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 GOT RHYTHM?May 18, 2008 at 6:59 AM Get rhythm!
Just a brief response — I hope it is helpful. Main point: This will enable you to develop amazing control of the hands and their total coordination. Scales, arpeggios, 3rds, etc., etc. Also the repertoire should be practiced in various rhythms and all in varied dynamics. We play sections multiple times and this is far more efficient and much more interesting.
With 4-note patterns do– With 3-note patterns just remove one 8th.
Dotted rhythms are great in some instances, but generally not as productive as they can tighten the player’s actions. Of course, we must master these as well and subdividing the dotted 8th and 16th with all 16th bows works wonders. Another tweak is to slightly delay the 16th note. This adds a little sizzle to the rhythmic context and can inflect the musical line just right.
Hope this helps — Author of
From Laurie Niles
I don't really believe that anyone doesn't have rhythm. I mean, most of us walk with two feet. Our hearts beat. We breath in and out. We speak in patterns. We are rhythmic beings. Posted on May 19, 2008 at 12:59 AM What is going on when someone is utterly unable to take all that internal rhythm and apply it to simple musical patterns?
From Bruce Berg
As a hs student with Josef Gingold I was required to practice scales with different rhythms. The most challenging was going from quarter, to 2 8ths, triplet, 4 16ths, group of 5, sextuplet, and going down the same. This is a very different concept to the Galamian acceleration exercise, but in my opinion better.
Posted on May 19, 2008 at 3:23 AM From Drew Lecher
Laurie — I absolutely agree that we do those things, but confusion due to extreme multi-tasking in playing the instrument, fear of error (and being caught:) all come into play. And then — it has to be in tune, in tone AND MUSICAL? Mastery is when it is 'a piece of cake' and 'easy as pie' (I just had strawberry short cake;) and 'like walking off a cliff'??? The last one I have never tried… except when performing, of course. Oh, and it has to be 'done right' — form, posture, flowing movement with absolute purpose and artistic, disciplined control. Now I am getting scared…Posted on May 20, 2008 at 1:46 AM Mastery of rhythmic control to the level that it is so effortlessly natural with all of the technical and artistic requirements is a wonderful, wonderful achievement. And then there are those students and players that really do all of this first off………… that is most wonderful. So, the rest of us simply have to take that breath and keep breathing deeply while we focus on the desired rhythm — braking it down to just the bow or just the fingers and FIRST OF ALL, JUST THE BRAIN. One rhythm mastered leads to another and another. We really play in just a few rhythms — duple, triple and dotted. Bruce — I think both methods and others are all good. The best rhythm to practice is the one we can't do.
From Drew Lecher
One additional point that perhaps I did not bring out as I wanted — practicing with varied rhythms gives mastery of control for the player as no single set sequence or even progressive rhythmic change can.Posted on May 20, 2008 at 2:17 AM It is that control which frees and enables the player to express the most subtle rhythmic, dynamic and interpretive nuances into the music. Now, THAT IS MASTERY! Hope this helps, This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments. |
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