[Dixielandjazz] Quote

[philwilking]

It's a good joke, because there's so much truth in it.

However, it opens up a whole new (old but forever young) topic for 
discussion, argument, tirade, flame, etc.: tempo.

I think it would be useful to use this list to discuss several too often 
neglected tools of performance, tempo and dynamics among them. But let's 
start with tempo.

Speaking strictly about New Orleans or dixieland type jazz, and thinking of 
the pre-depression tunes, my personal preference is dancing speed unless the 
tune is an obvious lament or ballad, and even those frequently have foxtrot 
or waltz choruses. Of course, "dancing" in this context doesn't mean just a 
simple box step or a shuffle. When those tune were new, the bands which 
played them played for dances and the dancers expected to foxtrot, 
quickstep, waltz - fast and slow, polka, schottisch, peabody, and even 
(gasp!) tango and rhumba, plus novelty dances. If the dancers could move 
easily to the music, the tempo was correct by definition.

Since bands now often play sitdown concerts, and there are fewer dancers to 
act as metronomes, I think the general tendency is to play TOO FAST. On many 
of the record tracks I hear, and in live performance, the result is mushy. 
Subtle synchopations, chord changes, phrasing emphasis, indeed all which 
requires precision to execute (and to hear properly), gets throw away on the 
altar of the great god Loud and Fast.

Well, I'm a banjo player, and I say "loud and fast" does NOT equal "good." 
(Is that noise the sound of a cold snap in Hell?) Which "High Society" 
clarinet feature sounds better: brisk (a canter not a gallop) and under 
precise control, or runaway fast and blurry? I have never yet heard both 
accuracy of execution and a flat-out run in the same piece.

I realize that increasing familiarity with a tune allows a musician to 
execute more it rapidly, and thus increasing familiarity with a piece makes 
the same tempo sound slower to the player(s), but I think one should use 
this apparent extra time to improve the precision of execution. What say 
you?

Remember: no low blows, break a clinch when the referee says to, go to a 
neutral corner on a knockdown, and no punching after the bell.

Round One. Bong!

PHIL WILKING

Those who would exchange freedom for
security deserve neither freedom nor security.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert S. Ringwald" <robert at ringwald.com>


> Gabriel Faure was once asked what the ideal tempo for a song should be.
>
> "If the singer is bad," he replied, "very fast!"
>