Klarinet Archive - Posting 000584.txt from 2001/02

From: "Tony Wakefield" <tony-wakefield@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] i'm new and i need help...FAST!
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 06:57:42 -0500

I'm new and I need help...FAST!

Hi Natalie,
"You can play all the right notes, but you can`t keep a steady beat". Your
quote.

Some folk do not have any sense of rhythm or pulse, (no finger pointing -
it`s just fact). It can be aquired thru` other avenues in addition to solely
playing an instrument. If you do feel exceptionally devoid of solutions try
working at it away from your instrument. Some solutions can take quite some
time to embed, but once you`ve got it, you`ve GOT IT.

1)Join the school choir. Make comparisons with band. Do you find it more
tricky/less tricky to keep in time with others? If the answer is less, then
stay with the choir. That`s not to say give up band - do both.
2)Start dancing (proper dance, like tango, rhumba, cha cha, samba. and
heaven forbid, but it`s got rhythm man, line dancing.) Group or troupe
formation will be better still, `cos you can then watch at the same time as
doing. Feel the beat within you, within your whole body - it can almost
become a physical experience. That`s why we have so many chart music dance
clubs, because it gives one a "high" as we listen to, and move/dance to all
the different kind of pop rhythms there are.
3)Take this music home with you, (CD/cassette), listen to it sitting on your
easy chair, and move your head up and down in time with tapping one foot on
the carpet. It will invariably be in 4 time. After you`ve got used to that,
start to move the fingers on one hand. Ist finger closes onto
thumb -release, 2nd finger closes onto thumb - release, 3rd finger closes
onto thumb - release, 4th closes onto thumb - release and immediately go
back to 1st finger and repeat the process without an interruption in the
tempo of the music you are listening to. Change to other hand and ditto.
4) Invent ideas of your own.
Above all, do try to be patient. It might be 12 months (or more) before you
begin to feel comfortable.

I believe music and dance are one and the same thing. The dancer uses feet
and body, and <mind>. We use our fingers, and body, and mind. DANCE inside
your soul when you play anything. The rock`n`rollers in the fifties actually
used to dance/move/gyrate as they played. It <is> an extremely physical
sensation which combines and gels with the intellect to form the stabilising
element of keeping steady time.

Best of luck.
Tony W.

Natalie please,
I think this is terribly "sick":- I`m sure you didn`t write this yourself,
and it could possibly be ISP generated, similar to Tony Pays`. So you`re not
the only one Nat, some of his ISP`s are a bit sick also. I agree, it is
nevertheless witty, but don`t forget, there`s no such thing as the "modern
world". We have all, and still are, and will be in future living in one big
wonderful mixing bowl. Look out for things like this which spoil it.
> 'Life is a sexually transmitted disease with a death rate of 100%. We
should
> do
> all we can to eradicate this terrible plague.'

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