Making sense of tunes with slightly strange rhythms

[TW]

Making sense of tunes with slightly strange rhythms - for the less rhythmically able - can be a problem and there must be many techniques employed by players to resolve these difficulties.

My preference is for Scottish and Northumbrian dance tunes and some I find very difficult to play on first sight because of the seemingly idiosyncratic rhythms and sometimes counting the time, taking account of note length and dottedness, is just a pain for the amateur so I tend to use .abc players as an aid.

As an example, I used JC's TuneFinder to download the .abc file for Phil Cunningham's 'Below the Aigas Dam'
To work on this tune it was loaded into the player and the score displayed (together with the abc notation).
The tune can be played for you simply, but correctly spaced, while you play along to get the feel of it.
The playbackspeed can easily be adjusted by altering the default notelength in the abc file.
My system is all opensource so I find the java program, 5 Line Skink, fits my requirements.

I should be interested to hear whether others employ similar techniques or more sophisicated variants and if so, whether they find them useful?

I should own up to finding it easier to use this technique with my Rolands as the accordion notes and the abc playback of course are channelled to the headphones together.

 

[BobM]

I’d take these .abc files with a pinch of salt. One example on the JC site has a bar of 5/4 in it... Could this be the problem?

I don’t if this is deliberate or not, but time signature changes are normally marked.

 

[george garside]

They key thing is to listen analytically to the tune so as to get a good grasp of the rhythm and also to keep time with the foot. Trying to pick up the rhythm precisely from the dots can lead to it sounding mechanical as in trad/folk music it is very much the norm to play notes lon;ger or shorter than written and also as a consequence vary the gaps between notes . Counting will not help in the playing of what may seem to some to be ''slightly strange rhythms'' but would seem perfectly normal to those experienced in the genre!

Better still forget the dots and try to pick up the tune and its intended rhythm in the tradidtional manner by ear.

george

 

[TW]

Have to disagree with you there George, it doesn't work for everyone!

In reply to BobM (and Hello) thank you for the suggestion and certainly errors do occur in .abc files - your timely reminder enabled me to change and correct B to a D in bar 12 of the .abc for 'Orleans Baffled!

I must be my fault for not making my post sufficiently clear - it was very late - I was speaking generally, describing a technique I find useful when faced with unfamiliar rhythms - 'Below the Aigas Dam' was just an example - and wondering about other folk's techniques!

I find the technique useful with, again for example, 3/2 hornpipes (The Manchester H/P - John of the Greeny Cheshire Way), some Playford and Fallibroome sets which can be difficult to master straight off the page.

Callers often do not provide a lot of notice of their expected programs and Playford Dancers are not too forgiving for rhythmic errors in my experience so a quick way in is useful for a peaceful Saturday night!

Perhaps it is not a widespread difficulty and George's solution obviously works for talented 'earists''.

 

[BobM]

I’d take these .abc files with a pinch of salt. One example on the JC site has a bar of 5/4 in it... Could this be the problem?

I don’t if this is deliberate or not, but time signature changes are normally marked.

But should Below the Aigas Dam’ have that bar of 5/4 in it? It looks like a beat has been copied by mistake.

 

[TW]

I'm sure you are correct - the D>E is on 3 beats, where it probably should be 2.
I can't find a recording to check against but it seems illogical that a 5/4 bar is not signalled.

 

[BobM]

I should be interested to hear whether others employ similar techniques or more sophisicated variants and if so, whether they find them useful?

I would go for a digital metronome, one can be had for a tenner. But if you’re struggling with a .abc music source, make sure that you can trust it.

BobM.

 

[Glenn]

Most smart phones have sophisticated metronome Apps these days.
May not even need to spend that tenner.....

 

[BobM]

Most smart phones have sophisticated metronome Apps these days.
May not even need to spend that tenner.....

Er, wots a smart pone?... :?

 

[Glenn]

Knock knock.
It's the 21st century Bob. :roll:
Ask one of your kids.

 

[Jim the box]

I find that if the tune does not fit into a vamping bass then I am not playing it correctly, even with very complex rhythms.

I must admit that sometimes it's like patting your head whilst rubbing your stomach :? , but it seems to work for me.

 

[BobM]

Knock knock.
Its the 21st century Bob. :roll:
Ask one of your kids.

Well this is my phone. Could I run what I think is called an app from it?

BobM.

 

[Glenn]

Yes it should be easy.
Do you have a sonic screwdriver?

 

[BobM]

Yes it should be easy.
Do you have a sonic screwdriver?

As it happens, no. But it’s on my list after a smart phone..