Quote:
Originally posted by Scottyee:
One way to help improve one's rhythm is by dancing. Rhythm is felt & often can't be intellectually learned. For example the feel of jazz swing (aka: swung 8th notes?!) cannot be accurately notated in manuscript. You have to feel the groove. That said, classical rhythm typically emphasizes 1 while popular music more often accents the backbeat: 2 & 4. - Scott


Scott, I almost agree with you but there is SOME intellect going on there. Example, I think that I have an excellent (some would say exquisite ) sense of rhythm, yet I struggle with odd meters such as 5/4. I had to learn "take five" by rote, and even after playing it for 25?? years I still have to concentrate, especially soloing. It just doesn't feel natural to me. I suspect that's a combination of poor training and a cultural bias towards (and familiarity with) 4/4 (and 2/4, 3/4, 6/8, etc.

On your other point, if I have to dance to improve my sense of rhythm, I'm finished (I'm guessing Boo, Captain Russ, TonyMads, also, as I don't know any jazz musicians that can dance worth squat ). Anyway, gotta go check on what kind of dance steps will go to Take Five.

chas
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"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." [Nietzsche]