Roots of  Afro-Cuban Clave (rhythm)  - Brian Andres Drum Clinic at Cymbal House - September 3th 2011
Channel: Cymbal House
Date: 08/09/2011

Brian Andres demonstrated and talked about all things Afro-Cuban and how they relate to the drum set and more. Also featuring special guest percussionist Stan Ginn and Carlos Caro.

There are three main branches of what could be called clave theory. First is the set of concepts and related terminology, which were created and developed, in Cuban popular music from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. In Popular Cuban Music (1939), Emilio Grenet defined in general terms, how the duple-pulse clave pattern guided all members of the music ensemble.[13] The most important Cuban contribution to this branch of music theory is the concept of the clave as the period (music), containing two rhythmically opposing halves; the first is antecedent, moving, and the second is consequent, grounded.

The second branch comes from the ethnomusicological studies of sub-Saharan African rhythm. In 1959 Arthur Morris Jones published his landmark work Studies in African Music. Jones identified the triple-pulse "clave" as the guide pattern for many musics, from different ethnic groups across Africa.[14] The most important contribution of ethnomusicology to clave theory is the understanding that the clave matrix is generated by cross-rhythm.

The third branch comes from the United States. Ironically, there are more books published about Cuban-based music in the US than in Cuba itself. Perhaps because North Americans come to the music as outsiders, there has been more of a need to explain the intricacies of the music. The most important North American contribution to clave theory is the worldwide propagation of the 3-2/2-3 concept and terminology, which arose from the fusion of Cuban rhythms with jazz in New York City.

Only in the last couple of decades have these three branches of clave theory begun to reconcile their shared and conflicting concepts. This article addresses the main tenets of each branch of clave theory, where they coincide and where they differ.