The Black Page

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The Black Page is a piece by American composer Frank Zappa known for being extraordinarily difficult to play.

Originally written for the drum set and melodic percussion, the piece was later rearranged in several versions, including a disco and a so-called New Age version.

Terry Bozzio says[1]: 'He wrote it because we had done this 40-piece orchestra gig together and he was always hearing the studio musicians in LA that he was using on that talking about the fear of going into sessions some morning and being faced with 'the black page'. So he decided to write his 'Black Page'. Then he gave it to me, and I could play parts of it right away. But it wasn't a pressure thing, it just sat on my music stand and for about 15 minutes every day for 2 weeks before we would rehearse, I would work on it. And after 2 weeks I had it together and I played it for him. And he said, "Great!" took it home, wrote the melody and the chord changes, brought it back in. And we all started playing it.'

On the live album Zappa in New York, Zappa noted the "statistical density" of the piece [2]. It is written in common time with extensive use of tuplets, including tuplets inside tuplets. At one point there is a half note triplet in which each beat is counted with its own tuplet of 5, 5 and 6. The song ends with a whole note tuplet of 11 and then two half note tuplets of 11. The result is that the melody is played and then played two more times, twice as fast.

In 2006, The Black Page was featured in the Zappa Plays Zappa - Tour de Frank, an ambitious effort of Dweezil Zappa to bring Zappa music to the stage again, played by himself and a new band. The 2006 tour also included, as special guests, Zappa alumni Napoleon Murphy Brock, Bozzio, and Steve Vai. In the 2006 shows, "The Black Page" was played once as a drum solo by Bozzio, then a second time as a guitar duet with Steve Vai.

[edit] External links

Analysis of Zappa's unusual rhythms, including some transcriptions and MIDI recordings of "The Black Page"
Interview by Vinnie Colaiuta for Modern Drummer, including a description of Vinnie's audition for Zappa
The Black Page, a sample from the Zappa Plays Zappa tour