The Clave

By SalsaSteph

What is clave? Clave (clah-vé) is a pair of polished wooden sticks that are struck together, forming a pulse around which all salsa musical instruments revolve. Although there are many instruments to befriend in salsa, understanding clave is crucial in order to experience the depth of euphoria that “dances” within salsa.

I’m going to explain this complex little instrument as easily as I can.

Once you learn a few basic salsa steps, and understand how to balance and synchronize them with a partner, the next step is to understand what you are dancing to. Therefore, a basic understanding of music is essential.

Almost all Western music follows the same pattern. There is a pulse of 8 beats that repeats itself from the beginning to the end of a song. Let’s call this a sentence of 8 beats. In the first part of this sentence, called a bar in music, you hear beats 1-4. In the second half of the sentence, the second bar, you have beats 5-8.

1 2 3 4 * 5 6 7 8

Clave strikes three times in the first bar, and two times in the second bar. This is what we call 3/2 forward clave. It looks like this:

3/2 forward clave in relation to the main beats of music:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (counts)

x x x x x (clave strikes)

Although there is only one clave (3/2), there are variations of it within son (a dance that a salsa dancer would categorize as being salsa) and rumba (a dance that’s more Afro-sounding, and raw).

3/2 son clave, called forward son clave:

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 etc

x x x x x

It sounds like this: baa baa baa…..ba! ba!

3/2 rumba clave, called forward rumba clave:

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 etc

x x x x x

it sounds like this: baaa baa! Ba! ba! ba!

*Notice the only thing that’s changed from the preceeding 3/2 son clave is the ‘+’ of the 4, making a half beat difference.

2/3 son clave (4/4 time), called reverse son clave:

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 etc

x x x x x

It sounds like this: ba! ba!…baa ba! ba!

*Notice the differences between 3/2 and 2/3: 3/2 starts on beat 1, 2/3 starts on 2.

2/3 rumba clave, called reverse rumba clave:

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 etc

x x x x x

It sounds like this: - ba! ba!……- baaa ba! ba!

*The difference from the preceding 2/3 son clave is the ‘+’ of 8, making a half beat difference.

Then we have forward and reverse clave in 6/8 time, used in Cuban rumba. Here, the sentence of 8 beats extends to 12. It looks like this:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

x x x x x

These are older, more complicated musical forms (of African origin) used specifically in religious ceremonies in the Yoruba tribe from Nigeria.

Two common clave questions:

1. Why is there a 3/2 and a 2/3 clave?

The music can either start playing the first half of the sentence, so clave follows this pattern of 3/2, 3/2, 3/2, etc. (called the 3-side of the clave or forward clave) or, for variety, the music can start on the second bar with 2/3, 2/3, 2/3 etc. This is called the 2 side of the clave (reverse clave). 2/3 is the reverse because the musicians are starting to play the 2nd bar as if it were the first, and the first as if it were the last bar. You can hear it both ways at first. The 1 in the music will determine what side of the clave is sounding first or second.

3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 etc

2 3 2 3 2 3 2 etc.

The music can change the direction at any point in the song. However, even though the music may change, the clave always starts and continuously plays 3/2. An orchestra is seen as being off clave (cruzado) if they change the clave so it goes: 3 2 2 3 (it should be 3/2: 3/2) I only know of one song, by Gilberto Santa Rosa, who does this out of experimentation. When you know the rules, you can break them, I suppose.

It is said that these clave rhythms were brought to the ports of Havana and Santiago de Cuba by the Nigerian slaves. Wood, being exported from Spain, was eventually carved into sticks in order to play music, breaking the monotony and drudgery of work. Other materials used were ceramic oil jars from Spain (botija), used as counterbass and wooden crates or boxes, used as drums.

2. How do you know and hear which clave it is?

Hmmm… well, it’s actually not easy at first to an untrained ear. That is why you have to make a game of it as you listen to a salsa song. If you listen carefully, especially to older salsa, the instruments will point the clave out by adding stresses or highlights. Another clue is when the singer highlights it - say, the last two hits in a 3/2 part. Of course, once you’ve figured it out, it might have changed again. Generally speaking, it changes only one, two or four times in a song.

Clave comes alive - or finds life - in contrast. Notice how the hits do not all fall precisely on a main beat. Rather, some fall in between; let’s say 2 and 3, creating syncopation. Considering the clave is like the heart - or the pulse - around which all other salsa instruments revolve, one must know clave well in order to dance with feeling. When instructors tell you to “just feel the music” - they’re trying to say to listen to the clave and what happens in between the beats. They may not know how to explain it to you, but hopefully you can practice on your own. If you’re not sure, ask someone who knows!