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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000021.txt from 2004/05
From: MPeaceman@-----.de (Matthew Peaceman)
Subj: [DR-L] Accents
Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 16:01:58 -0400
Hello Phil,
It occurs to me that the use of the word accent possibly needs further
definition. Is an accent just a sharp attack at the beginning of the
note? Is it more than one thing? Are there different types of accents?
Yes, my questions are rhetorical but I do also have some answers of my
own. One major difference between a keyboard, plucked or percussion
instrument and a bowed or wind instrument is that the winds and strings
can add accents 'after the fact' so to speak, by swelling, either slowly
or quickly to a point in time after having begun the note. This
certainly expands the meaning of the word accent for me... and the
possibilities. The larger one wants his or her declamatory palette to
be, the more refined and varied the techniques need to be. One of the
most poignant aspects of Early Music, that which makes the music
'speak', is in fact, the relationship between language and music. This
relationship is not abstract. We can read very specific remarks in
treatises by Quantz, Mattheson etc. about this relationship. You only
have to try speaking a sentence in a monotonal manner to realize just
how much importance the accentuation of syllables, words and punctuation
have for the meaning and effect that those words can have or not have. A
simple example: Read the sentence "I like you" five times. Once
accentuating 'I', once accentuating 'like' and once accentuating 'you'.
Once softly and accentuating no word more than the others and once
shouting, accentuating no word more than the others. Of course you can
take this further using whispers, shouts, oratorical and living room
dynamics. You can add regional inflections, change the rhythm of these
same three words, thus affecting a further change in the meaning. Does
this add a little dimension to the topic?
Though instrumental music might in fact, have fewer possibilities than
langauge, still, there are many more than one might think. You ask for
some musical examples. There is a wonderful recording of JB Lully
orchestral works with lots of instrumental variation (oboes and bassoons
too!) recorded by Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations on AliaVox No.
AV9807 (Amazon has it). There is nothing like well played French baroque
music to give one some ideas about accentuation, tone color etc. Jazz
and Blues musicians probably don't think about it. They just do it. Why
should't classical musicians be able to within the parameters of the
various styles of music we play?
I'll stop :-)
Matthew
--
Email: mpeaceman@-----.com
Web: http://www.mpeaceman.com
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 13:14:34 -0400
> To: doublereed@-----.org
> From: PhilFrei@-----.com
> Subject: Rhythmic Accents
> Message-ID: <57C1F8E7.57F1EE45.007E62D3@-----.com>
>
> Just musing (after a Ray Still master class):
>
> On a piano or guitar or even a string instrument, playing an accent is intuitive: to play louder one uses more force.
>
> With double reeds, and maybe other winds as well, a sforzando is rather complex. Not only does one blow harder, but one has to compensate just the right amount for the rise in pitch that accompanies the rise in air pressure.
>
> I sometimes play and improvise on keyboards and guitar, and had noticed that I use a lot of accents in my melody lines, but when I tried to play the same lines on the oboe, they don't translate very well, but seem rather flat. Now I am realizing that this was due to a tendency to make everything flow evenly on the oboe, and that to put in some accents is going to take a bit of work, both to pull off without losing the pitch and to remain oboe-like.
>
> I was listening to Coltrane (playing with Duke Ellington) play "In a Sentimental Mood" and that seems like a good example of where a wind player uses accents in a very lyrical and beautiful way. Is it fair to say saxophone players before Coltrane were smoother, less rhythmic? Or am I just betraying my lack of exposure to their work?
>
> I'm curious also which instruments tend to go out of pitch the most when played with an accent. I suspect it is not so much a problem with flute because I've heard lots of flute playing with interesting accent patterns (Hubert Laws, Nestor Flores). Trumpet solos, too. It seems reeds (single and double) are the ones less likely to use accents, but I would love to hear some good counter-examples.
>
> Phil Freihofner
> Oakland
>
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