Recently Exposed Haitian Music Available in Digital Format and How They Preserve Cross-Rhythms Between the Hands

DR. BILL HARNED

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QR CODE FOR VIRTUAL HANDOUT

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QR CODE FOR VIRTUAL HANDOUT

Outline

1. SRDMH Archive
2. Tresillo-based Five-Beat Syncopated Rhythm
3. Preservation of Cross-Rhythms

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QR CODE FOR VIRTUAL HANDOUT

SRDMH Archive

• www.srdmh.com
• Stores manuscripts of Haitian compositions
• Moved to Montreal after 2010 earthquake in Haiti

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Edith Bouyer (wife of Claude Dauphin), Claude Dauphin, (Me), Robert Grenier

• Claude Dauphin
• SRDMH Co-founder
• Haitian musicologist at University Montreal
• Robert Grenier
• SRDMH Editor
• Former Parisian opera singer

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Examples from SRDMH Archive

Tresillo Rhythm

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• Common to folk and popular music worldwide

(Manuel 33)

• Fundamental Triple Meter in Afro-centric Music
• Provides Uneven Primary Division (Meter)
• Naturally occurs in African languages �(Dauphin 2017 188)
• Usually transcribed as a 332 rhythm

Bamboula

• Afro-Centric Drum Language
• Executes Tresillo as “Bamboula”
• African pace setter or groove
• Applies language to intuitively execute irregular speech rhythm
• Stylization of linguistic phrase
• Seen in Congo Square in New Orleans (Damm 23)

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Common Tresillo-Based Caribbean Textures

• 3-2 Clave Rhythm
• Alternating triple and duple
• Creates a two-measure cell

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• Habanera Rhythm
• Simultaneous triple and duple

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• Support both “sides” - triple and duple meters
• Triple “Side” uses Tresillo Rhythm�

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Five-beat Syncopated Rhythm

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• Adds two secondary divisions (embellishments) to tresillo rhythm
• Sharp vs. Relaxed Syncopation (Secondary Divisions)
• Sharp – Short Secondary Division
• Relaxed – Longer Secondary Division
• Slower Tempos – Allows Greater Level of Fluctuation

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Notations of the Five-beat Syncopated Rhythm

• Cinquillo Rhythm
• Sharp Syncopation
• Commonly used

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• Quintolet Rhythm
• Relaxed Syncopation
• From Haiti

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• Elastic Tresillo Type B�Rhythm
• Relaxed Syncopation
• From Puerto Rico

Quintolet Rhythm

• Appears as an even quintuplet
• Performance Practice – 5^th Beat is Longer
• Invented by Haitian Composers and Band Directors Occilius and Occide Jeanty
• First used in salon compositions of the Haitian Méringue
• Haitian 5/8 Meter – Metric equivalent
• Later became a marker of national identity�(Dauphin 2014 266)

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Quintolet Example

• Jeanty – “Un Baiser Interrompu” mm. 22 – 46 (Grenier 31)
• First four measures - 2 two-measure cells

Elastic Tresillo �Type B Rhythm

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• From Puerto Rico
• Used in salon compositions of the Danza (Manuel 122)

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Elastic Tresillo Example

• Lamothe – “La Dangereuse” mm. 35 – 65 (Grenier 222)

Syncopation Ratio

• My Term
• Way to Categorize Syncopated Rhythms
• Quantitatively distinguishes Relaxed and Sharp Syncopations
• Compares Values of First Two Notes
• Primary Division
• Secondary Division
• Fast Tempos – Naturally Sharpen
• If applied to Swing Rhythm:

If Applied to Five-Beat Syncopated Rhythm

1:1 (Relaxed) Ratio Benefits

• Relaxed Syncopation (1:1 Ratio)
• Earlier placement – gives greater amount of space to place the secondary division
• With Slow Tempos – allows fluctuation for secondary division

Durand’s Sharp Version

• 3:1 Syncopation Ratio – Sharp Syncopation
• Haitian 5/8 Time Signature
• Counts a 1:1 five-beat syncopated rhythm
• Has the Tresillo Rhythm embedded
• 1790? – might be 1890 (from Villard transcriptions)

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Durand’s String Quartet

Evolution of Styles: Creolization

• Hybridization of Native American, African, and European styles
• European – forms and structure
• African - drum rhythms from language
• Native American
• Importance of Haiti in Development of Jazz style in New Orleans
• HAITIAN refugees doubled population of New Orleans after their freedom from France in 1804
• Only self-proclaimed inventor of jazz, CREOLE pianist Jelly Roll Morton, said jazz required the HABANERA rhythm

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Evolution of Styles: �From Outdoor Setting to the Salon

• Outdoor Setting
• Afro-centric Drum Ensemble (due to availability for dances) – caused natural hybridization
• Dance Textures with Steady Pulse
• Art Music Compositions
• For Indoor Salons
• Cantabile Texture
• Slower Tempos
• Allow greater fluctuation
• Benefits Relaxed Syncopation

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Speech and Body Rhythms

• From Kofi Agawu’s The African Imagination in Music
• Classifies rhythms
• Speech Rhythm
• Applies to Melodies
• Expresses freely like the voice (rubato)
• Body Rhythm
• Steady pulse of supporting rhythms
• Facilitates dancing with dance music

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Speech and Body Rhythms

• Cantabile Texture
• Fluid Melody over Steady Accompaniment
• Fluid Melody (Speech Rhythm)
• Steady Accompaniment (Body Rhythm)
• Romantic Period Example – Chopin Nocturnes
• New World Examples - Salon Art Music

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New World Speech vs. Body Rhythm

SPEECH RHYTHM

• Elastic Tresillo - “Elastic” - means that triplet must not be precise, but involves enlarging one note over another in order to make the accompaniment’s creole rhythm. (Manuel 123)
• Seems this should apply to melodies and not accompaniment

BODY RHYTHM

• Saintonge – Preface – says rhythmic notation should be precise (see virtual handout)
• BUT he did use quintolet rhythm in Prélude Méringue

Caribbean Cross-Rhythms

• Cinquillo Rhythm
• Typical rhythm - Synchronizes to Duple Meter

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• Quintolet and Elastic Tresillo Rhythms
• Supports it with MISALIGNMENT TO THE DUPLE METER
• Last Note – Seems to favor synchronization

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Caribbean Cross-Rhythms

• Performance Practice
• Misalignment allows the OPTION to synchronize or cross
• Allow freedom in melody against steady accompaniment
• Crossing - Allows Melodic Independence
• Synchronizing
• Creates a chord (harmony)
• Easier to Play (Facilitation)

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Example:�Quintolet Melody vs. Habanera

• Monton – “Choucoune” (Yellowbird)
• One of first Méringues published in Haiti (1893)
• Facsimile edition released in 2015 from SRDMH Archive (Grenier 76)

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Example:�Duple Melody vs. Quintolet

• Justin Élie - Méringues Populaires No. 4 �mm. 26 – 34 (Grenier 85)

Cinquillo Substitution (Loses Cross-Rhythms)

Example: Quintolet vs. 16th Notes

Cinquillo Substitution (Facilitation)

Occide Jeanty - Les Masques, mm. 49 – 53 �(Grenier 24)

Example – Full Piece

• Justin Élie - Méringues Populaires No. 1�(Grenier 77)

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Example: First half

• Justin Élie - Méringues Populaires No. 5

mm. 1 – 17 (Grenier 86)

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Example: First half

• Justin Élie - Méringues Populaires No. 6

mm. 1 – 16 (Grenier 88)

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Saintonge – Prélude Méringue

• Rhapsody Form
• 13 Sections
• 1 Cadenza

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• 1^st Page
• Virtuosic Introduction
• Introduces the Quintolet rhythm with marking of “lento ritenuto”
• Main theme
• Simple méringue
• Slow tempo

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Saintonge – Prélude Méringue

• 2^nd Page
• Trickle down
• Decisive Octaves with alternating cinquillo and quintolet rhythms

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Saintonge – Prélude Méringue

• 4^th Page
• Unique Cross-Rhythm Setting - Quintolet vs. Cinquillo

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Saintonge – Prélude Méringue

• 5^th Page
• Decisive Section in relative minor

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Saintonge – Prélude Méringue

• 6^th Page
• Syncopated, humorous section

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Saintonge – Prélude Méringue

• 8^th Page
• Return of Main theme and conclusion

Questions?

References

• Acquista, Andrew. “Tresillo: A Rhythmic Framework Connecting Different Rhythmic Styles.” master’s thesis, California State University, 2009.
• Adams, Jessica, Michael Bibler, and Cécile Accilien. Just Below South: Intercultural Performance in the Caribbean and the U.S. South. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007.
• Agawu, Kofi. Representing African Music. New York: Routledge, 2003.
• ___________. The African Imagination in Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
• Austerlitz, Paul. Merengue: Dominican Music and Dominican Identity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997.
• Chernoff, John M. African Rhythm and African Sensibility: Aesthetics and Social Action in African Musical Idioms. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.
• Damm, Robert J. “Remembering Bamboula.” Percussive Notes 53, no. 3 (July, 2015): 22-26.

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References

• Dauphin, Claude. Musique et langage chez Rousseau. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2004.
• ______________. Histoire du style musical d’Haïti. Montréal: Mémoire d'Encrier, 2014.
• ______________. Musique et liberté au siècle des Lumières. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2017.
• Élie, Justin. Méringues Populaires No. 2, in Robert Grenier, ed., The Piano Repertoire of Haiti, Vol. 1 (City: Publisher, forthcoming), 81.
• _________. Méringues Populaires No. 3, in Robert Grenier, ed., The Piano Repertoire of Haiti, Vol. 1 (City: Publisher, forthcoming), 82.
• _________. Méringues Populaires No. 4, in Robert Grenier, ed., The Piano Repertoire of Haiti, Vol. 1 (City: Publisher, forthcoming), 85.
• Fleurant, Gerdes. Dancing Spirits: Rhythms and Rituals of Haitian Vodun, the Rada Rite. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996.

References

• Jeanty, Occide. “Les Masques.” Edited by Robert Grenier. The Piano Repertoire of Haiti 9 (forthcoming).
• ———. Petite Grammaire Musicale. Paris: Librairie Evangelique, 1882.
• ———. “Un Baiser Interrompu.” Edited by Robert Grenier. The Piano Repertoire of Haiti 9 (forthcoming).
• Largey, Michael. Vodou Nation: Haitian Art Music and Cultural Nationalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
• Musical ethnography in Haiti: A study of elite hegemony and m
• Lamothe, Ludovic. “La Dangereuse.” Edited by Robert Grenier. The Piano Repertoire of Haiti 9 (forthcoming).
• Manuel, Peter. Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009.
• Monton, Mauléart. Choucoune. Montréal: Société de Recherche et de Diffusion de la Musique, 2015.
• Saintonge, Edmond. “Prélude Méringue.” Edited by Robert Grenier. The Piano Repertoire of Haiti 9 (forthcoming).

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