I’ve Got Rhythm

I thought I had a decent sense of rhythm before I came to Nigeria. I could clap on the beat, off the beat, and in any other sort of predictable pattern or rhythm I could imagine. But I never imagined what I have encountered here.

It's not the clapping that's the hard part, though. It's the clapping and singing. You see, the clapping here is nearly always some form of syncopation. You clap on a beat, then you clap a second time a quarter of a beat before the next beat. The easiest way for a music-reading person to visualize this is the dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth note.

A majority of the time, this syncopated clap pattern occurs only once during each measure (that is, for every four beats, assuming four-four time, there are two claps, one on the beat, and one immediately following just before the next beat).

So why can't I sing and clap at the same time? I have actually accumulated a fair amount of musical training over the years. Three years of music theory (if you count counterpoint) and oodles of piano and voice lessons, I would think I would be capable of ready adaptation. But no. Three months later, I am still challenged by trying to sing and clap properly during a single song.

I will beg off the accusation by claiming that I have been concentrating too much on trying to keep with the clapping, and not enough attention on the singing. I know, I know. I should simply stop clapping, and try to learn the words and melodies to some of the songs. But even when they're singing in English, I can't understand all the words. In fact, some of time, I can't even understand more than a word or two. But that's no excuse. More often than not I can pick out most of the words.

I guess it comes down to laziness, pure and simple. It's just easier to clap. I enjoy clapping. It sure beats the work of trying to learn new melodies (even to familiar tunes at times, but sung with widely melodic and rhythmic contours that vary to an extreme from how we sing the song back home). And since we're here only one more month... well, it'll be a miracle if I manage the dexterity to do it.