On 17 Mar 2010, at 10:46 AM, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote: > This makes no sense to me. How could string players have missed this? Doesn't > everybody playing any instrument play at least a little pop or jazz -- even to > earn supplementary income -- if they were born after, say, 1930? No? Yes?
Yes. However, expectations are extremely low. Part of this is just a fundamental lack of respect for nonclassical music. I suspect most orchestral string players have no idea how terrible they sound playing jazz rhythms or pop rhythms -- and if they do realize it, they simply don't care. As far as they are concerned, that music is beneath them. They are wholly uninterested in putting even a minimum of effort into it -- say, picking up recordings of the Walter Page-Jo Jones edition of the Count Basie band and trying to play along with Lester Young's solos, imitating his phrasing and vibrato (which is easily translatable to string instruments). And even if one person is willing to do a little homework, getting the entire section to do it? Fuhgeddaboudit. Also, I hate to say it, but even the most well-intentioned players, who have an authentic love and respect for swinging jazz or hard-grooving R&B or rock, *vastly* underestimate the difficulty of playing that kind of music convincingly. It is comparable to learning a foreign language, in terms of the time investment required, the benefits of early immersion, and the telltale accent that is almost impossible for non-native speakers to get rid of. The other, more fundamental, problem is a lack of emotional connection to the beat, which is endemic in classical circles. It's changing -- the generation of classically-trained players in their 20's and 30's is *much* better about this, judging by NYC new music circles at least -- but for the most part, older orchestral players are incapable of playing music that demands rhythmic authority or the ability to control placement in relation to a regular pulse. They don't hear it and they don't feel it. But it's hard to swing if you can't play four consistent quarter notes in a row. Cheers, - DJA ----- WEB: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
