At 10:46 AM -0400 3/17/10, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote:
On Wed, March 17, 2010 7:16 am, dhbailey wrote:
On the other hand, in my opinion, the reality of the
situation is that string players can't swing because
nobody's taught them how. Nobody's made them play swing
music. It's not that they can't, they just need to learn.
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 --
No.
even to
earn supplementary income -- if they were born after, say, 1930? No? Yes?
Oh, I did some dance band playing back in the '50s, but not on a
stringed instrument. And through the late '50s and '60s I often
worked with top notch jazz players, so I can't claim to be ignorant
of the style and yes, I think I can swing on viola as well as the
next guy (but not improv), but for a serious string player that side
of the business might as well not exist. Same thing for classical
pianists, practicing Beethoven in their little practice rooms.
I'm
not really in touch with the lives of string players, but still...
Well, anyone who's had occasion to work in commercial music, sure,
but there aren't as many of those as you might think, and let's face
it, when a recording session calls for a string section, it's isn't
so they can swing, it's so they can sound like a symphony string
section!
Back in the '70s, a pair of good friends and colleagues in
Indianapolis were both cellists. The wife played in the Symphony
(and still does), and couldn't swing at all. The husband couldn't
stand orchestra playing, but was one of the 1st-call cellists for
recording sessions and could play anything you put in front of him.
And this is in the same family!
John
--
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[email protected])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
"We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition
of jazz musicians.
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