Amazing , you both talked on great points about the rhythm and how to understand it and then play around the rhythm. I can do this by ear, but as soon as anyone asks me about it I freeze up because I don’t know how to explain. I hear colors and have a feeling where the rhythm gets accelerated to, this was a great lesson. I learned exactly what my shortcomings are and you both gave me a great list of things to focus my study on. Another point to make is how this is just like any other bit of music theory… we study these rules and learn them so we know how to break the rules. Music based in too rigid rules feels cold and stiff and repetitive and is no fun to play or dance to
As a very thoroughly trained percussionist first now trying to transition to piano as primary instrument Alex gives it a great overview of basic rhythms here, for more advanced studies the two books by Uribe on Afro-cuban and brazilian music provides the full rhythm section breakdown of all the transcribed parts, history, etc. fantastic reference if you want a deeper understanding.
Great stuff. I recommend Rebecca Mauleon's book 101 Montunos, but as Alex said there's nothing like playing with a real salsa band and getting your butt kicked.
Yes, that seems to be the definitive one! I still have a long way to go in getting the style deep in my bones and even know when it’s appropriate to use montunos!
Also Carlos Campos' books have the basic piano montuno rhythms clearly written out -- I think these are a great place to start and like hanon exercises, once you get them down in all keys it's easy to make your own. One of the things I learned from Andres Alen was that people from the US often would 'swing' that last 8th note on the 3 side of clave -- and he would tell us to be sure to make that an even 8th and keep the accents (at least when learning this stuff) kind of flat (if that makes sense). He'd say if you were to accent one beat, it would be the + of 2 on the 3 side of clave. That way you'll lock into the timbales & congas.
@@JeremySiskind In learning how to play/feel the tumbao bass I had a teacher tell me to get my butt off the piano bench on the 4th beat. It's fun to try and do it with standards like "Autumn Leaves" where you anticipate the next chord on beat 4. But as Alex said you don't want to do it all the way through. Check out Clare Fischer's "Autumn Leaves" where he starts out that way and works his way into jazz. th-cam.com/video/VIIEOnkokSA/w-d-xo.html
No-one in 2023 should receive a music diploma without being able to play a basic son clave, and elaborate on Cinquillo past and present. These are the triads of rhythm, besides which 4/4 is unison solfegge. Only after 60 did I learn the Habanera story, and glimspe the rich variety of Latin styles. What was the first global hit song? La Paloma. Written in Cuba by a Basque, it's still going. Afghans, Greeks, Austrians, and Hawaiians adopted it so deep they thought is was native. Bell patterns are the Neapolitan school of beats....put those schools together...
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Amazing , you both talked on great points about the rhythm and how to understand it and then play around the rhythm. I can do this by ear, but as soon as anyone asks me about it I freeze up because I don’t know how to explain. I hear colors and have a feeling where the rhythm gets accelerated to, this was a great lesson. I learned exactly what my shortcomings are and you both gave me a great list of things to focus my study on. Another point to make is how this is just like any other bit of music theory… we study these rules and learn them so we know how to break the rules. Music based in too rigid rules feels cold and stiff and repetitive and is no fun to play or dance to
That's so cool! Thank you so much for this comment and thanks for watching the vidoes!
super cool. Very informative.
yes - it was informative for me too! Thanks for watching - Alex is the best!
what a great and interesting video. Learned a lot!
Thanks, Theo! I learned quite a lot too!
Great video! Thanks for the upload Jeremy
My pleasure! Glad you liked it - I learns a lot!
Fascinating stuff! def listening to some ray barretto now.
I started listening to a bunch too after this. Such good stuff!
Two masters diserting...
Excellent video and lesson!! Thanks Jeremy and Alex for breaking down montunos. Super helpful!
Thanks for watching, Tony!!!
As a very thoroughly trained percussionist first now trying to transition to piano as primary instrument Alex gives it a great overview of basic rhythms here, for more advanced studies the two books by Uribe on Afro-cuban and brazilian music provides the full rhythm section breakdown of all the transcribed parts, history, etc. fantastic reference if you want a deeper understanding.
Awesome - thanks for those recommendations!
Great stuff. I recommend Rebecca Mauleon's book 101 Montunos, but as Alex said there's nothing like playing with a real salsa band and getting your butt kicked.
Yes, that seems to be the definitive one! I still have a long way to go in getting the style deep in my bones and even know when it’s appropriate to use montunos!
Also Carlos Campos' books have the basic piano montuno rhythms clearly written out -- I think these are a great place to start and like hanon exercises, once you get them down in all keys it's easy to make your own. One of the things I learned from Andres Alen was that people from the US often would 'swing' that last 8th note on the 3 side of clave -- and he would tell us to be sure to make that an even 8th and keep the accents (at least when learning this stuff) kind of flat (if that makes sense). He'd say if you were to accent one beat, it would be the + of 2 on the 3 side of clave. That way you'll lock into the timbales & congas.
@@JeremySiskind In learning how to play/feel the tumbao bass I had a teacher tell me to get my butt off the piano bench on the 4th beat. It's fun to try and do it with standards like "Autumn Leaves" where you anticipate the next chord on beat 4. But as Alex said you don't want to do it all the way through. Check out Clare Fischer's "Autumn Leaves" where he starts out that way and works his way into jazz. th-cam.com/video/VIIEOnkokSA/w-d-xo.html
6:24 there are tons of “claves”
No-one in 2023 should receive a music diploma without being able to play a basic son clave, and elaborate on Cinquillo past and present. These are the triads of rhythm, besides which 4/4 is unison solfegge. Only after 60 did I learn the Habanera story, and glimspe the rich variety of Latin styles. What was the first global hit song? La Paloma. Written in Cuba by a Basque, it's still going. Afghans, Greeks, Austrians, and Hawaiians adopted it so deep they thought is was native. Bell patterns are the Neapolitan school of beats....put those schools together...
Otmaro ruiz said it beautifully. The 1 belongs only to the two side. Listen to the vocal or melody and it will hit the one on the 2 side.
Love that! Otmaro's a buddy - I won't tell him that he's being quoted on the internet. I wouldn't want him to get too full of himself. 😂
3:13 “son” just means “song” ..it’s from an eastern Cuban dialect. “Son Montuno” means “song of the mountain”
«Son» refers to «Son cubano», which is a specific genre of Cuban music:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_cubano
Interesting! Thank you for that!