 The Fingering Forum
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Author: ~Heather ~
Date: 2004-01-16 02:42
I have been reading music for about 8 or 9 years now, but I still can't keep my time correctly. If you give me a sheet of music I can clap the rhythem and tell you what value each note gets, and when we are playing my foot can still tap on every beat, but I still get lost. When I start playing I just start playing what sounds right, and it makes it hard for me to count every note value, see what note it is, and then the fingering for it. So I usually start speeding up, and get ahead of everybody else. I thought that I would outgrow this over time, but I haven't and since I am getting into more selected music groups it's starting to show(I just notice it, i don't think my band director really notices too much) and I was wondering if there is anything that could help me? Thanks, anything would be greatly appreciated.
p.s- the reason why i didn't make it to first charir on clarinet was because my time was off, even though i had everything else. :/
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Author: d-oboe
Date: 2004-01-16 04:07
What I'm tempted to say is that you've never played with a metronome. If you've never played with one, you've probably never learned to play precisely in time. Also: when practicing, practice everything very slowly, and then gradually increase the tempo (only once you are completely comfortable with the passage and can play it EXACTLY with the clicks on the metronome!) until you get to the tempo that's required. Depending on the situation, it can take up into the 1000's of repetitions before a passage becomes rythymically and technically secure.
Time is crucial: as soon as you play out of time with everyone else, or yourself even, the music is lost; the time must must must must be there.
A note about the use of the metronome: don't become dependant on it: learn to feel the pulse within you, not just mimmicking the clicks.
Good luck!
D-oboe
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Author: Musical Mind
Date: 2004-01-16 21:30
I had this problem also. And this is my solution for that, even though practicing with the metronome is the best. First look at how fast the tempo is and think of a pitch inside your head and keep it constantly in whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, or sixteenth notes, and in combinations of those like a dotted quater note with an eighth note, etc. Then, think two or more rhythms simultaneously like eighth notes and sixteenth notes. By doing this, you can feel the tension of how fast the song is. But, you shouldn't be tense at all when you are playing. When you are actually playing some quarter notes through sixteenth notes in a song, you have to think to subdivide into half or one-fourth value of the original notes' values. Large values should be thought into smaller values, and small values should be thought into larger values. And listening to recordings and going along with them inside your head, tonguing, or tapping with your fingers in constant rhythm is very helpful.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2004-01-16 23:19
I hate to say this but it sounds like you need to spend more time practicing the music slowly. You need to spend more time playing drills and scales. The drills aren't very musical but get the notes and time established in your head. You shouldn't even have to think about the notes, note names or fingerings. The goal is to see the note and automatically finger the note.
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Author: Mark Lammas
Date: 2004-02-15 16:49
I'm going to be radical here; forget the reading of music for a short while, go and buy yourself a reasonable bodhran (Irish traditional drum- they're not expensive - and basic playing advice is available in books and on the Net) and go and join some traditional Irish/Scottish music sessions. You'll gain a good sense of rhythm by ear this way, and learn to identify the strong and weak beats in a rhythm quickly. Then you can apply your rhythmic sense to written music, and learn to count in your head more efficiently. Plus, you'll have a hell of a lot of fun along the way, and you may get into a wider musical sphere generally, as well :-)Best of luck with it... I've never regretted getting into Celtic music.
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