 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2016-07-12 23:21
It depends.
For music with long lines -- say the Schumann Fantasy Pieces -- you must arch phrases over several beats and often several measures. I couldn't imagine tapping a toe while playing Shepherd on the Rock.
For marches, it's fine. Try tapping your big toe inside your shoe, so no one in the audience can see it.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2016-07-13 06:38
I don't know if this is in response to the Jon Manasse video or not, but it surprised me a bit that he does this. Perhaps he is actually sonically accompanying himself in this situation.
I see it like this: your sound, the length you play a note, defines the rhythm if you think about your sound as your guide to playing pulse to pulse (which is basically just ensuring the length of one note or the length of space/rest is identical to the next). Seen this way rubato becomes organic (natural), because rubato becomes just adding more length to subsequent notes or subtracting.
Any process we add to the notes we play is really extraneous, unnecessary and perhaps potentially harmful. This is due to the fact that your body and mind are now in two different spheres at once rather than just the one......your playing.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: bbrandha
Date: 2016-07-13 08:25
I do when I am sitting. When I am playing on horseback, I do not. It makes the horse speed up. (No, I am not kidding. I play in a horseback band.)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2016-07-13 19:39
It's no problem as long as it doesn't interfere with your rhythm, pulse or phrasing. With some it becomes an unconscience impulse and it adjusts to your playing.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: GeorgeL ★2017
Date: 2016-07-13 19:45
It would be useful if toe tappers would listen while they play. If they can hear the sound of tapping feet, other players and the audience can also hear that sound - which usually is not what the percussion section is playing. Tapping is especially audible on tile floors or a wood stage floor.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2016-07-14 17:48
I can't even watch "EarSpasm" anymore. He is too snarky and mean spirited for my tastes (maybe I've been out of college too long).
The criticism of the "pop" clarinet (post #2 from "ned") is unfair in that this fellow is the leader of a "performance group." He is just doing his "thing" much like Justin Bieber or Christina Aguilera.
The editorializing on the movements of Sabine Meyer is also (in my opinion) unfair. We seem to equate any "unnecessary" movement to playing the horn as a detriment to the playing. However, it does not negatively affect the interpretation of the sound at all. So the criticism is based on a paradigm of what WE think the visual should be (or shouldn't be). If movement (or a certain mouthpiece, or ligature) helps the performer get the interpretation they want, it should not matter to us that they "need" to do whatever they do.
Now, Harold Wright sat there like a lump on a log and his interpretations were ALSO amazing. Does that make his amazing interpretations of music any better or any worse than the amazing interpretations of music by Sabine Meyer?
And I mean that as question we should all ask ourselves.
...................Paul Aviles
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2016-07-14 20:10
Watching the video of Sabine Meyer playing the Mozart concerto had me wondering whether crouching to the left always indicated the same emotion, like maybe suspense, while crouching to the right meant coyness, while etc. etc.
Performers who do that kind of thing are just letting themselves go to please themselves, with no thought to the audience. I can't watch that stuff; while I'm processing it the music goes in one ear and out the other. It's an eye-closing experience.
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Author: ned
Date: 2016-07-15 09:23
Philip Caron wrote: ''It's an eye-closing experience.''
Yes, that about sums it up.
If classical players are discouraged from toe tapping, then some amount of body movement would likely be necessary to help keep time. I can understand that OK.
I could not bear though to watch in person, someone on a stage, waving around like a flag in the breeze and/or seeming to be in desperate need to use the toilet.
If I were on the podium with either of these two, in a jazz situation, then I'd make sure there was about two metres between the two of us, otherwise the situation could become dangerous.
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Author: SarahC
Date: 2016-07-15 15:52
when learning a piece.. maybe.. or maybe a metronome... when performing.. definitely not.
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Author: marcia
Date: 2016-07-16 02:13
''It's an eye-closing experience.''
I'm with you there!! A little movement is fine, and sometimes I do it myself. But then there is waaaaay over the top.
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2016-07-16 23:48
To move back to the original question about toe tapping, clearly in "classical" performance, if it makes audible noise, it's out of place. I assume we aren't talking about rock, pop, big band or jazz, where active toe (or even heel to toe) tapping is part of the style.
To those who "can't stand to watch" the other extraneous movements of some players, don't watch. It's fine to close your eyes and listen. If the visual distracts you, leave it out and enjoy the live aural experience. There are a number of conductors I can't watch - so I don't. I scan around the orchestra, look at the audience or just close my eyes and let my imagination supply a visual image - there's lots to watch besides the soloist or the conductor.
It's hard for me to understand why anyone gets into a lather about any of this.
Karl
Post Edited (2016-07-17 03:24)
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