· 3 min read
Eight bars is the right length
Long enough to state an idea and vary it. Short enough that six players can be heard back without the round turning into a listening session.
Every round is eight bars of 4/4. Not four, not sixteen, and not a length you pick. Here is the reasoning, because it is the constraint people push back on hardest.
Four bars is a pattern, not an idea
At four bars there is room for a drum pattern and a bassline, and no room to do anything to them. Everyone's entry ends up being the same shape and the vote comes down to sound selection. Eight bars gives you a first half and a second half, which is enough to state something and then break it.
Sixteen bars is a listening session
The reveal plays every entry back. Six players at sixteen bars and a slow tempo is over six minutes of sitting still, after four minutes of work. Rounds have to end while people still want another one.
What to do with the eight
- Build bars one to four, then use the repeat button and change one thing in bars five to eight.
- Put your loudest idea in bar five, not bar one — voters are listening hardest once they know what the loop is.
- Leave a bar empty somewhere. Space reads as confidence and almost nobody does it under a clock.
Four minutes is shorter than it sounds.
Play a round