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Bell pattern 1 (la) li (2) la li (3) la (li) 4 (la) li
Learn first Lesson 10: Six-eight time
This seven-stroke figure is the most widely used bell pattern in sub-Saharan Africa, and ethnomusicologists call it the standard pattern. It reached Cuba with enslaved Yoruba, Fon and Kongo people and is the key pattern of bembé, a Yoruba-derived Afro-Cuban drumming style, as well as of several other Afro-Cuban rhythms. North American musicians often call it the 6/8 bell, and some simply call it clave.
The pattern spans twelve pulses with gaps of 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1. It is written here as one bar of 12/8 with four dotted-quarter beats, and the click marks those beats, each counted '1 la li'; some musicians write it as two bars of 6/8 instead. The strokes lean against the four beats rather than marking them, so learn the two simpler claves first and then the full bell.
| Pattern | Count |
|---|---|
| Bell pattern | 1 (la) li (2) la li (3) la (li) 4 (la) li |
| 6/8 son clave (3-2) | 1 (la) li (2) la (li 3) la (li) 4 (la li) |
| 6/8 rumba clave (3-2) | 1 (la) li (2 la) li (3) la (li) 4 (la li) |
Both five-stroke claves have triple-pulse forms, and both fit inside the bell. The 6/8 son clave falls on 1, the 'li' of 1, the 'la' of 2, the 'la' of 3 and beat 4; the 6/8 rumba clave moves its third stroke to the 'li' of 2. The bell plays all of these strokes and adds two more, which is why North American musicians sometimes treat bell and clave as interchangeable. In bembé it is the bell itself that serves as the key pattern.
Writers disagree about how this pattern relates to the beat. Earlier scholars read it differently: A. M. Jones took its accents as signs of the metre, and Anthony King wrote it as 7/8 + 5/8, while most later writers, including Eugene Novotney, Gerhard Kubik and Peñalosa, place it over four even dotted-quarter beats, as here. The starting point also varies: in Ewe music from Ghana the accompanying rattle part begins on the bell's second stroke, and Toussaint shows that rotations of the same seven-stroke cycle are used as different rhythms elsewhere. Here the bell starts on beat 1, the way it is usually written in Afro-Cuban teaching material.
Each click here is divided into three, so do not let the pattern slide towards a straight, duple feel. The two short gaps, between the 'la' and 'li' of 2 and between the 'li' of 4 and the next beat 1, are the places where timing usually goes wrong. Keep the click loud at first, count '1 la li 2 la li' out loud (many percussionists say '1 & a 2 & a', which works just as well), and only speed up once the long and short gaps feel distinct.