Ancient Poetry Meters for Musicians

Soundz Workshop

Presenter: Doug Brush

Suitable for: All ages

This workshop is for musicians who want to expand their rhythmic vocabulary. By drawing on 1000 year old poetry meters of Moorish Spain, musicians can access odd time signatures in a very natural way. Because these are originally poetry rhythms, they flow very in human, natural way despite being in unusual time signatures.

Participants will learn muwashahat rhythms of 10th century Moorish poetry. These rhythms live on today in Arabic classical music, and are slowly being discovered by musicians in other mediums, from classical to jazz to tribal. The rhythms are spoken first using the syllables Dum (strong) Tek (weak) and Ish (silent or variable when applied to drums) and then the rhythms are played on drums. Time signatures covered include 10, 11, 13, 14 and others. Despite these being ‘odd’ times, due to their poetic origins, they are quite accessible and have amazing groove.

Presenter Bio:

Doug has built an international career for the past 30 years as a percussionist based out of Chicago, and more recently Christchurch. He is an active performer and teacher in many styles of music. Having a classical performance degree, studying with the Chicago Symphony percussionists, and also having studied folkloric traditions in Cuba, West and North Africa, the Middle East, India, and various other locals, he is an in demand musician for a large variety of situations. He’s recorded on over 50 albums, produced some of them, composed music for dance, written articles for Downbeat magazine, and been an artist in residence at the world renowned Chicago Art Institute. He has taught on 5 continents and presented workshops at numerous Universities, colleges, schools, corporate events and retreats.

Ancient Poetry Meters for Musicians