Playing the 2/3 Polyrhythm on Maracas

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Part of the video series: How to Play the Maracas

Playing Maracas in a Straight or...

Playing Maracas in Accent Beats

Playing Two Maracas in One Hand

Techniques for Playing Maracas

Tips for Maraca Rhythms

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Summary: How to play 2/3 polyrhythms on maracas; get professional tips and advice from an expert on playing traditional Mexican musical instruments in this free music lesson video.

Views: 1,030 | Tags: construction, make, history, beats, mexican, percussion, rhythms, maracas, pulses

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About the Expert
Contact: aaronbland.com

Aaron Bland Aaron Bland is a performer, recording artist, and educator
dedicated to spreading the art and spirit of music to everyone that it touches. Interested in... read more

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Video Transcript

Playing the 2/3 Polyrhythm on Maracas

Hi, I'm Aaron Bland, on behalf of Expert Village, and I'm going to demonstrate for you a maraca technique using a maraca in each hand, the way that they were designed. Now, there's basically three different schools of thought for playing two maracas at the same time. You can play unison parts--everything one hand plays, the other hand plays in unison. Or, you can play alternating parts. Or, you can split it up and actually play two different rhythms at the same time. Now, one of my favorite things to do, if you're using two different rhythms, is to use two different pitched maracas, which most are to some degree. But I'm going to bring that to an extreme. I've got a smaller maraca and a larger maraca. And I'm going to teach you something called a "2/3 Polyrhythm." And it's going to break down just like this. You're going to play three notes on one hand---one, two, three, one, two, three, one two, three--in rapid succession like that. And at the same interval that you're playing three notes on this hand, you're going to play two notes on the other hand. Hence the "3/2 Polyrhythm." One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two. Alright? You put those together at the same time--one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one--where that whole pattern starts on the one, whether you're counting to three, whether you're counting to two. Hence, your "2/3 Polyrhythm" again. Straight time on one hand, straight time on the other.