Learning Jazz Violin? - A Drummer Is A Jazz Violinist's Best Friend

August 27, 2012 at 5:10 PM

Think about your best friends.

Chances are they are very different from you. Your relationships bring out those differences. Like mirrors, they show you for all the good and bad, helping you grow.

If you are a classically trained musician, especially a string player or aspiring jazz violinist, and if you want to learn to groove, I strongly suggest you make friends with the rhythm section!

No doubt, classical musicians endure some of the most rigorous training, developing an incredible range of nuance when it comes to phrasing, style, articulation, rhythm, intonation, sound color, and more. Nonetheless, one thing they do not generally learn is how to groove!

Drummers on the other hand spend at least half of their practice time and energy working on groove/swing, aka "time feel."

Someone once told me the best way to learn Spanish is to meet a Spanish girlfriend and move to Spain. Sure, you can take classes or read books, but there's nothing like living in a country with natives to get a real grip on the language.

Rhythm section players swing better and groove better than me so I constantly try to surround myself with good rhythm section players to improve. We all know that we get better by playing with people better than us.

If you're a classical musician, chances are you may not know a lot of rhythm section players, so here's a suggestion:

Go to a local jazz jam session or observe some college jazz classes.
Introduce yourself to some of the bass players, piano players, guitar players and drummers.

Ask them if they would be willing to get together and play sometime.
Offer to buy them lunch or even offer some money and treat the meeting as a lesson.
You can play over tunes, grooves and vamps, or just improvise free.

Record yourself and listen back. Make notes about what you like and what you don't like. Ask the rhythm section player for honest feedback about your "time feel."

In this video my friend Cedric Easton plays drums. We improvise free, performing live for little kids at an elementary school while they paint pictures to the music. We had no idea what we were going to play beforehand.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN5F3BjmpRE

Cedric is a "time feel" expert: I'll never swing as hard as he does - playing with him keeps me humble, and I know it's helped me improve my sense of time and groove.

I think the idea of classically trained musicians reaching out to grooving drummers makes sense on a larger level too. The classical music academy is largely guided by adherence to the "Western European Canon," i.e. centuries of thinking about music from a European perspective, which puts melody and harmony above rhythm. Jazz (and really all modern popular American music) borrows heavily from African music, which holds up the groove at the forefront. Part of the reason jazz studies departments and classical music departments can't get along is because they're all scared to try to understand each other's differences and learn from them. They self-segregate in their own insular cultures of learning. Some day it would be nice if "black" and "white" music weren't separated into ritzy theaters versus dingy clubs, and music students could simply study "music" in college, instead of choosing sides.

Don't live in a bubble. A drummer is a jazz violinist's best friend. Go out to the other side of the railroad tracks and make friends. You'll be amazed by how much you grow.
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What's your reaction? Leave a comment below!

If you're a classically trained musician, especially a string player, check out our free trial at the Creative Strings Academy where you can develop improvisation skills in different styles of music. Click here to learn more:
http://creativestrings.christianhowes.com/

From Rachel Jennings
Posted on August 27, 2012 at 6:05 PM

Even better - learn to play basic drums or bass. Not to become a superstar or even performer, just as something casual for your own pleasure and insight. After nine years of classical training in violin, piano and recorder, I took up the drum kit at age fifteen. Of course I was already highly literate and coordinated, so I was able to focus purely on groove. I only had lessons for a couple of years before I went off to college, but that training in jazz, funk and Latin grooves (including how to notate them) is something which stayed with me and kept me open and well-rounded, as a player, listener, composer and dancer. Great article, Christian:)

From David Sanderson
Posted on August 28, 2012 at 1:31 PM

Not just jazz; I have had similar opinions about fiddle music for some time. In particular, American styles, especially Southern Appalachian playing, reach back to accompanying dancing where the fiddle is the only instrument, hence required to carry both melody and rhythm. This is distinctly different from Classical or jazz playing, where rhythm accompaniment is pretty much assumed. This has led to styles that emphasize bow rocking, double stops, and rhythmic emphases, often on the third beat of a 4/4 measure (dah dah DAH dah). Try:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urB_EuOb2rY
This is Tommy accompanying a dancer, with other players, but you can hear clearly how he's doing both rhythm and melody, great stuff if you haven't heard it.

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Learning Jazz Violin? - A Drummer Is A Jazz Violinist's Best Friend

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