Clave (rhythm)
The clave is a rhythmic pattern used as a tool for temporal organization in Cuban music. In Spanish, clave literally means key, clef, code, or keystone. It is present in a variety of genres such as Abakuá music, rumba, conga, son, mambo, salsa, songo, timba and Afro-Cuban jazz. The five-stroke clave pattern represents the structural core of many Cuban rhythms. The study of rhythmic methodology, especially in the context of Afro-Cuban music, and how it influences the mood of a piece
is known as clave theory.
The clave pattern originated in sub-Saharan African music traditions, where it serves essentially the same function as it does in Cuba. In ethnomusicology, clave is also known as a key pattern, guide pattern, phrasing referent, timeline, or asymmetrical timeline. The clave pattern is also found in the African diaspora music of Haitian Vodou drumming, Afro-Brazilian music, African-American music, Louisiana Voodoo drumming, and Afro-Uruguayan music . The clave pattern is used in North American popular music as a rhythmic motif or simply a form of rhythmic decoration.
The historical roots of the clave are linked to transnational musical exchanges within the African diaspora. For instance, influences of the African “bomba” rhythm are reflected in the clave. In addition to this, the emphasis and role of the drum within the rhythmic patterns speaks further to these diasporic roots.
The clave is the foundation of reggae, reggaeton, and dancehall. In this sense, it is the “heartbeat” that underlies the essence of these genres. The rhythms and vibrations are universalized in that they demonstrate a shared cultural experience and knowledge of these roots. Ultimately, this embodies the diasporic transnational exchange.
In considering the clave as this basis of cultural understanding, relation, and exchange, this speaks to the transnational influence and interconnectedness of various communities. This musical fusion is essentially what constitutes the flow and foundational “heartbeat” of a variety of genres.
Etymology
Clave is a Spanish word meaning 'code,' 'key,' as in key to a mystery or puzzle, or 'keystone,' the wedge-shaped stone in the center of an arch that ties the other stones together. The rhythm also gave the name to the claves Afro-Cuban musical instrument which consists of a pair of hardwood sticks.The key to Afro-Cuban rhythm
The clave pattern holds the rhythm together in Afro-Cuban music. The two main clave patterns used in Afro-Cuban music are known in North America as son clave and the rumba clave. Both are used as bell patterns across much of Africa. Son and rumba clave can be played in either a triple-pulse or duple-pulse structure. The contemporary Cuban practice is to write the duple-pulse clave in a single measure of. It is also written in a single measure in ethnomusicological writings about African music.Although they subdivide the beats differently, the and versions of each clave share the same pulse names. The correlation between the triple-pulse and duple-pulse forms of clave, as well as other patterns, is an important dynamic of sub-Saharan-based rhythm. Every triple-pulse pattern has its duple-pulse correlative.
Son clave has strokes on 1, 1a, 2&, 3&, 4.
1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a ||
X.. X.. X... X. X... ||
1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a ||
X. X. X.. X. X.. ||
Rumba clave has strokes on 1, 1a, 2a, 3&, 4.
1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a ||
X.. X... X.. X. X... ||
1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a ||
X. X.. X. X. X.. ||
Both clave patterns are used in rumba. What we now call son clave used to be the key pattern played in Havana-style yambú and guaguancó. Some Havana-based rumba groups still use son clave for yambú. The musical genre known as son probably adopted the clave pattern from rumba when it migrated from eastern Cuba to Havana at the beginning of the 20th century.
During the nineteenth century, African music and European music sensibilities were blended in original Cuban hybrids. Cuban popular music became the conduit through which sub-Saharan rhythmic elements were first codified within the context of European music theory. The first written music rhythmically based on clave was the Cuban danzón, which premiered in 1879. The contemporary concept of clave with its accompanying terminology reached its full development in Cuban popular music during the 1940s. Its application has since spread to folkloric music as well. In a sense, the Cubans standardized their myriad rhythms, both folkloric and popular, by relating nearly all of them to the clave pattern. The veiled code of African rhythm was brought to light due to the clave’s omnipresence. Consequently, the term clave has come to mean both the five-stroke pattern and the total matrix it exemplifies. In other words, the rhythmic matrix is the clave matrix. Clave is the key that unlocks the enigma; it de-codes the rhythmic puzzle. It is commonly understood that the actual clave pattern does not need to be played for the music to be 'in clave'—Peñalosa.
One of the most difficult applications of the clave is in the realm of composition and arrangement of Cuban and Cuban-based dance music. Regardless of the instrumentation, the music for all of the instruments of the ensemble must be written with a very keen and conscious rhythmic relationship to the clave... Any 'breaks' and/or 'stops' in the arrangements must also be 'in clave'. If these procedures are not properly taken into consideration, then the music is 'out of clave' which, if not done intentionally, is considered an error. When the rhythm and music are 'in clave', a great natural 'swing' is produced, regardless of the tempo. All musicians who write and/or interpret Cuban-based music must be 'clave conscious', not just the percussionists—Santos.
Clave theory
There are three main branches of what could be called clave theory.Cuban popular music
First is the set of concepts and related terminology, which were created and developed in Cuban popular music from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries. In Popular Cuban Music, Emilio Grenet defines in general terms how the duple-pulse clave pattern guides all members of the music ensemble. An important Cuban contribution to this branch of music theory is the concept of the clave as a musical period, which has two rhythmically opposing halves. The first half is antecedent and moving, and the second half is consequent and grounded.Ethnomusicological studies of African rhythm
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, in which he identified the triple-pulse clave as the guide pattern for many pieces of music from ethnic groups across Africa. An important contribution of ethnomusicology to clave theory is the understanding that the clave matrix is generated by cross-rhythm.The 3–2/2–3 clave concept and terminology
The third branch comes from the United States. An 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 the three branches of clave theory begun to reconcile their shared and conflicting concepts. Thanks to the popularity of Cuban-based music and the vast amount of educational material available on the subject, many musicians today have a basic understanding of clave. Contemporary books that deal with clave, share a certain fundamental understanding of what clave means.
Chris Washburne considers the term to refer to the rules that govern the rhythms played with the claves. Bertram Lehman regards the clave as a concept with wide-ranging theoretical syntactic implications for African music in general, and for David Peñalosa, the clave matrix is a comprehensive system for organizing music—Toussaint.
Mathematical analysis
In addition to these three branches of theory, clave has in recent years been thoroughly analyzed mathematically. The structure of clave can be understood in terms of cross-rhythmic ratios, above all, three-against-two. Godfried Toussaint, a Research Professor of Computer Science, has published a book and several papers on the mathematical analysis of clave and related African bell patterns. Toussaint uses geometry and the Euclidean algorithm as a means of exploring the significance of clave.Types
Son clave
The most common clave pattern used in Cuban popular music is called the son clave, named after the Cuban musical genre of the same name. Clave is the basic period, composed of two rhythmically opposed cells, one antecedent and the other consequent. Clave was initially written in two measures of in Cuban music. When written this way, each cell or clave half is represented within a single measure.Three-side / two-side
The antecedent half has three strokes and is called the three-side of the clave. The consequent half of clave has two strokes and is called the two-side.Going only slightly into the rhythmic structure of our music we find that all its melodic design is constructed on a rhythmic pattern of two measures, as though both were only one, the first is antecedent, strong, and the second is consequent, weak—Grenet.
clave... the two measures are not at odds, but rather, they are balanced opposites like positive and negative, expansive and contractive or the poles of a magnet. As the pattern is repeated, an alternation from one polarity to the other takes place creating the pulse and rhythmic drive. Were the pattern to be suddenly reversed, the rhythm would be destroyed as in a reversing of one magnet within a series... the patterns are held in place according to both the internal relationships between the drums and their relationship with clave... Should the drums fall out of clave the internal momentum of the rhythm will be dissipated and perhaps even broken—Amira and Cornelius.