Syncopations and Offbeats For Cellists

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SYNCOPATIONS AND OFFBEATS

In syncopations, we don’t just play off the beat but also play over the beat in the sense that we tie our notes over the beats. Because of this, it is a good idea to work on our “offbeat” playing as a preliminary (preparatory) phase to working on syncopations. Simple metronomic exercises to establish the mathematical correctness of our offbeat and syncopated rhythms are a very dry (but efficient) first stage in getting familiar and comfortable with these types of rhythms. In the following exercise progression, the rhythms gradually “tighten” as we need to subdivide into increasingly smaller fractions (first two, then three then four).

Put the metronome on any pulse. This little series uses four beats to a bar but we could also do the same with three beats per bar. Play the progression first quite slowly, then gradually make the pulse faster. The difference between the simple offbeats and the syncopations is that in the syncopations, instead of playing short notes between the beats, now we will hold these notes until the next offbeat impulse:

SYNCOPATIONS

For a very pleasant next stage in acquiring fluidity and comfort in our syncopations, we could play music from the “popular” genres such as Ragtime and Pop. In this music, syncopations are normally much more common than in most “Classical” pieces and syncopated rhythms are often more common than four-square on-the beat rhythms.

It might help to start with the “square” versions of a piece before moving on to progressively more syncopated versions. The following examples illustrate this progression with some songs by The Beatles:

Jazz and Bossa Nova regularly take syncopation to another, higher, level of complexity and syncopated notes may here be even more frequent than notes that actually fall on the beats. Here is another musical example, this time taken from the jazz standard “Body and Soul” (1930) by Johnny Green.

While the frequency of ties and syncopation reaches a maximum in “Popular” music, we will still encounter many complex syncopations in the more traditional “Classical” repertoire:

SOME FUN PIECES FOR WORKING ON FAST SYNCOPATIONS

1: BACH: COURANTE FROM HARPSICHORD SONATA Nº 6

With its constant use of (fast) syncopations in the right hand, we could rename the Courante from Bach’s Partita Nº 6 for Harpsichord BWV 830 (also used sometimes as the third movement of his Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord Nº 6 BWV 1019) as “Crazy Syncopations”. This piece is so attractive and entertaining with its ultra-fast light-footed syncopations, that we have transcribed it for cello as a very enjoyable “study” that can be used for working on this rhythmic skill. As well as offering it as a cello piece with a prerecorded accompaniment, it is also offered here as a duo for two cellos. This duo can be played asan  “equal” duo in which both players take turns, alternating at the repeats between playing the syncopated “melody” line and the unsyncopated bass line. If one player prefers, they can of course play only (and always) the easier bass line (which has no syncopations).

1. Syncopated Cello Part (Upper Voice)
2.       Second Cello Accompaniment Part (Unsyncopated)
3.       Cello Duo SCORE

Here below are two downloadable audios (computer-generated) of the accompaniment part “played” on the guitar. The first is a little slower than the second. If we actually download them then we can play them at different tempi. Because the accompaniment and cello start together, a one-bar introduction has been added as well as a few seconds of silence to allow us to sit down with the cello after pressing the start button. In these accompaniments, both repeats are made: we will almost certainly appreciate having a second opportunity for the many tricky passages !