Klarinet Archive - Posting 000536.txt from 2003/07

From: "Jay Webler" <webler@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Student rhythm problem
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2003 18:01:59 -0400

This is a fairly common problem with young students. I run into a lot with
my percussion
students. As you know, drummers have a notorious reputation for rushing.
(How do you
know a drummer is knocking at the door? His knock gets faster). This often
happens when
drummers play fills after playing time for a while. The reason for the this
is because they fail
to keep their mind on the fundamental pulse.

I once went to a clinic by Joel Rosenblatt, the drummer for Spyro Gyra, and
he passed out
a practice sheet for drummers to practice while counting the pulse. No
matter what Ostinato Rhythm
(In the drum world this a repeated rhythm on a cymbal or bass drum), you
play with the exercise
you are to count out loud 1, 2 , 3, 4. The purpose of this exercise was to
drill the fundemental pulse
into the brain.

Subdividing is excellent, but is possible to subdivide and not keep track of
the Pulse.
What I sugget is this. When you subdivide with student count the downbeat
VERY LOUD and subdivision
very soft. Learning to keep the basic pulse in mind may help the
subdivision. The Pulse is like the Big numbers
on a Ruler. Without the proper pulse all the subdividing in the world.

This, by the way, is how the Be-bop drummers manage to always find 1, no
matter what they play. Through all
the contrapuntal garbage they play, they keep the basic pulse in their head.

Jay Webler

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Hobby" <jhobby@-----.net>
Subject: [kl] Student rhythm problem

> I've run into a problem with a student that I can't seem to fix.
>
> One of the exercises he was working with had one section that was filled
> with sequences of 8-16th notes followed by 6-8th note triplets. (or that
> pattern reversed) He cannot get it. He comes out of the 16ths and then
> loses the tempo in the triplets. In the reverse, if he comes out of the
> triplets, the 16ths tempo is off. (This is with & w/o a metronome or me
> banging on the stand or even tapping on his head with a pencil.) (He
> doesn't have a problem with 16ths or triplets, alone. Only in this
> combination of one following the other.)
>
> For several weeks, we broke it down into two measure sections. Work 2
> measures. Get it sort of in control. Move on to the next two measures.
> Put the four together. Etc. He's the last lesson of that day, and I've
> gone as much as 30 minutes over, just working on this. By next week, it's
> completely gone. We've counted it out loud. Clapped it. I've even had
him
> take his warm-up scales and play the pattern on each note. This works
fine.
> Back to the exercise. It's gone.
>
> It's not a question of practice time. He probably practices more than any
> other student in the high school band. And he's had minimal problems with
> everything else. (Except the usual dotted 8th, 16th, that everybody likes
> to rush.)
>
> I'm at wits end with this one -- and so is he. I finally had him put that
> one aside and move on to another exercise, and said we'd come back to that
> in six months, because he was getting very frustrated with it. For when
we
> go back to it, does anyone have any suggestions?
>
> Jim Hobby
>
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