Caribbean & Cuba

Clave is the five-stroke key that much Cuban music finds its place against. Son clave 3-2 sounds on pulses 1, 4, 7, 11 and 13 of a sixteen-pulse cycle, three strokes in the first half and two in the second. Son clave 2-3 turns the halves around. The hollow boxes are where the clave does not strike, and the count carries on through them.

Begin with Tresillo, the shorter 3+3+2 cell on eight units. Clap the start of each group while a finger taps all eight. Cinquillo puts five strokes on eight sixteenths, and Habanera is the tresillo with the second beat added, a four-stroke figure. Once you can hear those gaps, play Son clave 3-2, then Son clave 2-3. Rumba clave 3-2 pushes the third stroke one pulse later, from 7 to 8. Compare that small move with the son version slowly.

Cáscara 3-2 is a timbale shell pattern that fits the clave, and cáscara has variants. The accents and sounded boxes pick out one timeline, not every percussion part of a son, salsa or guaguancó. Because the grid is sixteenths, its tempo number needs care when you set it beside a musician counting a larger bar.

Tap sixteen quiet pulses with one hand and clap Son clave 3-2 with the other. Stop clapping for a whole cycle while the pulse hand carries on, then bring the clave back without looking at the strip. If it returns on the opposite side, slow down and count the hollow boxes again.

These boxes are broad pulse guides for styles, not transcriptions of a Cuban rhythm section. Son / salsa and Mambo give four counts with 1 and 3 marked, and Son / salsa also sits against clave, with a bass that anticipates the bar. Danzón is a two whose timbales carry the cinquillo. Cha-cha-chá puts its three syllables on four, the “and”, and one.

Start with Danzón’s steady two, then Son / salsa’s four. If Son clave 3-2 from the earlier section is already in your hands, clap it over that four and keep counting through the gaps between strokes. Guaguancó belongs with rumba clave, and Yambú is a slower rumba; the two share four-count boxes without sharing a pace or a sound. Columbia moves quickly in twelve, grouped as four threes.

Bolero (Cuban) is a slow four with the cinquillo brushing under it, not the Spanish three of the similarly named row on the Europe page. Songo and Mozambique also have four-count scaffolds, as do the street march of Conga (comparsa) and the faster Mambo. Abakuá is twelve pulses grouped 3+3+3+3, a count to hold while you hear the music.

Leave Mambo’s speed for later. Play Son / salsa at a comfortable tempo, tap the four counts with your foot and speak the five son clave strokes over them, two related layers at once. If the foot drops out whenever the clave has a gap, go back to Danzón’s plain two for a minute.

One drop shows how much you expect from beat one. This reggae row accents beat three, where kick and rim meet, and leaves beat one without that weight. Count all four aloud, and do not hear the unaccented first box as the start of a new, shorter bar. Rockers puts the kick back on 1 and 3; Steppers puts it on all four.

Ska is a fast four with the guitar on every offbeat. Rocksteady slows it down and gives the bass more room. The guitar part is not printed under these rows, so use the click as a count and listen for what falls between its beats. Dancehall groups eight small units as 3+3+2, a digital riddim outline, and this tresillo reduction is not the whole track.

Play One drop with your foot on all four counts and a clap only on three. After four cycles, switch to Steppers and clap every count. Then go back to One drop and leave beat one empty, however much it pulls.

Dembow (reggaeton) is an eight-unit 3+3+2 scaffold. Clap the starts of the three groups while tapping all eight small units. It is a reduction. A full dembow depends on interlocking voices, and no drum syllables are written under the boxes.

Bomba sicá and Bomba cuembé each get a four-count practice pulse with 1 and 3 marked. Bomba yubá is six in two groups of three. Plena is a four, played on panderos, the sung newspaper of Ponce.

Begin with Bomba sicá and count four comfortably. Then try Bomba yubá, marking the start of each group without making all six small units heavy. Leave Dembow (reggaeton) until you can hold an even small pulse under an uneven group pattern. Tap eight even units on a table and say “three, three, two” only at the group openings. Then listen to a full track and hear how much the strip leaves out.

Calypso is a four-count carnival pulse with 1 and 3 marked. Soca is faster and puts a kick on every one of its four beats. Count “one two three four” with your foot through both, and notice how the busier row changes what you expect of the next beat.

No instrument strokes are written under these boxes. Start Calypso at a walking pace and clap on 1 and 3. When the cycle holds, switch to Soca and clap all four without rushing. Then keep your foot’s four steady while you listen to the music around it, rather than adding more clicks.

Merengue is a quick Dominican two, driven by tambora and güira. Count “one, two” with your foot; the boxes do not spell out either instrument’s part. Bachata is a four with 1 and 3 marked, the bongo’s martillo and the guitar’s arpeggio moving around that pulse.

Palo (Dominican) runs twelve small units in four groups of three, the first of each group accented. Listen for the atabales’ fast twelve against that frame. It is the harder count here, because an even click cannot play the drum voices for you.

Alternate four cycles of Merengue with four of Bachata, counting aloud, and notice the change from two to four. Then take Palo (Dominican) slowly. Say four groups of “one two three”, clap on each “one” and keep the other counts light. If the fourth group starts to feel like a finish line, slow down until it leads straight back to the first.

Kompa is a dance four with 1 and 3 accented. Rara is another four, the music of a Lenten street procession under vaksin horns. The marked counts match; the music does not. No horn or drum strokes are written under the boxes, which give you a place to keep time while you listen to what each setting does around it.

Yanvalou is twelve small units in four groups of three, with an undulating six-eight feel. Tap all twelve softly and mark the four group starts with your other hand. The count keeps you from dropping a group when your attention moves to another part.

Count Kompa’s four aloud for four cycles. Play Rara on the same count, listening rather than hunting for a different accent. Then play Yanvalou slowly enough that all four groups have room, until your hands know the first group is coming back before your eyes check the screen.

Zouk is a four with 1 and 3 marked. Biguine is a two, with a cinquillo figure in the music beyond the plain pulse shown here. Count the larger beats first. If you know the Cinquillo cell from the Cuba section, speak its five strokes while Biguine’s two stays steady under your foot.

No stroke marks are written under these rows. Begin with Zouk, tapping all four counts and leaning lightly on 1 and 3. Then let Biguine’s two run under the cinquillo without letting any of its little strokes become a new main beat.

Junkanoo is a four-count pulse with 1 and 3 marked, the beat of a Bahamas parade with goatskin drums. The strip does not write those drums’ strokes under the boxes. It gives you a steady cycle to hold while you listen to the fuller sound.

Count all four beats aloud and tap each one gently. Clap on 1 and 3 for several cycles, then stop saying the numbers and keep the claps where they were. The time between the two claps still has to be counted, silently now. After a few cycles, bring the spoken count back and check where your “one” lands.