Bell pattern
The Bell pattern, commonly referred to as the standard African 12/8 bell pattern, is a foundational rhythmic motif originating from West African musical traditions and widely adopted in Afro-Caribbean genres.[1] It consists of seven strokes distributed across twelve eighth-note pulses, creating a syncopated structure notated as long-short-long-short-long-long-short (LLSLLLS), which establishes a polyrhythmic framework in triple meter.[2] This pattern, often played on a metal bell or cowbell, functions as the rhythmic "heartbeat" or organizing principle, around which other percussion, melodies, and improvisations align to maintain ensemble cohesion.[3][4] Emerging from cultures such as the Ewe people of Ghana and the Yoruba of Nigeria, the Bell pattern is integral to warrior dances like Agbekor and sacred Bembé rituals, where the bell acts as the "grandfather" rhythm guiding the ensemble.[2] Through the transatlantic slave trade, it was transported to the Americas, profoundly influencing Afro-Cuban music by evolving into clave patterns—the 3:2 son clave (strokes on 1, 2&, 4 in the first bar and 2, 4 in the second bar of 4/4) and the 2:3 rumba clave (strokes on 1, 1& in the first bar and 2&, 3&, 4 in the second bar of 4/4)—which underpin styles like rumba, son, salsa, and mambo.)[3] In these contexts, it is typically performed on instruments such as the timbale's cowbell, mambo bell, or even struck wooden sticks (claves), often complemented by related patterns like the cáscara for added texture.[4][3] The pattern's cultural and musical significance lies in its ability to evoke a sense of forward motion and cyclical time, bridging African diasporic communities from Nigeria and Ghana to Cuba and Puerto Rico, while surviving colonial suppression.[3] Its versatility allows notation in duple (4/4) or triple (6/8, 12/8) meters, and it has permeated global music, appearing in jazz, Latin pop, and even contemporary Western compositions as a ternary rhythm akin to an "African waltz."[2] Examples include its presence in Tito Puente's "Mambo Beat" via the cáscara variation and traditional tracks like Nigeria's "Salute to a Chief" or Cuba's "Yambú (Rumba)."[3] This enduring motif highlights the interconnectedness of rhythmic innovation across continents and eras.[1]Definition and Origins
Historical Background
Bell patterns originated in the musical traditions of West and Central African societies, including the Akan, Yoruba, and Ewe peoples, where they served as foundational rhythmic timelines in ensemble performances.[5] These patterns, played on iron bells, trace their roots to Iron Age practices, with archaeological evidence of clapperless iron bells appearing in sites across sub-Saharan Africa from contexts dating to the later first millennium CE.[6] Ethnographic studies from the mid-20th century, such as those by A.M. Jones among the Ewe in Ghana, document their pervasive use in polyrhythmic structures, confirming a continuity from precolonial oral traditions.[5] The standard bell pattern, a seven-stroke cycle in 12/8 meter, emerged as a seminal example anchoring these rhythms across ethnic groups.[7] In these societies, bells such as the gankogui—a double iron clapper bell struck with a wooden stick—played crucial roles in signaling events, accompanying rituals, and structuring communal dances.[5] Among the Ewe, the gankogui provided an unvarying temporal reference in dances like Agbadza and Adzida, synchronizing drums, claps, and dancers while evoking spiritual and social cohesion.[7] Similar iron clappers featured in Yoruba konkonkolo patterns and Akan ensembles, often in ceremonial contexts to invoke ancestral presence or mark communal gatherings.[5] Early European documentation, including 16th-century Portuguese explorer accounts of West African coastal rituals, noted the prominence of such resonant metal instruments in performative traditions, highlighting their cultural centrality before widespread colonial disruption.[8] The transatlantic slave trade from the 16th to 19th centuries transmitted these bell patterns to diaspora communities in the Americas, where enslaved Africans preserved them orally amid efforts to suppress indigenous practices.[9] Despite prohibitions on drumming and cultural expression, rhythms from regions like the Gold Coast (including Ewe and Akan influences) endured through clandestine performances, adapting into forms like the Afro-Cuban clave while retaining core polyrhythmic elements.[9] Anthropologist Melville Herskovits's studies underscore this resilience, showing how bell-derived timelines maintained African temporal frameworks in New World musics.[9] In griot traditions of Mali and Senegambia, bells anchored rhythmic cycles within oral musical ensembles, reinforcing the hereditary role of these performers as historians and communal anchors.[10] Mandinka griots (jali) incorporated instruments like the ngarinya—a long tubular iron bell—to punctuate praise songs and epics, ensuring rhythmic stability during extended narratives of lineage and history.[10] This practice, rooted in the medieval Mali Empire, exemplified bells' function in sustaining cultural memory through cyclical patterns in non-dance contexts.[11]Core Characteristics and Instruments
A bell pattern, also referred to as a timeline or key pattern, constitutes a short, repeating ostinato in sub-Saharan African music, typically comprising 3 to 7 strokes per rhythmic cycle, which functions as a foundational anchor for layering complex polyrhythms within an ensemble.[12][13] This repetitive structure maintains a constant pulse, guiding performers and ensuring rhythmic cohesion without variation in its core form.[14] Central to its identity are traits such as a high-pitched, metallic timbre designed for maximum audibility amid dense percussion layers, achieved through binary or ternary subdivisions that emphasize precise timing over melodic content.[14][13] As a key pattern, it orients other instruments by establishing an unchanging referential framework, allowing improvisational elements to interlock around it.[12] Unlike melodic timelines in other traditions, bell patterns remain strictly rhythmic, devoid of pitch sequences or harmonic implications, focusing solely on temporal organization.[12] The primary instruments for executing bell patterns are idiophones, notably double bells forged from iron, such as the gankogui used in Ewe drumming traditions of Ghana and Togo, which consist of two conjoined conical bells producing distinct high and low tones when struck with a wooden beater.[12][15] Iron bells like the dawuro exhibit acoustic properties including a piercing, resonant timbre that cuts through ensembles, with tonal variation derived from striking techniques—such as damping against the body for muted effects or allowing free vibration for sustained ring.[12][14] Bronze variants occasionally appear, offering a brighter, more sustained resonance due to the metal's density and elasticity.[14] Cowbells and clappers serve similar roles, providing sharp, metallic attacks adaptable to the ostinato.[13] These patterns trace their roots to African ritual and communal practices, where the bells' enduring form underscores their role in signaling events or invoking spiritual elements.[14]Rhythmic and Metric Framework
The standard bell pattern consists of seven strokes over twelve eighth-note pulses in 12/8 meter, notated as x . x . x x . x . x . x (positions 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12), often grouped additively as 2+2+1+2+2+2+1.[16][2]Divisive versus Additive Rhythm
In music theory, divisive rhythm refers to the even subdivision of a beat or pulse into equal parts, typically following a binary (2:1) structure that aligns with Western metric frameworks. For instance, related patterns like the tresillo (a three-note motif integral to many African-derived rhythms) in 4/4 time feature strokes on beats 1, 2.5 (2&), and 4, creating a clear, symmetrical division that reinforces the underlying pulse stream.[17] This approach emphasizes regularity, where the entire cycle is parsed through consistent halving or quartering of the measure, providing a stable foundation for ensemble coordination.[18] In contrast, additive rhythm involves grouping pulses into uneven, asymmetric sets that sum to the total cycle length, often resulting in ternary or irregular configurations. The bell pattern exemplifies this in 12/8, with its 2+2+1+2+2+2+1 grouping over 12 pulses and strokes on 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, producing a forward-leaning propulsion through its off-kilter phrasing.[16] This structure prioritizes motivic accumulation over uniform division, allowing rhythms to unfold as layered composites rather than strict partitions.[19] The distinction between divisive and additive rhythms profoundly influences metric perception in bell patterns: divisive forms offer clarity by aligning accents with expected pulse divisions, facilitating easy entrainment for performers and listeners, whereas additive forms generate hemiola-like tension through their irregular intervals, which disrupt steady metric flow and heighten rhythmic ambiguity.[17] For example, the bell's additive cycle with strokes on 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 evokes a sense of displacement against a divisive backdrop, enriching the polyrhythmic texture without resolving into even beats.[16] Cultural preferences for these rhythmic types vary across West African traditions, with divisive structures prevalent in some Akan styles for their metric precision, while additive approaches dominate in Ewe music, such as the agbadza dance, where the bell pattern's 2+2+1+2+2+2+1 grouping fosters a cyclical, multidetermined time feel.[17] In Ewe agbadza, performers often internalize the additive bell cycle as a referential timeline, adapting other parts to its uneven pulse sums for communal synchronization during rituals.[16]Counter-Meter, Polymeter, and Polyrhythm
In African rhythmic traditions, the bell pattern often functions as a counter-meter by accenting off-beats that conflict with the prevailing metric structure, creating tension and forward momentum. For instance, in a 4/4 adaptation, the bell's seven-note pattern (strokes approximating positions 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3.5, 4, 4.5 in eighth-note subdivisions) implies layered hemiolas, overlaying triple feels against duple beats and emphasizing "weak" portions of the bar.[20] This counter-metric effect arises from the bell's role as a timeline ostinato, which performers and dancers use to navigate the groove despite the opposition.[17] Polymeter occurs when the bell pattern operates in an independent meter concurrent with other ensemble layers, such as a 12/8 bell cycle superimposed over a 4/4 bass line, allowing multiple metric interpretations within the same temporal span. In Ewe drumming ensembles, the standard bell pattern in 12/8 (strokes at positions 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, notated as x . x . x x . x . x . x in eighth notes) can support alternative groupings like 6/4 or 3/2, as listeners or performers parse the pulses differently.[21] This layered metric independence fosters a sense of perpetual motion, with the bell providing a stable reference amid the divergence.[17] Polyrhythm in bell patterns manifests through layered ratios, such as 3:2 or 2:3, where the bell serves as the referential ostinato against which other rhythms interlock. The 3:2 polyrhythm, common in West African traditions, divides a cycle into three even pulses on one layer versus two on another, with alignments occurring every twelve pulses to resolve the cycle.[20] Stroke alignments can be visualized as follows, showing the bell (B) and a contrasting 2:3 layer (C, e.g., a bass or clap pattern) over 12 pulses (eighth-note subdivisions):| Pulse: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bell (referential) | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | |||||
| Contrast (2:3) | C | C | C | C | C |
Applications in African Music
Standard Patterns in Sub-Saharan Traditions
The standard bell pattern is a foundational 7-stroke ostinato played in 12/8 time across West and Central African percussion ensembles. This pattern features strikes on pulses 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12 within the 12-pulse cycle, providing a syncopated timeline that organizes the polyrhythmic interplay among drums and other instruments. The gankogui, a double iron bell, typically performs this role, with the high-pitched bell struck on the even pulses and the low-pitched on the odd for tonal contrast, ensuring rhythmic alignment and forward momentum in the ensemble.[2] In Ewe traditions of Ghana and Togo, the pattern underpins dances such as agbekor, a historical warrior rhythm that simulates battle movements through layered percussion. Here, it supports call-and-response structures, where the lead drummer (heno) signals variations while the ensemble responds, maintaining communal synchronization during performances. Similarly, in Akan music of Ghana, the pattern drives adowa, a graceful funeral dance emphasizing social commentary and mourning, with the bell guiding the apentemma drum's interlocking phrases. Yoruba ensembles in Nigeria and Benin employ it in religious and social contexts, such as bata drumming for orisha ceremonies, where it frames responsive singing and dance invocations.[20] The pattern's notation in a 12-pulse cycle can be represented as follows, with "x" indicating a stroke and "." a rest:| Pulse | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stroke | x | . | x | . | x | x | . | x | . | x | . | x |
Variations in 12/8 and 4/4 Contexts
In Sub-Saharan African music, the standard 12/8 bell pattern, characterized by its ternary subdivision and seven primary strokes, provides a foundational timeline that accommodates variations to enhance rhythmic density while preserving cyclic structure. One prominent adaptation within the 12/8 framework is the "long bell" pattern, which introduces additional strokes to create a five-note configuration, typically placed on pulses 1, 4, 7, 9, and 10 of the 12/8 cycle. This variation imparts a fuller ternary feel, often used in Ewe drumming ensembles from Ghana to reinforce the metric hierarchy and support polyrhythmic layering by other instruments like the gankogui double bell.[2][17] Adaptations to 4/4 time signatures involve converting the ternary pattern into a binary form, aligning strokes with the duple pulse to suit faster tempos or hybrid ensembles that blend traditional African elements with Western influences. A common 4/4 rendition features five strokes, such as on beats 1, the 'e' of 1, 2, the '&' of 2, and 4, effectively overlaying the bell's syncopation onto a quaternary subdivision while maintaining the original cycle's referential points. This binary conversion is evident in Ghanaian highlife music, where the bell pattern related to the gahu rhythm is recontextualized in 4/4, with the final stroke shifted to an offbeat eighth note to drive danceable grooves. Similarly, in Nigerian jùjú music, 4/4 bell adaptations provide a timeline that interlocks with guitar riffs and percussion, overlaying duple meters in popular ensembles.[9][22][2] These metric shifts present challenges in upholding polyrhythmic integrity, as the addition or repositioning of strokes can introduce metrical ambiguity or tension between ternary and binary interpretations. For instance, incorporating extra beats in the long bell may misalign with supporting rhythms, requiring performers to navigate perceptual multistability to sustain the ensemble's cohesive feel. Such adaptations highlight the bell pattern's flexibility, allowing it to anchor diverse Sub-Saharan traditions without losing its role as a regulative beat.[17][9]Single-Celled Bell Patterns
Single-celled bell patterns consist of straightforward ostinatos that repeat over a short cycle of 4 to 8 pulses, lacking complex internal subdivisions, which distinguishes them from more elaborate multi-celled structures in African rhythmic traditions.[20] A representative example is the 3-stroke pattern in 6/8 time, where strikes occur on pulses 1, 3, and 5, creating a sparse, foundational timeline that emphasizes even spacing across the measure.[2] This pattern, often notated as:in rhythmic transcription, aligns with divisive rhythms in binary contexts by dividing the cycle into equal pulses without overlapping layers.[20] These patterns find application in solo or small-group performances, where they serve as signaling devices or rhythmic anchors, such as in Igbo ogene ensembles from Nigeria, which use the metal bell for ritual alarms, community gatherings, or therapeutic music-making.[23] In these settings, the ogene's resonant tones provide a clear, penetrating pulse that maintains temporal orientation without requiring additional instruments.[23] Another example is the basic 2:3 pattern in binary form, which manifests as a two-note ostinato against an implied three-note subdivision, typically notated in 4/4 as strikes on beats 1 and the midpoint of beat 3 (e.g., x . . x . . . .), generating a polyrhythmic tension over a shorter cycle than the standard 12-pulse bell pattern.[20] This contrasts with the standard pattern's longer 12/8 cycle, offering a more compact structure that cycles twice as frequently.[2] The inherent simplicity of single-celled bell patterns makes them accessible for beginners, facilitating initial exposure to African rhythmic principles through repetitive practice that builds muscle memory and metric awareness.[20] In educational contexts, such as Ewe children's games or introductory drumming sessions, these patterns use mnemonic syllables (e.g., "ma-te-kpo") to teach pulse independence without overwhelming learners, serving as a gateway to layering more complex interweavings in ensemble play.[2] This foundational role underscores their value in preserving and transmitting rhythmic traditions across generations.[20]X . X . X .X . X . X .
Applications in Afro-Cuban Music
Standard Pattern and Clave Integration
The standard African bell pattern, a foundational 12/8 rhythm prevalent in West African traditions such as the Ewe Agbekor ensemble, features seven strokes across twelve pulses, creating a 3:2 ratio of accents that underpins polyrhythmic structures. In Afro-Cuban music, this pattern evolved into the cascara or clave bell, transposed to a 4/4 meter as a repeating pattern with strokes typically placed on beats 1, the "and" of 2, beat 3, and the "and" of 4, preserving the approximate 3:2 syncopation while aligning with duple-pulse European influences in Cuban popular forms like son and rumba.[24] This adaptation maintained the pattern's role as a temporal anchor, allowing it to integrate seamlessly into hybrid ensembles.[2] The historical shift of this pattern into Cuban contexts occurred primarily through 19th-century cabildos, mutual aid societies established by enslaved Africans in Cuba to preserve ethnic and cultural identities under colonial rule. These organizations, particularly those of the Yoruba (known as Lucumí in Cuba), who comprised a significant portion of slaves arriving between 1820 and 1840, facilitated the retention and adaptation of Yoruba rhythmic practices, including bell patterns derived from sacred and social music of the Yoruba people in present-day Nigeria and Benin. Cabildos provided clandestine spaces for drumming, dancing, and bell-playing rituals, which influenced the emergence of Afro-Cuban genres by blending African elements with local conditions, such as restrictions on triple meters in favor of 4/4 for broader accessibility.[25][26] In Afro-Cuban ensembles such as conga and batá drum groups, the adapted bell pattern integrates closely with the son clave, reinforcing its inherent syncopation by providing a persistent ostinato that guides improvisation and interlocking rhythms among percussionists. The bell's strokes emphasize the clave's off-beat accents, ensuring rhythmic cohesion in call-and-response structures typical of son and rumba, where it functions analogously to its African precursor as the unchanging "key" against which other parts weave variations. This synergy highlights the pattern's enduring utility in maintaining groove and cultural continuity.[2] To illustrate the adaptation, the following side-by-side notation compares the African standard bell in 12/8 (seven strokes over twelve eighth-note pulses, often notated as hits on pulses 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10) with its Cuban 4/4 counterpart (cascara pattern over two bars, repeating hits on 1, 2&, 3, 4& for alignment with the 3:2 feel across the cycle). Both approximate the 3:2 ratio, with the Cuban version simplifying rests for duple meter flow.| Meter | Bar 1 (Pulses/Beats) | Bar 2 (Pulses/Beats) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| African 12/8 | x . x x . x . (hits: 1,3,4,6) | x . x x . (hits: 7,9,10; cycle repeats) | Leake (2015) [2] |
| Cuban 4/4 (Son Cascara) | x . x . x . x (hits: 1, 2&, 3, 4&) | x . x . x . x (hits: 1, 2&, 3, 4&; repeating pattern) | [24] |