PINT-O-MURPHY'S

when I was at tanglewood one year, we saw sam pilafian walkin around with a metronome in his pocket, with headphones attached. apparently, he would spend some time each day, "just getting the feel of 92" then the next day he'd "internalize" 84 or 112. then, in the quintet, he could just lock into whatever he needed to. his daily dedication to his art was always awesome and inspiring to me.

dbacon

I bought that same Metronome (SeikoDCM-40) after seeing Sam use it a couple of years ago. Fits in the pocket, instant time and it's loud without the headset. Use it a lot!

gchun

Dave, et al.-

Here's another one I've heard.

I heard that John Madrid (unconfirmed) used to take a full page etude, drop a ruler diagonally across the page and draw a line. Then, he would play each measure, in time, that the line went through.

Garry

kadleck

I like the metronome idea. Nothing instills good time like hearing it over & over. Now if we could just get the string players to use one!

TK

dbacon

One of the fiddle players on a show broke a string, but nobody would tell him which one....

I practice all the time with a metronome, it makes you play with a source of time outside your body. Record my practice, makes me not cheat as much...
listening back is humble experience..

rickperon

That's funny! And here is a little something somewhat related - Speaking of string players, and I don't want to start a bashing sessing here, just want to share this & hope you can relate (which I'm sure you can) & get a chuckle from it. I'm doing a POPS concert this week with the Tucson Symphony & jazz singer Dee Daniels. Wonderful singer btw! The show is not particuarly hard or very high, but there is a little bit of blowing. So the first rehearsal was last night, and so I'm the guy they bring in (the jazzer) to play lead trumpet. The brass section is set way back from the rest of the orchestra as far as possible, so there is this huge gulf of space between us & them. We begin the rehearsal, I'm trying to be as sensitive as I can by playing at a nice comfortable level, and even most of the time pointing my bell into the stand. Nothing funny there OK, however, when the break came, you should have seen the scramble by the violas & cellos to move over out of the line of fire! I mean, baffles (plexiglass) appeard out of nowhere, people standing around with their hands on the hips & shaking heads.....it was like I was parting the red sea! I don't take it personal, it's just funny to see.
Rick

rowuk

Rick,
the volumes that come out of the front of a lead trumpet can damage the hearing of just about anybody. If plexiglass baffles help, why not? I did a gig recently with a salsa orchestra and the idiot on the PA smoked me during the first set with the monitor volume - his comment: "it's not a chamber concert on stage". My comment was to put my clip on mike directly on the monitor speaker (HOWL!!!!!!!!!!! mega feedback) and play acoustically until he woke up. None of us are there to get bashed.
Modern trumpets can have a very dense sound that can keep other musicians from hearing themselves. That density is often confused with volume. My second son has a degree in recording arts and they learned about instruments "sharing" certain frequencies and what gets masked in the process.
A cooperative attitude from all sides is the only solution. When a big band is integrated into an orchestra, maybe even a different seating arrangement would be advantageous!

rickperon

Point well taken, it was not my intention to bash anyone nor offend, my sincere apologies. Please, no need to respond. Movin' on - Rick

talcito

Hey Rick:

I think you may have scared them to death the moment you pulled out the black Cannonball! LOL

Oscar
P.S. I will be in AZ in March......I'll see you at Scotty's. Mariachi anyone?

kadleck

I think that when players are faced with things they don't normally hear, they tend to get worried. String players commonly do what Rick described during pops concerts. And I must confess that when the tpts. are in front of the trombones, I have difficulty because it's something that I'm not used to. All part of the gig, I guess.

TK