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Monday, October 02, 2006

Rhythm Is Gonna Get Ya

We started going over the new sheet music today for the kids' winter concert. I realized during this that I am a rhythm nazi.

- I HATE it when the audiences claps with a band or orchestra and refuse to do it...even if the band/orchestra wants this. It drives me crazy when the clapping gets off beat and then speeds up, but I can still hear the band/orchestra.

- This whole "light travels faster than sound" thing has irked me for years. Ever since my Marching Band days (shutup) when I would watch from the stands. The sound was never in sync with the conducting and I often have to look away or I want to scream.

- In my music skills classes in college we would do these exercises where the professor would play a rhythm on the piano and we would had to write it down. We could hear it 2-3 times and were usually only given a tempo to go off of. I excelled at these. I always volunteered to write my answer on the board because I was confident it was correct. I also volunteered to do this because when we did the same exercise, but with chords, I sucked at it and knew I needed to get my points somehow.

- I'm not sure when I peaked at this skill, but for awhile I could sorta play anything on the clarinet. Now, that is and is not an exaggeration. I remember being good at this junior year of high school and then again sophomore year of college when I started taking lessons there as a music major. My teacher and I would just play stuff the entire 30 minutes and while I would, of course, mess up on some notes here and there, I was really good at the rhythms. The last two years of lessons in college were spent developing my ability to play musically as well so I lost a bit of my technicallness, but it was for the best. It's important to be good at both.

- It drives me crazy when people in orchestra* don't play their passages correctly. If anything, people should always get the first beat of the measure correct. It is unacceptable not to. Stupid, cunts.


I also realized today, though, that I can't be a rhythm nazi with beginning musicians. I had to remind myself that it's tough to play new things with new notes with new instruments. They better shape up soon, though! Rhythm is gonna get ya! Rhythm is gonna get ya!



*errrggggg!!!!!!! I hate you, PRO!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

PRO sucks ass.

lala said...

the best part of the whole post was that, when i read the title, i started singing the actual song in my head. because i was alive (and old enough to know it) when it was released. your kids probably have no idea who gloria estefan is. much less the miami sound machine.

Mr. Nutty said...

Garwood Whaley's Basics in Rhythm. All four years of high school we had to go through this entire book at the beginning of the school year. Before the bands split up (Concert band and Wind Ensemble) we'd have tons of people in our tiny band room, clapping along to pages of this book before every band class in the morning. I made a point of being the smart ass who clapped the "4/4 four quarter notes in the measure" at the beginning reeaaaallly slowly. Gar didn't appreciate that too much (he was my band director and the author) but he always got over it. I guess lots of rhythm exercies is what we got for having a percussionist as a conductor. It actually helped a lot, though.

I should start playing my clarinet again.

Miss Scarlet said...

Serena- Yeah, they do. Bastards.

Lala- It IS going to get ya!

Mr. Nutty- OMG, duets!;)