Common misconception: “You need 21 fingers to play a 1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8:9:10:11:12:13:14:15:16:17:18:19:20:21 polyrhythm.” NO. You only need 10! Here’s the proof by datramt.cool 👽❣️👾 🧵

A year ago, when transcribing a project.jdm polyrhythm 1:2…15:16, I was observing the animated score I made and wondered if it would be possible to play. There is a cluster chord I could use my forearm to play, and some really juicy chords, but nothing impossible

After spending about 2 weeks working it up to speed and filming it, I wondered what was the BIGGEST polyrhythm possible to play with just 10 fingers. Turns out the limiting factor would be a 10-note tertiary chord right in the middle. Since the middle chord is every-other note,

I could go up to 1:2…19:20, right? Yes, BUT, it’s even possible to squeeze one more in, as the middle chord of a 21st-order polyrhythm is a 10-note tertiary chord too. So I took a YEAR break because despite what you think of me right now, I do have a life lol

Then a month ago I told myself I’m gonna give this thing a try. I used @p5xjs (graphics) and @Sonic_Pi (audio) to generate the polyrhythm that I would follow along with: a slow, medium, and fast version. I broke it into 10 parts, and looped over and over again,

until it was firmly in my muscle memory. What was interesting about this was that it wasn’t that much harder than learning Chopin, or some of the stuff I did back in my indoor drumline days. It was just something that is hard to figure out how to learn without the technology

Just as some chess players get ideas from AI chess bots that no human would consider, this set of score following technologies I have been working on in my transcriptions kind of opened a few doors for what is possible to learn

The other question is: “WHY THO?” I got a LOT of that question when I posted my 1:2…15:16 video last year. Well, It’s satisfying? Same reason I like to solve Rubik’s cubes? To make @jacobcollier real quiet since it drops? I don’t know, but I like doing this kind of thing a lot.

@score_follower @datramt 3628800 is a lot of fingers

@score_follower @woomyve @datramt thanks lmao

@ThreatNotation @datramt Reminds me of this in some ways