Lesson video

Hello, welcome to today's lesson entitled "Kuku: structure and solo parts." My name's Mr. Norris.

Today, we're gonna be building on our understanding of Kuku, looking at the broader structure of it and how we can build in some improvised solos as well.

Our outcome is, I can play the Kuku rhythm with the different sections, including a solo.

Some keywords.

First, we've got call.

This is a phrase that signals a piece is going to start, change or end.

Echauffement.

This is a phrase that is used to build to the climax of a piece.

Break.

This is a short phrase that breaks up the main rhythms. Solo.

Featured part of a composition played by one person.

And then finally, improvisation.

This is creating music on the spot.

For the first part of today's lesson, we're gonna look at the structure of Kuku.

The echauffement is a phrase in Kuku that is used to build up to a climax at the end of a section or the end of the whole piece.

Let's have a look at what that phrase looks like.

(drum music) Let's break that down then.

So if we look here, it's quite a simple rhythm really.

We're just using tone and we're doing four tones in every beat.

One e-an-a, two e-an-a, three e-an-a, four e-an-a.

One e-an-a, two e-an-a, three e-an-a, four e-an-a.

So it's 16 fast tones.

And you might think of those as 16 semiquavers.

And you can see with the hand pattern, we're alternating right and left.

That allows us to play those fast notes really fluently.

The echauffement can also be used to signal an increase in tempo.

It lets the dancers know that a change is coming.

So really, this is a signal that we're building to a climax.

And that might be the end of a section or it might be the end of the whole piece.

Let's take a look at the structure of Kuku.

As we can see here, that echauffement comes right near the end as it's building to that climax.

See if you can pick it out in this performance.

(drum music) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) So when we're using a structure like this, it's important to point out that each section is not necessarily the same length.

It's more about feel and it can also be determined by solos.

So the performers, in the moment, as they're performing, will decide the length of each section, and if there's a section they want to extend, they'll extend it or shorten it or so on.

And that's determined by the lead drummer.

The call signals that a piece is gonna start, change, or end and it arrives between every section.

So that tells the other performers that something is about to change, that we're going to move on to this next section or so on.

To make the structure easier to remember, we can group these sections.

First will be call, break, call, and then part one, that rhythm one.

Then the second, call, break, call, and then part two.

And then the third, call, break, call, echauffement, and then finishing with a call.

So we can break into these three chunks to make it easier to remember.

Now, traditionally, the structure isn't just played once.

It might be repeated several times in a performance, possibly at faster speeds, and that'll be determined by what the purpose of the performance is and if the performers want to extend it or repeat it or shorten it and so on.

Let's have a look at this played at a faster tempo.

What impact does that faster tempo have compared to what we've seen so far? (drum music) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) So hopefully there, you picked up that the faster tempo creates excitement.

It brings more energy to the music.

So depending on what this piece is being performed for, the performers might decide to use a faster tempo to build the tempo, to build the energy, the excitement, and so on.

Let's check your understanding.

Which of the following might be both sides of the echauffement in the structure? Break, dundunba, call, or tone.

Give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer here is call.

That's what signals that we're moving to a different section, including the echauffement.

Well done if you picked that up.

Fill in the missing sections of the structure.

You can pause my video while you do this.

And the missing sections were call in the first section there, part two in the second section, and then a break and the echauffement in the third section there.

Well done if you managed to start piecing that structure together.

Okay, for Task A, you're gonna practice the full Kuku rhythm.

Here's some success criteria.

You work as a team, deciding who plays the call.

So you need to nominate one person to make those decisions, to choose the length of sections, and play the call to signal the shift to new sections.

You keep a consistent tempo throughout.

When you're feeling confident, you can play at a faster tempo, or you can change the tempo to add excitement to the ending section.

Here's your structure.

Try and follow that as closely as you can while you're doing this.

And now you can pause my video and give this your best shot.

Now I'd like you to reflect on the success of your performance.

Here's some questions to think about to help you improve your performance further.

Did you perform the sections in the correct order? How did you start and finish together? And what decisions did you make before the performance? Did you keep to a consistent tempo? And were the rhythms and sonorities, that base, tone, and slap, correct in each part? So you've been really precise with making sure you were using the correct timbres, the correct sonorities for each rhythm.

You can pause my video now, answer these questions, and have a reflection on your performance.

For the second part of today's lesson, we're looking at creating a solo and improvising.

The piece can be developed by adding solos.

Solos are played by the djembefola, or the master drummer.

That's the leader of the group.

And they're different to the normal parts of the music.

Listen to the two solos in this example.

How are they different from all the other rhythms and patterns being played at the same time? (drum music) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) So solos are often more complex and they can be highly syncopated as well.

And the rhythms we saw there were syncopated and a bit more complex than some of the other rhythms going on.

They can also use flams to add a different timbre.

And a flam is where the drummer plays both hands together on the same sound, one just slightly before the main note.

So it has the effect of two very quick notes back to back, and it's a really dramatic, exciting effect.

Solos can also be improvised.

This can be unprepared improvisation where you create and perform the rhythm completely in the moment, or a prepared improvisation where you loosely plan the rhythms that you might play.

So you have an idea of some of the rhythms you're gonna use.

Once you've learned or prepare the solo part, then need to think about how we're gonna fit that into the overall structure of the piece.

So we could use a structure like this.

We got call, break, call, and then part one for the first part.

Then call, break, call, part two for the second part.

Call, break, call, part three for the third part.

And then call, break, call, echauffement, call for the last part.

And the solo is gonna come in that part three.

So we're adding in a new section of the piece of music to enable those solos to fit in.

Part three, the solo section, could include either or both of parts one and two as an accompaniment.

As a reminder, here's the part one rhythm.

(drum music) And here's the part two rhythm.

(drum music) For the solo section, you could use either or both of those together as the accompaniment for the solo.

So, to play part three with an added solo, split into two groups.

Have group one play the rhythm from part one and group two play the rhythm from part two.

Allow the performers to take it in turns to do an improvisation over both of those rhythms. Start and finish each improvisation with the call, because remember that signals the end or the start of something or a change in the music.

And after part three, have all players play the call together and finish the piece as normal.

Let's check your understanding.

What is a solo? Is it a group of performers playing the same part together? A more complex, syncopated part, played by the djembefola? Or is it a part that's simpler than all of the other parts? Give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer is, it's a more complex, syncopated part played by the djembefola.

Now let's put this into practice.

We're gonna watch the video.

I'd like you to follow the two solo sections in it.

After the call to solo, practice your own improvised rhythm using hands.

So there are two solo sections.

You need to follow when the call tells you to move to the solo sections.

And in those, practice improvising some different syncopated rhythms over the top.

Try and use a mix of low, mid, and high sonorities.

Let's have a look.

(drum music) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) So when you were doing that, did you manage to make up your own rhythm? So improvise your rhythm over the top.

Use a range of different sonorities? So low, mid, and high sonorities.

And start and stop at the right time by following the call? Well done if you managed to do all three of those.

For Task B, you're gonna add a solo improvisation to your performance of Kuku.

Here's some success criteria.

Make sure you adapt the structure to include part three.

So that's the solo section.

Plan a prepared improvisation or practice the suggested rhythms for your improvised section, or you could make up your own rhythms if you want to.

Start and finish each improvisation with a call.

Make sure that each member of the group plays a solo.

And make sure that the accompanying rhythms are either from part one, part two, or both together.

Here's your structure, and that part three is where the solos are gonna come.

And here are some suggested solo rhythms that you could use if you want to.

So you can pause my video now and give this your best shot.

Now let's reflect on the success of your performance.

Here are a few question to get you thinking about how you could further improve this.

Did you perform all the sections in order? If not, what was the structure of your performance? Did you include a solo section? And did this include both accompaniment rhythms from parts one and two to give it that nice, thick texture? Did you all keep a consistent tempo throughout? Were all the sonorities of the drums, or claps if you were using that instead, accurate? And could you clearly hear the difference between the bass, tone, and slap sonorities? And finally, how did you start and finish together? So did you manage to coordinate those two key points of the performance? So you can pause my video now.

Reflect on these questions to help you further improve your performing.

Okay, so let's review today's lesson.

The structure of Kuku includes various different sections.

The call arrives between every section, signaling that change.

Here's the structure that we've been using today.

Part three contains solos which are performed by the djembefola.

These can be prepared or improvised.

The piece ends with an echauffement, which is used to speed up or signal the end of the performance.

And we've prepared a performance of the full Kuku structure which includes a prepared or improvised solo.

So thank you very much for taking part in today's lesson.

I hope you've really enjoyed getting stuck into that practical work and exploring all these interesting different rhythms. And I hope you managed to come up with some interesting, improvised patterns as well.

Thanks for taking part, and I'll see you in another lesson.