 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2001-08-29 19:15
In each new measure the first note is the down beat. so i guess the counting should be ONE two three four. If this is correct should we be playing the down beat a little louder or what?
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Author: Kim L
Date: 2001-08-29 19:19
Bob,
You should be playing the music as though there were no bar lines so that the music is as fluid as possible. You don't want your audience to know where your down beat is.
Kim L.
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2001-08-29 19:33
Unless you are playing music for dancing. Then you definitely want your audience to know where your downbeat is.
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2001-08-29 19:52
Most music has a pulse.
Take the Mozart concerto. The first movement needs to be very steady and rythmically accurate. The pulse in a 4/4 bar is usually 1(very big) 2 3(big) 4
in a 2/4 it is 1(big) 2, 3/4 1(big) 2 3.
This kind of feels natural to most of us and it is also why we have rythmic signatures. You will find that when you walk you have a 2/4 kind of pulse (strong feet, weak feet), which is why most "March" are in 2 beats.
Of course, what I just said should not be taken to literally. Most phrases go across bars, especially in slow pieces then phrasing (the way you shape a musical line) becomes much more important here than pulse. Also composers like to play with those rythms. If you've ever played any Brahms you will notice how he intertwines melodies, and throwes you off a bit by starting some of them on the off beats.
Hope this helps,
-Sylvain
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2001-08-29 21:38
Kim thanks you very much. This is what I have been doing. I was afraid that I was going to have to chance something
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Author: Jim
Date: 2001-08-30 03:57
Gee, I guess I was taught that "down beat" refered to the first half of any subdivided beat, i.e. the first of a pair of eighth notes in X/4 time. The second half of the beat is the "up beat." i.e. a syncopated quarter note would begin on the "up beat" and continue through the next "down beat" again assuming X/4 time.
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Author: David Pegel
Date: 2001-08-31 01:29
Jim, there are two definitions for down beat, and it depends on your context:
1. First beat in a measure, where the conductor normally moves his baton downward. (Any other time it's to the side or up.) Like this accent: (1) e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a etc.
2. The beats in a measure, i.e. the numbers. Like THIS accent: (1) e + a (2) e + a (3) e + a (4) e + a etc.
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-09-01 16:45
Some forms, especially dances, have various emphasized beats. Minuets emphasize beat 2, for example. However, most of these dances are from the baroque period so clarinetists don't have to worry too much about them. Waltzes, of course, are not baroque and go ONE two three, ONE two three.
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