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Thelonious Monk’s Tips for Musicians (1960)

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Re: Thelonious Monk’s Tips for Musicians (1960)

#51

Post by to1y »

dwringer wrote: post #45
UIUC_06 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

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.

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.

Re: Thelonious Monk’s Tips for Musicians (1960)

#52

Post by john61 »

aidenn0 wrote: post #36
quacked wrote: post #16

Oh yeah, Monk is 100% right. Keeping time is far more important than both intonation and feel. (And intonation is more important than feel.) Young music students in the US are usually taught in a pre-conservatory style (analogous to how young students are taught in a pre-academic style). This leads to the mental prioritization of playing the correct notes, giving recitals once or twice per season, and following the m…

My son is learning the piano and I cannot seem to teach him rhythm. Aside from the habit of stopping at every error (which bugs me to no end), he can hear a song once or twice and pick out the correct notes, but rhythm is still a mystery to him. I learned rhythm so long ago (it was a core part of my elementary school music class before I ever started learning an instrument on my own) that I have no clue how to help h…

Play with him together. Ask him to play a very easy bass line while you are playing / improvising a simple melody, and then change. Do no stop when he stops. Keep the time rigorously and request that from him. My teachers lesson always starts with such a simple improvisation together. It is fun and he will learn a lot.

Re: Thelonious Monk’s Tips for Musicians (1960)

#53

Post by mtalantikite »

kashunstva wrote: post #42
aidenn0 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My son is learning the piano and I cannot seem to teach him rhythm. Aside from the habit of stopping at every error (which bugs me to no end), he can hear a song once or twice and pick out the correct notes, but rhythm is still a mystery to him. I learned rhythm so long ago (it was a core part of my elementary school music class before I ever started learning an instrument on my own) that I have no clue how to help h…

Metronome diet. I play professionally and still use the metronome every single day. I tell students if I can, they can too. Some may see it as a crutch that prevents one from developing an internal pulse. I disagree; but maybe it’s a fake it ‘til you make it circumstance. If you set the metronome to accent the downbeat, it is difficult to allow yourself the luxury of stopping and restarting on errors. The most freque…

Also I'd have them try setting the metronome to half speed so it counts the 2 and the 4. It forces you to internally feel the downbeat. Plus it's nice to switch things up during your practice session.

Re: Thelonious Monk’s Tips for Musicians (1960)

#54

Post by dwringer »

to1y wrote: post #51
dwringer wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

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.

Re: Thelonious Monk’s Tips for Musicians (1960)

#56

Post by yesenadam »

idontwantthis wrote: post #12
biggieshellz wrote: post #8

I think the article takes the "discrimination is important" quote as cryptic and philosophical when it has a very real meaning. Compare it to an interview with the great Dizzy Gillespie: > Interviewer: What’s it take to make a great trumpet player? > Dizzy Gillespie: (long pause) Well, the first thing is to be a master shit detector. Detect what is valid and what is not. And to the well-known Feynman quote: > The fir…

Any idea what “all reet” means?

In the vout dictionary, 'reet' is defined as 'right, yes, okay'.

https://fromtheothersideofthemirror.com/2009/04/09/the-origi...

Vout is Slim Gaillard's (very silly) language. Hear it spoken here with Bird and Dizzy, uh I mean Daz McSkiven Vout-o-roonee : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvxpIFZGfAE

Re: Thelonious Monk’s Tips for Musicians (1960)

#57

Post by twelvechairs »

angst_ridden wrote: post #48

There's a quotation, which I think may have been Monk, which I've been trying to track down the exact source. It's along the lines of "All I want is a simple melody, and I gotta go through all the bullshit again." Ring any bells? I had someone tell me that I was completely high and it was Ellison, not Monk, but I cannot confirm.

I dont know for sure but it doesnt sound Monk—like to me. He wasnt the type to complain about music much. He was generally positive, collegiate, etc as here

Re: Thelonious Monk’s Tips for Musicians (1960)

#58

Post by kwyjibo1230 »

quacked wrote: post #16

Oh yeah, Monk is 100% right. Keeping time is far more important than both intonation and feel. (And intonation is more important than feel.) Young music students in the US are usually taught in a pre-conservatory style (analogous to how young students are taught in a pre-academic style). This leads to the mental prioritization of playing the correct notes, giving recitals once or twice per season, and following the m…

Cannot +1 this enough. I learned so much more when I took lessons from an improvisational jazz bass teacher who focused on

(1) Learning as many songs and standards as is reasonable each week

(2) Focusing on improvising along to my teacher playing the melody on piano. He wouldn't stop unless I asked, so I needed to keep time with him. If I made a mistake, and lost my place, he would keep playing and I'd listen to where he was and jump back in when I found it again

Re: Thelonious Monk’s Tips for Musicians (1960)

#59

Post by mtalantikite »

kwyjibo1230 wrote: post #58
quacked wrote: post #16

Oh yeah, Monk is 100% right. Keeping time is far more important than both intonation and feel. (And intonation is more important than feel.) Young music students in the US are usually taught in a pre-conservatory style (analogous to how young students are taught in a pre-academic style). This leads to the mental prioritization of playing the correct notes, giving recitals once or twice per season, and following the m…

Cannot +1 this enough. I learned so much more when I took lessons from an improvisational jazz bass teacher who focused on (1) Learning as many songs and standards as is reasonable each week (2) Focusing on improvising along to my teacher playing the melody on piano. He wouldn't stop unless I asked, so I needed to keep time with him. If I made a mistake, and lost my place, he would keep playing and I'd listen to wher…

I've also been studying with a jazz bass player (I'm on piano) and from the beginning he always emphasized just getting back into the tune. He never interrupts me.

The other big one is singing the lyrics to every song I'm learning, which I really didn't like at first. He told me the story of Ahmad Jamal recalling a time playing with the sax player Ben Webster when Ben just stopped playing a tune: "Why'd you stop Ben?" "I forgot the lyrics!".

Re: Thelonious Monk’s Tips for Musicians (1960)

#60

Post by aidenn0 »

mtalantikite wrote: post #53
kashunstva wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Metronome diet. I play professionally and still use the metronome every single day. I tell students if I can, they can too. Some may see it as a crutch that prevents one from developing an internal pulse. I disagree; but maybe it’s a fake it ‘til you make it circumstance. If you set the metronome to accent the downbeat, it is difficult to allow yourself the luxury of stopping and restarting on errors. The most freque…

Also I'd have them try setting the metronome to half speed so it counts the 2 and the 4. It forces you to internally feel the downbeat. Plus it's nice to switch things up during your practice session.

double speed?
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