| Please keep in mind the fact that I have very little formal musical training as far as college courses are concerned, when you read my reply.
There are two sides to this.
On one hand, you could argue that if the composer wanted the rhythm to be a triplet feel, then the composer would have written it that way, so then the intent of the composer was to have the rhythm played as written, with a true dotted eighth/sixteenth feel.
On the other hand, for ease of writing, and reading, the dotted eighth/sixteenth rhythm is going to be easier, even if the intent was for it to be played with a triplet feel, and the composer could have written it with that general feel or style in mind, with the intent that it would be played and performed with the triplet feel, and wasn't such a stickler to the "rules" of music.
I have found over the years that in many aspects of written music, there are exceptions to the rules. Take swing for instance. There is a perfect example of music that is written to be played with a specific style in mind and not to the letter of the written note. Can you imagine doing a time warp to 250 years from now and hearing some of your favorite standard big band tunes being played straight!? Many of those tunes have no indicators that the rhythms are to be swung, it's just something that is "known" by the musicians that play them.
stewmuse, you may be on to something there. For certain, at faster tempos it becomes increasingly difficult to make the distinction between the two rhythms, both as a player and as a listener, although in the learning phase at slower tempos, I almost think it would be a crime to allow a student to play a dotted eighth/sixteenth rhythm with a triplet feel, even if it would be something that would be allowed and even encouraged at faster, performance tempos.
__________________ Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius |