Thanks again Martin, execllent advice.
Just one point, it always seems strange to me that while some
stability is essential, yet ornementation does not appear to count in
this. That seems particularly strange to me within a dance form.
But perhaps, I am wrong about this.
Anthony
Le 5 févr. 09 à 10:11, Martin Shepherd a écrit :
Dear Anthony,
My comments are below yours:
Anthony Hind wrote:
Le 4 févr. 09 à 22:08, Martin Shepherd a écrit :
Dear Anthony and All,
Please don't use me as a metronome! I haven't checked this
particular performance against a metronome, but I can
confidently predict that it will be seriously adrift of strict
time. Whether it should be, of course, is an interesting issue.
I suppose there needs to be, at least some sort of suggested
stability, if we want the variation from that strict pattern to
be understood as significant?
Yes, that's why it's so important to establish the stability for
the listener - see below.
For years I never used a metronome, because the only one I had
was a wind-up mechanical one which sounded wrong to me and I
never trusted it. With the advent of the electronic variety, I
started to experiment and found it a very useful tool. If your
score is on the computer, and Fronimo can play it for you, that
is also interesting.
I can't get used to a mechanical one, either, it sounds too
equal, and thus hurried. Like the Tocsein, it seems to tell you
to go faster than it is going itself. In fact I had the same
problem with an elctronic one which had no variable intensitiy of
the beat. I finally found one that does, and that is easier to
use, but somehow I just don't like being disciplined by a
machine, even if I am the one that sets the pace.
I have a Mac, and haven't got round to making it PC compatible.
Varying intensity of beat can be useful, as can experimenting with
longer or shorter subdivisions - e.g. if you're playing at
minim=40, try setting the metronome to 20, 40, 80, etc.
Another tip (from Stewart McCoy): play a piece at normal speed to
the metronome, then notch it up faster and faster. Surprisingly,
we can always go faster (up to a point). Then notch it down slower
and slower, until it is much slower than the normal speed. Things
will start to break up - playing slowly is very difficult. You can
learn some interesting things this way.
I often hear amateur lutenists who are so intent on stability
that they seem robotic, but I imagined that might be a necessary
phase through which the learner has to go while mastering tempo.
Would you encourage your students to take liberties, even from
the beginning?
I wouldn't encourage anyone to play robotically, but I would insist
on clarity - the listener has to be able to "get it". If taking
liberties is being sloppy or unclear, I'm dead against it. I think
it's important to distinguish between rhythm and other aspects of
timing. People often talk about "rubato", the conventional wisdom
being that any time you steal you have to pay back. In fact this
never happens - nor should it - if one note is played later than
normal, it makes no sense to play subsequent notes earlier than
normal, in fact what actually happens is everything gets displaced
from there on. It is always a mistake to play a note too early,
often very effective to play it a bit late.
The trouble with lute players is they have a tendency to indulge in
random variations in timing which they call being "expressive" -
but as you say, it's only expressive in relation to a context. If
you mangle the rhythm of the piece so the listener loses that
context (the basic rhythm of a pavan, or whatever) you have also
lost all possibility of being expressive. One could make the same
point about spreading chords - if you do it all the time, it loses
its point and destabilizes the rhythm. Talking of which, the most
difficult bit of playing that Cutting pavan (also Lachrimae, etc.)
is playing the first chord, and then (possibly even more difficult)
the next note. I still haven't got it right...
Best wishes,
Martin
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