Mason,  Rhythmic  Mastery  II/  ASTA  2016  pg.  1  

 Training String Players for Rhythmic Mastery II: Elements of Rhythmic Freedom American String Teachers Association National Conference, 2016 Tampa, Florida Daniel Mason, Professor of Violin University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506-0022 Ph. 859.257.3575 Email: daniel.mason@uky.edu I. Chicken/Egg Characteristics of organization of sound by pitch and duration may be due in part to motor constraints. Some constraints shared by humans and birds, for example, may be expressed in similar melodic features found in (human) music and birdsong, including tonality, dynamic shape and rhythms. We may be hard-wired, melodically. Speech evolved with characteristic cadence (rhythm) which assumed a vital role in comprehension. Did song evolve with rhyme to help protect textual integrity? Rhythm evolved inextricably linked to language and to the body and natural phenomena. Notation (language, music) cannot capture all the implications; Rhythms  come  before  notation;  gestures  before  math.  Musically convincing performances employ expressive timing, even if minimal and extremely subtle. (see: http://nyti.ms/1tyQT9X)

(AI quote) 2. Teaching/learning skills essential for expressive timing Subdivision Under-pinning for most successful, organic expressive timing

Ritardando and accelerando Smoothly graduated rit. and accel. are prerequisites (linear vs. exponential).

Mason,  Rhythmic  Mastery  II/  ASTA  2016  pg.  2  

Imagery and models Circles with arms increasing or decreasing in size Roller coaster, card in a bicycle wheel, train starting and stopping

Metronome with variance setting can help. Natural sounds Ocean surf sounds are cyclical, with variance Harmonic sensitivity Emphasis of tension and release is primary function of E.T. Alexander, Feldenkrais, yoga can help integrate the body into the rhythm Listening, singing, dancing Frequent listening to great artists is essential Some students sing with greater freedom than playing Student sings along while teacher plays Student moves while teacher plays, or vice-versa

Conduct yourself singing or seeking the rhythms; if expressive timing Is organic, motions will feel natural, comfortable

3. Employing expressive timing Chopin tree analogy Dynamic reinforcement Rubato- moral imperative? Stylistic considerations Bach

Rhythm only expressive tool for keyboard player; significance of slurs

Classical style Treatises and other sources recommend melodic lines free of “strict-time” accompaniment

Sevcik, op. 8 Generic romantic-style repeated melodic fragments, with one or two chords implied per bar, can be manipulated in various ways with rubato, agogic accent, tenuto, dynamic inflection, etc. according to conscious, harmonically informed choices

a: I viiº III iv V (v)

Kreutzer No. 12 Perform as series of cadenza-like passages

Mason,  Rhythmic  Mastery  II/  ASTA  2016  pg.  3  

Rochberg Caprice Variations (1970)

Many caprices appropriate for tempo rubato, e.g. #43:

Expressive timing usually should not obscure the meter and written rhythms beyond intelligibility

   4.  Playing  with  less  rhythmic  freedom  (auditions,  chamber  ensembles       Overzealous  preparation  may  lead  to  overly  “mathematical”  execution.       Nathan  Cole,  Associate  concertmaster  of  Los  Angeles  Philharmonic:  

 “When  playing  excerpts,  you  really  have  to  show  that  you've  digested  all  the  markings  in  the  part.  Many  people  extend  that  to  mean  that  there's  only  one  way  to  play  a  given  excerpt,  and  therefore  no  room  for  personal  expression.  But  it's  really  no  different  than  solo  pieces,  where  the  markings  should  be  observed,  too!  Your  difference  will  be  in  your  sound,  the  way  you  connect  to  make  long  lines,  the  purity  of  your  pitch,  and  a  thousand  other  variables.  You  have  to  curtail  the  use  of  rubato,  but  so  what?  Most  auditions  will  include  a  solo  piece  as  well,  often  before  you  get  to  the  excerpts,  so  you  have  a  chance  to  show  the  total  you.”    Even  “straight”  rhythms  won’t  be  100%  mathematically  precisely.  In  auditions,  expressive  playing  is  paramount,  but  should  be  always  in  the  context  of  the  score.  

Mason,  Rhythmic  Mastery  II/  ASTA  2016  pg.  4  

Organic  expressive  timing  expected/appreciated  and  is  often  the  key  to  released,  natural  physical  ease.    In  chamber  music,  particularly  in  sequences,  leave  room  for  others  to  be  expressive,  too.    

Resources:    

Pedro  de  Alcantara:  ;  Integrated  Practice  Oxford  University  Press,  2011    Daniel  Levitin:  This  is  Your  Brain  on  Music,  Plume,  2007    Melodia  A  Course  in  Sight-­‐Singing  Solfeggio  by  Samuel  Cole  &  Leo  Lewis,  Oliver  Ditson  Company  2004  (http://www.amazon.com/Melodia-­‐Course-­‐Sight-­‐Singing-­‐Solfeggio-­‐Complete/dp/9200129382)    Sandra  P.  Rosenblum  (1994)  “The  Uses  of  Rubato  in  Music,  Eighteenth  to  Twentieth  Centuries”  Performance  Practice  Rev:  Vol.  7,  No.  1,  Article  3  

Adam  T.  Tierney,  Frank  A.  Russo,  Aniruddh  D.  Patel:  The  motor  origins  of  human  and  avian  song  structure,  PNAS  vol.  108  no.  37  

Leopold  Mozart:  The  Art  of  the  Violin,  Kulterverlag  Polzer,  2008      

Acknowlegments:  Thank  you  for  ideas  from  Margie  Karp,  Benjamin  Karp,  Mami  Hayashida