Maqsum Rhythm: How to Count Dum and Tek

Maqsum is the everyday 4/4 rhythm of belly dance music. Dancers learn it the way drummers do: by saying its two strokes, Dum and Tek, in order. Once you can say the pattern and keep its silences, you can find it in a song and put your movement on it.

How do you count the maqsum rhythm?

Count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & and say Dum Tek _ Tek Dum _ Tek _. That is eight slots in one bar of four beats, and three of them are silent. Wikipedia writes the same pattern as D-T---T-D---T--- over the count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &.

Laid out slot by slot, it looks like this:

The _ is a rest. You say nothing, but you still count it. Most mistakes come from filling a rest or skipping one.

Dum and Tek, step by step

Dum and Tek are drum strokes, so start with what they sound like. On the darbuka, which plays this 4/4 bar in 8 slots, Dum is the low sound, played with the dominant hand in the middle of the drum. Tek is the high sound, played on the rim, with either hand. You don't need a drum. Say "Dum" low and round, say "Tek" short and bright, and the difference carries.

Build the bar in three passes.

1. Dum and the first Tek. Count 1 & 2 and say "Dum Tek _". Dum lands on 1, Tek on the & right after it, and then 2 is silent.
2. Add the second half of the bar. Keep going: "Tek Dum _ Tek _" over the & of 2, 3, the & of 3, 4 and the & of 4. Now you have the full pattern, "Dum Tek _ Tek Dum _ Tek _".
3. Loop it. Say the whole bar four times without stopping. The last & is a rest, so the next Dum on 1 arrives after one small gap. That gap is part of the rhythm.

If the bar slips, go back to a smaller piece. Say only "Dum Tek _" six times, then only "Tek Dum _ Tek _", then join them. Each half is short enough to hold in your head, and the join is the only new thing to learn.

When it is steady, move it off your voice. Tap the Dums with a low hand on your thigh and the Teks with a light fingertip on the top of your hand. Keep your counting voice going quietly underneath for a few rounds, then drop it.

Find the 1 in the music

The Dum on 1 is where the bar starts, and it is the heaviest stroke. The second Dum on 3 is lighter, and it sits halfway through the bar. Listen for a low, round hit followed straight away by a higher one. Then wait for the low sound to come back after a short silence. When you hear that low-high-gap-high-low pattern repeat, you are on a maqsum, and the first low sound is your 1.

A quick check: count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & along with the track and say only the Dums. If they fall on 1 and 3 every bar, you have the right pulse. If they land on 2 and 4, you are half a bar out, so shift your count by two beats and try again.

Tempo varies a lot from song to song. Count Studio's library lists maqsum between about 80 and 140 BPM. If you are new to it, work at the slow end or slower, and speed up only when the rests stay quiet. You'll meet other rhythms in the same music; the belly dance counts on this site cover them.

Common problems

• Filling the rests. The _ on 2 and the final & are silent. If you hear yourself saying "Dum Tek Tek Tek Dum", you have filled the rest on 2. Say "two" in your head and leave it empty.
• Mixing it up with baladi. Baladi is a close relative. Wikipedia gives baladi as D-D---T-D---T---, so it opens Dum Dum, where maqsum opens Dum Tek. The article describes the difference as the accent on the second stroke; the rest of the bar matches. If you open with two low sounds, you are saying baladi.
• Counting only on the beats. Two of the Teks sit on the &. If you count "1 2 3 4" and try to fit Teks in between, they drift. Say the & out loud while you learn.
• Rushing the end. The last Tek on 4 is followed by a rest. Hold the gap so Dum on 1 lands on time.

Other traditions name their strokes and silences too. Kathak does it with sam, tali and khali, which you can read about in Teentaal and its sam, tali and khali.

Practise it with Count Studio

Drill the rhythm in layers. Say it slowly with the table in front of you. Say it again without the table. Then say it while you step on the beats, so the 1, 2, 3 and 4 live in your feet and the Teks live in your voice. Last, add your hands.

Count Studio's count library includes Maqsum, with Dum and Tek labelled and the rests marked, in the classical and folk family. Count Studio is coming November 27 to iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. It has no account and no tracking, and your music stays on your device.

Bottom line

Maqsum is Dum Tek _ Tek Dum _ Tek _ over 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. Learn the strokes, keep the three rests quiet and listen for the low sound on 1.