Solo dance phrases
Solo playing is not something that magically happens at some point. You do not get inspired, wave your hands and wow, this cool solo just comes out... No, solo playing is the result of doing your homework, learning an "alphabet", practicing, and lots of trial and error! In other words - anyone who canplay, can actually also learn to play solo. The keyword is LEARN!
Traditional solo's such as the Diansa solo on this site, are the accompagniment to traditional dances. These solo's are fixed from the first note to the last. They consist of a series of rhythmic phrases, that are played in sequence and repeated a certain number of times. If you analyse these solo's, you will find that a good portion of the phrases in one solo are variations on a single rhythmic theme.
Rules for creating solo phrases
The solo phrases support and inspire the dancers. If you want to create your own phrases, you can use some simple rules to help you. These rules work for me and are based on what I see and hear, not on being taught formally. So treat this as just my opinion!
The feet, the steps, are supported by the doundoun phrases and possibly bass notes on the djembe. Low and mid-level arm movements are supported by tones. And high arm movements or high knee movements are supported by slaps. This is just a very general rule of thumb that will help you to decide which note to select for a particular accent, a particular movement you want to support with your play.
For flowing movements, twists, turns etc. often patterns are used that cut across the beat, for example this pattern in the Diansa supports a 360 degree turn:
Diansa phrase 2
4ss.t4tstt4stts4tts*b
For staccato movements, you can either play on the beat, which always makes the movement heavy, or you can play off-beat, which makes a movement ligt and gives it swing and drive and speed. An offbeat slap for example can accentuate the lifting of the knee, whilst the next bass on the beatwould accentuate putting the foot down, the step.
Deciding what to use when, is part of the whole creative process. One item that is of great help is the djembe part that is called the "solo accompagniment" in a rhythm. This is the part that the soloist plays when there are no other players. It can be thought of as a basic phrase that will go with the dance. If you use this phrase, and make variations on it, you will stay fairly close to the original rhythm. If you study the Diansa solo, you will see that some musical features are part of virtually every solo phrase.
Of course most dances have traditional steps and traditional phrases that go with these steps too. Use this material, if you have it, to study the relation between the soloist and the dancer!
The break
The break, call or appèl signifies the end of one solo phrase and the start of the next. Many people think that the break starts on the first beat, like this:
Call
4v.tt4.tt.4t.ss4s...
However, it doesn't. If you play a phrase 4 times and then play a break like this, western dancers won't hear it, no matter how loud you play. They don't listen to the music, they often don't recognise individual patterns. What you need to do, is to create a "breather". Just like a sentence, when you get to the end, you stop, take a deep breath, and then are ready for the next sentence.
So the fourth time that you play a pattern, you modify the last bars so there is a pause and a flam, and then you play the call. Here is an example, listen carefully how it is done
4t=ittt4s..b4s.ss4tt..
The fourth time it modified to this:
Fourth time
4t=ittt4s..b4s.s.4f...
Or even
4t=ittt4s..b4s...4f...
Of course you must take care to make sure that the break ends at the end of a dance pattern and at the end of a doundoun pattern combined, so that all musicians and dancers start a new dance step on the first beat of the new phrase. Sometimes this can be tricky and needs careful thought.
Study
Use video material such as is given on this site, and use concerts and performances and dance classes, to study the relation between the dancer and the music, the solo patterns!