On Jan 4, 2007, at 6:55 AM, dhbailey wrote:
I have a question, though about the meter (4/4) and the tempo
indication (half=104) -- why use that tempo indication if not
writing the piece in cut-time? Or I suppose I could ask it another
way: why use that meter when the tempo indication shows that the
music should be felt at the half-note rather than the quarter-note?
I'm curious simply because I know that many such pieces are written
in cut-time but are counted in 4, and I explain that to my confused
students like this:
When the leader counts it off with "1, 2, 1234" the first "1, 2"
are to indicate the cut-time beat for the two-step feel of the
dance that the music was meant to accompany and the "1234" indicate
the way the musicians will actually count the music.
You are right that the modern jazz feel grew out of dance beats, but
it isn't the case that the dance beat is the reference, any more than
one was expected to be able to dance a minuet to one of those Bach
cello suites. The tempos have all changed and liberties have been
taken with the characteristic rhythms, in both cases.
The choice of 4/4 versus cut time for a jazz musician has more to do
with the feel than the tempo. Generally 4/4 indicates a walking bass,
while cut time indicates half notes in the bass (or other ground
rhythm) regardless of tempo. 4/4 could be used for a very fast tempo
if the bass is walking in 4, while cut time could be used in a ballad
if the bass is playing half notes (though this is largely considered
to be archaic these days. Mostly we use 4/4.)
Chuck could have written quarter=208 (which might even have been more
to the point AND is available on most metronomes) but it has been
common for quite a while to halve metronome markings when the tempos
are fast, so as to stay inside the range of available numbers.
In any case, in the jazz world nobody is confused by anything
appearing the part Chuck wrote.
Christopher
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