Clave
A five-stroke pattern, the frame of Cuban music — in 3-2 or 2-3
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Clave is the five-stroke rhythm of Cuban music, and the name of the two wooden sticks that play it. It has two directions: 3-2 (three strokes first) and 2-3 (two first); a piece usually chooses one, and the other parts align to it.
It is not "any rhythm you like": clave is a frame, not decoration; changing direction changes the accentual relations of the whole passage. The usual mistake is to think clave is only the percussionist's business — piano, bass, melody and voice all organise around it.
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Sources
- clave 的两种朝向与在古巴音乐中的框架作用，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Clave"；本文为原创表述
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