At 1:17 PM -0400 3/17/10, David W. Fenton wrote:
On 17 Mar 2010 at 12:12, John Howell wrote:
Proper baroque articulations with the bow are a
little harder to get across, and so is playing
with notes inegals (which is not QUITE the same
thing as swing--more like an Irish fiddler's
"lilt").
I don't know what that latter style is (I'm not a fan of the
repertory), but I despair over the brain-dead misunderstanding of
notes inegals. The main point is not alteration of the rhythmic
values but of the weighting of the notes. The slight alteration of
the lengths of the notes is a side effect of the weighting, and will
be perceived even when it's not there.
ABSOLUTELY!!!! I've never read a clearer explanation. John Elliot
Gardner did it in a very exaggerated way for the dance tune that ends
"Les sauvages" in the DVD of Rameau's "Les indes gallantes," and it
works, but it isn't exactly subtle. (I just did that music on our
last concert.)
'Way back when, my wife and I played the recorder parts on
Brandenburg 4, and we decided to use weight-based inegals on the 8th
notes in the slow movement. Hardly any rhythmic distortion at all.
It worked beautifully, but the violin soloist would have none of it,
so we had different nuances combined, and thankfully our conductor
allowed it.
The only reason I know about the "lilt" thing is that I got roped
into playing on an historical reenactment film for the New Harmony
Community in Southern Indiana. (They were a community that kept the
men and women completely separated, and then couldn't figure out why
they died out!) Two of us fiddlers were classically trained and the
other two were folk fiddlers (not necessarily Irish). I was
fascinated that all their bowings were the opposite of ours, and that
the result was exactly the difference in weight you mention, although
with classical technique it would have been the opposite. Very
educational.
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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