# Dafnis Prieto: Rhythmic Synchronicity: Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2020/05/25/dafnis-prieto-rhythmic-synchronicity-video-photos/
- Published: 2020-05-25T12:00:06+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**A review of the book by Dafnis Prieto, entitled Rhythmic Synchronicity – Individual
and Collective Drumming Skills: A rhythmic course for non-drummers.**

Anyone who has heard Dafnis Prieto play music will realize that his musicianship
goes much further beyond mere virtuosity on his instrument: the drums. Mr Prieto
is a musician who is able to decode the complexities of music that can only come
when someone supremely gifted in his sphere of music is able to pierce the membrane
that separates music from its mythical, sonic source. Mr Prieto, for example, does
not simply proffer drum-accompaniment in an Afro-Cuban setting, but he can – and
does – drum at the edge of magic, often bringing the most complex rhythmic patterns
to light as the music progresses. But Mr Prieto also does something else: he teaches
music – drumming specifically – and has already written a definitive book (a manual)
for playing the drums which was entitled A World of Rhythmic Possibilities. This
time, however, he seems to have taken pedagogy not simply a step further, but he
seems to have made a more almost philosophical leap. His latest book, _Rhythmic 
Synchronicity_ posits that non-drummers – yes, even non-drummers – can have the 
key to unlocking the secrets to “playing with rhythmic accuracy in any situation”.

⌊Dafnis Prieto - Rhythmic Synchronicity⌉⌊Dafnis Prieto - Rhythmic Synchronicity⌉
Is this true? Can a non-drummer really learn to drum in “any situation”? The late,
great Oliver Sacks was one of the most celebrated physicians. As a doctor who lived
at the leading edge of neuro-science and ever since 1965 when he began a fellowship
in neurochemistry and neuropathology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine 
in New York he was launched on a quest that took him into the vaults and caverns
of the human brain. His neuro-research resulted in his ground-breaking treatment
of sleeping sickness _encephalitis lethargia_, the results of which became the basis
for his book _Awakenings_. But in 2007 Dr Sacks published another path-breaking 
book, _Musicophilia_ in which he examined the brain and its remarkable association
with music. In one of the first case-studies he discusses at the beginning of the
book, Dr Sacks describes how one of his patients woke up from a shock and discovered
how deep a connection he had with music; so deep, in fact, that he began to play
the piano with an abnormally high degree of proficiency.

Why is Dr Sacks important to this review? Simply because in his book Mr Prieto also
posits what some – especially hard-working drummers who may still be paying their
proverbial dues – might believe to be a bit of a tall order. Of course, Mr Prieto
is not a miracle-worker, nor does he make any such claim here or anywhere else. 
However, struggling musicians – especially struggling drummers may have also benefitted
from Mr Prieto’s earlier book might take heart, along with other musicians who might
also need to understand the world of rhythm better because this book promises not
simply an insight into the complex world of drumming, but also help navigate – especially
the musician – develop and fine-tune the much-needed skills to recognise and acquire
proficiency in rhythmic synchronisation.

Remarkably there are such skills available to those who have musical skills and 
learning behind them. Mr Prieto’s book helps unlock the vault of those skills, unpack
the tool-kit and bring it to the drum chair. Admittedly, drumming is no easy task.
In fact it is downright complex, for it not only demands the ability of understanding
and mastering time, in addition to hearing and understanding melody and harmony.
It also requires a great deal of stamina for the long haul, being able to listen
with open ears, adapt to rhythmic changes and propel the music on a set or variable
course. Add to that if you are a drummer – a practicing musician, that is – who 
plays in the Afro-Cuban or in the broader Afro-Caribbean and/or in the mother lode
of all – the African – rhythmic languages you need to play at a high and complex
rate of speed and be ready to make abrupt and dramatic changes at very short notice.
But this is exactly what Mr Prieto’s book might help you do – to prepare yourself
for a life of such dynamism, equip yourself, so to speak, with a toolbox which must
of necessity be built into the place of your brain where it responds to musical 
rhythm.

We do know from scientists, that the human brain is capable of decoding complex 
messages relating to rhythm, which, in turn, allow us to mimic the messages externally–
that is, keep time – to music. Musicians – especially drummers – master these messages
to a very high degree. And now, with the help of exercises devised by Mr Prieto,
the student can develop not just a greater proficiency for drumming but also acquire
a sense of how to respond to musical changes in rhythmic duplets and triplets; in
other words to develop _rhythmic synchronicity_. Mr Prieto’s book proffers 188 audio
tracks and more numerous exercises with which to acquire this high degree of proficiency
through understanding – and mastering – syncopation and rhythmic independence. Although
not everyone who reads the book or practices incessantly may, of course, reach the
level of excellence that Mr Prieto himself has. That comes from within; Mr Prieto
believes, and while his own beguiling example – and display – of this gift may be
mind-boggling, Mr Prieto’s book does offer more than hope: it does suggest a path
to “gaining access to rhythmic synchronicity with oneself and others through the
use of syncopation and rhythmic independence” for as Mr Prieto shows throughout 
this book this is, indeed possible. How, you might ask? Hard work and practice is
one route – specifically practicing the scores of exercises that are contained within
this book.

Mr Prieto is a very good teacher and guide and this is reflected in the pages of
the book. The exercises have been written in a simple manner, illustrated so even
musicians with rudimentary music reading proficiency can follow. Symbols have been
used to punctuate as well as to explain the more complex exercises; signposts, if
you will, en route to helping the reader – music practitioner and aspiring drummer–
unpack the secrets of drumming with rhythmic synchronicity. The book is broken up
into three parts or levels. Level One deals with placing small rhythmic cells into
varied subdivisions, with handclapping and vocalising the myriad rhythmic patterns
at once – the rhythmic independence that Mr Prieto speaks of and offers a section
on open improvisation. Level Two teaches memorisation, performing longer rhythmic
sequences, and teaches vocalisation of melody while handclapping to a particular
rhythmic sequence and finally improvising handclaps while practicing singing a melody.
The final – Level Three – sets out to develop a palimpsest of Numerology and its
rhythmic potential as a guide to composition. This section – and the book – ends
with a guided course in odd meters, combinations of meters and note (intervallic)
groupings.

Clearly much thought and a wealth of working experience and teaching skill has gone
into creating this book. The practical experience that Mr Prieto brings to teaching
is invaluable. But what he also does to make the complexities of rhythm easier to
understand, practice, learn and perhaps even excel at, might very possibly be almost
as great an achievement as his own musicianship. Musicians such as Mr Prieto are,
after all, part of the continuum of music that has existed and developed through
the centuries and their own development has been made possible by teaching and learning
such as by methods that unfold in this book.

![Dafnis Prieto - Rhythmic Synchronicity](https://i0.wp.com/latinjazznet.com/wp-
content/uploads/2020/05/Dafnis-Prieto-Rhythmic-Synchronicity.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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