Learn to improvise. 2004-2005. Lesson 02: rhythm.
Music is a dynamic art. Every moment changes. We will ignore sound
vibrations, interesting for the builder of instruments, and think more
spacious: the tempo, the measure, the rhythm, the touch and such-like,
because you have influence in it yourself during playing.
Rhythm is the fundamental one of the three main aspects of music:
rhythm, harmony and melody, because if notes don't change in the time
they don't make a melody, and if harmony doesn't change in time it
gives no music, at the most a sound, but rhythm on a drum without
harmony and melody may be considered as music.
In this respect improvisation has an advantage over playing from sheet
music. The latter gives the measure and the counting, but those are only
part of the rhythm. There is no indication of the little things that touch
the emotion, that stir up, that gives a heavenly feeling, that stimulates to
dance and motion, or to meditative contemplation. I think of
milliseconds and fractions of decibels, the fine details, that make the
music rock or only woodenly. Move your wrists waving to obtain a
heavenly atmosphere, your fingers stiff for a sturdy jazz and your body
and legs to get dancing music, etc. The distance from the hand to the
keys immediately before the touch has much effect, not only for the
volume but also for the timing.
Hands high on the 2nd beat gives this effect.
If you don't hinder yourself in natural
motion you improve your mental empathize and by that the expression
of your personality.
Improvising giving impulsively expression to human feelings, may
directly approach the hearts of others. (This may also be irritating
dependent on the personality of the player.) What an improviser lacks in
quality of harmony and melody he may make up by timing and touch.
My tip is to apply yourself to it. (This skill will improve the
performance of your sheet reading also).
The swell pedal of an organ influences all tones simultaneously. A
piano has the luxury to have a separate volume controller for every
single key. It has the possibility to give simultaneously two notes, the
one being soft, the other loud. The touch sensitivity of a piano is not
restricted to volume, it also influences the timbre and the attack. During
the development of the digital pianos it turned out how complex a piano
tone actually is. It took years before an acceptable level was reached
and still it is not perfect. Experiment with different ways of touching.
Especially improvising exploits the typical strong points of an
instrument. This holds also for an organ, accordion or a detuned piano.
Compositions of Mozart are played exactly as he wrote them though
they were made on a different instrument. An improviser will adapt his
play better to the circumstances.
The pedal of the piano also is important. When the damper pedal is
pushed down, the strings resonate together in a very complex way. In
digital pianos the so called 'sympathic resonance' was developed to
realize the same effect, but the result is so poor, you may better switch it
off. Pay much attention to the pedal. It makes all the difference in
your performance.
In my sound examples I took it for granted everyone could play his left
hand in an automatic mode, e.g. broken in the so called 'Alberti bass' (c
e g e c e g e ....). Only recently I discovered some people have difficulty
in tapping with the left hand in a constant pace, when they tap with right
hand irregularly. Try this. Tap on the table (or box or the like) with your
left hand constantly and with your right hand irregularly (if the right
hand has a box with a different sound it is easier to hear the effect).
Click here to hear what I mean.
If you have difficulty in keeping your left hand constant you may either
exercise or accept. As long as you don't play together with others a free
rhythm is no problem and even may be agreeable to hear. If, however,
you have an independent constant left hand, you may create
indescribably complex rhythm figures, even in dance music.
Click here to hear what I mean.
HOMEWORK:
Keep the structure of your chords simple (lesson 01
through 04 of the previous year), but pay much attention to the touch,
the timing, the pedal and complex rhythms. Sell your play to the
audience.
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