Even those of us with a only modest appreciation of jazz will remember Take Five, that gently swinging number by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.  Listening to it always gave me the feeling of standing in a crowded train swaying irregularly from side to side as it negotiated a particularly complicated junction or misaligned piece of track.  The effect is due to there being five beats in the bar instead of the usual two, three, four or six.  Sometimes a bar comprises three beats followed by two, sometimes two followed by three.

At M W Choir we don’t often get to sing music with five beats in a bar.  But last night I was reminded of Take Five as we rehearsed The Triangle Song in Stella Natalis.  Incidentally, I had expected, not unreasonably, I thought, a piece about a triangle to have three beats to a bar, but then Karl Jenkins is always doing the unexpected.

So how do you keep track of five beats in a bar?  Quirkily, perhaps, as per the instruction at the start of the music.  I found myself having great difficulty until I hit on the idea of tapping out on my knee “One, two, three, four, five”, repeatedly with the successive fingers (preceded by the thumb of course) of one hand.  By the end it was working quite nicely, and I hope that practicing during the week will reduce my reliance on the tapping to give more of the feel of the piece.

So – that’s a good technique for The Triangle Song.  But what about Wintertide?  That has the even more eclectic seven beats to the bar, and will need a different technique as most of us have only five fingers on one hand.  Does anyone have any ideas?  All suggestions are welcome!