Imagine that you’re a bell pattern.
Your name is Timeline.
You were born somewhere in West Africa.
And you sound like this: 3 + 3 + 2.
That’s eight counts long but unevenly divided into two threes and one two.
People like you because your unusual design makes you syncopated, endlessly interesting, and fun to hang out with.
In fact, as a kid you loved to play with dance drumming groups in the village where you grew up.
You hardly ever slept!
You were the little guy who repeated your high-pitched part insistently while the other musicians smiled and played their own angular patterns. Everything meshed together like a finely woven kente cloth that spun itself out and out and out–a communal musical loom.
Since traveling to the Americas centuries ago (itself a long story) your services have been in high demand in all kinds of music, far too numerous to track. But even today everyone wants a part of your designs, your energy, your rhythmic wonder.
You’re a hit machine! Listen to yourself in some pop hits of the moment for instance:
In the guitar part in “Don’t Let Me Down” by The Chainsmokers:
In the keyboard part in “This Is What You Came For” by Calvin Harris:
In the keyboard part in “Cheap Thrills” by Sia:
In the guitar part in “Treat You Better” by Shawn Mendes:
And with little variations (you’re easily bored) in the keyboard part “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” by Mike Posner (Seeb remix):
Well done Timeline. You’re a bell pattern who traveled far.
brettworks 