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Linear, horizontal rhythm...and the clarinet

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-05-12 11:57

Dear Musicians, Pedagogues, bloggers,

Years ago one of my private instructors, frustrated with my lack of rhythmic consistancy, said, "Look, it's just one quarter note after another. Think linearly rather than up and down. I can play a quarter note now 'BAAAA' [he sings a note] and I could go out and have a sandwich, and when I get back the note will still be the same length, 'BAAAA' [sings note again]. Just string them together and that's a steady rhythm."

As he beat time for me after this example, he "beat time" by swooshing his hand back and forth from left to right (not unlike many of the instances in which Herbert von Karajan would beat a four pattern that way).

So it finally hit me that rhythm is the relationship of the last note you played to the one you are playing, compared to the length of the note you are about to play NOT how they fit in with tapping your foot (or to put it another way, the interval in which the note sits - for shorter notes).

I will go one further (just to really tick some of you off). Subdivision of poor rhythm will only yield smaller increments of bad rhythm.

I was inspired by a recent posting of Tony Pay's in which he spoke of the relativistic nature of music, the comparison of two or more things that one has in front of them at any given time. Certainly no one would say that "mf" is an absolute sound level, played the same loudness by the same person on the same instrument all the time - that would be absurd. In the same way, I would assert that even 60 beats per minute is only an indicator in that there will often be an ebb and flow to the length of that designated interval as one plays "MUSIC." Of course, to avoid self contradiction, I would clarify that this "ebb and flow" comes in a purely organic form (baaa baaaaa baaaaa) rather than an erratic, poorly executed form (baaa ba baaaaa baa).

To make this relevant, good rhythm comes in handy playing the clarinet.

..............Paul Aviles

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