h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have been using the above for my suffix for a few weeks.

Quite apart from the National Vegetarian Week message, it is a phrase I came up with many years ago to teach a musical point.

When you play three against four -- say three beats per second in one hand and four beats per second in the other -- your overall phrase will be

X--xx-x-xx--

Where X stands for both hands striking at once, and x stands for either left or right hand and the dash standing for a silence. Adding all the beats and silences, you have twelve equal time units.

If you string lots of bars together it looks like a necklace

X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--X--xx-x-xx--

Now if you accent one hand more than the other you will get a bar of three-four or a bar of twelve-eight. The twelve-eight bar can be spoken as

Dear little dan-delion

with accents on Dear, li-, dan, lion

And the three-four bar can be spoken as

Eat pota-toes daddy

with accents on Eat, -ta- dad-



It is a fascinating exercise to learn how to morph smoothly from one accentuation to the other, keeping the underlying quaver (eighth note) regular. The sentences don't sound at all similar in measurement when you speak them, because English relies so heavily on accentuation.

Many happy hours spent at this will improve your ability to change tempo. Conductors absolutely need this kind of training.

Actually, dare I say it looks like a rosary?

I'll have a go at this. It's advanced stuff for a beginner like me, but my husband's away next week, so I can practise on the doors, windows, banisters, dining room table at will....

Enjoy it! As a warm-up you can do three against two ( X-xx-) as 'Both, right-left, right' which could be verbalised alternatively as 'Dear little Dan' and 'Eat potatoes'.

By the way do you know the connection between the words tawdry and necklace? Might bring it up on 'British English' -- or has it been discussed there already? Might consult google on that.

I'm still racking my brains about the origins of "lace" - I'm sure I've heard it somewhere before.

I have played things with triplets in the left or right hand against quavers in the other hand, but not using any mnemonics, just concentrating!

Sorry, wrong diagram above. Three against two (as you know) is

X-xxx-

or

Both - LeftRightLeft -

You can free up your rhythm a lot by doing this over and over and changing between accenting the left or fight hand. You can also practise swopping hands (Both - RightLeftRight -) without losing momentum.

Did I say fight hand? Hm time for an afternoon nap I think.