OT West African/African Diaspora rhythms: 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 12/8

[Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>]

  Luis wrote:
"interesting conversation is funny also how many people feel or count 
the typical chicago blues is 4/4
though it make sense,drummers also start with the drum sticks counting 
1,2,3,4 and not 1,2,3,4,5,6
maybe that was the genuis in chuck berry,mayb he couldnt stand watching 
the white folks dance 6/8 in 4/4 so he turned 6/8 into 4/4 and named it 
johnny b. goode:-)"

The salient reason why the shuffle in the blues is written in 4/4 and 
not 6/8 from my experience is
the presence of the backbeat (the offbeat clapping tradition from the 
Afro Americans of the African
Diaspora on the '2' and '4' of a measure).  The dancers dance to the 
four pulse (every three sub pulses
in 12/8) and clap on the '2' and '4'.

The shuffle is based off of the 4 pulse in 12/8.     Due to the presence 
of different polyrhythmic feels
in West African based musics, musicologists have taken to counting the 
music in 12/8 but
honestly,  I think this is inaccurate and they are just trying to be 
safe and beyond critique from
other academics.

      I've played literally hundreds of hours of west african and caribbean
dance classes (Cuban, Afro Haitian and Brazillian) in my life:    
watching what pulses the dancers dance to
is very instructive.   There are virtually NO dances from those parts of 
the world where the dancers
emphasize the 3 pulse or the 6 pulse.   They WILL make syncopated 
movements that hit these spots
but almost entirely,  the dancing is to the four 
pulse...................a very good case for writing
the music in 4/4 in triplet eighth notes and NOT in 6/8.

The drummers, on the other hand,  are all over the place and frequently 
will emphasize the 3 and 6 pulses
(as well as the 2 pulse which doesn't get mentioned enough) but these 
are embellishments designed
to get the adrenal glands pumping, as happens in all syncopation.

My view, however, is in a decided minority amongst academic 
musicologists (many of whom, I have
to add, snarkily,  have never set foot in a dance class,  let alone 
played for one).