Rhythm names
The same rhythm can be known under many different names and those names can be spelled differently, depending on the region or individual.
I have used names/spellings that I have most commonly come across when I learned or encountered a rhythm. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the original/correct/best ones.
Rhythms and musical traditions
Many of these folk music traditions from around the world are related. You will often find the same rhythm in Arabic, Turkish and Greek music.
Sometimes you will also find the same pattern in completely different music traditions. One example is the Arabic/Turkish Khaligi and the Brazilian Baiāo.
I tried to sort the rhythms in a way that is concise and makes sense, but I don’t necessarily always get it right.
If there are any missing that you would like to see/learn, please let me know in the comments. My aim is for this to be an ongoing and comprehensive project!
A guide to notation
I use a tablature notation for the handpan, which is based on the Middle Eastern names for bass and high accents: Doum and Tak (D and T/K)
D = Bass accent
T and K = High accent
F = closed stroke with the flat hand
i = stroke on the central tone field halfway between edge and dome. To emulate the tin sound of the tabla.
● = ghost note or space
Numbers 1-9 = tone fields in a circular layout, starting with the lowest one and going up the scale.
Time signatures
If you don’t have a background in Western music theory, time signatures can be confusing. Here’s a quick summary, taken from our Dojo Dictionary:
Time signatures comprise two numbers, written like a fraction - 34, 68 and so on.
~ The top number shows us how many counts/beats make up a bar.
~ The bottom number is always a power of 2. It shows us what length of note = one count in a bar. Most commonly:
4 = crochets/quarter notes
8 = quavers/eighth notes (twice as fast).
Using the examples above, we have:
3 crochets (34)
6 quavers (68)
Examples of time signatures include:
4/4 time
(also known as ‘Common time’ - the most common in Western music)
4 counts to a bar
Each count = crochet/quarter note
(Say: “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and” - you are talking in 4/4!)
3/4 time
(think of a Waltz)
3 counts to a bar
Each count = crochet/quarter note
(Say: “1 and 2 and 3 and”)
7/8 time
(an ‘odd-metre’)
7 counts to a bar
Each count = quaver/eighth note
(Say: “1,2,3,4,5,6,7” at double the speed of the other examples)
Rhythmical subdivision
With some of the rhythms, I note the rhythmical subdivision, for example 7/8 can be split into 3-2-2. All that means is that we break down the rhythms into parts that we can make sense of, count and accent correctly.
Rhythms are generally subdivided into shorter groupings of 2s and 3s (sometimes 4s). The number refers to the amount of quavers/eighth notes or semi-quavers/sixteenth notes that a group contains.
Using the 7/8 example: the quavers/eighth notes can be subdivided 3-2-2, 2-2-3 or 2-3-2.
This refers to the placement of the accents, with each main accent marking the beginning of a new subdivision.
In fact, all the 7/8s in the Odd-Metre Grooves section are worth checking out to see how the different subdivisions change the feel of the rhythm.
This World Rhythm Library project was created by David Kuckhermann in 2023.
It's inspired by Jas’s Middle Eastern Rhythm FAQ, an incredible resource I have visited countless times over the years:
http://www.khafif.com/rhy/