Dear Chris & All, It's a slightly different use of the computer to Stephen's, but I often use the midi output from Stringwalker or Fronimo to play along with to practice duets and song accompaniments. The sound is of course mechanically precise, much like using a metronome except with music attached, but given the lone player's tendency to veer off strict time that's not a bad thing. It's particularly useful with pieces like some of the Dowland songs that have long bars that are difficult to count. And for treble & ground duets you don't have to get someone to play the ground for you. Once I have the strict rhythms in my memory and fingers I can leave the computer and get on with thinking about how I want to perform the music.
Best wishes, Denys ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 6:07 PM Subject: Re: Practice Habits > I would find this use of a computer terribly unhelpful > for myself. I can see how this could be helpful in > working out the compositional structure of a piece, > however listening to it in order to learn about how a > pieces goes would really block my personal > interpretation in performance. You're getting the > computer's rendition of the piece, and I would think > listening to that sterile version so many times would > embed it into your subconcious conception of how it > should go. I try to avoid listening to any recording > of a piece I'm learning until my own conception has > become manifest to some degree. (Only at that point > do I return to professional recordings in order to > discourage myself, or force me to realize how much > work I still have to go!) > > This should really even happen apart from the > mechanics of playing - if you can sing the piece > (aurally or mentally) both away from the instrument > and while playing, it makes usually makes it a lot > easier to overcome technical problems. This is > because you now have a musical reason to manifest > these or those notes a certain meaningful way rather > than simply thinking of them as awkward technical > turns. Ideally, all of the work you put in on > exercises, excised excerpts of pieces, etc., are only > part of the practice routine in order to teach your > fingers the freedom to "sing" what you have in your > head. Instead of focusing on "Ok... first finger, > third finger, index finger on the 4th string... now > the fast bit" you get to the point of the piece as a > musical whole. Tough work, this. - But very > rewarding in the end! > > Chris > > > > > > --- Vance Wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > That's an interesting gambit to take. I like it but > > don't have the > > resources to pull it off, wish I did it would make > > figuring out the voicing > > a lot easier and clearly identifying the errors in > > the tablature if any. > > > > Vance Wood. > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "The Other" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: "Vance Wood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "lute list" > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2004 12:42 PM > > Subject: Re: Practice Habits > > > > > > On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 12:33:34 -0700, Vance Wood > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > There has not been a great deal of response on the > > subject of practice. > > > This > > > leads me to believe that people are uninterested > > or are doing what I did > > > for > > > many years, specifically, playing the same piece > > over and over till I > > > thought I got it right----which was seldom, if the > > truth be known. > > > > I like to work up the piece on the computer using > > Harmony Assistant from > > Myriad Software (www.myriad-online.com) > > > > In conjunction with their Virtual Singer software > > version that comes with > > Harmony Assistant, you can work up the piece with > > vocals and instruments. > > Then I record the output to audio cassette tape > > (record it multiple times > > to fill up an entire side of 60 minute audio tape.) > > Finally, I go for a > > long walk and listen to the tape, hearing the > > instrumental and vocal parts > > over and over, letting it soak into the brain. > > > > It's easier for me to sing or play a piece when it's > > already in my > > subconscious. > > > > "The Other" Stephen Stubbs. > > > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > > > _______________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! > http://vote.yahoo.com > > >
