Teaching Clave: Part 1

Teaching Clave (the Rhythm) is an essential part for my students to learn the various Latin Dances, since it is inherent in some form in much of their folk and classical music. It can appear as 'Son', 'Bossa Nova', or 'Rumba' clave. They are similar in that they repeat over a two bar pattern with the first bar having 3 notes (Tresillo) and the second bar with 2 notes (3-2), or the reverse (2-3). Rarely have I had a private student come to me with an understanding of the Clave rhythm, even those students with a drum set background had a mangled version of the rhythm.

To introduce the Son clave, I have them first sing the 'Shave and a haircut' rhythm:

They then tap the rhythm on their knees with the 'sticking' shown:

Step 2 has them play the Left Hand in the air (no sound):

Step 3 the student leaves out the Left Hand altogether:

Once the student becomes familiar with the basic Son Clave rhythm, I introduce the concept of 3-2 clave and 2-3 clave:

To further solidify the rhythm, I have them play the clave part to Dańzon No. 2 by Arturo Márquez.
We then play along with various pieces until the rhythm becomes comfortable.

Then we explore the 'Rumba' clave and 'Bossa Nova' clave:

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