Welcome Back to Music Gurus: Exploring Time Signatures

Introduction to 7/4

Today, we'll start unpacking 7/4. You've just listened to Unsquare Dance, a big hit from the Time Further Out album by the Dave Brubeck Quartet recorded in 1961. It may sound familiar to you because bits of it have been quoted constantly in soundtracks throughout the years.

The asymmetry of that beat suggests action and excitement, especially with the hand clapping. The title, by the way, is a bit of a joke ? a square dance versus an unsquare dance, since we're talking about 7/4.

Listening for Patterns

Let's listen to a bit more and pay attention to the hand clap pattern because we'll be discussing that.

"The hand clap in Unsquare Dance is really the main reason it was a hit."

I've very successfully had whole audiences clapping along to it at the end of concerts. They certainly weren't counting; they were simply feeling the beat.

Clap along with me:

• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Sometimes, I walk up to the apron of the stage and start that, and it takes a while for the audience to feel it. One exception was when I played in Riyadh; all of the Arabs in the audience seemed to relate rhythmically.

Cultural Context of Time Signatures

The idea of these "odd times" really came from the Dave Brubeck Quartet's tours across the Middle East and into Asia.

In India, they have a system for counting or feeling beats called the tala system. This makes what you're listening to in a Western jazz situation very explicit.

In jazz, you tend to snap on 2 and 4, which is not the same as:

"1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4."

These things are cultural; we have different conventions for feeling the beat. In the Indian tala system, breaking it up into threes and twos or threes and fours is quite explicit.

The 7/4 Beat in Jazz

In 7/4, a very popular tala is:

• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

In jazz, we often start with the 4, which would be:

• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Dave and the other musicians were exposed to the tala system. I have no direct evidence of this, but I infer that the idea of basing something on hand claps may have originated from that.

"For you jazz anoraks, this is good pub quiz material: Who did the hand claps on Unsquare Dance?"

If Joe Morello had his sticks in his hand, it was my father's brother, Uncle Howard, a conductor and composer, along with Teo Macero, perhaps the most famous producer Columbia Records ever had.

Practical Application

Now, I'll hand over to my colleague Mike for some practical exercises you can work on to apply this knowledge.

Clapping Exercise

Let's get back to the clapping.

Clap the basic Unsquare Dance:

• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Now, we switch that around, referring to what you mentioned in tala:

• 1, 2, 3, 5
• 1, 2, 3

Before you start playing, it's excellent practice to clap or sing it.

Practicing Scales

Now, let's take a scale fragment. We all love to practice our scales, right, Darius? Yes!

In the Western world, scales are generally made up of seven notes.

For example, let's practice:

• Start on C minor and go up half steps, accenting:
  • 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3
  • 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3

Now try reversing that to:

• 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1
• 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2

This helps you internalize the rhythm while you play, while also looking at music and seeing the subdivisions.

Exploring 7/4

Another comment about 7/4:

Whichever way you turn it around, there are three accents in the bar. They are not equally distributed, as that would be six.

"Look for those three accents."

When listening or playing, try to articulate those accents so you won't get lost.

Vertical and Horizontal Approaches

You can also play around with adding different styles:

• Play vertically using arpeggios or extending the chord up, focusing on every other note of the scale up to the 11th.

Starting from C minor:

• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

You can also change it to three plus four, giving you many options to explore subdivisions within the bar.

Listening and Learning

We've listened to the bass pattern on Unsquare Dance, it's like a square dance, but unsquare because it's seven rather than eight.

My original tune, Earthrise, is a different way of relating to 7. I like to think of it as serene, similar to Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage, but of course, my tune is named N74.

Rhythmic Execution:

Mike, just count out loud while I play it:

• 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Additional Exercises

You can also play along with Mike's tune, which is featured in this series.

In the book, we have introduced a unique idea of having rhythmic sketches, offering rhythms without pitches to experiment with.

"These can be used as melodic ideas for improvisation."

Additionally, the etude is available on page 66 of the book. Here's the first four bars of the rhythmic sketch on page 69, which begins with the introduction to seven from heaven.

Recap:

• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Feel free to take notes while playing along, experimenting with different comping patterns.

Remember, sometimes simplifying to specific rhythms might help, especially when confronted with a lot of notes on the page. Happy practicing!