Drum Challenge: Can you play this impossible piece?

Is Frank Zappa's famous drum solo 'The Black Page' really all that hard? In this video I attempt to give the piece an 'upgrade', writing my own new piece 'The Even Blacker Page' and get my friend Yogev Gabay to perform it - it only took him a month to learn it and 31 takes to record it :-)
Check out more from YOGEV GABAY / yogevgabay
Thanks also to Dor Levin / @wtfgrooves3268
and Nestup nestup.cutelab.nyc/
and also Ben Levin for the voice-over!
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My videos on :
Quantum Rhythms
• Music Notation can't c...
Irrational Time Signatures
• Irrational Time Signat...
Other videos mentioned:
Chunga's Revenge
• Chunga's Revenge
Shawn Crowder: What Makes the "Black Page" so Difficult?
• What makes 'The Black ...
WTF Groove No.1 Tali Rubenstein
• WTF Groove no 1 - Tali...
WTF Grooves Channel
/ @wtfgrooves3268
Varese Ionisation
• Edgard Varese - Ionisa...
Terry Bozzio The Black PAge
• Terry Bozzio: The blac...
Terry Bozzio Interview
• DW Terry Bozzio "Black...
Zappa Approximate
• Frank Zappa - Approxim...

[@ShawnCrowder]

Great job David and Yogev and everyone! I’ll be having nightmares about this for weeks to come

[@capabartz7380]

Yoooooo!! You should take the challenge of the blacker page.

[@BrunoNeureiter]

That's too easy for Shawn Crowder!

[@flyingsteaks]

take the challenge!

[@YogevGabay]

I can confirm all your nightmares about this are %100 accurate!

[@idnemgk]

So funny Shawn! I suppose my fear of nightmares has hindered my progress with this kind of stuff, at least so far. Lol. The final result in the video did sound great though, to my ears. David, it looks like you are might be writing this out by ear at the end of your video. That would be something deep if true, quite a few leaps beyond assembling stuff you discover by manipulating a computer program! I've done the latter with relatively short pieces, just using a combination of a kind of ball-park hearing plus using the visual grid to get a sense of the ebb and flow of density.

[@deepakmallubhotla6058]

The most impressive part of Yogev's performance isn't even the technical skill, it's that he could add interpretation and musicality on top of that technical skill. Very cool all around

[@BenLevin]

This is so inspiring and exciting! Great animations and graphics too!

[@firstname_lastname3507]

Ben you are the most composer ever

[@endthefighting]

@Firstname_ Lastname So much composer! Very write music! Such wow!

[@fantasticnisopta]

@@firstname_lastname3507 he’s the composerest!

[@mikoajp.5890]

"Bruce did 9/11" is something I did not expect to note today

[@NiceToolsRemix30]

I love how it sounded like an expression and not a complicated mess of notes or even a robotic rhythm. Good job!

[@lolzlarkin3059]

It actually sounded sick af.

[@mapron1]

For me it sounded like a mess, exactly. Probably you need to be in drums to enjoy this.

[@billgrahammusic]

Definitely some very exciting rhythmic ideas! A couple of things, I'd like to hear it slowed down significantly. A lot of those rhythms fly by so quickly, and if it were quite a bit slower, I feel like there would be more of a chance to bask in the tension of those truncated tuplets. I'd also like to hear it against a hi hat pulse like the Black Page #1. Looking forward to The Blacker Page #2, The Easy Teenage New York Version.

[@Vossst]

As I understand it, Bozzio added the hi hat pulse himself for timekeeping purposes.

[@Cvetocek1]

Give it a listen at 0.75 playback speed!

[@Talisk3r]

Did you listen to the 0.5 and 0.75 KZbin playback speed! It doesn't lose musicality. And it make me think of Rubber Shirt another Zappa masterpiece.

[@d5uncr]

@@Vossst Another point of Zappa's more complicated compositions was that "statistically dense" rhythms usually aren't that interesting if they don't have a steady pulse to act against.

[@jensekander]

@Zolar Czakl I just tried double speed, that was fun! 😅

[@BrianKrock]

Yogev made that look easy. So exciting to see a collab between two of my favorite music youtubers, about a topic so close to my own heart. Great work, everyone!

[@linuslauterbach2975]

Please make a video on Zappa as well, a score study maybe? Love your analysis :)

[@only4crap]

yes! we all need more Brian Krock!

[@BrianKrock]

Linus & only4crap: be careful what you wish for... muah hah hah hah...

[@linuslauterbach2975]

@@BrianKrock I'm excited!

[@aspidoscelis]

Yogev makes everything look easy. Dude can turn a six-string guitar into a seven-string guitar by -drawing a line-.

[@stevenmonroe8652]

Q: So electronic media have really freed you to get closer to your ideal, to what you're hearing. FZ: "It's really made that possible. The next question is whether anybody in the audience wants to hear it. That's the big problem, because the further out I get with these timbral combinations and the unusual rhythms, the further away it gets from any possibility of radio play. And without radio play or some kind of advertising for the album, nobody's even going to know it's there, let alone pick it up. Some people, when they hear it, they absolutely don't like it just on principle because it doesn't have that boom, boom, boom on the floor all the time. I'm delighted that I have the opportunity to go wandering around out in the zones of this thing. I would like it if I had some company out there." Doerschuk, R. L., & Aikin, J. (1987). Sample This! Keyboard, (February, 1987).

[@tsituaton]

We have youtube nowadays. Zappa would embrace it I guess

[@RyanJonkerMusic]

Love that you have Ben reading the Zappa quote, very fitting 9:15

[@tristankline6676]

This felt like an acknowledgment of the aesthetic and intellectual legacy that Ben has inadvertently inherited.

[@klaasbil8459]

@@tristankline6676 LOL aesthetic legacy. Nice way of putting it.

[@xander1052]

It is fitting, I see Ben like a modern day Zappa in many ways.

[@tristankline6676]

@@xander1052 In some ways yes. It's about pursuing the sound no matter what and having a brain to understand, question, and push the boundaries of what is musical. Which is why this video is so spot on! (Also, Jacob Collier is Zappa if Zappa played with music software instead of mercury as a kid and was raised right).

[@xander1052]

@@tristankline6676 100% agreed

[@jogo2000]

That part with alternating 7- and 5-tuplets is pretty groovy

[@DanGulinobass]

Yes thats the best part! Outstanding

[@brettmeyer8786]

When I saw that I thought about the beginning of Stravinsky's Petrushka, which has to be the earliest piece to rock back-and-forth between 7- and 5-tuplets.

[@csucskos]

Yeah! I prefer more regular rhythm and the 5/7 is the easiest to feel. (At least compared to the other brutal nested tuplets.) Even with the nested triplet, I'd totally listen to a tame, only 5 and 7 tuplet piece.

[@lawsonj39]

This reminds me of Glenn Gould, the genius pianist who in his later years would sit in restaurants and listen to the interweaving rhythms--and melodies, too--of the conversations happening around him.

[@MoeThermodynamics]

I was surprised to hear such a musical piece at the end! As complex as it may be, it actually sounded like a fun groove, the fact you were able to explore new and difficult musical concepts and composing an enjoyable piece for the listeners is just thrice as awesome!

[@RyanJonkerMusic]

The sevens/fives trade offs at 18:48 are especially dope

[@ShuAbLe]

A lot of the grove feeling comes from the drummer choice, because in the score there just one note, the drummer composed where to hit them

[@bendanielspercussion]

It’s really cool! It would be nice to, keeping in the spirit of the original BP, to have the performer keep quarters on the hi-hat with the foot. This is what makes the original so devilishly tricky. It would also be cool to hear it a second time through orchestrated with some sort of unison playing ensemble (or midi realization), which is also what the BP does. I’m loving all the blackness of the page!

[@DBruce]

I hadn't focussed on this compositionally before but you're right, the fact the hi-hat keeps going is part of what makes it convincing as a performance- you can hear the clock ticking. I shall impart this joyful news to Yogev :-)

[@bendanielspercussion]

@@DBruce I’m sure he’ll jump for joy at the news!

[@mjears]

The trouble with the idea is that a steady pulse won’t fit with the incomplete tuplets.

[@benjamindaniels796]

@@mjears Dang it!

[@bennywollinmusic]

@@mjears But that's the beauty of it - you'd hear the steady pulse occasionally skip/jolt. It would make it much more obvious what's going on. Not just "I'm hearing something that sounds rubato but is actually notated". The listener would be experiencing the rhythms much more similarly to the way the performer is experiencing them and the composer conceived of them.

[@LiorOzeriBass]

At the beginning of the video I was upset you didn't ask me to participate in this one. At the end I was relieved. God damn man

[@roygelvan1876]

That’s bollocks man, you’re the queen of tuplets!

[@mathphysicsnerd]

The title of the video made my skepticism kick into high gear, so seeing a well made video that actually appreciates and informs not just about technical analysis but also about Zappa's compositional and play styles (even if I have heard much of it before) is a well-appreciated surprise. Way too many people have the barely-skimming-the-surface level "haha, ugly man makes drug music" take on Zappa. It's also interesting to see that many of the best Zappa analysis videos have come out in the last 10 months...dare I hope we're approaching a Freak Renaissance?

[@michaelhackman3195]

Is there anything Yogev can't play? Sheeeesh what a beast

[@sashakindel3600]

As far as "what is the point?" is concerned: inventing new musical difficulties for their own sake is like inventing new technology. Once you have it, you can evaluate what higher-level goals it can be applied in service of. I've always found the music of Paganini a bit stiff, but no doubt the violin scoring of Paganini laid the groundwork for the violin scoring of, say, Richard Strauss.

[@SheldonBird]

I feel like Zappa would have LOVED the fact that you did this

[@manifestgtr]

Thank GOD it took Terry a week or two to learn this tune. Sometimes you picture Zappa’s guns as being these computers who could crank out anything within the span of a rehearsal....

[@fleeb]

You could have added a touch of sadism with a rest at about the seventh note into the first 13thlet, a short accent on the 2nd note of the 2nd 13thlet followed by a legato on the 5th note of that 13thlet, with a rest on the 6th note of the same 13thlet.

[@adriawa]

MORE THINGS ABOUT ZAPPA

[@willyfleming999]

I love that feeling you get when you stumble across a new explanation for some music concept you couldnt put into words before. It's like being given an even bigger box of crayons.

[@MrMidnightSon]

Wish I could double-like! Mind-expanding and packed with educational information. Also loved the buildup on Zappa's work.

[@timberfinn3131]

Wow lol crazy composition Bruce and even crazier performance Yogev. You make it sound so smooth!

[@stephenmorton6732]

Great video David! It is one thing to make something complex...but to make it musical, that is another level. Hats off to you and Yogev for making it complicated, but also making it musical. Very inspirational :-)

[@bingobongoboogie]

I love your style and the charming and embracing way of treating these complicated things so easily - thank you so much for your very entertaining educational TV, David! ❤️ so much passion, so much work - I‘m deeply impressed and touched.

[@jorgeguberte]

Very elegant solutions, and a masterful execution! Bravo!

[@musiclover9433]

Your videos are just getting better and better and better.🙏

[@chalachalaofficial]

Im BLOWN AWAY. You just keep making golden content like its easy! Honestly man, I feel like this is really inspiring. makes you want to play with those weird time signatures and rhythms. Im waiting for sequoia (I hope im writing that right) to play it :)

[@saFubar]

Truly masterful playing! What a joy to watch :)

[@xavitreg]

Really really amazing! Incredible composition and incredible performance! You and Yogev are awesome! :)

[@boddhiswaha5446]

Amazing episode. Loved the DOR stuff

[@desrosimon]

Fascinating composition, but shout out to Yogev for the amazing orchestration. And what a great feel/touch!

[@foxtemple1952]

You are so underrated. I love your content, David. Keep on the incredible work

[@VincentBakker1964]

Wow. Just wow. You just opened up my ears to even appreciate zappa even more. Thank you!

[@liquidsolids9415]

That was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the explanation of the fractional time signatures. Well done!

[@nuxapower]

This is a good title-thumbnail combination, drove my click right in. Good job on that David! Great editing and very intuitive for non-musicians too. Good stuff!!!

[@JaySuryavanshiMusic]

Hypothetical Next Zappa Piece: the most black page! Introducing for the first time, Vantablack invented by MIT on a sheet of music. 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭

[@danjwheatley]

but noone apart from kapoor is allowed to use vantablack! www.format.com/magazine/features/art/anish-kapoor-stuart-semple-vantablack-blackest-black

[@JaySuryavanshiMusic]

@@danjwheatley Actually, I meant the colour.

[@wilh3lmmusic]

I am writing The Blackest Page(s): A Transcendental Rhythm Study

[@liamthelitlord5738]

Yogev's expression at the end just said "David, you're a monster"

[@josedealva4205]

fake obviously

[@piktormusic2538]

Thanks for helping to expand our musical universe David.

[@diogosantosdecerqueira4309]

Incredible channel, congrats man!

[@tracktionwaveformtips]

Nicely done. Great concepts here. I love the TNT bit too! 🧨

[@Bigandrewm]

That drum sequence was amazing!

[@TheProgSchool]

The ability to write/play this is next level! Lots of cool concepts, I’ll have to try to implement some of them into my own writing.

[@gordo64ful]

Great video, Dave! Just pointing this out as a curiosity, the "guitar" solo on Chunga's Revenge is actually an electric alto sax through a wah pedal (that's right, you heard right) played by the magnificient Ian Underwood!

[@Frunobulax74]

@pap There is a guitar solo in Chunga's Revenge. It starts after the sax solo at 4:16 in the song.

[@gordo64ful]

@@Frunobulax74 yeah! The snippet in the video comes from the sax solo, though.

[@1946levin]

Bravo! I love the original (in its many guises). Good to see DB taking up the baton!

[@tristankline6676]

Being familiar with the original Zappa versions, it was a delight to hear it emerge. To me it was identifiable at the beginning. I look forward to hearing the piano version, I am curious how the original will peak through.

[@adaml4406]

Incredible performance!

[@robertpien8708]

Simply amazing great job composting and also playing this crazy but advanced Innovative rythems very cool. This is the next level of understanding rythem .

[@dentoncrimescene]

It was surprisingly musical. Shouldn't have been surprising, most of your stuff is great.

[@dentoncrimescene]

I see I'm not the only one saying this.

[@sonidosysilencios7380]

wonderful video... inspiring and exciting...

[@victor29rc]

Yogev is freakin great! Thanks, David!

[@wtfgrooves3268]

That was EPIC! Thanks David ❤️ Side note... Yogev is a beast!!

[@eliotmccann2589]

Bravo Yogev!!

[@Sharpie360]

At about 13 minutes I was starting to think it just ends up sounding like a lot of short tempo changes. Like someone dropped that FL studio glitch effect onto a lofi track and hit randomize. Then David goes into the scoring software and goes, well I can't write it in traditional methods, so I'm going to do short tempo changes to replicate the rhythm pattern timings. Love it.

[@heythaian]

This is extremely inspiring!

[@DrTacoPHD665]

So glad to see Yogev back on this channel!

[@koka7366]

awesome video david

[@alexduran5704]

Huge Zappa fan here appreciating this particular Video

[@domdib]

Zapileo Zapilei :-) Awesome performance, and it had the feel of a virtuoso improvisation. Kudos!

[@DanGulinobass]

Amazing Piece !

[@St_Yerbouti]

Thank you! That was great:-)

[@matiasmarquez4861]

A video about The Black Page, featuring Dor Levin??? Love it

[@PugCuber]

As a percussionist myself, I’m super glad you tried something like this.

[@FernieCanto]

I believe there's no room for discussion here, Mr. Bruce, but you're *the* single _coolest_ music youtuber right now. You just take everything that's being done out there in the wild and make it 20% cooler. I believe this spirit of one-upmanship and debauchery is completely in like with who Frank Zappa was, so making this piece is simultaneous an "up yours!" and a high praise of him. And it's always important to bring people like Zappa to the attention of people. There are way too many kids who think Tool and Dream Theater have THE most "complicated" music out there. "Lateralus uses the Fibonacci sequence, man! That's *SO* complex!". Hah, get a load of this, kids.

[@paulrodrigues1994]

Ben as Frank is excellent casting

[@JohnLloydDavis]

Amazing! Is Yogev playing to a click that's in the earphones? If I remember rightly, The Black Page had the hihat keeping a constant meter that everything was played against and this was audible for us mere mortals to tap our feet along to :)

[@so.postbeat]

Wow. This is some deep cosmological exploration going on here! The postbeat salutes you x

[@ecksluss]

This is amazing.

[@suds5214]

I've always respected Terry Bozzio for performing this piece with the precision Zappa required.

[@sschmidtevalue]

You should get Charles Berthoud to play it on electric bass. He's undertaken some very difficult conversions from Paganini and others. And you missed the Spinal Tap joke about "none more black."

[@nelsonpereira9306]

When you showed isolation I automatically thought of approximate. I was so glad it was the next in the video

[@philippospratsos4198]

Now here’s an even greater challenge: use these rhythms to create a piece that is pleasing to the average listener

[@Apoorv293]

Glad to see the AriaProII bass there!

[@asa.pankeiki]

Fantastic vid as always! Pls analyze Dutilleux’s orchestration soon! 🙏

[@andywellsglobaldomination]

This is great! I have been writing my guitar solos in Sibelius then exporting the MIDI file to Ableton to get my tuplets. Nice to have an alternative!

[@MrLanceDaily]

Incredible!

[@lim7lim]

I can't say i understood how all the mathematical formulas translate into rhythm, but I found the part about translating speech cadences into rhythmic and melodic lines especially fascinating. Thank you David וכל הכבוד ליוגב, דור וטלי 🌺

[@melechgadol]

wow im proud of you and shoutout to yogev my man

[@scott.m.guitar6798]

What an awesome video. For ableton users interested in tuplets: You can make tuplets in ableton by selecting multiple notes on the grid and dragging their size down to even parts that fit within the grid, use the arrows at the top of the piano roll that appear around the selected notes to squash notes into a space

[@bobitzae]

Wonderful job to both of you! Although i manage to understand only a tiny part of the theory behind it, I love the idea of exploring the vastness of rhythm and music. Makes me wonder what piece of music could come out by bringing other musicians to fill their part... Like Adam on bass, Nare on piano, Jacob with his voice maybe?

[@AidanMmusic96]

Ah, so that's why your nested tuplet excerpt showed up in Music Engraving Tips recently...! ;) Shawn Crowder also brilliantly transcribed a drum and bass piece called "Polyriddim", which is also worth looking up!

[@TheTroubadourRecords]

Your visuals get more interesting by the day, Sir.

[@luizotaviozorzella]

When I was in college I was introduced to a time signature system that did away with the bottom number, replacing it with the note that represents the beat. So a 4/4 would become 4/♩ (i.e. "4 by quarter note"), which becomes even more interesting when you replace, say, a 12/8 by a 4/♩. (i.e. "4 by dotted quarter note"). This makes so much more sense to me, but, unfortunately, it's rare to find something using this notation. One such example, though, is Carl Orff's fabulous "Tanz" from "Carmina Burana": en.schott-music.com/shop/media/catalog/product/cache/6/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/e/d/ed_6950-2.jpg

[@jackspnc]

Having 2 Levin lunatics in one video is amazing

[@NickBatinaComposer]

Around min 14, that sent me on a bit of a nostalgic dream thinking back to trying to get tuplets to work on finale notepad, good times lolol

[@horowizard]

When The Black Page first came out it was impossible. Now it's standard repertoire for any High School Jazz Band. The term Nested Tuplet didn't exist until computer notation software appeared. Before that it was called Compound Rhythms.

[@dariocaporuscio8701]

Nice! Looking forward for the melodic version, I would love to play it on the flute

[@christian53050]

So glad to hear Zappa getting some attention!

[@Entoron055]

If it would have been only the drum performance, I wouldn’t have recognised all the messy weirdness going. Amazing

[@vrixphillips]

can't wait for the piano version!

[@glennartstuffs-freejazzfil4730]

Great video, as always. I also think that guy's suggestion of trying to write the world's easiest to play piece of music would be an interesting video. Although, I guess 4'33 already exists, so I can't imagine a piece easier than that to play. Maybe not writing the EASIEST piece, but rather just writing a piece which is designed to be incredibly easy. Maybe a piece that could be played by people who can't play instruments and only have an hour to rehearse, or something like that.

[@Hausch13]

It's always a great pleasure to see Ruth Underwood play. Love to all things Zappa and to all things David Bruce.

[@b.a.7228]

For rhythmically challenging Zappa pieces, "Mo 'n Herb's Vacation" outpaces "The Black Page." Then, some of the synclavier compositions outpace that (to the point of being nigh-impossible to perform accurately by human hands [and feet]). All that being so, whilst I enjoy David's videos -- and pushing the envelope -- a big thing about "The Black Page," a vital thing, is that it wasn't *just* about creating a challenging piece of music, but also creating a beautiful piece of music. "The Black Page," much like Paganini's caprices, is a piece of music that challenges musicians, that helps expand what is technically possible -- but it's also a legitimately beautiful piece of music and not just a lark or technical exercise. "The Blacker Page" was good. It does outdo "The Black Page" rhythmically. But as a piece of music? I'm not sure it out Zappa's Zappa. Which was a large challenge and likely just clickbait. Even so, I'm curious to hear how the piece develops for piano.

[@connorhalleck2895]

this is some of my favorite music nerd shit ever

[@yoverale]

I’d love to try this, so crazy

[@yoverale]

I love that mix of syncopated quintuplets and septuplets with swang notes on it, that’s a really useable groove. 🤯

[@ChannelRejss]

Dear David, incredible video. I recommend looking at what Mono Neon has been doing with his videos where he playes over clips of people talking. Very much in the vein of this topic. :)

[@subjectline]

This loopery is what we are here for

[@kristadzive]

It got a bit better when you explained what the hell it is, but the shock when i saw the second measure at 11:00 was immesurable, holly sh*t, this video just blew my mind hard!!!!

[@christophegragnic8681]

For the math guy I am it's a shame that the «irrational» bars have this name since a rational number is a fraction. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_number Real (pun intended) irrational numbers would be a very new musical territory (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrational_number).

[@mathphysicsnerd]

And if anyone could make a genuine crack at playing a piece in π/4ths time, it'd be Dweezil

[@wilh3lmmusic]

Good thing my attempt at beating David has that! Pi/2e (e is 2.71828…..)

[@Posiman]

Not so new. Conlan Nancarrow already created canons with irrational rhythms. Adam Neely made a video about him.