Re: Keeping a good beat


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Posted by Mark Heter on July 09, 2003 at 14:35:42:

In Reply to: Keeping a good beat posted by Not quite together on July 08, 2003 at 11:05:44:

Community groups rarely can play in time. It's not a business to therse people; it's the musical equivalent of "bowling night". This also goes for amateur dixieland groups, oompah bands, etc.
The business of laying time down does not fall to any one section of the band. If the lead trumpet (or solo cornet, as the case may be) doesn't play in time, or observe the dynamics, or tune up, no one else is likely to, either.
All musicians should own, and from time to time use a metronome. If the community people would practice their parts against the clicks of the unrelenting metronome, they would become more "time aware", and improvements would follow. The idea is not to become a machine, but get people to subdivide as they play, and be aware of the time.
It wouldn't hurt a lot of "legit" musicians to do some dance band playing. When your living depends on keeping danceable time for your patrons to hire you, you WILL learn to play in time. Better dance band leaders watch their audience (and the audience's feet) to see if they are in touch with the audience's groove, and adjust the tunes they play accoringly. There is an art to this, and it has to do with human interaction, and being willing to entertain other people in the room besides yourself.
MH


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