the two rows are stacked on two lines so you can see them line up. The upper line has a bracket with a 3: three notes in the space of two. Both lines start together on the accented note. After that the three notes and the two notes land in different places and meet again only when the cycle comes round.

A warm-up: five in a beat

Before 5 over 4, hear five even notes in a single beat. It is the first cut that feels like neither a pair nor a triple, and it is the five in “5 over 4”.

In notation: five sixteenth notes under a 5: five notes in the time of four. Brackets like this are called tuplets; the number says how many notes, and the notes are written as if they were the ordinary notes of the smaller number.

4 over 3 and 5 over 4

In notation: the 5:4 bracket is over the top line, with four plain quarter notes beneath it on the other. Every row is stacked on the same time scale, so the one note they share is directly above the other.

Hemiola

Hemiola is the same idea one after the other: two groups of three become three groups of two in the same time. The bar seems to change gear.

In notation: hemiola is two bars of 6/8. The first has two dotted quarter notes (two groups of three), the second has three plain quarter notes (three groups of two). Both bars are the same length but cut differently, and the accents (>) show where you feel the beat.

1. Say the words for the combined rhythm until you can say them evenly.
2. Clap the words with one hand.
3. Give the notes of one lane to each hand (tap one on your knee, clap the other), starting with the two-lane.
4. Only when it is easy, think of both lanes at once.