4 ms·

Ooh, some good ones in there even for us concert band folks: > Pat your foot and sing the melody in your head when you play. I usually just tap my toes quietl

• UIUC_06 4y ago
  > I usually just tap my toes quietly within my shoe Right. The conductor will hate seeing you tap your feet. So just don't let them see.
  • dwringer 4y ago
    I don't think I ever met a conductor who would openly disapprove of foot tapping unless it were loud or maybe someone sat on the very end directly in front of the audience and did it in a very distracting way. The alternative of musicians keeping poor time would be far worse.
    • to1y 4y ago
      it's considered very bad form, especially in orchestra's , _especially_ by the conductor because it means 1. you're not following them 2. it's very distracting for the audience/other members of the band 3. it's a 'beginner' tendency, shows lack of self-control.
      • dwringer 4y ago
        I've played in a few orchestras in my life and never heard that opinion (other than the part I previously mentioned, when it becomes a distraction to the audience), but I suppose some conductors may feel differently.
        • to1y 4y ago
          My experience is it was relentlessly drilled in all early students
          • dwringer 4y ago
            Perhaps a different culture between string players and brass players? Or maybe just different parts of the world? Eastern US here. I play trumpet and from the earliest years was heavily encouraged by all band directors and conductors to tap my foot at all times. No conductor ever corrected the practice later or pointed it out as an error, but I often heard the advice repeated for everyone to do it. Maybe they viewed it as a necessary evil though, like in Mr Holland's opus when when he is beating the tempo into the guy's head with a mallet while he wears a football helmet.
• hammock 4y ago
  >Don’t listen to me, I am supposed to be accompanying you! As a conductor and director in my experience this is the hardest one for many musicians to learn, and it even goes a bit against the “keep the time is #1“ rule. As accompaniment, harmony, etc you need to understand who the lead is at any given moment and follow it. If you just keep the time robotically and don’t pay any attention you will destroy any possible magic. If you are homophonic harmony but you are out of time with the lead, it won’t be tight and may be bad (unless a loosely hinged style is what you want). The lead may be taking micro beats of time here and there with the line and you’ll want to follow this. Even this has nuance though. Sometimes the lead might be taking time (or rushing time) and actually expect you to be keeping time, to stay in the pocket, to give him a landing zone to anchor back to once he’s decided he wants to come back in time on a cadence or a downbeat or something. And you need to know that too, as the lead goes in and out of the pocket what is his intention there? In this way it’s beautiful how the really best music doesn’t require only experienced musicians, or even musicians experienced with each other (understand each others styles, tastes and intentions) but also requires a level of trust between them to be able to leverage those experiences in a special way. And that could be generalized to other areas of work and life