shirling & neueweise wrote:
[snip]
(*) indian musicians would never complain about having to perform such "irrational" values, would not even consider them irrational, having been trained in a variety of rhythmic contexts right from their earliest lessons and musical experiences, while the western-trained musician is taught only binary values or possibilities in virtually all musical realms. up until the early 1950's, the western european music tradition (of which the north american is descendant and still linked) was one of the most rhythmically-impoverished musical traditions in the world.
That pretty much nails it on the head -- what a person is trained to from the beginning. Time to start teaching beginners in a different manner. Good luck in a society where Dead European White Males of 200-250 years ago are still looked on as the epitome of musical composition.
But do Indian musicians use printed music with time signatures? I was under the impression that time signatures were not part of their music. I was under the impression that they learned the rhythms of the various ragas in groups of equal beats (3 + 5 + 4 + 5 or some such) and that it wasn't written down. The only book I currently have on ragas is without time signatures but it is mostly the various scales which would be used to improvise on the various rhythmic groupings. I can't find the one book I've seen concerning the rhythmic groupings but I don't seem to recall seeing a time signature in that book.
That is very different from trying to communicate music without it's being heard first, such as these "irrational" time signatures do. Using Western notation to communicate music which is best communicated in non-printed ways (often so much easier when the conductor says "ignore the printed music, it goes like this" and then sings it).
-- David H. Bailey [EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
