Working on Nik Bärtsch Modul 29_14

I first posted this blog in 2016. And I forgot all about it, until the other day when I was searching for Nik Bärtsch tutorials for Modul 29_14. 

I found myself! Five years ago. Trying to do the same as today: Play Modul 29_14 on piano. 

A little embarrassed, having left this challenge 5 years ago without remembering it.

For years I have enjoyed to play Nik Bärtsch modules on piano, and many of them I have - dare I say -  mastered. 

The process is this: I listen to the track again and again and play along, to figure out the lines, the progressions, the polyrhythms. And after some time I can play it. 

But Modul 29_14 is a tough one. Because of... many things! 

Listen for yourself - link to the track on YouTube

Roskilde 2016

Looking back I can see that I thought that Modul 29_14 could be transcribed. I also thought that I could use a certain counting method or even a stabile meter like 5/4 or 7/8. 

In 2016 I wrote something like this: 

Modul 29_14 (for me) is 3 parts. 

A = left hand 7 (14) and 6 in the right. Tonality Ab5 to Ab#5 

B = left hand funky bass in 3x5 and right hand the 7 feel from A now in a continuing 3/16 clave. 

C = left hand 6 and right hand 7. Left hand the 3/16 clave (legato on gb-f-eb) right hand in 1-2-1 2-1-2 movements. B Lydian.

About B: 

Bass line is      Ab         Gb-Ab       Gb    Ab    Gb         Ab-Gb

          on      1          2           3           4             5 

I manage to sing the bass line while playing 3/16 clave in the right hand. And now I have to make the hand play what I sing! Work, work. 

Roskilde, september 2021 

This time. Maybe wiser, maybe still overestimating my abilities I'm trying once more. 

I'd like to bring in some witnesses. First of all Nik Bärtsch himself. In an interview with Yogev Gabay he is asked, how he presents the music to the band:  

Yogev Gabay has made a video especially about how to understand and visualize Modul 29_14 

For rehearsal purpose I have recorded all the parts in Logic. 

I can see the pattern. Where to meet and where to part. I (softly) stomp the blue parts on the floor, with the yellow part in my left hand and the green in my right. 

The visualization is not new. Nik Bärtsch played with Don Li on his debut Ritual Groove Music back in 2000 (album released in 2004) and some years later I put out this video. There's an interesting connection between Don Li's papercut thinking and Nik Bärtsch Modul 35. 

But for now. Back to the piano. Overestimating my abilities or not. I am still puzzled. 

Roskilde, october 2021 

This morning I found a way. And I have managed to play it all, and - I think - understand what is going on on the way. 

The thing was time. And playing along so many times gave me the answer. The first part is only piano for a reason. You establish a blend of 3 and 7. And that is enough for me. 

The quarter-note pulse evolves in the 2. part. With the drums adding a layer of quater-note time. But the thing is to wait for it. Patiently playing. 

In part 2 I cross my hands, and play the bass-line with the right hand. It is fun! And helps the transition to part 3. Maybe I put a quarter-note pulse in my foot. 

In part 3 I focus on when the right hand meets the left (part 1 feel) And my foot pulse helps me to change from B to A# to G# to A# to the high F# and C#. They meet every seventh time. I have to admit, I don't count. I just know. 

Part 4 is a variation on part 2. In part 4 I play the bass-line in my left hand, and the triads in my right. 

In Part 5 I "turn off" the quarter-note feel. The right hand up-and-down thing is perfectly enough to know when to change notes. Part 5 is a variation on part 3. 

Part 6 is a variation on part 4, and I play with more focus on the quarter-note pulse 

Part 7 is a variation on part 5. 

I have now bought Nik Bärtsch: Listening: Music - Movement - Mind.  And on his recommendation: Piano Score: Etudes for Rhythm, Cycle and Space awareness. The thing I will work on for now is independence. 

The saying for today is: No pulse is more important than others. They are all your friends.