Will Guthrie — Polyrhythm, Polymeter, Texture & Beyond the Grid

About

Join renowned Australian drummer and percussionist Will Guthrie for an intensive four-hour workshop exploring polyrhythmic and polymetric approaches to contemporary percussion, with a particular focus on texture, timbre, resonance and collective listening.

Drawing on decades of experience across experimental music, free improvisation and percussion, Guthrie will introduce participants to rhythmic concepts that challenge conventional ideas of pulse, meter and musical time. His practice has been shaped by collaborations with artists including Mark Simmonds and Mark Fell, as well as by his deep engagement with Javanese Gamelan and Carnatic rhythmic systems.

The workshop approaches rhythm not only as a system of beats and subdivisions, but as something that can emerge from texture, density, repetition, resonance and physical gesture. Participants will explore how a rhythmic structure can be created without relying on a conventional pulse, and how seemingly abstract or fragmented sounds can develop into complex rhythmic relationships.

Through a combination of practical exercises, listening, discussion and collective playing, participants will investigate how different rhythmic cycles, sounds and textures can coexist, overlap and interact.

Rhythm as texture

A central focus of the workshop will be texture-based playing: working with sound itself as the starting point for rhythmic and musical organisation.

Participants will explore:

• Density and gradual transformation