In a message dated 10/31/2004 4:57:49 PM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
However there is something to be said against the actual mechanical practice of being absolutely precise in every note. Specifically running passages. If all of this is played mechanically, and mathematically it is pretty boring and unmusical. I have found that you can stay within the cadence of a metronome without losing a beat and still shape these passages musically by starting them slightly slower and finishing them slightly faster, starting and ending exactly where they are supposed to, there by preserving the integrity of the rhythmic nature of the composition. The beat remains the same, the meter remains the same but the content is slightly shaped within that frame work. It took me a long time to learn this lesson because I was originally taught to be mathematically precise, and then told to shape the phrases. At the time the two seemed to be mutually exclusive. I agree! That's sort of what I was talking about in my "rolling of chords" post. I believe the broader your sense of pulse is the better; you've got to feel where "one" is of course, but phrases are usually longer than a single bar, even in dance music. I'm probably not explaining this very well, but I'll leave it at that for now. It's funny that singers always want me to slow down, and dancers always want to go faster than feels musically "right". :) James -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
