This lesson and groove session is focused on Rumba clave and AbaCua Clave. These two intriguing patterns are found in many styles of world music today.

I teach you the patterns from the inside out. We count and clap the patterns in different ways, and I show you two hand coordination and other exercises to get the feeling into your body. The lesson ends with 25 minutes of clave grooves at different tempos for you to play along with. If you are interested in clave in "6-8" this is a great lesson for you.

I've included some extened perfomances to give you a chance to sink into the feeling. I play Songo on drumset, two congas, clave and guiro, Mozambique on three congas, two bells and bombo, Rumba on three congas, sticks and clave and AbaCua on four congas, two bells and basket rattles.

We start the lesson with music, then a simple counting system that anyone can follow, then progress to the "8th note" system typically used in "Latin" music. Finally we learn the Rumba clave pattern in a manner that integrates it with American music. Each of these ways of counting shows you different perspective on the pattern.

I repeat this sequence to show you how the Rumba clave patterns feels in a twelve beat cycle and how it relates to the all important African twelve - bell pattern

There are online lesson notes to expand and give background on some of the material in the lesson.

The grooves that form the second part of the lesson start with clave and shaker with counting and pulse to help orient you. ( You can turn the balance to one side if you don't want to hear the counting) As the groove progresses, I drop out the counting, the shaker and the pulse so you can learn to play only with clave. Then I bring back parts of the pulse and counting for you to check how well you have stayed in clave. I feel this is an innovation in play along drum tracks.

I offer this Clave Consciousness lesson to you to expand your own music, and if you are interested, to help you understand Cuban and other music and dance.

Written and produced by Kim Atkinson

All instruments and voices performed by Kim Atkinson

© copyright PulseWave Percussion 2005

Content developer, Co- Producer, Recording and Mastering Engineer Extrordinaire: Peter van Gorder www.PetervanGorder.com