Workshop 44 — “Afro Blue”: 6/8, 3-Against-2, Hemiola, Polyrhythmic Independence, and Hearing Two Meters at Once

Workshops 42–43 taught us asymmetric meter: 5/4 and additive 9/8.

Now we tackle something different.

The number of subdivisions is not strange at all.

The challenge is:

Can the same six eighth notes convincingly feel like both two groups of three and three groups of two?

That is the rhythmic world behind “Afro Blue” and a huge amount of African-derived, Afro-Cuban, jazz, gospel, and contemporary music.

The main lessons are:

• 6/8 versus 3/4 perception
• two-against-three
• hemiola
• polyrhythmic independence
• bass ostinatos
• modal-minor improvisation
• phrases that temporarily change the listener's perceived meter
• using rhythm to create tension without changing tempo
• keeping one pulse stable while another layer contradicts it

The central lesson is:

Polyrhythm is not necessarily several tempos happening simultaneously. It is several ways of organizing the same underlying pulse.