Ricardo -> RE: The Art of Zen Guitar (Nov. 12 2006 19:39:00)
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I am with you on this Miguel, and totally agree with you said Ron said about "libre" playing. And regarding this: quote:
they are falsetas or periods which do have a steady beat. And also what Exitao said here: quote:
compas seems to mean the same thing as tempo. I would like to add to this or clearify my view on this. There is MORE to what compas means or the term "rhythm" than simply tempo, or keeping a steady beat. The other things involved are meter (length of a rhythmic phrase or cycle if it repeats) and the "style" which involves all the little things that differentiate one compas or rhythmic feel from another. Things about the subdivision, accentuation, dynamics. Easy to just call it the "feel" or the "swing" or the "funk" , the "soniquete" of the rhtyhm, but very complex when you examine it specifically. I personally feel NUMBER 1 on any students list for learning or focusing on rhythm IS tempo. You can't get into the other areas properly if you dont get the concept of how the beat or quarter note should not move. But that is why they invented the metronme. To help with step one. Step 2 would be like getting into subdividing while maintaining the tempo. For some folk these 2 steps is simply a "feeling" nothing to think or practice, similar to people with either perfect pitch, or the ability to sing perfectly in tune any song they hear (relative pitch). But for many, the metronome helps to keep people grounded and develop an internal clock. So what I see often is folks geting into music that is a bit too hard, going for all the fun "stylistic" things about rhythm, BEFORE being properly grounded with tempo. Now, if you don't have great tempo I don't mean you should only work on simple rhythms forever until you get "perfect" without a metronome. But at least recognize why you need to keep working with the metronome. Be aware of how even you are and how even you COULD be. So some folks look at "libre" as you are free of time all together, or worse, it is a good excuse to make timing mistakes as you please. I disagree. Compas in flamenco often has a "flexable" or moving tempo, but that is from the point of view of someone IN CONTROL of the tempo. You can't be liberal with tempo deliberately, if you can't hold the tempo to begin with. Rushing and dragging are MISTAKES. Accelerating and decreasing tempo are supposed to be CONTROLLED tempo changes. Because the tempo moves in flamenco music, many use that as an excuse to not work with a metronome. Also a strange common occurance I have seen is guitarists well versed in a different style, Rock, blues, jazz, etc, that have good rhythm in those styles, encounter flamenco "compas" get caught up in the complexities of counting beat cycles or changing meters, and totally forget everything they understand about basic TEMPO. I dont' understand why, but it is very common. If they focused on simply the steady beat, a lot of the "mysteries" of compas and flamenco phrasing would reveal themselves. I have seen even good rumberos who are doing flamencoish things forget about tempo when they try some real flamenco stuff (like bulerias). There is the other problem too of course, where a musician has the tempo, but does not get the idea of meter and "style". For examp. Manitas de Plata has pretty good tempo IMO, but cuts off beats from the phrase all the time. He does not get the meter for some reason, but sounds somehow cabable. Ottmar has good tempo, plays the correct meter when he wants to, but does not get any of the important parts of compas that are included under the "style" umbrella. For the record, I feel it is perfectly natural and human to make mistakes in rhythm. Be it Rushing or Dragging, adding or subtracting beats, wrong "style" or feel or soniquete, getting lost or stuck in a different beat or off beat, or just not understanding where the beat is at all. It is nothing to be ashamed of, so long as one acknowleadges these things AS MISTAKES. There are tons of testaments by pro musicians who have allowed timing "mistakes" to go down on tape, for the sake of the expression and things like that. It is human. But make a distinction between what is deliberate, and what is accidental. Ricardo
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