COLUMNS

by Jimmy Brown

I GOT RHYTHM, PART 17

Using a half-time 16ths feel

LAST MONTH, I introduced 32nd notes, which may be thought of as “double-time 16ths.” I’d now like to offer an alternative way to approach this complex subdivision that's easier to count. It involves tapping your foot in a “half-time feel,” or cut time. The way it works is you use the half note as the basic beat and foot-tapping unit instead of the quarter note. So, in4 4 meter, you would tap your foot only on beats 1 and 3.

Cut time meter may be indicated by the time signature2 2 (signifying two half notes) or the letter “c” with a vertical line through it. Or you could just use4 4 and write “with halftime feel.” So, by making half notes feel like quarter notes, the quarter notes then feel like eighths, eighths feel like 16ths, and 16ths feel like 32nds. This offers us a way to harness the sound of 32nd notes while avoiding 32ndnote notation and having to switch to a different counting scheme, which can be tricky.