Re: [Harp-L] re: groove

["david j. brown" <nonidesign@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Listen to Howlin's Wolf's "Smokestack Lightnin'".
Feel the backbeat. Feel the distance and resignation in the rhythm, the
conviction and desperation in the vocals, and the brutally raw harmonica
that becomes almost sublime as it merges into the fade-out.

Listen to Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue", Hear silence used as an instrument.
Marvel at how your ears refuse to obey your conscious mind telling you there
is no sound between those notes while your heart convinces you there is.

Listen to Pavarotti sing "Che Gelida Manina" from Puccini's opera "La
Boheme". The soaring note rises to declare love's universal power. Hear a
single note define so much of all of us while glorifying each of us
individually. How can a single note create such uplifting power?

Listen to Art Tatum tun your ears into leaves dancing in the wind.

Listen to John Coltrane ignore both time and space while redefining them in
the same split second.

Listen to a child discovering for the first time that they can recreate a
familiar tune by simply humming. The joy of connecting their ears to their
soul discovered and explored for the first time.






Then listen Britney Spears' "Oops... I did It Again". Hear the brilliant and
poignant vocals, the profound lyrics, the sublime rhythm, and the intricate
beat.

If you are aware that one of these examples is a sarcastic comment.......
you probably already know what groove is.







> From: Douglas Tate <douglas.tate@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2004 15:41:55 -0400
> To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] re: groove
> 
> At 13:56 09/08/2004, Bob Maglinte wrote:
>> It's MUCH easier to teach people notes to play, but FEEL and GROOVE, is a
>> lot different, and too often many music schools, including many very well
>> known ones, really fall short in this area. Too often, the popular notion
>> that if you can play Jazz or Classical, you can play anything, which ideally
>> because of their complexities, SHOULD be true, but there are many times
>> where that isn't, and it is NOT saying they're bad musicians, which would be
>> the quick, knee jerk reaction, but the thing of learning feel and groove is
>> just an entirely different set of skills. Finding TRULY versatile musicians
>> that have an understanding of groove and feel so that whatever genre they're
>> in, having whatever they play sound like they BELONG within the context of
>> what's going on without question, is much more difficult, and even those
>> versatile types are always going to be better at certain things than others.
> 
> 
> This the first time I have seen this expressed so well.
> Boiled into a tight nutshell Bob has said
> 
> 'ANY music can only be played as inspiring communication if you are into
> the genre with heart and soul'
> 
> It is NOT just a blues thing, or a jazz thing, it works with classical
> musicians too although many don't believe it!  Music is music, and it
> doesn't move you unless the musicians are being musicians and not just
> technical wizards going through the motions...
> I prefer my musicians going through the emotions.
> 
> Thanks Bob
> 
> 
> Douglas T
> 
> 
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